When a Christian becomes obedient to the call of selfless service to the Lord, you should be ready to be surprised with the things that you are able to do. Daniel 11:32 said, “…they that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” Knowing God means you know what pleases Him and you are on-the-go in doing His will. And as promised, He will strengthen you to do things for Him that you’ve not imagined you will be able to do in your whole life.
When the Star Youth Ministries (the evangelism arm of Living Waters Asia) celebrated its 1st anniversary last April 16, 2007, the theme was “Gearing towards greater exploits for God”. That’s exactly what SYM members are doing right now. All of these are due to the Holy Spirit’s empowering.
One thing that we are always amazed with is the fact that although none of us came out from any Bible seminary, we are able to conduct Way of the Master seminars in churches all around the Philippines. In every seminar we conduct there are pastors who have been in this vocation for a very long time, who listen intently to what we present. To make things more exciting, they would show their agreement with everything we say. We’ve had pastors tell us that the WOTM seminars we’ve conducted made them realize how much they’ve totally neglected a big part of the Gospel message, and that is man is sinful and that is why he really needs to repent of all his sinful ways. There were several pastors who’ve even asked us to assist them in their churches' evangelism programs. These, despite us not having any formal Bible school training.
SYM members have seen me several times doing open-air preaching. I remember that there were already several instances where I challenged them to also try it. I would tell them that the adrenaline rush they would experience during open-air preaching sessions is totally different from what they get when doing one-on-one. I even added that the satisfaction they will have will be very difficult to contain. But they would always tell me, “Sir, I still have to pray for more empowering from God to do that.” In the past months, I have seen them during our street evangelism sessions where I only require them to do one-on-ones, witnessing to open-air preaching size crowds. When I pointed this out to them, they have realized that they indeed could do it. Next thing you know, they’re now preaching in the open-air. Paul, a member of the second batch of SYM members, once took the microphone in an open-air band concert during the half-time break and preached with all gusto. There’s a chance that more than a hundred people heard his message as the sound system for the concert was really loud. Later, Paul told me that, being a youth political personality in their place, he was invited to lead the prayer for the start of the opening of a barrio basketball tournament. He said that he plans to preach first before making the prayer.
Another SYM member, Lester, one of the original members of the group, did something tantamount to going against the enemy head-on. He preached inside a store that sells graven images with the owner around. Later, he told me that the owner does not believe in the existence of Hell. It made us realize that he is not in that business to help people evade Hell by encouraging them to be more prayerful to the different saints he sells. Everything is purely for profit.
In the last 4 or 5 months, I have been preaching inside the compound of the biggest Catholic church in our place, and in almost all of the times I preach there, I made it a point to touch man’s offense of the 2nd Commandment (Thou shall not make for yourselves any graven images). I’ve experienced being cut by one of the officials of that religious order because I was preaching to young people they were about to bring to a Catholic retreat. The guy did not realize that by the time he squeezed himself in the crowd to cut my talk, I was really already done. All along, I thought that I’ve done already the “ultimate thing” when it comes to evangelism with this. Not until one very special Thursday.
While I was witnessing to some students inside the Catholic church compound during our weekly E-blitz (short for evangelism blitz), the SYM members with me started to disappear. When all of us got back to our office, I asked where they were. They told me that while they, with the leadership of Arvin (another of the original SYM members), were looking for people to witness to, they suddenly got the urge to go directly inside the church where a lot of people where praying, and there, distribute tracts. I was shocked that they were able to do that. They, themselves, couldn’t believe what they’ve just done. All they know was that a force pushed them inside to do what has to be done. Humbled with the courage that these young people have just shown, I told them, “Next week, you will do that again and I will join you.” That’s exactly what we did the following week with teenage girls we just recently have won for Christ joining us.
These unimaginable exploits have only made us recognize the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. On our own, we know that there’s no way we could do those things. We always remind ourselves that what we are and what we have accomplished are all due to God’s power released in our lives. Yes, we get afraid still a lot of times. But when we are reminded of the promise enveloped in the Great Commission, “…and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world…” courage starts to spring out.
It’s a pity that a lot of Christians have not experienced doing exploits for God. As a result, they haven’t experienced the ultimate adrenaline rush that dwarfs even the rush you get from a roller coaster ride or a parachute glide in the skies. If they only know what they are missing. All it takes is an obedient heart and a willingness to have our lives be the workplace of the Holy Spirit.
When the Star Youth Ministries (the evangelism arm of Living Waters Asia) celebrated its 1st anniversary last April 16, 2007, the theme was “Gearing towards greater exploits for God”. That’s exactly what SYM members are doing right now. All of these are due to the Holy Spirit’s empowering.
One thing that we are always amazed with is the fact that although none of us came out from any Bible seminary, we are able to conduct Way of the Master seminars in churches all around the Philippines. In every seminar we conduct there are pastors who have been in this vocation for a very long time, who listen intently to what we present. To make things more exciting, they would show their agreement with everything we say. We’ve had pastors tell us that the WOTM seminars we’ve conducted made them realize how much they’ve totally neglected a big part of the Gospel message, and that is man is sinful and that is why he really needs to repent of all his sinful ways. There were several pastors who’ve even asked us to assist them in their churches' evangelism programs. These, despite us not having any formal Bible school training.
SYM members have seen me several times doing open-air preaching. I remember that there were already several instances where I challenged them to also try it. I would tell them that the adrenaline rush they would experience during open-air preaching sessions is totally different from what they get when doing one-on-one. I even added that the satisfaction they will have will be very difficult to contain. But they would always tell me, “Sir, I still have to pray for more empowering from God to do that.” In the past months, I have seen them during our street evangelism sessions where I only require them to do one-on-ones, witnessing to open-air preaching size crowds. When I pointed this out to them, they have realized that they indeed could do it. Next thing you know, they’re now preaching in the open-air. Paul, a member of the second batch of SYM members, once took the microphone in an open-air band concert during the half-time break and preached with all gusto. There’s a chance that more than a hundred people heard his message as the sound system for the concert was really loud. Later, Paul told me that, being a youth political personality in their place, he was invited to lead the prayer for the start of the opening of a barrio basketball tournament. He said that he plans to preach first before making the prayer.
Another SYM member, Lester, one of the original members of the group, did something tantamount to going against the enemy head-on. He preached inside a store that sells graven images with the owner around. Later, he told me that the owner does not believe in the existence of Hell. It made us realize that he is not in that business to help people evade Hell by encouraging them to be more prayerful to the different saints he sells. Everything is purely for profit.
In the last 4 or 5 months, I have been preaching inside the compound of the biggest Catholic church in our place, and in almost all of the times I preach there, I made it a point to touch man’s offense of the 2nd Commandment (Thou shall not make for yourselves any graven images). I’ve experienced being cut by one of the officials of that religious order because I was preaching to young people they were about to bring to a Catholic retreat. The guy did not realize that by the time he squeezed himself in the crowd to cut my talk, I was really already done. All along, I thought that I’ve done already the “ultimate thing” when it comes to evangelism with this. Not until one very special Thursday.
While I was witnessing to some students inside the Catholic church compound during our weekly E-blitz (short for evangelism blitz), the SYM members with me started to disappear. When all of us got back to our office, I asked where they were. They told me that while they, with the leadership of Arvin (another of the original SYM members), were looking for people to witness to, they suddenly got the urge to go directly inside the church where a lot of people where praying, and there, distribute tracts. I was shocked that they were able to do that. They, themselves, couldn’t believe what they’ve just done. All they know was that a force pushed them inside to do what has to be done. Humbled with the courage that these young people have just shown, I told them, “Next week, you will do that again and I will join you.” That’s exactly what we did the following week with teenage girls we just recently have won for Christ joining us.
These unimaginable exploits have only made us recognize the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. On our own, we know that there’s no way we could do those things. We always remind ourselves that what we are and what we have accomplished are all due to God’s power released in our lives. Yes, we get afraid still a lot of times. But when we are reminded of the promise enveloped in the Great Commission, “…and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world…” courage starts to spring out.
It’s a pity that a lot of Christians have not experienced doing exploits for God. As a result, they haven’t experienced the ultimate adrenaline rush that dwarfs even the rush you get from a roller coaster ride or a parachute glide in the skies. If they only know what they are missing. All it takes is an obedient heart and a willingness to have our lives be the workplace of the Holy Spirit.
