Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Jonah and the Fire of God (Part One)




The book of Jonah is not only story of past events.  The book of Jonah is also a prophecy of the end times.    If you understand the book of Jonah, you will also understand the end times.    Jonah is a symbol of the end-time church.  In the book of Jonah, we find a prophetic picture of many end time events, including the purifying of a victorious, end time church, the rise of the beast, and the final harvest. 

This message is part one of a teaching about Jonah that I have been giving in conferences in Africa.

Jonah Flees the Presence of theLord


Jon 1:1-17
(1)  Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
(2)  "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me."
(3)  But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

Jonah represents the end time church.  In the story of Jonah, we read that God called Jonah to “Arise, go to Nineveh…and cry out against it..!”   When this call came to Jonah, the Bible says that he arose and fled from the presence of the Lord to Tarshish.  

Monday, December 17, 2012

Update on Ukunda Mission School

Well, I have not done a very good job of keeping this blog updated.  People have been asking me about how the school is progressing.  Unfortunately, we have faced a number of delays that have kept us from starting the school as quickly as we desired.  Fortunately, everything is still moving forward, in spite of the delays.

In September  I took my wife Ilona to Kenya for the first time.  This trip was partly our yearly holiday together, but it was also an opportunity for Ilona to meet the ministry team that will be working together to start the school  Ilona has a real God-given ability to "read" people.  She can almost immediately tell me more about people than I would ever discover on my own.  She often tells me who to trust, and who to be careful with.  She helps me understand the character and giftings of people that I am working with.  She often predicts what people will do before they do it.  This helps me know how to better work with people in a good way.  So it was a great to have her meet the team, and to have her give her "seal of approval" to each of them.

Ilona at airport in Frankfurt, Germany



Ilona and I eating dinner at the beach in Kilifi, Kenya

Ilona stayed a more than a week with me in Kenya, before returning to Belgium.  We enjoyed our time together.  After she left, I held a pastor's conference in Eldoret, and continued to work on starting the school.

We were planning to start the school with a small number of students in a house that I bought that was adjacent to the main building plot.  Unfortunately, we have faced a lot of challenges in obtaining the title deed for that house.  I won't go into details, but it seems it will be a rather drawn out process before we can rebuild the house and use it for our purposes.  At this moment, we are making plans to proceed with the school with or without the use of that house.

The Lord spoke to us clearly about the need for united intercession to see this school birthed.  What we are starting is not a small things.  If this vision is fulfilled, many poweruful ministries will be birthed that will imact Africa and other parts of the world.  There is a spiritual battle going on around the school, trying to stop the vision from becoming reality.  The Lord instructed us to bring the entire minsitry team together to hold united, focussed intercession on the plot of ground where the school will begin.  When I return in Jenauary, I will bring the entire team together to do this.  I believe that as we do this the Lord will open up a way for us to go forward.

As we reach the end of 2012, could you keep us in your thoughts and prayers?  We need financial support, prayer support, and other kinds of help.  If you would like to give towards this ministry, you can do so simply by clicking on the paypal button on this blog.   Any help you are able to give is much appreciated.