Unstoppable

Posted on November 14, 2017 by dkoop

In the United States Christianity is openly mocked in most media: television, movies and print.  Nightly News portrays a world seemingly in despair with no hope.  The U.S., Canada, and Europe continue their downward slide away from God in their rejection of anything having to do with Christ and the Bible.  Even common sense and tenets of basic human morality are regularly attacked and vilified.

Yet the truth is that, in our time, worldwide, God is winning.  The Holy Spirit is greatly moving in what was once called “the Third World”. We need to be thankful and even amazed at what God is doing!

“Look at the nations and watch – and be utterly amazed.  For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”  –Habakkuk 1:5

Every day, 20,000 Africans come to Christ.  Africa was 3% Christian in 1900 and is now over 50% Christian (Vision 2020).

In 1900 Korea had no Protestant church and the country was deemed impossible to penetrate.  Today Korea is 30% Christian with 7000 churches in Seoul alone and several of these churches have over 1,000,000 members (Vision 2020).

On June 15th, 2006, 3,000,000 believers paraded through Sao Paolo, Brazil in the world’s largest “March for Jesus” (William Stearns).

In A.D. 100, there were 360 non-Christians for every true believer.  Today the ratio is less than seven to every believer as the Holy Spirit does more than we could ever ask or imagine (Vision 2020)

There are currently 60-80 million Christians in China with between 10,000-25,000 converts a day (Open Doors).

About 500 Muslims come to faith in Christ every month in Iran–a country ranked among the top ten persecutors of Christians in the world.  Many of the new believers are young, since 70% of Iran is under the age of 30 (Vision 2020).

The number of Christians in Indonesia has grown from 1.3M forty years ago to over 11M today.  (Operation World).

The Jesus Film has been translated into nearly 1000 languages and over 200,000,000 people have indicated decisions for Christ as a result of the film (Campus Crusade).

If Bible translation had continued at its historic pace, providing a Bible in every people group’s heart language would have been accomplished in 2150.  Thanks to God’s working through Wycliffe’s Vision 2025, the work has been accelerated by over 100 years and is now on pace to be completed in 2042 (Wycliffe).

Missionary-founded churches in Japan are being turned over to nationals to lead, so missionaries can plant other churches.

No Christian was officially allowed to live in Nepal until 1960.  Now there is a church in every one of the 75 districts of Nepalwith estimates of over half a million believers (Operation World).

Are we seeing a Bangladesh “Book of Acts”? A Church leader there wrote to a friend recently: “By your strong prayers the Lord has saved 4,452 people and planted 150 churches from January to June, 2006. Prayer request: Our goal is to plant 300 churches and see 9000 saved in 2006.” (Vision 2020).

Christian radio through HCJB is being invited into places such as Russian prisons that would not allow missionaries.  Soldiers are abandoning pillaging missions when they listen to the stolen radios HCJB had distributed to the people and they are accepting the Lord.  These “fixed-tune” radios are broadcasting Christian programming in native languages (HCJB – Truth in Motion).

Every day 50,000 people in countries served by Asia Access come to Christ (Asia Access).

In 2005, Fellowship of Christian Athletes had over 5,500 campus clubs called “Huddles” with more than 275,000 participating (Fellowship of Christian Athletes).

The government of Papua, New Guinea recently mandated Bible teaching in every school in the country (Vision 2020).

2006: FCA receives above 100,000 at over 150 “Fields of Faith”events around the country.  In 2004 this was initiated with 6,000 people (Fellowship of Christian Athletes).

More people worldwide are committed to praying for worldwide revival than ever before.

Based on forecasts from organizations such as the World Bank and the United Nations, the world net population is forecasted to grow at less than 2% annually.  In other words, if Christians can lead others to receive Christ faster than that, the lost can be reached at an increasing rate.

If only 1 out of every 6 believers “reproduced” themselves one time each year, the entire world would be reached for Christ by the year 2020!

Our Lord’s Great Commission can be accomplished…people from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation can be told about the awesome grace and mighty power of God…and God is giving His people the opportunity to be a part of making it happen in the lifetime of this current generation!

Join us to learn more about what God is doing in the world, our church and our lives in our series, Unstoppable based on the book of Acts.

http://www.RidgeFellowship.com

Source: http://www.prayerfoundation.org/world_christian_growth_statistics.htm

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Connected in Unity

Posted on October 4, 2017 by dkoop

Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin had every reason as teammates to be friends, but they were not. Incognito harassed and bullied Martin. He called him a racial slur in a voicemail played by every media outlet in the country. He threatened to kill him and his family. Incognito claimed all of this was just locker room talk.  It is the way the guys talk to one another in the NFL.

Apparently, Martin didn’t get the memo. Jonathan Martin left his lucrative job citing emotional issues and fearing for his life. Though we don’t know all the details, it appears as if Martin has some culpability, as well. He was far too passive in dealing with Incognito’s threatening behavior. As a teammate, it appears, he should have expressed how troubling Incognito’s threats were to him. These two men had many more reasons to get along than to have a toxic relationship. Consider all the reasons they had to be friends.

They were both professional football players.

Both on the same team, the Miami Dolphins

Both had the same head coach and position coach

Both were offensive linemen.

Both played on the same side of the line.

Both were starters.

Both wanted to win.

Yet somewhere along the way one or both of them forgot they played for the same team and began to treat the other like an opposing team member!  They forgot the enemy was in another city. They forgot enemy is on another team.

Similarly, we have many more reasons to honor one another as Christ followers than to dishonor one another.

We have the same owner!

The same Father cheering us on from the press box.

The same Savior who scouted us and forgave us.

The same Spirit within.

The same playbook.

The same purpose.

We are going to same place when life is over.

In Ephesians Paul urges us as believers to remember that we are on the same team.  We are urged to get along:

3  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  Ephesians 4:3

Why should believers diligently maintain their unity (as described in 4:3)?  Christians belong to one body, through one Holy Spirit.  In the Roman-Greco world there were many gods to worship and sects to join. For Christians, however, there is only one body, unified by one Spirit.   Christianity is not a club to join, instead, true Christianity is a spiritual relationship with Christ as well as with other believers. Through the Spirit, all believers are united in one universal body.

What do the sounds of Gregorian chants echoing in a European monastery chapel, the shouts of “Sí, Señor Jesucristo!” in a house church in Mexico, the rich, layered harmonies of gospel music from an African chorus,  reverent hymns with a pipe organ in a stained-glass church all have in common? “There is one body and one Spirit, . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all.” We, the body of Christ, come in all the colors of the rainbow and with as many different ways to worship him. Rather than let those things act as barriers between us, why not celebrate our diversity, our different-ness?  We are different, but we are one body in Christ.   Let be connected in unity!

Darrell

www.RidgeFellowship.com

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Connected to Peace

Posted on September 27, 2017 by dkoop

During World War II a group of American soldiers was exchanging fire with some Germans who occupied a farm house. The family who lived in the house had run to the barn for protection. Suddenly their little three-year-old daughter became frightened and ran out into the field between the two groups of soldiers. When they saw the little girl, both sides immediately ceased firing until she was safe. A little child brought peace, brief as it was, as almost nothing else could have done.

17  He (Jesus) came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.  Ephesians 2:17

Jesus Christ came as a baby to earth, and through His sacrifice on the cross He Himself became peace for those who trust in Him. His peace is not temporary but permanent. He made both sides, Jews (those who were “near”) and Gentiles (those who were “far off”), into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.

We are quick to put up walls or barriers between us and others.  Religious walls, racial walls or economic walls but in Christ walls should come down.  When we place our faith in Christ, the only identity that matters is our identity in Him. There is no Jewish or Gentile Christianity, black or white Christianity, male or female Christianity, or free or slave Christianity. There is only Christianity. Our one Lord has only one church.

In 1949, following the defeat of Nazi Germany in WW II and the re-organization of Europe, the nation of Germany was divided into East & West. In the East a communist government was set up under the influence of the Soviet Union. In the West a free, democratic government was set up and benefitted greatly from the Marshall Plan & the economics of free enterprise. Life became much better in the West for German citizens. The city of Berlin became a crucible where these divided philosophies would literally divide the city. Fearful of losing many of its citizens, East Germany closed the border between the two states in 1952. But that didn’t keep an estimated 2.5 million East Germans from fleeing to West Germany between 1949 -1961. So, in 1961 the East German government built the Berlin Wall strictly enforcing such defections. The wall stood for almost 30 years as a very real and symbolic divide between the East & the West.

I still remember a speech given by President Reagan in 1987 at the Brandenburg Gate- a section of the Berlin Wall in West Berlin. At the height of the Cold War, the President used the opportunity to encourage freedom and a new peace. As he spoke about the wall behind him which separated West Berlin from East Berlin for decades, I still remember his words, “Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall!”  I can’t help in hearing those words, from recalling images we saw just a few short years later when the wall was torn down.

In November of 1987, the East German government held a press conference and lifted travel restrictions between the two Germanies. And Germans (both from the East & the West) scaled the wall and danced in celebration! Today nothing of it remains in a united Germany and a whole Berlin. The wall is just gone, a thing of the past.  (To see a section of the wall today visit the George Bush Library in College Station TX.)

Christ has torn down that wall that had divided Jews and Gentiles for so long!  We can have peace with God which should also translate to peace with others.

Because as Christ followers we have made peace with God, we can begin to live at peace with one another as brothers & sisters in the family of God.  The church is the oasis of peace in a war-torn world. Jesus said to His disciples, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

We naturally we do not get along with each other. Our courts are full of people who cannot get along. So they go to court to find someone to resolve the differences between them. We fight & we bicker. We criticize each other. We tear each other down. There are wars and fighting all around us at all times in history. On our own naturally we have difficulty living in harmony & peace with one another.

Into this squabbling war-torn world, God sent His personal, visible representative of “peace on earth, good will toward men.”

We can’t naturally get along which is why we need a supernatural love that comes from Christ.

People are looking at you, they are looking at this church, and they are trying to figure out if this Jesus guy is worth following. And the way that you and I act, the things we say, the way we handle conflict is telling people something about God. Let’s make sure what we are telling them and showing them Christ.

Can we love the people that are different than us? Can we pursue unity with each other? Can we live in peace with each other? Can we show this community that Jesus is for all people?

I think we can.  I pray we can.

Darrell

http://www.RidgeFellowship.com

 

 

 

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10 Facts You May Not Know about Ephesus

Posted on September 27, 2017 by dkoop

In our new series, Connected we are gleaning truth’s from the New Testament book of Ephesians.  Ephesians is a letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus.   Here are ten facts you may not know about this important city.

 

  1. Ephesus was “the most important commercial center in the Roman province of Asia[i].” It was a large and very influential port city. Today think New York or Hong Kong.
  2. Because of its size, location and influence Paul planted the church in Ephesus on his third missionary journey and Luke records that from this base “the whole province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” (Acts 19:8-10)
  3. Paul stayed and pastored the church in Ephesus longer than any other single church. 3 years!
  4. Timothy was the next pastor placed there by Paul, “As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus.” I Timothy 1:3
  5. If you could write one letter to your children or grandchildren passing on your cherished beliefs what would you say? The letter to the church in Ephesus is often called “quintessential Paul” as it concisely summarizes the essence of Paul’s faith and theology.
  6. According the church history, the apostle John was the pastor of the church in Ephesus. He lived there with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Why was Mary with John? Remember that John was entrusted by Jesus to care for his mother after his death on the cross. (John 19:26-27). According to tradition, John built a house for her and she lived there for nine years.[ii]
  7. From Ephesus, the Apostle John wrote the Gospel of John, 1 John, 2 John and 3 John.
  8. John wrote the book Revelation from the Island of Patmos, an Island just off the coast of Ephesus.
  9. In Revelation, John records a message from Jesus to seven churches. Which church is listed first?  Ephesus.  Why? It was either the largest church of the seven or the first church on the Roman mail route.  Either way the church in Ephesus was very influential.
  10. According to church history the apostle John was buried in Ephesus around 100 AD. After 313, when Emperor Constantine ended anti-Christian persecution in the Roman Empire, Ephesian Christians built a chapel over the apostle’s tomb.[iii]

Ephesus was an influential city with an influential church led by influential leaders but guess what?  That influence continues today as we live out the message penned by Paul.   Ephesians all about Christ and his church and how we can be connected which has great influence in any generation.   I hope you can join us this Sunday and get connected!

Darrell

www.RidgeFellowship.com

[i] The Essential Bible Companion, pg. 96, Zondervan, 2006.
[ii] Bible Hub, http://biblehub.com/library/emmerich/the_life_of_the_blessed_virgin_mary/xviii_the_death_of_the.htm
[iii] Our Sunday Visitor, https://www.osv.com/MyFaith/Article/TabId/586/ArtMID/13752/ArticleID/977/Archaeologists-discover-the-tomb-of-St-Philip-the-Apostle.aspx
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