Manchester Report

To describe this outreach in one word, I can only say: “Amazing”. Pastor Paulo and Claudia Simoes really manifest the love of God in and through their lives. With the hospitality and love they received me let me feel at home and put my heart to peace for ministry. The love they have for their people, I believe is the key to this growing church in the heart of Manchester UK. I was surprised that 90% of the church is young people. The leadership is all under 30 years of age. The maturity and love that these young leaders reflect is wonderful. Pastor Paulo has a vision for the nations and this connected our hearts because it is not only the same vision we have, but also the same countries that is on our agenda - Brazil and Angola.

The amazing thing is that the people were open for the word of grace and I preach as if I was at home. Because of the majority Brazilians in the church we used an interpreter simply because of the difference in some words used in the Portuguese Bible that are different from the English Bible. I was blessed to have Luciana Boetcher as interpreter. She is married to one of my old friends, Johan, form Bible school many years ago. I also stayed with them for two days and was blessed with the same hospitality and love. Johan is one of the Pastors in this church and is a great assistance to Pastor Paulo. I have been traveling to Brazil for many years and used many interpreters, but never in my life been blessed with this kind of interpretation. Luciana is anointed and what made it easy is that she is schooled in the word of grace.

We had different meetings: I ministered to the leaders, we had a Thursday night meeting and I preached on hardness of heart, Saturday night we had a married enrichment meeting and Sunday evening we had the last meeting and I preached on the goodness of God which is the cure for a hardened heart.

The church really put a demand on the prophetic gift and I think I prophesied to more than a hundred people in 5 days. The prophecies were confirmations and gave direction. Pastor Paulo knows his people and were blessed by the prophecies that was confirmed is so many people’s lives.

The outstanding part of this outreach was the salvation of Wonderson. We visited his house because Pastor Paulo wants me to pray for him. In the first place, I did not know that he was not born again, But the Lord showed me and we lead him to the Lord. I immediately prophesied over his live and the interpretation was a confirmation of direction that he needed. He has a dispute with his family, because he wanted to go back to Brazil and they said no. I did not know about this situation and my words to him were; “You go back to Brazil in this moment”. This was just amazing how God restored this situation with a word of knowledge and confirmed his return to Brazil. We baptized Wonderson and he went back to Brazil this same week - “Amazing”

In general the people in this church reflects great love for one another and visitors feels at home, this is because the pastors reflects the love of Jesus. This church exists only a little bit over a year and already making inroads in England and the British begin to come to meetings. I believe that they are the answer to revival in this community. I returned home with my heart connected to these people and I were encouraged myself. I know we have the same heart and vision and therefore MC Vida (Christian Life Mission) is our sister church in Manchester UK and I cannot wait to go back there. With the next outreach I want to take Linda and Salome with me. We are also going to be blessed with Paolo and Claudia’s presence this coming May 2009, for they are attending our conference in Gander.
Amazing!

Hidden Treasure

Receiving from God is one of the problems many Christians experience. Christ provides everything for us, but not many Christians experience this provision in their lives. They are like a family in South Africa who had been farming their land for generations. They planted corn year after year. With economic changes and drought, they eventually lost the land through bankruptcy. The person who bought this farm from them began to prepare the soil for his first crop. One day, he discovered a little stone that looked familiar to him. Because of his background in the mining business, he knew without a doubt that it was a diamond. He let a geologist come and take samples, and the geologist discovered that that soil was rich with diamonds. Best of all, the diamonds were not only underground but also mixed with the topsoil. Overnight, this man became a very rich man. The previous owners had plowed that soil for years and years, never knowing that they were plowing through rich treasures. They turned the diamonds from one side to the other year after year. They walked on diamonds, feeling them in their hands, but never with the knowledge of what was underneath and inside their soil. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” You have a treasure inside of you; you just need to realize it in your heart and mind.
Paul says, “For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17 KJV). What a powerful promise for us! Paul says that we only need to receive to reign. God the Father bases the new covenant on His gift of all things in Christ and our receiving by faith. We will reign, which means that we will overcome every situation in life if we come to understand the abundance of grace in Christ.

Passage from Pieter's book - "The Awakening"

Go to: http://www.gandervictory.org/ for more information

A Righteous Nature

Because I am born-again, I received the righteous nature of Jesus, and now I stand before God the Father without a sense of guilt or condemnation. Sometimes the word justification is used in different translations for righteousness. The word justification means “being declared righteous.” I stand before God just as if I had never sinned. Greatest of all, justification means that I have a right to all of His promises and blessings. Righteousness is my new nature as a new creation.

If I believe that I have the righteous nature of Jesus, then I qualify for all the promises of God. I have a right to be a child of God. I have a right to use the name of Jesus, and I have a right to live a full, prosperous life. We are justified from all the things from which the people under the law could not be justified.

But He whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Acts 13:37-39

Righteousness removes all shame, rejection, low self-image, low self-worth and low self-esteem. Righteousness establishes acceptance and approval in our hearts.

If I have no righteous conscience, I will not be able to receive. Christians who are unable to receive the favor of God because they believe that they first have to be perfect in their own efforts are one of the greatest frustrations in the church today. This belief brings condemnation and guilt on us. Obedience is not the qualification for the promises: faith is. Obedience is the result of faith in Christ Jesus. First there is faith, and then there is obedience. God is pleased with faith (Hebrews 11:6).

Paul puts it this way: “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
With my heart I believe unto righteousness; in other words, I believe in my heart that I have a right to His promises because of the fact that Jesus took away my sin. The word for salvation in the Greek is sozo, which means “provision, deliverance, healing, protection, and restoration.” In reality, it means to be saved from destruction and to be made whole. My confession that Jesus is Lord is my agreement with the fact that He is able to do these things.