Tag: ilford
Baptisms This Sunday (23rd August)
Well, it did not start too well. There were a couple of technical difficulties and it took us until after 6pm to get the tank filled with water. This is for a church service that started at 3pm.
Well, we had a time of worship then I went to help fix the tank. Eventually my wife and the church came over to the church building we were meeting in. We got a few pizzas and some Indian take away and had supper together. Finally the tank was nearly full. We baptised our (eldest) son first.
I asked him the following three questions:
Do you believe that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully human, that He died on the cross bearing your sins so you could be righteous, and rose again on the third day?
Have you repented of your sins and put your faith in this same Jesus?
Can you confess out loud to everyone witnessing that Jesus is Lord?
A lovely lady then gave a prophetic word to our son, and another wonderful lady gave him a Scripture.
Then we baptised Poonam – who last year was a Hindu! – and asked her the same questions. My son stayed in the pool with me and helped me baptise her. It was wonderful. The presence of God in the room was overwhelming. She was then given a Scripture.
The Lord showed me something wonderful – part of a baptism is to embed into our memory that we have died with Christ and we are living a new life with Him (Romans 6.2-3) – if during the baptism service we have to wait around for hours, buy pizza and Indian, baptise people in a few inches of water, and all the parephenalia associated with the day – then all that does is serve to bind it into someone’s memory. The devil can’t even disrupt the day, because every disruption is simply an aid to memory!
Glory and freedom,
Benjamin
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Back in the Library!
Had our first regular service in the library today. Met a new lady who had heard about us from someone who came to the crusade and intends to come regularly, but could not come tonight.
Also another pastor came to hear the Word. That is a blessing to me when Pastors come because they appreciate what I am preaching.
If you want to hear the sermon or download it on mp3, it is available here.
I just sense we are on the verge of something wonderful. I am just praying for strength to carry through until it breaks and we see a Spirit-filled Word of Faith multi-ethnic cell church in London and Essex.
Blessings to you all,
Benjamin
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Wonderful News Healing Crusade Evening Two
No sermon sorry – that old wonder of technical difficulties!
Only 8 adults, mostly new people – all Christians. Then had one person come in off the street, he was sitting outside drinking and I invited him in, and I preached the gospel to him as if that was my intended message to all the Christians! He loved the message, and took my business card and a church card away with him.
We then prayed for him as a church and I preached on the free grace of God and how Christ has paid the complete price for all our sin and sickness and we can enjoy the righteousness of God. And also because it is free that we should welcome in people off the street no matter how different they seem.
I talked about respectable sins and disrespectable sins. Some slaves would be made to be cooks, treated well, almost as part of the family. Other slaves would be used as the family prostitute. One respectable, one disrespectable. Both slaves – both need redemption. Lazarus was dead and he stinketh – Jairus’ daughter was dead but could be mistaken for sleeping. You couldn’t mistake Lazarus for sleeping! Both needed resurrection.
Our sins might be “nice” ones or they might be “horrible” ones but we all need a Saviour so we should never be proud towards people who come who are obviously sinners and who stinketh and who are disrespectable because actually they need the same miracle we needed.
When I started to preach, the Lord said to me that the meeting was smaller but more significant and this is true because two ladies caught me at the end and want to join our church and our vision.
You know God didn’t say make crowds but make disciples, so I receive His Word that tonight has been more insignificant. The man who came in off the street said everyone made him feel so welcome even though he didn’t like large crowds (I know we are hardly a large crowd!!!)… afterwards I was discussing with my wife and every example I chose was relevant in his life, praise the Lord.
All in all a very positive night… tomorrow the Lord has told me the Holy Spirit is going to do special things. I cannot wait!
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Be Thankful!
Street Witnessing 27th July 2009
As our Wonderful News Healing Crusade is fast approach (first meeting two weeks tomorrow!) I am going out street witnessing and inviting people to the meetings. Today, I stood outside the main shopping centre in Ilford and handed out tracts and spoke to people for about 2 hours.
There was not much in the way of conversation going on – mainly because people were clearly in a hurry to get home for dinner (I understand that!) and from work (I understand that too!). I started a bit later than I intended to because when I arrived in Ilford, the heavens opened – not the glory ones but the raining ones! I had to take refuge in a bookshop until the rain stopped.
People were on the whole willing to take a leaflet. Asians in particular were remarkably polite and willing to talk. One genetleman from Sri Lanka who was a born again Christian had recently lost his job. We prayed on the street together for him to find work, and chatted for a while. He promised to come to the crusade on at least one night.
Thanks everyone who prayed for boldness for me and for open doors of communication today. Please pray for the same tomorrow when I am going to Barkingside.
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Church Service, 26th July 2009
Our next service is 3-5pm on Sunday 26th July.
Our monthly theme is “How to Heal the Sick” and Pastor Ben will be teaching people what to do when healing does not come This is preparation for the healing crusade in August and the people who are there in July will be the team in August who are there ministering healing to the sick.
We do not put our address on the web for security reasons, but if you contact us we will be more than happy to give you directions and answer any questions you have. We will be worshipping the Lord and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us as we do in any cell meeting.
We will be resuming meetings in the Fulwell Cross Library in August of this year, and in the summer are having a “Wonderful News” Gospel Crusade. Watch this space for further details, or if you cannot wait, please feel free to email us: info@treeoflifechurch.org.uk
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Church Update for Next Sunday (12th July, 2009)
Our next service is 3-5pm on Sunday 12th July.
Our new montly theme is “How to Heal the Sick” and Pastor Ben will be teaching people what to do when someone sick is standing in front of them. This is preparation for the healing crusade in August and the people who are there in July will be the team in August who are there ministering healing to the sick.
On the 12th we will be talking about how to receive your healing by faith in the completed work of Christ on the cross in redemption.
We do not put our address on the web for security reasons, but if you contact us we will be more than happy to give you directions and answer any questions you have. We will be worshipping the Lord and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us as we do in any cell meeting.
We will be resuming meetings in the Fulwell Cross Library in August of this year, and in the summer are having a “Wonderful News” Gospel Crusade. Watch this space for further details, or if you cannot wait, please feel free to email us: info@treeoflifechurch.org.uk
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Church Update for Sunday 28th June – All Welcome!
Our next service is 3-5pm on Sunday 28th June.
Our monthly theme for our preaching and teaching for June is “Hope” and Benjamin is going to finish the series of 4 talks by talking about “Hope and Glory”. In addition, Andy is going to do some teaching on the power of the prayer of agreement and we are going to agree for specific success during our healing crusade. During the week, Ben is going to summarize the message and put it on the blog.
We do not put our address on the web for security reasons, but if you contact us we will be more than happy to give you directions and answer any questions you have. We will be worshipping the Lord and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us as we do in any cell meeting.
We will be resuming meetings in the Fulwell Cross Library in August of this year, and in the summer are having a “Wonderful News” Gospel Crusade. Watch this space for further details, or if you cannot wait, please feel free to email us: info@treeoflifechurch.org.uk
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Wonderful News Healing Crusade (August 11-14th 2009 – ALL WELCOME)
Tree of Life Blog 