tim hoeksema :: Feeds

Jesus, light the fire

There are days when life seems very overwhelming. But Jesus is greater. At time we try to carry the weight of the world and the current crisis of our friends. But Jesus is still greater. At Connect Cafe a deal I'm apart of we see our fair share of the challenges of life.  I'm reminded again this morning that on my own strength I'm doomed.  But in Christ all things are possible. I'm exited that God has chosen to use us to bring light to a dark and hopeless world.  It seems at times like our little flame might burnout, or might not amount to much but the light of Jesus is not about us mustering up the energy to change lives.  It about Jesus changing lives, and we get to join Him in that.  I love watching people who are hopeless find hope in Christ.  I love seeing Christ change me.  Ministry is messy, it hurts, at times it even brakes my heart.... it is so worth seeing Jesus alive in people. May Jesus live through us today.  Set forth a blaze Lord.

Let's Pray

Lord please grow us in the area of prayer.  May we become so dependent on You that prayer isn't our last hope but our first thought. Please give us a passion for prayer, for sweet communion with You. May our hearts cry be to know Your presence and make Your presence known in this generation.  May You be first and all the stuff of this world fade away.  May we be more overwhelmed with You than anything this world has to offer.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need - Hebrews 4:16

How big do you think God is?

I was reading Crazy Love again to today.  On page 28 Francis Chan quots A. W. Tozer....

The Power of MULTIPLICATION...

Acts 1:15 – All this started with 120 people

Act 2:47 – New believers added daily

Acts 5:14 – Multitudes of new believers added

Acts 6:1 – Disciples increasing

Acts 6:7 – Disciples multiplying

Acts 9:31 – Churches Multiplying

Acts 19:10 All in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus

Looking at the books of Acts we can see that the Jesus movement started small.  Over time this deal has grown check it out. 

Filled with the Holy Spirit

Yesterday I received the following email from Mrs. Hopp from our kids school...

Love

Today Jenny and I are heading to a wedding of friends of ours, Bryan and Lisa. Love is an amazing thing. When I'm at a wedding it reminds me of how scripture says we are the Bride of Christ. I think about how a bride waits to be united to her groom with great exspecation. I long for Christ's return in that way.  But we also have the joy of knowing, the promised Holy Spirit is with us right here right now.  And along with that scripture says that Christ lives in us as we follow Him.  So today celebrate not only human marriage but the join we have in being united with Christ as we live in passionate pursuit of Him.

Ecuador 2008

I would love to tell you all that God did in Chone Ecuador this year, but that would take a long time. If you want to know more about what the Lord is doing in Ecuador I would be happy to meet with you. Please email me to find out more aboout Ecuador or how you can get involved for next years trip hoeksema.tim@gmail.com. So here go he highlights. This year we had 40 North Americans, when we arrived in Ecuador we work in two locations. Bahia and Chone.  I was with the group of 19 people that went to Chone. Chone is a dark place. When a place is dark and full of evil the light of Jesus shines even brighter. On our first night in Chone someone was shot and killed just outside our hotel.  Three days later 5 head and 5 pairs of hands where found in a pile. When I say dark I mean dark. As we walked though the streets a Ecuadorian friend of mine named Cixellio was afraid to go out and share Jesus with people.  Chone is a town of about 45,000 people.  This is the town where many prisoners are released as serving their time. We stopped for a moment and prayed and went out to share the good news. The people of Chone have very little hope.  When they realize that hope can be found in Jesus Christ their faces light up. It's awesome to see the power of Jesus and His Word transform hearts.  

Verto

verto [+ yerga, tergam] turn, retreat, exchange
verto to flee, interpret, understand, upset, overthrow
verto to turn into, tranform
verto to turn, turn around, turn up, to put to flight

A passionate pursuit

For many years now my personal mission has been to passionately pursue Jesus Christ and help others do the same. I can't do this on my own strength.  I can't muster up the energy needed to pursue Christ. It really comes down to surrendering my will and my plans to Jesus. I have been realizing lately that it so much more the other way around. Jesus is pursuing me what I need to do is let Him in.  I need to trust Him enough to give up control of my life. Yielding to His plans and His will for my life.  Jesus come capture me. You can have all of me. I'm Yours. Thank you for pursing me.

Crazy Love

For the last week or so I've reading a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. So far it's been an eye opener.  I'm about half way though the deal and can't wait to read on. If you have a chance pick up a copy or checkout www.crazylovebook.com. I will be sharing more thoughts about this book in the future.

Stories from the road

Last week while in Chone Ecuador I saw God work.  I have a bunch of stories. I just wanted to share one today. A local artist painted scripture on  the walls of Luz del Mundo, the church we work with during our week in Ecuador. This artist name is Simon. When we step into the church I couldn't help but notice his work. During the Sunday night service I shared a message based on the scriptures on their wall. During the week I came to find out that Simon enjoyed painting scripture for local churches, but he didn't know Jesus as his Lord. On Wednesday July 16 I was able to talk with him at his studio. He smiled as he prayed to start a relationship with Jesus. Praise God for this changed life. Fast forward to Thursday night.  At the closing celebration service of the week. The people at Luz del Mundo gave us paintings they had commissioned Simon to make for us. Each of the four north american members of our team received a painting. These for paintings are among the first that Simon has made since starting to walk with Christ. Here are photos of the church walls and the painting the church gave to me. I love the way the Lord works.

1 Peter 2:9-12

 9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Verse 9

CHOSEN PEOPLE

ROYAL PRIESTHOOD

HOLY NATION

BELONGING TO GOD

WHY - that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. ACTION ITEM - Declare the praises of Jesus.

Verse 10

Not a people >>>> now you are a people (community) belonging to God. Receiving the mercy that God is always in the process of giving.

Verse 11

As followers of Christ we are strangers in this world because we don’t belong to it anymore.  But we all know that everyone even Christians still sin.  The battle is still raging. Peter is calling us to abstain from sinful desires. ACTION ITEM - Confess your sins to God and find other safe people to talk to honestly and openly.

Verse 12

In view of verse 12 do you live life in such a way that others would identify you with Jesus just by watching you? Do others see a difference in you? Are being Jesus with skin on? ACTION ITEM – Ask Jesus to make you more like Him. He’s the only one that can.

ACTION ITEM KEY WORDS: DECLARE, CONFESS and ASK

Light of the World

Spending time with the folks at Luz del Mundo reminded me again that we are a light in this dark world. Sometimes as follow of Christ we forget that we are called to the dark places to bring to light and life.  Jesus is that light.  Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life, no one can come to the Father except through me." With that said, how do we bring light to the darkness around us not just a missions trips but all the time.  What will it mean for you to be light today? How will God use you today? Are you willing to be used by God even if it goes against your will or agenda for the day? I want to encourage you to take risks and step out trusting that Jesus knows best.  Be light shinning in the darkness today!

Pictures!

I have just uploaded pictures so that you can check them out.  I will also be adding more to this blog over the coming days.  These picture will help explain what the trip. To see all my photos click here.

Safely Home

Just brief note to let you all know I made it home safely! Praise the Lord for all He did this week. From left to right my translator Gustavo, Cexilio from Luz del Mundo, Me, and Pastor Pedro the pastor of Luz del Mundo Church in Chone Ecuador.  Praise God for their partnership in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

heading home

Thanks to all who have been praying. The Lord has truly been glorified this week. Praise God for the many lives that have been touched through this years team. We are tired but it the good tired like after running a good race. I will be writing more soon. I'm at the airport in Guayaquil right now. It's 11:05pm on Friday night we'll be leaving at 12:35am. I can't wait to see my family. I've missed them so much. Pictures and more to come soon.

Jesus Rocks!

Declare His Glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all people. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise. Psalm 96:3-4

Last Night with Luz del Mundo

This is our last night with our church, Luz del Mundo. They have become family. I praise God for the way Christ unites us as one in Him. Every year it blows my mind that within a few day it seems like I´ve been with these folks forever. Jesus Christ is the most importent part of my life and it´s the same with Pastor Pedro. So Christ unites us and we are family despite all the differences; language, culture and so on. When you really begin to think about people we are so much more alike then diffent. We have the same feelings, eat, breath, and on and on. I believe that Pastor Pedro and I are very much the same. And I know for certain that Jesus is the same no matter the language or culter. He is the same yesterday today and forever!

The Mayor of Chone

Today help train the people of Luz del Mundo how to disciple people. Our church is getting it. This week show 121 people commit their lives to Jesus. They understand that they are a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come. I thank God for the people at our church, they will be doing the hard work of discipleship and followup with so many people. Please join me in praying for the people at Luz del Mundo to disciple well those that have come to know Christ this week. In about 10 minutes our whole team of north americans, translator and some pastors from Chone will make a visit to the Mayor of Chone. Last night he called us and asked us to come and see him. Please pray for him to come to know Christ. We will be sharing the gosple with him. I thank God for all He is doing here in Chone. Keep up the work of praying for the Lord to move in mighty ways here in Chone. Today is our last day in Chone. It will be very hard to say goodbye to the people of Chone. The folks at Luz del Mundo church have become brothers and sister to us. We are family. See you all soon.

Jesus Power!

It is hard to find time to write a blog when the Lord is doing so much. We have been working with our church Luz del Mundo (Light of the World)since Sunday. Many people have prayed to start a relationship with Jesus! We are working with a small church that has a big heart for Jesus. We have been praying alot and God have shown Himself to be faithful. Our team is made up of four north americans, four translators and many people from the local church. The folks from our church have a passion for Jesus and His word. We have been able to encourage them to step out in faith and talk with thier families and friends about Jesus. I will share one brief story. Today we have the honor of going to to a farming community called Dande. The people in Dande have never heard the gosple of Jesus Christ before. This is new ground. By the end of out time in Dande more than 20 people made commitment to follow Christ. God is doing a new thing in Dande and I thank God for what He is doing. I will write latter about the crazy ride in the back of a large truck on a very pothole filled road. Keep praying as we hand over more ministry to the folks at Luz del Mundo. We are working outselves out of a job and thats a good thing because we will leaving Chone Friday morning.

in Houston Texas

we are spending the afternoon in houston. At this time there are 9 of us team member sharing lunch and conversation. Soon we will be joined by 31 other campaigners from California. The team is beginning to gel. Tonight we will spend our first night in country. Please pray for the transition that many of us are making. Pray also for conversation that we will be having over the coming hours together!

The night before Ecuador

Expectent Prayer

When I think about what the Lord is going to do in Ecuador is causes me to pray with great expectation.  I just know as we pray for His will to be done it will be.  My desire is that I pray this way about what God can do at home in Fond du lac and around the US.  Do you find yourself praying big prayers asking God to show up in huge ways?  Do you take steps of faith that can only happen if God is in them?  Are you willing to pray these kinds of dangerous prayer? Then join me in praying not only for the people in Ecuador but the people you run into today!

Heading to Ecuador Friday July 11th, 2008

I am so excited to see what the Lord has in store for us as we head out to Ecuador.  This will be my fourth trip to Ecuador to help make disciples and plant churches. Please keep our team in your prayers as we head out.  I will be adding to this blog as I can from Ecuador.  Know that God desires us to live on mission each and every day.  So live like Jesus with skin on today!