The Difference is ...

This morning Daniel and I woke up at 430am to try and watch the Super Bowl. Yes we are both vivid Steelers fans and wanted to see the game. Not sure if either the local TV or the streaming sites online would come through, we decided to give it a chance. Nothing on TV and with hardly anybody else awake in the city Internet was working great. The site came through.

I must say, even though we lost, that this was one great football game. Sheer excitement till the end... What if Ben's second to last through had not been incomplete... I bet the what if's list can be made however long you want it to be today... None of it will change the fact that we lost. But remember, it is not the end of the world. However big football is, they were expecting over 116 million viewers in the US alone, life is greater than a win or a loss. 

Sitting here in our hotel room looking out at the grey skies, hearing the rain batter the roof and seeing the water flow over each and every crevices makes me ponder and realize that I live such a rich life. Out in the corridor, we noticed how a room two rooms down had sprung a leak. At least we are in the dry. But more so we are in the dry when it comes to eternity. We know where we are heading and can settle down with peace in our hearts.

Somewhere towards the middle of the game I was again reminded of my whereabouts; we are in a Muslim nation. The call to prayer from the closest mosque was heard through our closed windows. We are here in nation, among millions of people that are not in the dry when it comes to their eternity. They all live their lives by the phrase "Insh Allah", IF GOD WILLS (OR WANTS) in plain English. No matter how good of a life they live, even if they were to follow every word of their holy book and the words of their prophet, they still have no guarantee of eternity. Maybe god will have a bad morning on the day of judgment and send us all to hell.

What a tragic life that must be. So lost with out hope. 

But when we receive Jesus Christ as out SAVIOR, he fills us with Holy Spirit as a guarantee of what is to come. We can KNOW where we are heading and have surety of eternity. That alone is to good to keep to oneself. That one sentence is enough to drive us to the ends of the world. Add to it the love of a Savior and the grace of a Father and there should be nothing that can hold us back. Then if you take in to account the entire gospel message - WOW, we should be constantly on the move, pushing forward making sure that more people choose to know where they are heading.

Or am I mistaken...?! Sometimes I wonder what has happened to us as HIS people today. Common, what are we laking? HE gave us everything.

So if he is our most prized possession, then why are we not doing all we can to show the world? I am no well educated man and perhaps that is why I do not understand the issues that seem to hold us back. They all seem so trivial. The first century Christians saw it as an honor if they where paraded and then throw to the beasts at the Colosseum in Rome. For them life was Christ and dying pure gain. What have we lost that their lives were filled with?

The passion had been lost. There simply is very little passion left. We need to re-ignite the passion. Make sure that you are crazy in love with Jesus and the flames of passion will seem like there are out of control, an uncontrollable forest fire. Burn, burn, burn. Burn for our King! The world needs passion! The world needs you!

The question is: WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT?

The answer is simple: The POWER of God. He lives within us and it is not to late to let the world see HIM. When we begin to live out the power of God, that makes us different. We can talk, talk and talk some more. I have met with some "wise" men on this trip and all they want to do is talk, talk, talk. We can play the act as well.

However, against these men we will loose and loose bad. The only thing that will make it through to the end and at the same time bring lasting change is if we live the power of God. Let it show that we are different. We are of another Kingdom! We are authorized to use the power that has been delegated to us. We are ambassadors for this New Kingdom and we must begin to let it show in our lives. An ambassador speaks bold on behalf of his nation. We must to!

Join us on the battle field for the largest harvest that the earth has ever seen. Every ETHNOS will hear before we hear that trumpet sound. The task seems large, but not impossible and last time I checked, our King likes when the odds are stacked up to the point of luring defeat. FOR GOD NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.

The world will hear and the world will receive. There is no other way to be sure of eternity

C U!

Published: By: The Almqvists - 2:34 AM

Faislabad and a wise man

Today we travelled to Faislabad to begin recon in this city, the third city of Pakistan. Even as we began entering the outskirts of the city we noticed a different pulse and order - we knew we were now in a mega city. Faislabad has a population of between 4 and 5 million people - that is half of Sweden in one city. WOW. So far there has not been even a hint of the pulse slowing... we will see later in the night. Our room faces the street, and a busy one I might add.

Our recon started out bad. Our guides began to take us to a place supposedly just outside town. After 30 minutes I simply said turn around and head back in to the city. God sent us to the city this time. We stopped at a park on the way in and that is where they finally understood what we looking for. 20 mins later we were standing on a field that can hold 50,000 people and lies in the middle of a crowded residential and industrial area. Not smack down town but there seems to be no field large enough down town. This could be the place.

On the way to the hotel we drove by two stadiums but judging from the drive by, the gates can not handle a big truck or crane to deliver the gear. This might be an issue...

Now we are relaxing at the hotel and preparing for a big pastors conference in the morning. I will have  the first session and then Daniel will take the second. We are expecting 250 pastors and leaders and together Daniel and I will challenge them and get them on their feet for the upcoming festival in their city. Jesus is coming to town to perform miracles and we need to be ready...

Backing up 24 hours, Daniel and I had an interesting meeting at our hotel. One of the religious leaders from the city came to us and we talked for an hour. Very interesting to hear his views and after our hour, he said that we are welcome to his city and he will do all he can to help us secure the festival and make it a success.. I will share some other time more of what we learned from this wise and seemingly humble man...

Appreciate your prayers...

Will be back soon with more from the field.

Published: By: The Almqvists - 10:00 AM