Freedom in Christ (via evangelism.net)

Unfortunately, many new believers understand that they are reconciled with God, but seldom are taught what that also means for their life right now.

God has a great freedom in mind for every person on earth – that’s the freedom to know as we get up every morning that we have a relationship with Him. That relationship makes heaven our home forever, and gives us power to live in freedom here on earth, no matter what our circumstances may be.

The Bible says that when we trusted Christ for our salvation some amazing things happened – immediately – and simultaneously. Here are a few of the results of salvation that relate to living a life full of freedom. Over 33 categories are identified by Lewis Sperry Chafer in his book Salvation: God’s Marvelous Work of Grace.

1. You were reconciled to God so you could have a relationship with Him: “He has delivered us form the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1: 13,14)

2. You are a new creation and can live differently than you lived before your salvation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

3. You can walk by a new life principle from now on: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. ” (Colossians 2: 6-7)

4. The Holy Spirit comes into relationship with you and helps you to live a life that is increasingly Christlike. These characteristics of Christlikeness are called “fruit”. As you learn more about how to live through studying the Bible, praying, and worshiping in a Bible-believing church, walking with mature believers, this fruit will be more and more evident in your life. Of course, that is only if you want to be more like Christ and want to be obedient to what God wants, trying to do what is pleasing to God.

The list is found in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…”. What a great way to live! People will happily notice the new you, believe me!

5. God makes a way for you to escape from the temptation to sin. We still sin after we become a Christ-follower. Most of us have habitual sins or maybe we are just beginning to recognize some sins that we do that hurt others and ourselves. Sin wrecks our relationships, our sense of identity, our ability to tell right from wrong, and results in very negative consequences.

While God makes a way for us to be forgiven if we sin after we have been saved (1 John 1:9), He desires that we not sin and has given us this promise, “…God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians: 10:13)

Most Christ-followers are growing in freedom bit by bit. If you read the Gospels in the New Testament you will learn about Jesus, who He is, what He did and why it matters. But if you read the book of Acts and the Epistles, you’ll see how new Christ-followers struggled, and tried, and tried again to shake off old habits, ways of thinking, and harmful personal traits. The apostle Peter, after all, denied that he even knew Christ three times! The apostle Paul, had persecuted Christ-followers before he was saved! Some of the other disciples argued over and over about how to be the most important in the Lord’s kingdom. But God changed them when they came to Him.

By their desire to be obedient to God, through the grace of God, and the work of the Holy Spirit, they, and the Christ-followers who came after them, grew closer and closer to God. So they grew spiritually…and so can we. As we do, we are more and more free to love Him and others, and to be someone that the Lord will use to serve others. That is true freedom.

Mission Trips for 2011

In 2011 we are planning 4 church planting campaigns into Uganda and Argentina. There is also potential for a fifth campaign into Moldova, God willing. To date the plans for 2011 are as follows:

Central, Uganda (March 11-20, 2011)
Santiago del Estero, Argentina (June 3-12)
Buenos Aires (Pilar), Argentina (June 10-19)
Mid-West, Uganda (July 15-23, 2011)

Come join us on mission in 2011.

Uganda July 2010 Mission Trip

During this month we saw a small five men team head to the Luwero Province of Central Uganda to share Christ and assist in the planting of a new church. We partnered with Ggaba Community Church and Africa Renewal Ministries out of the capital city of Kampala. This healthy and visionary church began Ggaba Bible Institute just a few years ago with the intention of training pastors as they go back into the regions where there are little or no churches. Pastor Peter Kasirivu of Ggaba Community church targeted the community of Naamasujju in the province of Luwero as the location of this year’s church planting focus. After receiving training at Ggaba Bible Insitute, Pastor Timothy Kisaakye moved to the Naamasujju Community just a few months back. This was the original home of Pastor Peter Kasirivu, and had been his prayerful dream to assist to plant a church in the home of his parents in Naamasujju.
Our American team consisted of myself, pastor Jay Moeller, coach Brad Stephens, and college students, Evan Holman and Christopher Ross. Our team arrived on a Friday night and began ministry right away on Saturday. We focused the morning on training the national team with the tools we brought to share the gospel and then led them out on mission in the communities of Naamasujju and Woblinsi that afternoon. The response was overwhelming. Sunday we worshipped with the core group at Naamasujju and again went to the streets to share the good news of Christ. During the week we emphasized personal evangelism and discipleship, seeing hundreds respond by placing their faith in Christ. On Monday and Tuesday evenings we added Christian film at the Naamasujju site. In addition we had the opportunity of sharing Christ in three schools in the Naamasujju community. We were overwhelmed at the response of the community that week, sharing Christ with 1220 men, women, and children, and leading 490 to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We also were able to go back for 51 discipleship appointments with new believers.
While we were able to see many families trust Christ together, there were also many individuals that trusted Christ even when their families did not. We were even amazed to see many Muslims come to know Christ, knowing that they would be ostracized by their families. We saw both the young and old place their faith in Christ during the week. I was blessed to lead many men and women in their later teens to the Lord, but also was blessed to lead a man as old at 100 to a saving knowledge of Christ. We closed out the week with a celebration lunch for the new believers. Over 100 joined us on Thursday for lunch at the church site as we celebrated the birth of the new church in Naamasujju. Pray with us for the follow up work that is already in process by Pastor Timothy and the Naamasujju leaders.
Our team ended our time in country by visiting the mother church, Ggaba Community Church, just outside the capital city of Kampala. We also visited Bethany Village where I was able to lead a church planting team in 2002. Today it has a healthy church, a clinic, a Christian school, and 11 orphanage homes. We are praying for this “model” to be a reality in Luwero as the church of Naamasujju matures in the coming months and years.

Our five men team is about to leave for Uganda this coming Thursday, July 15th, returning July 25th. We would appreciate you joining us on our prayer team. If you would like a prayer calendar, please drop me an email at my email at john.williams@e3partners.org and I will email you one. Our focus will be to serve Gaba Community Church and Muti Baptist Church in their desire to each plant a new mission church in the Luwero area of Uganda. We have two teams planned for February of 2011 and are currently recruiting the team, if the Lord lays it on your heart to be a part. If you would like to receive emails from the field, let me know. I will also try to post pictures on Facebook, as I have the opportunity.

After both teams had headed for home, we began focusing on training church leaders in several different cities, setting the stages for future church planting campaigns. We began in the city of Santa Fe, where we had just finished our campaign planting campaign. Over the next week we traveled to Rafaela, Clodomida, Santiago del Estero, La Banda, and Catamarca. It was a blessing to encourage these leaders in their work for the Lord as they evangelize the lost and start new churches.

During the month of March, we had two teams from the U.S. head on mission to Argentina. TEAM ONE: The first team headed off to Pilar, Argentina on March 12-21. We worked with Pastor Beto Chambi and the Evangelical Church. We worked in the area called Villa Rosa, where we shared Christ daily for five days house to house. Every evening we had a service that involved music, testimonies, film, drama, games, and a whole lot more. Our fourteen member U.S. team was multiplied by the fourteen translators and fourteen member evangelism team from the church. Almost thirty other church members served by proving meals, transportation, and logistics. This was the first year to work with Beto, and I am looking forward to working together for years to come. During the week we shared the gospel with over 450 individuals, with 303 trusting Christ as Savior. Praise God! TEAM TWO: Our second team arrived the same day our first team was departing. Our ten member team packed into a fifteen passenger van (with luggage) and headed for a seven hour trip north to the province of Santa Fe. We were greeted by our host pastor, David Ibarra. David is a pastor and church planter from the nearby city of Rafaela. I have worked with David for over ten years and he did an excellent job preparing pastor Miguel Monessa and the host church, Iglesia del Norte (Church of the North) for the campaign. We worked in two sites, La Guardia and Oasis, planting a new church in each area. During the week we heard amazing stories of changed lives as hundreds trusted Christ during the home visits. God broke down many strongholds of Satan in both of these areas during the week, even sins of prostitution, Satanic worship, and incest. When Christ sets you free, you are free indeed. Over 430 heard a clear presentation of the gospel that week, with 212 trusting Christ as Savior. The strength of the teams was not just the evangelism, but the discipleship visits. During the two weeks we spent hours with 160 individuals after they trusted Christ; opening Scripture with them and connecting them personally to a church member who would continue to meet and disciple them. I also want to give special thanks to Eduardo Buldain and the students from the Word of Life Bible Institute. Eduardo, serves as our national coordinator for E3 partners to the evangelical leadership. He also serves as our liaison with Word of Life Bible Institute, from where we receive the majority of our translators. It was great to have our son Chris, who is attending the Bible Institute this year, serve as a translator for the team for his first time. A new first! I want to thank every supporter, prayer warrior, and financial partner for their investment in the work of the Lord.