Issue 12 | 2013
Meet
Nick N
ICK VUJICIC may not have arms or legs, but this Serbian-Australian inspirational speaker and evangelist boldly declares his faith in God, and the “ridiculously good life” he leads trusting in God’s plans for him. Gathering thousands of Filipinos for two nights, Nick shared the unstoppable message of hope and salvation through Jesus Christ during his Unstoppable Tour in Manila. Over 12,000 attendees heard the Gospel shared through Nick’s testimony at the Unstoppable Faith conference in CCF Center on May 18, 2013. Following that, a full stadium greeted Nick during his Unstoppable Dream conference at the SMART Araneta Coliseum last May 20, 2013. “It was a fantastic time in a country that is rapidly growing in many ways. Love the people above all, and the receptivity of the message of hope we had in our hearts to share,” he said in an interview with SAVED Newsmagazine. Some of his memorable experiences during his Asian tour were, “The hospitality of the people, food, weather, the hotels and stadiums. The coolest things though, were the stories of inspiration I encountered along the way, and witnessing how the ministry touched millions of lives.” While Nick speaks about many topics during his conferences, there is one important message that he wants people to remember. “[I want] people to acknowledge the need for God in every area of their life, and live the best life they can according to God’s plan and grace. To love Him more and love our neighbours more,” he said. Now that Nick has a family with his beautiful wife Kanae and his son Kiyoshi, he said his focus is on, “planning ahead, trying to reach the most amount of people in the world with less traveling involved.” The three lessons he’d like to teach Kiyoshi as he grows up are: 1. Love God, 2. Live for God’s Purposes, and 3. Do your best and trust God in the rest. Nick hinted at future tours in the Philippines, saying, “We definitely want to come back and bring my wife and son one day, and take a vacation as we heard of the beautiful beaches that are there.” Nick Vujicic definitely touched many lives during his Unstoppable Tour in Manila. Though people came to see a man with no limbs, Nick always pointed them back to Jesus and gave all the glory for his success to our Lord and Savior.
EVANGELISM CALLING ALL CHRISTIANS
5
MISSION ORGANIZATIONS You Can Support REFRESH YOUR
PLAYLIST
Your Christian resource. “Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O Lord; I will sing praises to your name.” Psalm 18:49
CHALLENGE
TAKE THE
START HERE
Do you fear rejection? Ridicule? Hate? Jesus faced all of that during His time on earth.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
TIPS FROM A STREET EVANGELIST
UNDERSTAND
what God did for you. Internalize it again and again until you are consumed by the thought of how much God loved you for Him to suffer on the cross.
REALIZE
that the people around you could be living their last day in this world, so that you’ll make sharing the Gospel to them a priority.
Matthew 5:11-12
Many Christians are afraid to share the Gospel because they have fear in their hearts. Pray that God will take away that fear, and start making Jesus Christ’s name known! EVANGELISM: Share your testimony with a friend, relative, or even someone you meet on the street. Be creative! Use that Bible app in your phablet, show pictures, play videos, and do it like Jesus did with love and compassion.
SMILE
so that others will know that you are someone who will make their day great.
ASK
people simple questions like “Do you know a Christian church nearby?” or even “Can I share something with you?” to start a conversation about the Gospel.
KNOW
what the focus of our message should be by checking out various resources. To get things started, you can find free resources on www.livingwaters-asia.com.
ON MUSIC AND EVANGELISM Ephesians 5:18-20 “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I’ve heard it said that music has a way of sneaking past our brains and going straight to our hearts. This simply means that music is such an emotional medium. It skips our intellect, and affects our deeper parts, our spirits, our souls! Maybe that’s why Paul basically commands that we use this medium in our communion with God and each other. it allows us to focus less on the ‘over thinking’ to give way to the ‘feeling’. The whole point of writing and performing the songs is to draw people to Christ. Whomever that might be, and whenever it happens, if you’re listening to a Starfield song you’re likely thinking about His Kingdom and having your heart challenged or encouraged in the direction of grace. The Bible says to fill our minds with “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable” (Phil 4:8), and to be wary of those things that might pollute it. Christian music is a perfect way to fill our minds with the right kind of things.
Timeufeld N Frontman and vocalist of
STARFIELD
Issue 12 | 2013
EVANGELISM, CALLING ALL CHRISTIANS
by Dennis Aglosolos, Director of Living Waters Asia
EVANGELISM does not require you to go has a message to declare. All you need to Bible seminary training. Any Christian to do now is to fully surrender to His will can do evangelism. through prayer, holy living, Bible reading, and obedience to what He calls us to do – A true Christian understands why God including evangelism. needed to save him (because we are sinners bound for Hell), and how He did The ability to continue doing this in it (by dying on the cross in our place). your life will be fueled by your love and With that in mind, that Christian already gratitude to our Saviour.
A true Christian will have a natural desire to reach the lost out of gratitude to God, and fear for what will happen to sinners if they do not turn to God for His salvation.
F I G H T YO U R F E A R S W I T H P R AY E R S Fear is the number one enemy of any evangelist. Honestly, after doing [street evangelism] for the last seven to eight years, I still battle fear every time I try to approach people on the street to witness to them. Although prayer is still the best way to battle our fears of sharing the Gospel to people, there are three things that when I remember, makes me swallow whatever fear I have.
>
If I don’t share the Gospel to someone God puts in my heart to talk to, God will someday hold that person’s blood accountable on my hands. “When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.” Ezekiel 3:18
S H A R I N G C H R I S T ’ S G I F T O F S A LVAT I O N
I
grew up in a Christian family with several pastor-relatives. I was very involved in church activities and was even our church’s choir director for five years. Growing up, I understood how a Christian should be living his/her life and tried my best to act well as one. No person who knew me would doubt the authenticity of my conversion story, which happened during my grade school years. But one evening in December 2005, while watching my first Way of the Master episode hosted by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron called “True and False Conversion”, I was confronted by God’s standard of morality – the Ten Commandments. I realized that I was living a lie. I was a false convert. That evening, for the first time in my life, I truly
came to God in humble repentance and faith, and gave my life to Him. C.H. Spurgeon once said, “Have you no desire that the lost be saved? Then be sure of this, you are not saved yourself.” I agree with him 100%. A true Christian will have a natural desire to reach the lost out of gratitude to God, and fear for what will happen to sinners if they do not turn to God for His salvation. You see, whenever I remember that evening in December 2005 when God really caught my attention, I always realize that had God taken my life before that evening, I’m definitely in Hell right now. For that, I’m extremely thankful to Him, and hope that others will likewise have my experience through my sharing of the Gospel to them.
>
I want other Christians to be bold in sharing the Gospel so that more people will be brought to the foot of God’s cross. If I let my fears defeat me, I will not be able to challenge others to be bold for Christ.
>
Any Christian who has tried riding a roller-coaster has no choice but to share the Gospel to others. Why? When riding a roller-coaster, we fight fear. It’s a shame that we fight our fears for a few seconds of thrill, but aren’t willing to swallow our fears of sharing the Gospel to others out of gratitude to God.
I’ve ridden a roller-coaster only once in my entire life. That’s enough for me to surrender to God’s will and regularly share the Gospel to others.
ACTS 4:12
A
re you called to be a cross-cultural missionary? Well, whether or not you’re ready to immerse yourself in a totally different life and culture for the glory and fame of Jesus, all who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ are commanded to play a role in Missions! (It’s the Great Commission – not the Great Suggestion, remember?)
W
F
H is ‘an international relief and development organization that answers God’s call to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the poor.’ It’s a simple maxim, but there is a lot of hard work and dedication that goes into targeting not just individuals, but whole communities!
here there are Christians, there is persecution. This is something we should be prepared for when we surrender our lives to follow Jesus Christ. While we have the freedom to worship God in the Philippines, other Christians around the world are put in jail, tortured, and killed for their faith in Jesus Christ. Let’s take a stand to help those who share our faith, but not our freedom. www.opendoors.ph
Check out their Child-Focused Community Transformation. The help and time you give will not just affect these communities now, but will ripple into positive long-term effects in the next 10-20 years. Go and do something good for your fellow Filipinos! Check out www.fhphilippines.org.
M
aybe you’re not ready to GO yet, but you have the capability to SEND. Consider partnering with the Philippine Sending Council (PSC) under SEND International. Its mission is to ‘mobilize God’s people in the Philippines to engage the unreached in order to establish reproducing churches.’
I
f you’re in it for the long haul, OMF’s got a wide array of short-term opportunities that last for 5 days until about 3 years. OMF International is a Missions Organization focused on reaching East Asia’s People Groups. Their vision is that, “Through God’s grace, we aim to see an indigenous, biblical church movement in each people group of East Asia, evangelizing their own people and reaching out in mission to other peoples.” Go ahead and work alongside long-term missionaries in making a strategic contribution as efforts are made to reach Asia. It’s going to be an incredible ride! http://www.omf.org
“
Don’t be content sitting on the sidelines. Don’t let yourself miss out on the insurmountable joy of losing your life for Jesus. Let nothing hold you back!
“
When you partner with PSC, you make it possible for missionaries to go where God wants them to be. Be an active investor in church planting, discipleship and leadership development. Visit www.pscsend.org today or text them at 0917.363.7156.
W
hen the Bible states, “make disciples of all nations”, do you know that this doesn’t just mean political countries that have governments, land, sovereignty, etc? The Bible means people-groups, and we’ve still got unreached ones right here in the Philippines! What’re we doing about these unreached tribes? Can we win them to Jesus and the gospel? YES! Get started today. Email Pastor Jun Fabra at jun_fabra@ntm.org.
Issue 12 | 2013
REFRESH # YOUR PLAYLIST
1
Jamie Grace Beautiful Day
#
#
your top 10 song chart
#
3
Mandisa Overcomer
#
6
#
Sanctus Real Pray
4
#
7
#
9
Josh Wilson Pushing Back the Dark
YOUNG AND FREE HILLSONG YOUTH
Generations have sung and worshiped God with songs by Hillsong Live! and Hillsong United. This year, we welcome a fresh new worship team called Hillsong Youth with their debut album Young and Free. Hillsong Youth describes themselves as a “youth ministry by name, but by identity we are a people who have found hope, salvation, joy, forgiveness and a future in Jesus Christ.” This new entry under Hillsong Church continues their musical legacy in creating songs that overflow from the heart and reflect a life in Jesus.
http://hillsong.com/en/youngandfree
8
Chris August
Shine Beautiful Bright Baby Love
NEW RELEASE
Download “Alive” from Hillsong Youth’s Young and Free at
5
#
Big The Daddy Weave Only Name
Plumb One Drop
#
Jason Gray Nothing is Wasted
FREE DOWNLOAD
2
Restore
10
Citizen Way
Nothing Ever (Could Separate Us)
PLANETSHAKERS is passionate to see generations worldwide unite together. Their heart is to see people have a powerful encounter with God, and be transformed by music to make a difference in the world. This year, they are holding their first worship concert in Cebu - their only stop as part of their Nights of Fire tour.Â
TICKETS AVAILABLE
www.beccamusic.com | www.facebook.com/PlanetshakersNightOfFire
SAVED Newsmagazine is calling for volunteer writers, photographers and layout artists! Send your writing, photo or design samples to editorial.savednewsmagazine@gmail.com.
CONTACT US
We would love to hear from you! Send your feedback to savednewsmagazine@gmail.com or call 910-5352. facebook.com/savedmagazine savednewsmagazine.tumblr.com @savednewsmag
FOLLOW US