Thank God for sending me a Pastor

Brother Musa and Pastor Friday

My name is Musa Mugala, my testimony is this; First and foremost I want to thank God so much for what he did to send my pastor Mwila here. I was a drunkard until Pastor Mwila came here in 2016. He preached to me about salvation in Christ and I gave my life to Jesus Christ as my personal savior. I have stopped drinking beer. Now I am very interested in what my pastor is teaching me and I am a Disciple of Jesus Christ. I thank God so much for the help and support HBMZ is giving me by providing the Disciple Maker materials.  I am no longer the same, Jesus Christ is in me and I am ready to start working in the ministry of the LORD. Continue to pray me. I don’t want to turn back again.  Now I am busy urging my family and friends to come and join us in our church. We need prayer.  Thank you, Amen.

Making Disciples, Making a Difference in India

Here is a testimony from one of the pastors HIMIndia is helping in India. Prabhu Kiran Rambabu is the director in Telangana State. God is using him to further the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the region. Through HIMIndia rural pastors with little education and no Bible College training are being helped in Bible Study Methods, systematic theology and homelitics to better equip the church that the Holy Spirit has made them overseers of. One on three Disciple making is the method. Disciples of Christ are the goal.

HIMIndia supports Prabhu Kiran in Telangana, Prabin Sipka in Orrisa and Stephen Prasad in Andhra Pradesh. Your partnership and prayers are welcome. Please consider a monthly gift of $50 or more. Our goal is $5000 per month to support the three brothers and their ministries. At present we are working with a $1000 monthly budget. HIMIndia partnered with these three men are effecting the lives and ministries of over 1500 pastors and their congregations by God’s Grace and to His Glory.

Solomon and Prabhu

Testimony:
My name is Pastor Solomon 50 years old. I am working as a pastor in Salabathpur village for 18 years. I didn’t have proper Bible training. I did primary education. I couldn’t preach properly on every Sunday. I couldn’t know how to prepare message to preach. I used to preach generally what I read in the Bible. In this situation one day Pastor K. Prabhukiran came and explained about Disciple training program. He invited me to attend this program then I took 5 youth members from my church to Disciple training program. GOD’s will and Wrong Teaching, these two subjects have changed my ministry pattern. I have been encouraged with the word GO and Make the Disciple. After attending this training program I changed the teaching pattern in my church. I am giving training to 3 members in my church to make the Disciple. My ministry is increasing day by day. And I am getting good response from the church. Pastor Prabhukiran has given me study material. I am studying every day with 3 persons. Thanks to HIMIndia and to Pastor Prabhukiran(Rambabu).

In His Ministry
Pastor Solomon.

Jeff Hawkins is the US Coordinator for HIMIndia working with Hope Builders Ministries to make Jesus Christ disciples of all peoples, everywhere until the end of time.

What does it mean to be Born Again?

WHAT IS REGENERATION?

Written by Dr. Daniel R. Carfrey

This brief study defends the Biblical definition of “regeneration” from the viewpoint of the philosophy that teaches/believes that a person must be born again before they can even “believe” the Gospel. In other words, their doctrine believes that regeneration precedes faith.

REGENERATION is not the RESTORATION of LIFE to a sinner’s will, because it is dead towards God.

• Total depravity does not mean that a sinner’s will is dead towards God.
• The sinner is born “dead in trespasses and sins” due to the inherited sin nature from Adam (Ephesians 2:1, 2 Corinthians 5:14)
• This means he is dying the first death for Adam’s sin, and will die the second death for his own sins apart from being saved (1 Corinthians 5:22, Revelation 20:11-15)
• This means he has no personal relationship (fellowship) with God apart from salvation, even as Adam was cast out of the Garden of Eden by God
• This means that in his flesh inherited from Adam dwells “no good thing”(Romans 7:18)
• This means that the devil incites the sinful desires of the flesh to entice one to sin with the consent of his will (Ephesians 2:1-3)
• So consequently “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”
• But there is no Scripture that says a sinner’s will is dead towards God
• All are guilty of not seeking God (due to there being no fear of God before their eyes. (Rom.3:9-18,23)
• But while all don’t seek God, this does not mean that they can’t, according to the apostle Paul (compare Acts 17:26-28). Otherwise, why hold man accountable for not doing so?
• A good example that man can seek God prior to being saved is God’s commendation of Cornelius. (Acts 10:1-4)
• Neither does total depravity mean that there could not be some good, due to God’s restraint upon his evil thoughts through the conscience, though man’s relative good is not good enough to obtain eternal life by one’s own works. (Romans 2:7-16)
• Total depravity simply means that a sinner who is born “dead in trespasses and sins” is incapable to come to God on his own or merit eternal life by his own works.  (Ephesians 2:8-9)

REGENERATION is the IMPARTATION of Christ’s new RESURRECTION LIFE and RIGHTEOUS NATURE to the inward man (spirit) as of the Day of Salvation, and to the OUTWARD man (body) on the Day of Resurrection.

• Just as a nature to disobey God came as a result of Adam’s one act of disobedience, even so the nature to obey God comes to those given Christ’s gift of righteousness as a result of His total life of obedience (Romans 5:12-25)
• This means that Jesus Christ had to first earn life by keeping the Law, in order to provide life by grace through His death on the cross for our offences against God’s Law (Romans 10:1-4)
• Christ’s new life and righteous nature is given by Christ alone to those who place their faith in Him (John 1:12-13)
• This new birth is imparted to the human spirit within by the Holy Spirit of God     (John 3:4-7)
• This new birth is compared by Jesus to living water on the inside, (John 4:10-14)
• This new birth was not available until Jesus rose from the dead and was glorified in heaven (John 7:37-39, Ephesians 2:4-5, Titus 2:11-15, Titus 3:4-7)
• This new birth is imparted as a seed of Christ’s life and righteous nature, which remains in him, and is enabled to grow and manifest Christ-like conduct as one abides in Christ (1John 2:28-3:10)
• This new birth and nature will also be imparted to the believer’s flesh or outward man in the day of resurrection (Romans 8:23, Ephesians 1:13-14, Philippians 3:20-21)
• It is Christ’s life imparted to the believer that makes him or her a new creature, and is the reason there will be no more sin in the new heavens and earth, (2 Corinthians 5:17)

WHILE OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS WERE JUSTIFIED, THEY WERE NOT REGENERATED WHILE LIVING IN THEIR FLESH

• Old Testament saints, though not experiencing the new birth in their lifetime, were still able to have a spiritual relationship with God, once they were justified by faith as was Abraham.
• Old Testament saints were not permitted to enter the presence of God when they died until Jesus first presented His blood to God in heaven (Paradise, Abraham’s Bosom, also Sheol was divided into two parts before Christ’s resurrection). As a result, they are now “spirits of just men made perfect,” (Hebrews 12:22-24)
• Old Testament believers are now regenerated in their spirits, being in the presence of God, because no one can be part of the kingdom of God apart from being born again (John 3:7)
• Because every saint in Christ now has the privilege of experiencing the new birth while still living in sinful flesh, he can be a “kind of first-fruits of his creatures,” provided that he allows that righteous nature to manifest itself through the power of God’s Word and the indwelling Holy Spirit (James 1:21, Galatians 5:22-25)
• The supernatural way of life made possible through the new birth is a mystery that was not revealed in the Old Testament
• This is why believers today are more accountable to live righteously than the Old Testament saints.

Understanding the true nature of REGENERATION, that it was not experienced until Jesus Christ came to give it, helps one to AVOID the ERROR of those who say, “regeneration precedes Faith.”

• Those who believe that a man’s will is dead towards God, also believe that a person cannot come to saving faith until God first activates his dead will so that he can believe
• Thus, because of his own erroneous definition of regeneration, he believes that regeneration precedes faith
• But it is clear from the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, that one MUST believe in Jesus Christ in order to be born again, not be born again in order to believe
• Be alert to this crucial doctrinal distinction. Regeneration is the result of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

What came first, the Chicken or the egg?

Here is a great study on the KEY WORD Regeneration. Dr. Daniel Carfrey explains the biblical meaning and why faith precedes regeneration.

Click HERE

 

Zambia 2014 Pastor Training Seminars

Hope Builders Ministry Zambia

https://picasaweb.google.com/118109803832574516972/ZambiaJune2014#slideshow/6038143596065210786

All pastors need training. If a man is called to pastor, he is called to training in the Word of God. It has been said that “no man is an island.” This is especially true for pastors. We all need continual training in the Word of God. The Holy Spirit is the teacher of all believers in Jesus Christ. This is one of His functions in the believers. He was given to “teach you all things” and “guide you into all the truth” (John 14:26; 16:13). The Holy Spirit is our primary teacher, but God also gives us mentors or human teachers. 2 Timothy 2:2 indicates that this is a generational process of disciple making. Paul taught Timothy who was to teach faithful men who would teach others also.

The HUB Model used by Hope Builders Ministries in Zambia and India is a disciple making model. One man is trained by another man who in turn trains another. HBM uses a 1 on 3 approach multiplying the disciple-making process rapidly.  One pastor trains 3 others (Peter, James and John) who in turn each train three others, etc.

This past June HIMAfrica led a team in Zambia conducting 7 pastors conferences with Hope Builders Ministries Zambia. HBMZ Administrator Matthew Daka accompanied Pastor Jeff Hawkins, Pastor Stephen Slater and seminary student Travis Milner from Lusaka to Kabwe to Kitwe to the Northwestern Province through the Kafue National Park and back to Lusaka. Seven different conferences were conducted serving about 300 HBMZ pastors. Two and three generations of disciples were represented at each conference, showing the growth of the ministry God has given through this disciple making process.

The theme of each conference was “Gospel Essentials – What God in Christ did to save us from His righteous wrath.”

Thank you for your prayers and support of HIMAfrica and HIMIndia serving with Hope Builders Ministries.