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Gary & Marilyn Skinner - Tuesday Evening Plenary Session 2

Gary and Marilyn Skinner addressed delegates on Tuesday evening on the issue of overcoming faith, EVERY DAY. Here are some excerpts from their message.

PLENARY SESSION 2 - GIVE EVERY DAY

 Five things that helped us as we planted churches in the nation of Uganda:

 

  1. Learn to live by faith. We can’t depend on our worship, our buildings, education, or our great denominational heritage. We need to depend on a God that is absolutely reliable … where without Him, we will fail. Faith takes us to a place where without God, it’s impossible. But that’s exactly where God begins to do His very best work. Faith is a choice. It is seeing things not just as they are now … but as they will be.

      

  2. Lean on His presence. The presence of Jesus changes the atmosphere of communities. Never underestimate the power of the presence of Jesus. His presence does something IN you, FOR you and THROUGH you. The presence of Jesus changes people. There is no substitute.

     

  3. Labour in love. Love is not something that we just say … love is something we do. We have to lay down our personal agendas, our dignity, our pride, our lives, in order to bring forth fruit. When we put our faith in Jesus, depend on His presence, and demonstrate His love for people EVERY DAY, we can change our communities, change our cities, change our nation, and change our world.

     

  4. Walk in patience. Changing anything takes time, blood, sweat, tears, persistence and a strategy. It takes endurance under difficult circumstances. Don’t be remembered as a quitter—be remembered as someone who stayed at their post. Have the same spirit as the heroes of Hebrews 11. Be willing to work hard, to work late, with pay or without, with food or without, through both praise or blame. Stay the path. Never give up.

     

  5. Leave a legacy. It’s not about what we do … it’s about what God does inside us and through us. God is looking for a new generation to step out with bold, dynamic faith so we can bring about a change in our world by the power of a magnificent God. Psalm 45:16-17 (The Message) – God is going to raise up sons to change the next generation. We need to have “Cathedral Vision” – a faith for things so big that we don’t think it can happen. The best days for the church of Jesus Christ are ahead of us (Matthew 16:18 – The Message) – There is nothing than can stop the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have seen the rise of “the attractional church.” The lights, the music, the smoke, etc. God is not looking for just an attractional church or a missional church. He wants us to be a transformational church. We need radical rebirth, dynamic faith in God with unlimited possibilities. We need a deep longing for the life changing presence of Jesus.  God is going to build His church with or without us. So let’s rise up and be on the front lines, waging war on behalf of the kingdom, EVERY DAY! PAOC was strategically placed in the nation of Canada for such a time as this.

Gary and Marilyn Skinner are PAOC global workers and founders of Watoto Ministries. A full recording of their session can be ordered by visiting http://paoc.org/events/general-conference/recorded-sessions or http://www.swordfishdigital.com.