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Yes Those Dry Bones Can Live
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It was 4 am and I was woken up by a strong dripping noise in my hotel. Getting up I realised that water was coming from the air conditioning unit in my room. I moved things out of the way, put a towel under it then bashed some cockroach like bug running across the floor and went back to bed. I did not want to turn it off because it was so hot and humid, even at that time of night.
This was my second room. I had to move from my original room because they could not get the toilet to work. This was Ghana and it was hot and there was construction work everywhere close to where I was staying. I had no internet connection because a construction digger had sliced through the main cable. I found myself sweating so much in the humidity that I had to change my shirt 3 times a day while I was preaching. But it was fun!
Sometimes I hear people sigh, wishing they could go to some of the exotic places I am privileged to go to. The reality of being there for ministry is different so I thought I would begin by sharing some of it. Not so you feel sorry for me but just so I can share with accuracy some of the interesting things that happen on mission trips. I enjoy travelling and experiencing new cultures whatever obstacles I find along the way. However I don’t let them distract me from the reason I am there.
I was in Accra to speak at the annual Ghana conference for Faith Christian Fellowship. Not only was I the main speaker over the 5 days I was also the representative of FCF and I took the ordination service and laid hands on 25 people ordaining them into the ministry.
It was a great afternoon with a very different Ghanaian ceremony and all the ministers apart from me dressed in robes and collars. I was also presented an honorary scarf for the day so I looked the part.
The ordination was a culmination of the conference during which I spoke 15 times in 4 days then twice in churches on the Sunday. The theme was on Kingdom Life followed by the presence of God in the day sessions. In the evening when other church members attended I shared more general messages but still keeping within the theme.
One of the evening sessions was received powerfully. I preached on “Command the Dry Bones” from Ezekiel 37 but I did it from an approach they had never seen before. At the beginning God takes Ezekiel and tells him to walk around the valley and he has to accept the bones were dry. I used this to show how many people ignore their problem or pretend it is not there or cannot change when acknowledgement may be the key to change. However then comes the opportunity because God did change those bones and bring life and strength. God can change your circumstances. My host was so impacted that he made sure that I spoke on it again at one of his churches on the Sunday because he knew so many needed to hear it.
As I write this Julie and I have just returned from the London Hillsong Conference at the O2 arena one of the biggest conference venues in the country. On the Friday we enjoyed an “Evening of Hope” with Joel and Victoria Osteen. We were very impressed with the faith filled way in which they shared and encouraged everyone. We were also touched by the way Hillsong church is embracing the global church call for social justice so everyone can become what God intended. It struck a chord with me because I realised that in many ways their heart and passion is just the same as what I am doing but from a different angle.
Thank you so much for praying for me as I step out in the things God is calling me to do. I so appreciate your support.
Blessings
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Tony Sheard
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Tony Preaching through the sweat
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The Ghana Conference venue
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A group of ministers at the conference
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