Personal stories from Ian’s life that are included in Gems and available to read and search as stand-alone stories here.
Evaluating the Interpreters
One day arriving at church with JPCC I was asked to take part in the annual evaluation of the Interpreters ministry. I initially told the person who offered me a head set that I didn't need it, I could understand and speak Indonesian. But he made it clear to me they wanted my help in evaluating the quality of the interpreter’s work. The services in JPCC are interpreted into a number of different languages - English, Mandarin and other languages as they are requested. Each person receives a headset tagged for the specific language interpreter they require. As I performed the evaluation for the English interpreter, I sat there thinking about the passage in Acts and what I would be writing in the Gem today. It made me think there was no need for an interpreter on the day the Holy Spirit came. Not even for one language, not even Mandarin, let alone English and Italian, Tamil and Thai. All that was needed that day in Jerusalem was for the speaker to speak and each listener heard what was spoken in their own language simultaneously. The miracle was not just in the tongue, it was also a miracle in the ear.
Observing a 'Drunk' Ian
There are times when the Holy Spirit comes on people that they appear drunk. Tania and I were in a gathering of pastors from the wider region in New Zealand when we as pastors were seeking God for a greater anointing of His Spirit. We were all competent and fully in control of our faculties I can assure you. I had been taking notes from the input that had been given. When we closed for a time of prayer the Holy Spirit fell upon the group in a remarkable way. One of the regional leaders of the area laid his hands on me and I came under the influence of the Holy Spirit in way I had never experienced before. I fell to the ground. Mercifully there was a person behind me to catch me. Why? Because many had fallen that way before it was my turn to be prayed for. So the leaders arranged for catchers to stand behind each person being prayed for. I hasten to add that I had a practice back then to resist if someone laid hands on me and gave a push to “encourage” me to fall “under the spirit”. If I was going to fall then it would be as a result of Spirit activity and not human. That day I went down very quickly and it was suggested to me after I was “ministered to”, that I just lay there and soak up the Spirit. I lay there for what I thought was a long time and then I tried to get up. It took a long time for me to get up and stand on my feet again. Each time I tried to get up I would fall back down again. I seemed to have no control over my body. During that time of trying to get up, I heard a lot of people laughing but didn't realise they were laughing at me. I was not aware of what I looked like but many said it was so funny because I looked as though I was drunk. I was not but it looked like it, which made it all the more funny.
I Was Brought Face to Face With the Truth
REPENTANCE occurs when you respond to a life changing moment in which you realise you have been living apart from God and rebelling against Him. Even if just passively. All sin is rebellion against your Maker. I was an atheist before August 19th 1973. I didn't believe there was a God and therefore didn't believe I needed to consult Him as to how I lived. I was my own man. I was LORD of MY LIFE. That dear reader is open rebellion against God. Denying Him His rightly place as the authority in your life. It doesn't matter what terms you use for it. Bottom line either God is in control of your life or you are. I had a worldview which enabled me to sideline God; well actually throw Him out altogether because I didn't believe He existed. Yet I also had questions about Truth, Science, How the World worked and my place in it. In August ’73 when I was brought face to face with The Truth I realised I no longer had a valid foundation for my worldview. Claiming God didn't exist didn't cut it anymore. I sat there in the church and broke out in a cold sweat because I knew the implications of what was happening to me. If what I was hearing was true then I needed to make some major changes in my life. These are the pivotal points in life when God Himself challenges our foundations. When that occurs we are brought face to face with reality. When you know the TRUTH you have to DO SOMETHING about it or it is not TRUTH at all. When God breaks into your life and confronts you with HIS TRUTH it requires a change.
The Gimi Have To Experience 'Believing'
The Gimi people of Papua New Guinea understand what the idea of BELIEVING is all about despite being a tribe of subsistence people living in the jungles of PNG. The Gimi know very clearly the difference between believing in mind and believing biblically because it is embedded in their culture. Sam and Nancy McBride saw that as they lived among the Gimi to translate the Word of God for them. If you ask a Gimi person, “Do you believe that log is safe to cross the river on?” A Gimi can’t answer from his mind, “I think it can. If you measure its mass, density, tensile strength and take into account the length of the span needed to reach the other side, and also factor in my weight if I am going to cross on it. Yes I believe it can hold my weight and I believe I can trust it to support me.” No, a Gimi doesn't do that. A Gimi man cannot say I believe it will support me. He has to try it first and then he can say the word "believe”. His BELIEVING is experiential and not cerebral. That is the idea of the word “BELIEVE” in the Bible.
Which of Those Were Fellowship?
I must confess that this word Fellowship is one that puzzled me when I first became a Christian. What on earth does it mean? I confess also to being troubled by the way some Christians use the word. I have been in church when the service has finished and we all moved to the exit and then outside as we encountered a couple before we got into our car we had a brief conversation about nothing in particular. As we parted, the comment was made how much the couple enjoyed the fellowship at church that morning. Oh really, which part? The part when we all stood in church and gazed at the back of the people in front of us? Or when we had a brief “greet one another period” during which I shook hands with maybe eight people in a two minute period? Or was it when we said some fleeting "Hi’s” to the people we encountered on the way out? Or was it the deep, brief conversation with the couple before getting in the car? Forgive me, but I don’t think any of these momentary experiences meet the criteria for Christian Fellowship.
The 'Friendly' Fellowship
I have been a part of another church fellowship where it had been described as "such a friendly fellowship" and the church was called "The XXX Fellowhip". I must confess I hadn’t "realised” it was such a friendly fellowship. So I decided the next week to test the friendliness. Up until that time I had been the one to initiate any personal "fellowship” encounters after the service. I decided the following Sunday in response to the comment made on the friendliness of the Fellowship, to test it. I stood by the wall with a sad look on my face and waited to see who would come and “fellowship” with me. You guessed it, not one person stopped to talk with me, ask me how I was, ask if there was anything wrong. But as I watched, I noticed the active fellowshippers among the people went to their group of fellows to ship with them while other ships "passed in the night” - well, midday actually. I further noticed a number of people like me who were standing around against the walls or sitting on the seats provided but not talking to anyone. I soon abandoned my experiment and went to talk with one of those unconnected fellowship people. I am sure you get my point by now.
Ian, If You're Thinking of Selling Your House . . .
I began to have second thoughts when faced with the cost of all that lay before us, despite all the LORD had confirmed to us. I was faced with giving up my job and income and faced with the prospect of more training as well travelling around the world. The only way I could see out of the predicament was to sell our house and use the money to cover the expense of all that God had shown we would do. On the second Sunday in Sept. 1981 we went to our pastor, Dick Hemming’s house to tell him how I was feeling and to seek someone to whom I could pour out my burden. But Dick had John Massam, the guest preacher, as a guest for lunch. As they began talking after lunch, all Dick could do was to excitedly tell John about the exciting things that had been happening to Ian & Tania and how they were soon going to Bible College and afterwards to work with Wycliffe. All I could think of was the cost of all this commitment and how I would have to sell my house to pay for all that we faced. John shocked me by 'out of the blue' saying, "Ian, I feel the LORD is telling me, if you are thinking of selling your house, not to". That comment although amazing and timely, sent my mind reeling as to how we would cover the costs if I didn't sell my house. Finally John left and I had the chance to tell Dick how hard this all was and how burdened I was financially over all we faced ahead. As I started to pour out my feelings to Dick, another guest arrived, Mike Shaxton, who had been a missionary in West New Britain, PNG. Again Dick began to excitedly tell Mike what the LORD had been doing in our lives. Again my thoughts turned inward as before and once again I was thinking the only way out of this is to sell our house. The LORD spoke through Mike this time when he in turn, 'out of the blue' without any prompt from the conversation said, "Ian I believe the LORD would say to you, if you're thinking of selling your house, don't.” Dick almost fell on the floor laughing. Twice in a short period of time God had said, “Ian, don’t sell your house; I will provide for you."
You're What Has Kept Me From Christ All These Years
I came across an interesting story in New Zealand years ago of a woman in an office in Auckland who was a timid Christian and was not willing to testify to God and give Him the glory for what was happening in her life. So she contented herself with just "living the life" rather than giving credit to God for the quality of the life she lived. One Monday a work mate told of the wonderful experience she had had on the weekend when she became a Christian and accepted Jesus into her heart and life. The timid woman said, “Oh that is wonderful news. I am so glad you have become a Christian. I have been praying for you for a long time.” At which point the new Christian replied, “You are a Christian! Well you are what has kept me from Christ all these years. I have looked at you and figured that you don’t go around talking about God all the time. You live an amazing life and are filled with joy and hope. So if you can be like that "without God" then I can do it too.” Imagine the shock of that timid Christian on hearing that statement.
Going Up
Some cultures, including some of the areas we have worked, have the idea of going up to something despite it being on the same level from where we have come. In the village the people used to say they were going up to the main town despite the fact that it was a case of going down the mountain and along the coastal plain to the main regional centre. I figured, ok maybe they are looking at this because we are down south and then have to go north. That makes sense to me because they are going up north. They could be looking at the motion globally and not locally; big picture people. No, that wasn’t the reason. The reason was they were going to the original traditional centre of the early kingdom and therefore, in their minds, they were going up – because of the importance of the place to them. Which leads to my reason for focusing on the "going up”. Is it going up in elevation or is going up in terms of importance? How does your global positioning system work for you? Is it geographically oriented? Or is it a matter of elevation in terms of importance to you? In other words, I am asking where does God figure in your affairs? If He is low priority then maybe that gives you the answer as to why you don’t see (m)any miracles. Think about that one for a while.
Let Me take care of what you need.
As I have told you many times I wondered initially how we were going to do all that God was asking of us back in 1981. How would we pay for it all financially? He told me. “Don’t worry about what you don’t have. Let Me take care of what you need. Just press on in the direction I set for you." We have been doing that now for 39 years and He has indeed met our need.
Encountering A Sea of Need
I have encountered daily the beggars who sit in places where they assume they will encounter generous people. Sitting in the preferred location, begging on a Sunday after church, or on a Friday close to the mosque at a time when they sense the people they will encounter are willing to give. I have given money to one child only to have ten more run to me and cling on asking for their share. They even tried to get their hands in my pockets to access my cash for themselves. There is a sea of need out there.
Prayer for the Deli Worker
I have already shared the story (not in Gems but via FaceBook) of my daughter Marissa (Riss) going to the supermarket and praying for the person behind the counter at the delicatessen and them being healed. You too can live and move and have your being in the presence of the Holy Spirit.