We live in a highly shakable world, filled with people who are reaching for a grip on things that cannot be shaken - and God calls us to become people who have that grip! Hence, we have the theme “Unshakable Kingdom” for the History Maker Global Conference 2013. We are ambassadors of an Unshakable Kingdom to bring the goodness, stability and strength of His Kingdom into the shifting, shaking and shattering circumstances around us.
It is the second time that the annual History Maker conference was held in Taiwan. Dr. Aaron Wong and his church, the Church in the River of Life, hosted the conference at their facility in downtown Taipei.
Our conference started at 5:30am on the Wednesday, with Dr. Richard William, the founder and leader of History Maker International, leading the early morning prayer meeting.
To start off the conference, Dr. William spoke on a subject of great importance – intimacy with God. Moses’ siblings had challenged the level of intimacy he had with God. But intimacy is not something to be challenged – it is something we pursue. Our passion must be to pursue Him. We don’t pursue a movement, an individual or even a church – but God alone. We have come to this conference for one thing, that we might press in and push through to God. As we moved on to every session of the conference, many of our History Maker partners built upon the theme of seeking God like Moses did.
At the afternoon workshop, Ps David Park (South Korea) shared a recent testimony on the importance of walking in righteousness. God does not work with unrighteousness. In righteousness, there is God’s protection. We need to seek God’s Kingdom first. If we believe in God and obey Him in faith, signs and wonders will follow undoubtedly.
At the leader’s workshop, Dr. Roberts Liardon (USA) shared with the leaders and pastors on the great men and women of God who had impacted their world. They were just ordinary people who gave their lives to make extraordinary impact.
Everyone was excited as we gathered for our evening meeting. Ps John Wu (Taiwan) and Ps Samuel Chu (Taiwan) led the praise and worship. The room was filled with exuberant praise and the presence of the Lord moved upon many hearts in that place.
Dr. Roberts Liardon was the guest speaker for the conference. He started off saying the Book of Acts is basically church history that is unfinished. It is being written by us today. He went to talk about John Wycliffe, who translated the Bible from Latin to English, which was considered as “barbaric” at that time. Years after he died, they banned and burnt his books. They even dug out his bones from the grave and burnt them. His ashes were then scattered to the sea. Would anyone care after you die? Would they remember you were here? If not, you haven’t lived.
The light of the Gospel is going to shine the brightest in this generation. Some say Martin Luther was born ahead of his time. But we are born exactly the way we are supposed to be. Neither too late nor the wrong nationality. Dr. Liardon challenged the youths in attendance with these questions: Will you stand up and be counted? Will you be bigger than you are right now? Will you give your life for the church in Asia?
The second day of the conference began with early morning prayer, led by Ps Amos Tsang from Hong Kong. Ps Amos built upon the importance of seeking God in prayer. When Jesus prayed as He was being baptized, there was open heaven. With open heaven, nothing is impossible. Without open heaven, we can’t do anything. If Jesus the anointing from the Holy Spirit, how much more do we?
To start off the morning session, Ps Debbie William and Park Junyoung led the congregation in a time of praise and worship. How lovely it is for believers to dwell in the presence of the Lord!
Apostle Richard Brown III (Japan) taught the importance of having God’s presence in the church. We have many talented, gifted people in the church. But what we really need is the fire of the Holy Spirit!
Immediately after, Ps Naomi Nakama (Japan) shared her testimony of reaching out to the victims of the tsunami in Japan. The site where the tsunami struck was in ruins - people lived in tents, and it smelled horribly. We, as Christians, are called to go to dangerous places. It is there where the lost will be saved. She told a story of a girl who was about to be swept away by the tsunami. The girl looked up and saw Jesus. The Lord took her hand and pulled her out of the tsunami onto land. What an incredible testimony!
That evening we had Ps John Wu and Ps Samuel Chu to lead the praise and worship.
Dr. Roberts Liardon gave a challenge to everyone when it was his turn to speak. What if Jesus called you to give your life to preach the gospel in some country, and no one would ever know your name? Would you do it? In our modern culture, we won’t. We want to be well known, popular and build mega churches. Most of us that answered the call are not going to be famous. But we can be assured of this – if we fulfill what Jesus asked us to do, surely the reward would be great.
The last generation of great Christian leaders such as Oral Roberts and Kenneth Hagin are no longer around. We are the next generation to increase the voice of Christ on this earth. It’s no longer prophetic, it’s here!
We have come to the last the day of the conference. At the early morning prayer meeting, Sian Loh from Hong Kong reiterated the point Dr. Roberts Liardon made the night before. The day you had heard was coming, has come. He gave us the Mauri people’s declaration of warfare as an illustration, just as Haggai told the people of Israel, “Get ready, be prepared.”
That morning, Ps John Wu and Ps Samuel Chu led the praise and worship. We had an awesome time praising the King of kings and Lord of lords!
After the praise and worship, Dr. Roberts Liardon preached on a Kingdom principle of combination. Oftentimes, we don’t receive breakthroughs because we need two parts when we only have one. There is a combination of grace and truth. Some churches have either one or the other, but we need both. Then there is the Word of God – logos and rhema. Some just want the prophetic word, but we can’t just live off prophesy alone. Some are scared of the prophetic word. While the logos Word is good, but so is the prophetic word, rhema. It is a sign of maturity to have both. A combination of logos and rhema makes it perfect.
Jesus both preached and taught. Every church needs those two unctions of the Holy Spirit to function. Jesus also did another combination: healing and deliverance. We need both in our lives and in our churches at different times, to have restoration in our spirit and our bodies. That is how the principle of combination works. When we practice that in our lives, the breakthrough will come!
Another thing that Dr. Wong shared was regarding the last days. Based on the dimensions of the Tabernacle of Moses, people estimate the Church’s period of grace would end around 2030. He believes that something major would happen then. The question he posed to the congregation was thus: Do you have any plans when this calamity happens that God would use you?
In the afternoon, Ps David Hwang (South Korea) shared his church planting experience in Daejeon. The Korean church had once experienced revival. There were the early morning prayer meetings and overnight prayer meetings. They had great breakthroughs. Everyday people would go evangelize. But today, the Korean church is dying. There are not many young Koreans found in church. Of the 3% young people who are Christian, only 1% would declare they are Christians. Only 1% of youths are Christians. By God’s grace, his church has 50 young people. He finished by asking all the youths to come forward and for the older believers to lay hands and pray for them. There was a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit as the Lord touched, healed, and set these youths on fire for the work of His kingdom.
At the leader’s workshop, Dr. Roberts Liardon continued to challenge the leaders and pastors to go forth and do the work the Lord commanded them to do.
Evening came and Ps Debbie William and Park Junyoung led the praise and worship for this final session of the conference.
Dr. Roberts Liardon spoke about women in the ministry. Women have been oppressed for centuries. Jesus was the first to liberate women. He honored, respected and protected them. He broke cultural traditions to set a prostitute free. Women can also dream big and do big things for God.
Dr. Liardon closed his sermon with these words: Dream big, live brave and don’t be afraid of public opinion.
Dr. Liardon closed his sermon with these words: Dream big, live brave and don’t be afraid of public opinion.
We then come to the closing by Dr. Richard William. He went on to say not all the great movements were started by the white people alone. We have great Asian leaders as well. But because they never wrote down anything or take a lot of photos so we don’t hear very much about them.
Wang Min Dao was imprisoned in China many years for preaching the Gospel. He paid an unbelievable price. Over 100 million people became Christian because of his ministry. We have absolutely no excuse, for God uses Asians too!
The moves that God brought through John the Baptist and Jesus Christ were different. Their lifestyles were different. There is a different emphasis, a different manifestation at different times in history. If we understand these moves, we will understand what God would do. The move of Holy Spirit is to set the church on fire. Without the fire of the Holy Spirit, the church can’t exist and can’t fulfill its mission. The move in one time may not be used in another time. We must be willing to change and to flow with what God is doing now.
Dr. William charged the young people to be ready and to open their eyes. What makes them great is not their education, but their answer to the call to reach the world like never before. This generation will be a faceless generation, people who care about the glory of God. We say we are waiting for God, but actually God is waiting for us. It is the time for to make a difference. Start a revival now. Whatever it is, we have to do it now. Let us be that unshakable generation. The previous generation was good, but ours will be the greatest!
