Author Profile
Steve Hill
Steve & Marilyn began their journey as Jesus People, sitting on the floor talking about Jesus.
We did not think we were a "real" church since we had no building, paid pastor, board, constitution, parking lot or problems.
After a thirty year journey through every expression of charismatic experience and ministry, a degree in Philosphy/English and a career in commercial/industrial construction, they are back where they started- sitting on the floor talking with people about Jesus.
We love our friends from around the world but especially from Central Asia and are thankful for what they have taught us about simply following Jesus.
Website: www.harvest-now.org
Article Archive here
Luke 10 Manual - Steve Hill
Hello Friends
What if you had never been to a congregational church meeting? What if you had no idea of church history? What if you read the words and stories of Jesus for the first time? Your first impulse would not be to gather people together on Sunday morning at 10:00, place them in rows, preach to them for an hour and try to get them to give you money.
What does it look like if we try to strip our presentation of the Kingdom of God of 2,000 years of tradition and institutionalism? That is the purpose of The Luke 10 Manual. Did we succeed? A friend in Kazakhstan, who has chosen to stay within the Muslim community as an insider follower of Jesus, says that we have done the best at this task as anything he has read to date.
Why did we do this? We wanted to start a disciple making and multiplying movement in Central Asia. We are convinced that complicated dies while simplicity multiplies. The more you add to the message of the Kingdom, the more you drain away the power of that message. This manual is what we have sought to communicate to our friends in Central Asia.
"The Luke 10 Manual- Mission as Mandated and Modelled by Jesus" is now available in hard copy and download from Lulu at
http://tinyurl.com/TheLuke10Manual
Order a copy for yourself and for your friends!
Proceeds towards the needs of a disciple multiplying movement in Central Asia
Thank you so much
Steve & Marilyn
The Kingdom of God is freely received and freely given! - Steve Hill
Hello Friends
Repenting of dead works is one of the foundations of true faith or as Eugene Peterson translates it in the Message, "turning your back on 'salvation by self help' and turning in trust towards God". However, our experience was that the dead works began to pile up after we became followers. When we first began to follow Jesus we knew nothing except to receive and give. We talked about Jesus every where and God was at work. Then we began to listen to more and more teaching. Then we began to give more and more teaching.....
"The reason we were not seeing revival was because the church was out of order. We needed to submit to the authority of the apostles and prophets." We were radical and committed so we submitted whole heartedly and the apostles received our honour but still the harvest did not come. Did we not see that Jesus is our apostle and we are all brothers, friends and servants? Did we not see that hierarchies destroy life while friendship releases life?
"The reason we were not seeing harvest was because we needed to build an alter of worship so that the glory would fall and draw men and women to Jesus." We were radical and committed so we worshiped, shouted, jumped and danced. Did we not understand that it was Christ in us the hope of glory? Did we not see that this model of worship was a return to Old Covenant realities? God was not "out there" to fall but in us to be expressed?
"The reason we were not seeing harvest and financial blessing is because we were not tithing accurately. " Some even taught that the blessing on a body would be according to the percentage of the body that tithed. We were radical and committed so we tithed and gave and believed for blessing but the harvest did not come. Some blamed the few who did not give! Did we not see that we were turning God into a legalistic, miserly accountant rather than a generous father?
"The reason we were not seeing harvest was because we were not praying enough." So we prayed more, fasted more and cried out to God more. We had massive prayer rallies. Did we think that God was unwilling to love people to Himself? Did we think we needed to convince Him to do what He says He will do? Did we not understand that prayer as "vain repetition" destroys relationship with God?
"The reason we were not seeing harvest was because of the curses, demonic bondages and past sins." We were radical and committed so we confessed, did spiritual warfare and broke curses. We did reconciliation marches. Did we not understand that if we wanted to break all the curses we would need to go all the way back to Adam? Did we not understand that was done in Christ on the cross? Why could we not hear Jesus say, "It is finished!"
"The reason we were not seeing harvest was because we did not have enough of the Holy Spirit." So we had New Wine nights, Fire nights, River nights and Soaking Sessions. People experienced healing, joy, renewal but still the harvest did not come. Did we not understand that the Holy Spirit fills us so that we will go and do the works of Jesus outside the four walls? The filling is for the street, not the platform.
"The reason we were not seeing harvest was because we were not hungry enough for God." So we went to more meetings and more conferences to be hungry and to be filled. We disregarded what Jesus said about those who drink from the Holy Spirit- they never thirst again! Going to meetings may not prove we are hungry for God. It may only prove that we bought into a religious culture of going to endless meetings.
Why did we see people come to Jesus when we first came to Him? We did not know to do any of the things listed above. We were simply on the streets, in the apartments, in the cafeterias and in the clubs talking to people about Jesus. Jesus said go so we went.
These "sacred traditions of the holy charismatic church" can be dead works just as much as praying beads or killing chickens. We were full of a works mentality- this is what you must do if you want........ We practised and taught spiritual technology to fulfill our visions. At best, we were sincere legalists secure in our arrogance that we were more committed and more active than other groups. At worst we were wizards trying to manipulate spiritual realities. We disregarded that Jesus committed to build His church! We disregarded that Jesus promised to give His Kingdom to His children.
We are repenting of dead works again.
How deep do these things go in us?
However deep, grace goes deeper!
The Kingdom of God is freely received and freely given!
Enjoy the grace of God!
Steve & Marilyn
www.harvest-now.org
Give, Pray, Fast – Steve Hill
Dear Friends, The most important words in your Bible are the ones Jesus spoke. Yet it is interesting how His words are routinely disregarded by many who profess to be His followers! The words of the Master in Matthew 6 on giving, prayer and fasting are very simple and understandable- "WHEN" (not IF!) you give, pray and fast, do so in secret and "the Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly."
Giving in secret? We have whole ministry machines based in public giving with ascending levels of access to ministry leaders relative to how much an individual gives. We have public meetings where those who give the most receive special prayer from the ministry leader. Jesus assures us "they have their reward".
Prayer in secret? We have whole ministries based in how much people pray. Some cannot minister unless their prayer accomplishments are recited before they speak- how many hours per day over how many years. Then we have the prayer ministries seeking to register people and counting their hours of praying to reach a million hours. And then what?
Fasting in secret? We have whole ministries based upon publicity surrounding their fasts. Do we not read our New Testaments?
When the secret is secret, the public is simple. The prayer of Jesus before the tomb of Lazarus was very simple. "Lazarus come forth!" The rule of thumb seems to be that the less reality in secret, the more words, volume and posturing in public.
s there a "tipping point" in prayer? Do we need to have so many people praying for so many hours before God will answer? Is prayer like the lottery? The more people (tickets) in the play the more likely to get an answer? Are the kingdoms pretty evenly matched so that we need to overwhelm the enemy with numbers? No! A thousand times no! Comparing the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of God is like comparing a candle to the sun. There is no balance to be tipped.
The whole teaching of Jesus about prayer is that it is relationship. His communication to the Father before commanding Lazarus to come forth was, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me, but because of the people standing by I said this, that they may believe that you sent me." (John 11:41- 42).
When you have a relationship with someone you do not shout, recite or whisper the same things at them over and over again. Such behavior is normally a sign of mental illness. We are not heard by our repetition or volume. Jesus tells us that is the practice of those who do not know the Father. There is no tipping point. There is no lottery. There is no power struggle. There is only relationship with the Father through Jesus and the Father who sees and hears in secret will reward you openly. Prayer is not the time I spend with God to get things done. Prayer is time I spend with God to know Him. I do not present Him with a shopping list. I give Him my heart in worship and wonder. He does not need to change. I do. Prayer changes people and obedient people change things.
The point of New Testament prayer is not how many people you can get to pray. How many is enough? Prayer is not a power contest. The point is not how many hours you can pray. How many is enough? There is no quota to be filled. The point is not who prays. Prayer is not a matter for professionals who have mastered techniques or who have special knowledge and experiences. There is no New Testament gift or ministry of intercession. There is no technique to prayer except humility. The point of New Testament prayer is the relational secret place anyone can have with God where the "effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much". This is not in the context of mass rallies or logged hours and the confession of the sins of the nation but in the context of a small group and confession to one another (James 5:16- 18).
The simple teaching and example of Jesus is that prayer is your heart relationship with God. The outworking of that secret is your loving service to the least around you. True prayer is followed by sacrificial service.
Moral Impulse and Global Warming! - Steve Hill
Like many things humanist, the current global warming debate has all the trappings of a religious movement. We are urged to make the necessary sacrifices to "save the planet"! Meanwhile Al Gore whose movie "An Inconvenient Truth" has championed the efforts to "save the planet" has been exposed as living a life style that consumes more energy and releases more CO2 than a small third world nation! Apparently this religion also has its hypocrites!
However some of you may be old enough to remember the seventies when that generation of experts was warning us of a coming ice age- global cooling! That also was a movement with religious overtones and talk of "saving the planet". Has any one told us what happened to global cooling? To oppose that crusade was labeled "wrong". Those who got on board were "right". Now a new generation of "experts" has another catastrophe to "save" us from!
Question! Why do committed humanists cast their concerns in such moral terms? The basic answer is very simple. Man, made in the image of a righteous God, is a moral being. The universe is a relational place. There are right relationships and there are wrong relationships. Wrong human relationships break our relationship with God. We create our lives through a series of moral choices. We destroy our lives through a series of immoral choices. The moral impulse is rooted in our very being, in the nature of the universe and ultimately in the being of God. Humanistic man rejects any limitation on his sexual expression. He is god in his own little world creating his own meaning, morality and destiny. But no matter how "free" from personal morality a humanist may think himself to be, he is still a moral being! The testimony of being in the image of God still shouts out loud and clear! That moral reality demands expression! The more it is repressed in its proper function, the more energy it expresses in other causes. Evil is no longer personal but rather technological, social, environmental. Evil is "out there". Evil is any one who will not join the crusade to reduce CO2! Humanism is constantly redefining evil and good, right and wrong, blessing and curse.
The constant redefinition bears testimony to one inherent reality- man is intrinsically moral! Mankind cannot function without thinking in terms of right and wrong. Evolution has no explanation for that reality! There is a debate about climate change and its causes! We need to do all we can to "dress and keep" the garden we have been given but do not let misguided religious zeal shut down reasonable discussion and force us into foolish actions. You may wish to check out the articles linked below!
http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6000&var_recherche=global+warming
"The principal greenhouse gas, some 97 percent of the total, is water vapor, which leaves little for CO2 and other trace gasses. Scott McIntosh, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, says that warming caused by CO2 compared to the effect of solar magnetic fields is like a flea’s contribution to the weight of an elephant."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59319
"Many scientists from around the world have dubbed 2007 as the year man-made global warming fears 'bite the dust,'" the introduction said."
Question Everything!
Steve & Marilyn
Death toll is more than 2,000
Kyrgyze troops clearing the way for mobs of Kyrygze young men to burn and murder through Uzbek neighborhoods
Dear Friends, No doubt many of you have followed the news reports from Kyrgyzstan over the past couple of weeks. Interim President, Rosa Otunbayeva has said that the death toll is more than 2,000. Some 100,000 Uzbeks, mostly women and children including many wounded, fled across the border into Uzbekistan. They left with nothing- some not even wearing shoes. The UN estimates that there are 400,000 displaced people inside Kyrgyzstan. Eye witnesses speak of Kyrgyze troops clearing the way for mobs of Kyrygze young men to burn and murder through Uzbek neighborhoods and of seeing rows of bodies laid out in the streets.
These are tragic events. For Marilyn and I it has been very difficult to see the pictures of places where we have walked now charred ruins with bodies on the streets. Some have asked why this violence has happened amongst people who have lived together for generations.
The first reason has to do with the legacy of Stalin. In Central Asia, as in many other areas of the former Soviet Union, Stalin followed a policy of divide and control. He forcible placed Uzbek peoples on Kyrgyze lands so that now 15% of the five million population of Kyrgyzstan are Uzbek. They both speak a Turkman language and both share a Muslim religion but competition for scarce land and water resources create tension. With the fall of the Soviet Union, these tensions boiled over into the 1992 civil war. Calm was only restored by Russian troops. There is still bitterness from that conflict plus resentment at Uzbek control of the markets.
The second has to do with overthrow of the corrupt government of Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April. He is in exile but the south was his power base and many there want to restore him to power. Guns, money and drugs were handed out by his supporters and many believe that the violence was encouraged by police and army unites sympathetic to Bakiyev to create chaos and undermine the interim pro democracy government so that he could present himself as the only one who could restore order and so return to power. It seems criminal gangs were also involved in promoting and exploiting chaos to further their activities.
Whatever the whole truth , it is clear that evil, hatred and fear ran unrestrained and many lives were destroyed. So far as we know all of our friends, including Uzbeks are safe. There is a relief effort underway and much work to do. We are not a relief organization but we do want to support our friends there through prayer and finance so that they can continue to minister the grace and life of Jesus to all. We need your help to do so.
Steve & Marilyn Hill
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