300

We prayed with precious Stockholmers to salvation and baptism in the Holy Spirit this last Sunday again! SOS Church storms forward, is conquering meter by meter of satan's territory and transforms it into Kingdom territory! The dessert becomes a garden. Barren sand becomes fertil soil. Our nation's capital, Stockholm is once again Christianized when the constant relevant gospel of Jesus the Risen One is proclaimed! We will never give up. We battle for righteousness. We are light in the darkness, salt in the decay and a city on the hill that cannot be hidden! Jesus is building His church in the city and the devil doesn't have a chance! Our war cry is like that of the Salvation Army; Blod and Fire! Our food is to do His will that has sent us! Thank you Jesus that you called us to walk on water in wild pioneer work! You said come, and the water bear! The vision now grows stronger every week;

For all people to all nations, the Book of Acts in Stockholm and to the ends of the earth.

I saw the movie 300 Sagain on Sunday evening! 300 death fearing men of Sparta's King Leonidas meet hundreds of the Persian King Xerxes' soldiers and in a narrow mountain pass. The 300 free men fight and die to defend their city. They die free and with honor and respect. They refuse to become slaves. Their song was the song of freedom!

The parallell to the Jew's judge and army leader Gideon is obvious to a Bible reader. Gideon, who managed to to drive away the oppressive and attacking Midianites with only 300 men. God gave the victory! (Judges chapter 6-8).

God gives the victory! We are pioneers in SOS, warriors and church planters! Our prayer is; God give us Stockholm! God give us the unreached people groups!

See ya!

Soon Sunday again...

It's soon Sunday again and time for another feast at SOS Church! We have an exciting service with a lot of stories of miracles that Jesus has performed in peoples' lives...

It will be a great opportunity to bring friends and relatives that aren't used to going to church, but need to hear about Jesus! I'm longing already... I'll see you there right?

See ya!

Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving in the US - a great tradition and holiday that I think we should start celebrating in Sweden as well. To once a year really reflect and thank God for all we have been given...

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, presently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863.

The First Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians. The traditional Thanksgiving menu often features turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. (Wikipedia)

What if we could import the "Thanksgiving Concept from the US instead of all the terrible Halloween traditions that Sweden has swallowed as is... Why does the pure and clean have such a hard time to really root itself in Sweden?! Well, well... The Amritzer family do celebrate "Thanksgiving" pretty often really... Thank you God for 2009!

SOS Church Stockholm was born August 29th! Before this week is over we have baptized 19 people and maybe even 20 new believers in our little church plant. God is good!

SOS Launch from Mission SOS on Vimeo.

See ya!

Right Priorities at Christmas...

The Swede and immigrant is attacked brutally by Advent, Lucia and Christmas. The first attack has reached Stockholm, our nation's capital... Stress, shopping by guilt, hysteria and upset stomachs from all the "glögg" (Swedish Christmas cider) and gastritis from all the cookies and food - watch out friend ;). Lucia's blond hair will soon burn and Santa Claus will get stuck with his beard in the chimney if we're not careful ;)...

Have right priorities this Christmas, ok? We have all the positive alternatives you need in this stressed out season:

1) If you are planning on giving big, give a missions trip to Nepal or Tanzania to a family member or friend this Christmas! (Nepal in April and Tanzania in May).

Give a missions trip to someone this Christmas!

2) Buy the CD God of Miracles to all your friends this Christmas!

3) Invite non-Christian friends or collegues and seeker family members to SOS' Christmas Show in central Stockholm December 19-20!

4) Have homeless, immigrants, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus over for Christmas eve or day!

5) Baptize in your tub, celebrate the Lord's Supper the days before New Years Eve, fast and pray and listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say about 2010!

Don't attend all the events you're invited to; Christmas concerts, craft evenings, lunches etc... Beware of all the Christmas food for many different good reasons ;). Beware of religious thinking that sneaks upon you in the traitorous light of burning candles... Everything that glimmers is not gold ;)...

The lonely and poor gypsy family in Haninge and Bagarmossen (suburbs in Stockholm) need you. Mohammed and Fatima usually don't celebrate Christmas - it could be their first together with you and your family!

See ya!

I Love Sundays!

Home in town again - great... I preached the message The Holy Spirit - the Lord of the Harvest yesterday (Sunday), four people prayed a salvation prayer and many asked God for new boldness to continue leading people to Christ and disciple Stockholmers. We shared the vision that SOS just agreed upon; to take the Gospel message to 30 people groups in ten years. 30 people groups 2010-2020! Another woman signed up to be baptized and will be baptized in the Svärnedal family's house church ASAP... We welcomed about 10 new members, yes, the church is doing great! I am enjoying being home again...

Soon I'm getting on the Metro to Kungsholmen for a "Fittness Day" with SOS School of Leadership, we will train hard at the Sportlife gym at Odenplan after morning prayer.

Ps. My daugther Alicia played three games of hand ball yesterday morning, her team won two and she scored in the third game!

See ya!

Reinhard Bonnke to SOS Church Stockholm!

On the first birthday for SOS Church Stockholm, August 29th 2010, we are celebrating big! We will host famous Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke! Reinhard Bonnke is the festival dad for the whole world, a living legend, especially in Africa where he has ministered for over forty years. Reinhard have preached for bigger crowds and won more for the Kingdom of God than any other particular evangelist throughout church history. His festivals, especially on the the African continent draw millions of people in a single service and litterally explodes with miracles, signs and great deeds when the Word is confirmed at the end of every mass meeting! Reinhard and his CfaN team live, breathes and runs with the vision of a Blood Washed Africa, and they are convinced that Africa Shall be Saved. Reinhard has received the mission from heaven to take the gospel about Jesus from Cape Town to Cairo! Today Reinhard is 69 years old and have preached the gospel for 50 years.

He will speak at the Pentecostal World Conference at the Philadelphia Church in Stockholm at the end of August and then he will come and preach at SOS Church with us Sunday August 29th! We will rent a big venue in Stockholm city and announce a miracle service. Complete focus on salvation and healing with SOS street preachers as "barkers" the entire weekend. We will fill the venue with seekers from Stockholm, Muslims and all nationalites and we are of course hoping for a lot of Africans!

Imagine that daddy Reinhard Bonnke is coming to us! We are so thankful to Jesus! We are happy as kids! God is good!

See ya!

For the Unreached...

Mission SOS in 150 sec from Mission SOS on Vimeo.

Allison Park Church and MCM

I just finished preaching a whole week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at Allison Park Church with some of my absolutely best friends, Jeff and Melodie Leake – great fun! Their church planting network is called MCM, with 15 churches of which 8 have been planted from the mother church, Allison Park Church. These daughter churches are all self sustaining, expanding and self governed churches. Allison Park Church will soon plant 2 new churches again, yes they have this aggressive and contagious pioneer attitude that we love so much in the SOS family... Many of our pastors and missionaries are regular guests at Jeff and Melodie's churches and we love to stay in their guest house and enjoy the fellowship with their people, the freedom and the joy that is present in their churches. Many newly saved and teaching that is sound and very practical with application points in daily life...

Every year Allison Park Church together with the MCM Network in Pittsburgh join us and hold a Signs & Wonders Festival among an unreached people group and stand with us in new church plants... We also run a school together (SOS and MCM) that produces unreached peoples missionaries and American church planters in every graduated class.

Melodie och Jeff Leake...

Pastor Jeff Leake will visit SOS Mission Bible College and SOS Church in Stockholm in the beginning of February next year! Pastor Jeff will teach for a week at our college, coach all our leaders in the church on a Saturday and then end up by preaching at our Sunday celebration! It will be “luxury treatment” for all of us at home in Stockholm!

This weekend we prayed with close to 60 people to salvation (48 are being follow-up) in both the mother church as well as one of the church plants that I visited for a service on Friday night. This morning around 20 people were baptized in the Holy Spirit and began to speak in new tongues at the end of the second service – Hallelujah! Many shared that they had been healed through words of knowledge – Jesus has been so close!

This Saturday I had the privilege together with Pastor Jeff to teach 250 leaders from Allison Park and the church plants on how to flow in the gifts of the Spirit – We tag team taught. Yes... we so enjoy being together!

Tomorrow Monday I will enjoy a day off and then I will continue to teach at the Ministry School on Tuesday and Wednesday. After that I fly home to Stockholm, my family and the church on Thursday...

See ya!

Know the Tree by its Fruit...

In His famous sermon on the mount, Jesus said:

By their fruit you will recognize them.

Matt 7:16a

Stop for a minute and ask yourself; -what kind of fruit does my life bear? What am I producing?

The fruit says something about

1) who you are, what kind of tree, ie your calling and identity. The fruit also says something about
2) the quality, ie bad or good fruit.
3) The fruit says something about the quantity - how much fruit do I bear?

The question needs to be asked now and then... Maria and I evaluate and analyze our lives two times every year. It's important to check with one another, dare to make changes, prune, water, fertilize and maybe even replant the tree sometimes.

-Who am I?
-Does my life have quality?
-Am I as effective as I can be?

Jesus wants us to bear much fruit. Read John 15:1-16. Jesus wants us to be the best possible stewards of our talents (giftings, calling). Read Matt 15:14-30.

Concluding prayer;

Jesus - I love you!
Work with me. Change me.
I want to bear rich fruit for your kingdom!
Amen

Jesus to 30 People Groups 2010-2020!

I'm teaching my favorite Bible subject at MCM Ministry School in Allison Park, Pittsburgh the entire week, the Book of Acts that is! Tomorrow we open up the Bible School to more than just the students and this weekend our missions conference Harvest Cry starts!

The Afar...

The Berber people...

Yesterday we had a board meeting for SOS - USA and we agreed on a faith goal for the next 10 years. SOS USA has decided to reach and break in with the Gospel to 30 unreached people groups the next ten years 2010-2020! An aggressive goal that means that our partners in the States are with us in setting up and owning three festivals among the unreached every year, with a fund raising goal of $200,000 annually! I love the US!!

See Ya!

SOS Church Growing Strongly!

Today at noon we had a meeting at SOS Church for new members and 35 people showed up - soon we will receive them completely in the family, hallelujah! For the Sunday celebration service at SOS Church we had approx 140 adults and children. Presence, happiness and raw joy! We had so many new visitors today, seekers, Muslims, Humanists and everything is very multi-ethincal, just the way we pray and wish for it to be... Four ran to the front on the salvation call and we then continued to pray for the sick and prophesy over people for a long time - hallelujah!

Christmas is coming fast and we are preparing a Christmas show as a church and ticket sales opened up today! Do not miss our Christmas shows on December 19th and 20th! Soon we have our next All Nation Café, this time with an Arabic theme on December 12th. Before then we will have part two on Living a Healthy Lifestyle with Omid Dadary on November 21st... I am enjoying the harmony, the drive and the go as well as the strong growth in the church!

Tomrrow I fly out to teach at our branch campus in the US, run together with Allison Park Church in Pittsburgh, PA. I will also preach at our American Harvest Cry this coming weekend! God is good!

See Ya!

One of the World's Seven Wonders

Yesterday I visited the cliff city Petra in Jordan - one of the world's seven wonders (no 2 after the Wall of China)! What an experience! Today we will go on a boat ride in the Red Sea and have more Bible studies with the group!

Petra...

On Saturday I land at home in my beloved Stockholm and on Sunday I will be preaching at SOS Church. We will be baptizing again on Sunday and I have a special surprise for the church that I will unveil during the celebration - I am longing for the congregation now! I love Sundays!

See Ya!

Israel at its Best!

Snake Path...

Floating in the Dead Sea, walking the "Snake Path" up the Masada cliff, eating at kibbutzes and snorkling in the Read Sea... Life is fantastic and the food is so good - dolma, hummus, pita etc... I love the Middle East and all the different people groups, Jews, Arabs and Bedouin tribes!

Our morning and evening gatherings are so strong spiritually, the Holy Spirit fills us and the air vibrates of the favor of God...

New friends, sun tan and raw joy of life, wow what we laugh a lot on this trip... My belly aches from both sit ups and constant laugh attacks...

Stockholm - I miss you anyhow... See you soon, I'll be preaching at home on Sunday, looking forward to it a lot!

See ya!

Baptism in the Spirit in the Upper Room

We visited the upper room in Jerusalem yesterday - wow it was so great! When we arrived there we were met by about 200 Latinos from Honduras, Costa Rica and Venezuela that were worshipping, celebrating the Lord's supper and many beautiful tears streamed down the cheek... I preached about the "Day of Pentecost" and the four different ways of speaking in tongues in the New Testament. Then we prayed for those that had yet not started speaking in tongues, and 7 people were baptized in the Holy Spirit and started speaking in tongues. We prayed, prophecied and fell out on the streets afterwards just like the first Christians 2000 years ago! So good! We saw Jerusalem panorama from the Mount of Olives and visited Gethsemane were Jesus prayed the night through and was taken capture...

New for this trip: Omid (my newly saved friend, personal trainer and travel buddy) start every morning with a Bible study, then we work out hard before we meet the group. Life is great, fat and fantastic... SOS Church just has to make a trip here some time in the future with adventure and youth focus!

The Garden Grave...

I just preached "Jesus the Risen One" at Golgatha and the Garden Grave and seven people were saved!

See ya!

The Western Wall

We have spent a few days in the Gallilee of miracles where the Jesus-gospels become so alive! Yesterday we came to Jerusalem - I love this city - the hub of the world, the capital of the world and the city of the Great King! We are praying at the Western Wall today. The Western Wall is the last little part of King Herod the great's temple and one of the Jews most holy places...


The Bible says:

As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

2 Chron 6:32-33

We are aliens in the eyes of the Jews, but also grafted in into the promises of Israel according to Rom 11:17-18 and we can pray with great confidence to the Holy God of Israel and the Creator of the whole world!

My good friend and travel buddy, Omid Dadary and I each wrote a prayer note this morning in the hotel room that we'll place between the stones at the Western Wall after our prayer there today...

See ya!