Great Dreams and Mega Plans

God is great and His creation enormous! Galaxies, solar systems and planets... All He does is magnificent...Don't have to say much more than the previous lines and you understand...

Dreaming God's dreams for a capital city like Stockholm doesn't fit in a garage or on a stamp... Let's dream big;

- SOS Refugee Home - a large refugee compound for both refugees with all their paperwork and also for those without documents, seeking asylum...

- SOS Rehab - a rehabilitation center for drug addicts and alcoholics...

- SOS Girls Home - a home for girls rescued from traficking, sex slavery and the sex industry...

- SOS Creation Festival - a large youth festival with focus on creativity...

- SOS Church Arena - an auditorium with at least 3,000 seats, large platform, sound and light...

God, give us Stockhom! God, give us the Stockholmers! This is our prayer!

See ya!

Your Work Place!

The church is everywhere! Jesus' disciples in Stockholm are salt and light all the way from Märsta in the north to Södertälje in the south... We are nurses, social workers, doctors, personal trainers, sales men, janitors, personal assistants, carpenters, hair dressers, business men, students, pre-school teachers, taxi and bus drivers...

Imagine this: you have a profession, or at least a job... You're lucky! God has given you collegues, an income and good health :)! Yet there are so many in the church that are disabled, have a work related injury, are unemployed or are refugees seeking asylum as well... Each one of these stand in faith for their health and a second chance and they suffer from not being able to take care of themselves... We pray that they will all have a chance of employment and a life where they wake up to an alarm clock beeping that they are needed.

A work place is truly a blessing! Thank God that you can provide for yourself and thank Him that He has placed you in your community! Pray for your employers or your employees! You make a difference! You shine! You are the hands, feet, eyes and ears of Jesus today!

....so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky...

Phil 2:15

See ya!

The Amritzer's Kitchen Table

I love my family! Maria and the kids are my refuge. I always sleep like a rock, or a log ;) in our queen size bed and my darlings tell me that I snore louder for every year that passes :). Our snug home is the place where we can be ourselves...

There is however one place in our home that I love more than anything else... the kitchen table!!!

My Friends, let me tell you about the Amritzer's kitchen and kitchen table - good food, decks of cards from different countries, chess games, laptops, newspapers, cell phones and almost always lit candles... That is where I enjoy life and relax the best... I pray, read my Bible, hear from the Spirit of Jesus, laugh, and cry at our kitchen table... Deep conversations, child rearing, family counsel, discipleship training and leadership conversations - everything works the best here!

Thank you God for both the small and the big family! Thank you God for Tullinge and Kungsholmen! Thank you God for the small and the big congregation!

See ya!

To Say the Truth ...

Apostle Paul said:

Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Gal 4:16

Being a priest, pastor or missionary and represent the Bible and the Kingdom of God can be tough at times, but in the long run it is always totally wonderful!

Being an ambassador for the Kingdom of God sometimes involves speaking truths and just doing one’s job. Daring to choose the Bible truths above friendship and bonds between relatives is tough but totally necessary. Lies do not help anyone but the truth liberates.

Here are some truths that hurt:

- You are not informing me about people’s weaknesses and their past but simply gossiping!

- You should not move in with your boyfriend before you are actually married! Sex belongs within the marriage!

- You should not cheat on your tax return simply because you do not get caught!

- You should not try to run your own business after running three businesses to bankruptcy and with that left a long trail of large debt! Take a normal employment and stop being a parasite, living off others. You just don’t make the cut, realize your own limit!

- You should not run your own race; instead be in agreement with your wife! Listen to her – walk together in harmony!

- Your car is truly an idol since you cannot stand scratches, stained seats and you yell like a maniac when the kids have made a mess with ice cream and caramel topping!

- You are close-fisted and not thrifty when you never pick up the tab in your friendship gang; instead you always allow others to pay for you! Stop taking advantage of your friends!

- You never want to take responsibility for the weak and you neglect your Christian love duty when you believe that you have both freedom and a right to drink beer and wine whenever you feel like it just because you think you are strong!

- When you do not allow your daughter to marry a man from another culture and / or with another color of skin than your own, you are a racist!

- A sin is no less a sin simply because you call it “your problem” – confess and be free!

Jesus said:

… you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Joh 8:32

See ya!

Jesus Opens Blind Eye in Gettysburg!

God performed so many miracles Sunday night at Freedom Valley in Gettysburg! Carissa Cole is one of the persons that were healed this evening. Carissa was born with a deformed optic nerve on her left eye and have never been able to see or have contol over this eye...

Carissa tells us; "During the Sunday night service Johannes preached about faith and healing and how you have to take the first step and ask God for the healing and then test it. And I did just that, I asked God and then I covered my right eye and tried to see with my blind eye. It was fuzzy at first, but got clearer and clearer, now, three days later I can almost read with it! It's getting better every day! God really performed a miracle!"

"I am so happy and want to say to everyone that is praying for a mircale to never stop believing, never stop praying for the miracle! Believe with all your heart!"

Carissa testing her healing...

Click here to watch a video interview with Carissa!

See ya!

Salvation Feast!

Julie and Gerry...

Preaching at Freedom Valley in Gettysburg PA, my dear friends Julie and Gerry Stoltzfoos' church, it's my third day preaching here... One service left - in a few hours it will explode :)!

We are having an intoxicating salvation fest here! Perhaps as many as about 150 beautiful Americans have responded to my simple salvation invitations! About 50 hungry disciples of Jesus were bapitized in the Holy Spirit last night and happily started speaking in tongues! Tonight we are having a miracle service and praying for the sick! Exciting! What will the Holy Spirit do?!

See ya!

The Check List of the Pharisee

I preached here at Freedom Valley in Gettysburg last night and many saught salvation and made March 18th their spiritual birthday :)!

Jesus was a friend of the 'super-sinners' and instead confronted the 'super-holy' all the time (Mark 2:16-17)... Murderers, adulterers and robbers know that they are sinners in need of forgiveness - no one really have to tell them that... That is why Jesus never confronted the 'super-sinners' in the gospels... The postitutes, drug addicts and homeless are often closer to God's kingdom than the perfect religious elite since they are humbly aware of they poor state and need of help...

The pharisees were the biggest problem in Israel when Jesus lived there and their religious poison impregnated society and kept the people away from true and sincere worship.

Pharisee - a member of a Jewish sect that flourished during the 1st century b.c. and 1st century a.d. and that differed from the Sadducees chiefly in its strict observance of religious ceremonies and practices, adherence to oral laws and traditions, and belief in an afterlife and the coming of a Messiah.
A sanctimonious, self-righteous, or hypocritical person.

Dictionary.com

The check list of the Pharisee according to Jesus;

1) Seeing the faults in others, but not in oneself. Matt 7:3, John 8:7
2) Wants to appear holy, but has a cold heart, hypocritical. Matt 23:23-28
3) Not generous, bitter and refuses to forgive. Matt 18:21-22
4) They are selfish and want the best seating places. Matt 23:6-7
5) Unable to show mercy and love. Matt 23:23
6) Wants others to feel bad. Matt 23:4

The world needs the gospel of Jesus, filled with love, forgiveness and a second chance! The pharisees didn't win the world with their message, but simple disciples to Jesus did and does!

See ya!

Harley Davidson in the Sunshine

What do men do when it's 70 degrees F in the shade in March?! What do men do in the spring after a long cold winter?! How do men relax 110%?!

There's really only one answer; a Harley Davidson ride in the sun ;)!

It is a little dangerous with all the coarse sand left after the winter on the roads, but we just can help it... The wind in your face, the freedom, worn leather, orange and black color, crome and lots of power wins anyway ;)...

Have just done TV with my friend Pastor Gerry Stoltzfoos in Gettysburg and will preach tonight... Enjoying the afternoon sun and a cup of coffee right beside a parked Heritage Softail 1400 CC...

See ya!

Do You Want to be a Giant Killer?!

Today I was teaching at a leadership conference in Gettysburg, PA together with my friend Pastor Jeff Leake from Pittsburgh, PA. About 140 leaders came together to hear Pastor Matt Keller from Next Level Church in Fort Myers, FL.

Jeff Leake said:

"Hang around a giant killer and you will become a giant killer."


Great quote! So well put :)! David first killed lions and bears as a young shepherd boy and later the Philistine giant Goliath. David became general and finally King of Israel! Everyone that was close to him became heroes!

See Ya!

On My Way to the US

Making a little trip out west again... Preaching and teaching in Gettysburg, Youngstown and Washington DC in the US... Will have a lot of time to pray for the church and our festivals at the different hotel rooms - hallelujah! Will try to study a little as well and prepare teachings.

Will come back with reports soon...

See ya!

Rest and Enjoy!

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Gen 2:2-3

Slept in yesterday, ate late breakfast (brunch) and took a long walk with my wife... Played chess with my son Adam and went to the movies with my Maria - she's been my girl for a little more than 20 years... Really enjoying life and very much appriciating that the snow is melting :)! Love to see how well the church is doing... Several were saved this past week and three buried their old lives in water baptism in our gatherings this weekend! God is good, faithful and wonderful!

Today I lead prayer early here at church and then taught at SOS Leadership School... Have you applied to our different schools yet?! You can be a happy student here August 24th :)!

See ya!

Prayer, Baptism and Counseling

I'm proud of the church. The prayer night between Friday and Saturday was awesome. About 50 people have fasted three days this past week for our festivals in Pakistan... Prayer power, Holy Spirit and mircle atmosphere in the entire building :)!

Pakistan Trailer 2011 from Mission SOS on Vimeo.

Yesterday afternoon I talked baptism with a newly saved friend and the evening ended with baptism in our house church and a restaurant visit...

I've met many wonderful church members and had deep counseling sessions, and almost everyone comes out victouriously, even if it doesn't always happen right away...

Enjoying life with my family, non-Christian friends and newly saved... Today I preach at our celebration at SOS Church - I love Sundays!

See ya!

Stockholm - the City of My Dreams

I was 19 years old when I heard the Holy Spirit say, "one day you will be a pastor in this city" for the first time... I stayed at CityBackPackers, a hostel right in the middle of the city 8 intense days in May, early 90's... A young Hannes exploring the city, map in hand and an old "Fjällräven" backpack on my shoulder... Breakfast at different cafés on Drottninggatan and in the Old City... Lunch on the grass in sunny parks, Humlegården, Tegnerlunden and Rålambshovsparken... Took a nap in the sunshine on a bench and read the Bible on Mosebackstorgs café overlooking the entire inner city. Enjoyed the water, the subway, the pedestrian streets and the Sergel-stairs with a cup of coffee in my hand... Amritzer did not own a cell phone at that time (only a few rich Swedes carried around huge satellite phones, big and heavy like bricks)...

I wrote a few post cards and spoke to my 17-year old girlfriend Maria on a pay phone on Djurgården, just outside the amusement park Gröna Lund... I didn't have 5 different e-mail addresses, a blog and Facebook like I do now... I'm kinda enjoying the thought of that actually - I was totally unavailable and almost didn't exist... I was an anonymous nobody on my last teen year in the crowd in a wonderful intoxicating city pulse. Everything was exciting. Every minute an adventure. I was alone, exploring the entire week, my heart beating with a remarkably high pulse... Stockholm was calling, attracting and whispering my name. I fell in love with the cobblestone, the harbors and the asphalt. The Spirit of God was so close. Went to a wild Wednesday night service at the Södermalm Church and to "Prayer for Unreached People Groups" at the City Church's Mahogony Room with Kjell Sjöberg. That's when it happened... Kjell pointed at me and asked me to come forward. I stood there, backpack on my shoulder, wearing a purple tie-dye long artist shirt, old jeans and barefoot in my tennis shoes... Kjell prophesied;

"You are a sharp arrow in the Lord's quiver that will be shot out with great force to the unreached people groups. A fire will start to burn where you land and you will release a young and new generation Swedish pioneer missionaries. You are chosen says the Lord."

I cried genuine and thankful tears and believed and memorized every word that the old man of God and prophet had spoken. I was young, newly saved, trying to quit smoking and still had a hard time staying away from a beer on a warm spring or summer day… My heart was burning as I walked down Drottninggatan to Tegnerlunden a late Thursday afternoon, and with a whisper I vowed to serve Jesus until the last people group had heard… I sat in the grass for hours, speaking in tongues, owning the entire world…

Stockholm – I love you! It was here, in this city that I was “called by God” and received direction for my entire life. Being a pastor in down town Stockholm gives me joy every day…

On Friday I get to lift my hands together with prayer warriors and prayer for hours for the city of my dreams… We have a prayer night in SOS Church on Kungsholmen at 10pm and we will be praying for unreached people groups and our capital! Welcome to Warfvinges väg 26 if you are hungry for the presence of Jesus and prophetic guidance!

See Ya!

Disciplines

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Cor 9:25-27

Everyone loves the party but not many want to cook, decorate, and fix the invitations… Everyone loves entertainment like music, singing, and dancing but not many want to practice. Everyone loves the extravagant and luxurious but not many want to save, work, and pay for it.

Disciplines become the prerequisite both physically and spiritually that then gives birth to and produces all that we long for…

Examples of disciplines that believers and atheists both practice in order to achieve more long term results are:

- Physical exercise

- Financial investments and long-term savings

- Administrative planning and structure

Disciplines of the Believer:

- Prayer

- Fasting

- Bible Reading

- Tithes and Offerings

- Positive Thinking

- Speaking Faith

- Evangelization

- Discipleship Training

On Friday we have another Prayer Night at SOS Church Stockholm from 10pm! We will raise up a throne for Jesus in Stockholm! The Kingdom of God expands! Welcome :)!

See Ya!

Sooo Proud of the Church!

Marriage seminar last Saturday...

What a weekend! What a blast! The past Saturday with the Marriage seminar was unforgettable, and our first Super Sunday at Nalen a success! Sooo many people, even though schools are on break and many out of town! So many ran to front at my salvation invitation and many were healed both emotionally and physically! Thank you Jesus! I am sooo proud of the church... I love you! Thanks to all that invited seeker-friends, took care of them and explained and guided them into, or one step closer to the Kingdom of Jesus! Thank you for always giving so generously in the offering! Thanks for all the kisses on the cheek, hugs and warm words of encouragement! Thanks to the festival-band, dancers and drama-team! Thanks for sharing the life of adventure in following Jesus with me! Thank you for letting the Amritzer family live this life with you all!

SOS Church Stockholm currently have about 350 active adult visitors, about 40 kids and about 30 teenagers. All generations in total we are a spiritual home for 420 people and 40 different nationalities... Not that bad, considering that we started in the spring of 2009 with 35 people and launched the church August 29th that same year with 53 members! We baptized this past weekend and will baptize the next weekend again - yes! We are advancing, asking God for humility to continue to grow through and in the Holy Spirit's comfort and exhortation!

See ya!

Super Sunday!

Will preach on forgiveness in a little different way... I'm guessing we will recognize ourselves and laugh... The title of my message is; The Check List of the Pharisee, and is about the "super-holy" and the "super-sinners" and you'll find out if you are marked with the red warning text; "Pharisee", or not... It will be relaxed and salty, hopefully your seeker friends will feel a genuine need for the forgiveness only found in Jesus... I have a humble, but strong anticipation on what the Holy Spirit will do...

SOS festival band from an earlier event at Nalen...

Make sure to be there at 3:45pm! There are only 450 seats... Click here for map and directions!

See ya!

Family and Marriage

How does the Bible define manhood and womanhood? What is true manhood? What is true womanhood? Are "gender roles" important? What about gender equality? Daddy's and mommy's different roles in raising kids - different roles?

We will deal with all these questions on Saturday afternoon at 4pm at SOS Church Stockholm's café! Bring a Bible, pen and paper, Ipad, laptop etc! Welcome to Warfvinges väg 26 in Stadshagen, Kungsholmen!

I am enjoying administration and private Bible studies today, preparing for this weekend's different gatherings... Should have some time to work out as well ;).

See ya!

Super Exciting Weekend!

Adam met me at the airport this morning!

I'm home in Stockholm again! Enjoying spending time with my kids (they are off school this week)! We just played pool and some games in Heron City. Adam had a cool haircut and we rented a movie. Will be an awesome evening on the couch :).

All of Stockholm is welcome to attend my seminar on Marriage and Family - part 2 on Saturday. It starts at 4 pm, we'll have coffee and of course questions and answers... The seminar will take place at SOS Church's Café on Warfvinges väg 26. Part 2 is free-standing from part 1, so if you missed part 1, you can still come to part 2. Part 2 is all about man and woman and the unique role play of mom and dad in raising children, and what atmosphere mom and dad creates in a home and family. Singles, new couples and married since many years - welcome, oh so welcome!

Sunday will be a feast and huge celebration - SUPER SUNDAY! It's at Nalen and starts at 4pm (click here for map). Come at 3:45pm since Nalen only seats 450 people! Don't forget to invite your seeker friends! I will speak on "Forgiveness" in a little different way ;)... Languages; English, Swedish and Spanish. We will also offer Biblical healing!

See ya!