Baptism of Jesus by John  

Scripture References:
Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22.                                  
John the Baptism  was God's appointed messenger. Before Jesus began his ministry, John had been announcing to the people throughout the regions of Jerusalem and Judea to prepare for the coming Messiah. He was calling them to repent, turn from their sins, and be baptized. He was pointing the way to Jesus. Then, all of a sudden, Jesus appeared on the scene. Jesus came to John to be baptized, but John told him, "I need to be baptized by you." John himself wondered why Jesus asked to be baptized.

So Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness." John then consented and baptized Jesus. As Jesus came up out of the water, heaven opened, and the Spirit of God, like a dove, descended upon him. Witnesses to the baptism heard a voice from heaven saying, "This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Water Baptism identifies the believer with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.
“When you came to Christ, you were "circumcised," but not by a physical procedure. It was a spiritual procedure--the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to a new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.” Colossians 2:11-12

Water Baptism is a picture representing profound spiritual truth:
Death - “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

Conference 2007
 
 
Thank you all
Deep thanks to the Organizing Committee of the Copenhagen Conference 2007,
Thanks to all the participants,
Thanks to the preachers,
Thanks to all the pastors who came,
Thanks to the children,
Thanks to the chorals,
Thanks to all the Bethel Church’s members,
Thanks to all the generous people who made the conference happen.
Thank you all.
Thank you all for your engagement,
Thank you all for your support,
Thank you all for your time,
Thank you all for your joy,
Thank you all for the wonderful songs
Thank you all for your prayers.
Thank you all.
 
Thanks to all those who have not been able to be there,
God bless you as well.
God bless you all.
God helps you to rebuild His Kingdom,
God strengthen your fellowship,
God strengthen your unity.
May God bless our countries, Denmark and all His People
 
AMEN
 
Pastor Amon N. KIJANA
INTRODUCTION
 
 
The Copenhagen Conference 2007 organized by the Bethel World Mission Church has been a gathering of many different people, coming from different countries and different horizons.

There were people from Denmark, coming from different churches and religions: Roman Catholics, different types of Protestants, Muslims, etc. There were delegations from Holland, France, Sweden, and Rwanda.

It was an international conference, and, in some way an ecumenical conference, where all people had their places.

The preachers who had different profiles and backgrounds have contributed to the richness of the result of the conference and made it an unforgettable experience.
They explained enough the meaning of the theme of the conference: Rebuilding the broken walls. As it was planned by the organizers, they based their preaches on texts from Nehemiah.

They clearly pointed out who can rebuild the broken walls, how this job can be done, how people can be opposed to God’s work and efficient solutions to overcome them.
 
1. The theme of conference: Rebuilding the broken walls
 
1. 1. Background: The history of Nehemiah
 
The theme of the conference has been inspired by the history of Nehemiah that can be shortly presented as following:
Nehemiah was a Jewish from Jerusalem living in exile in Babylon. He was a foreigner. But he was a rich man with a prestigious job at court of the king. He used to read news about Jerusalem and was very sad because of the sad news he read: the walls and the temple had been destroyed. It means that there was no place to be together, no place to praise God. Nehemiah had a good life. He was close to the king of Babylon, he had a very good job, but he continued to think of home. He was very sad and did not know what to do. He got a vision from God telling him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He tried to think and find out what to do. He understood that the job was huge for him and concluded that prayers could help him. That is why he began to pray.

He prayed seriously: he talked to God to be able to understand his mission and to understand God’s plan. He checked / controlled how huge the ruins were. Then he went to the King to ask for permission. When he got the permission, he made a plan.

When the plan was ready, Nehemiah made a campaign. He got friends and began to work with them in permanent dialog. He did not listen to those who were discouraging them saying that they were too weak to rebuild Jerusalem or something sustainable.
Nehemiah encouraged his people to have the will and to work hard because the destructions had been enormous and the job was huge. He leaded his people in the right direction. That is why they succeeded.
 
1. 2. Rebuilding the broken walls: The meaning
 
       To rebuild and strengthen the destroyed fellowship
       To rebuild and strengthen the destroyed unity
       To encourage people to know God
       To be preoccupied for people who do not know God
       To accomplish God’s will
       To accept to be a holy sacrifice
       To glorify God
       To rebuild the Kingdom of God
 
 
2. Who can rebuild the walls?
 
2. 1. Everyone
 
Preachers pointed out that God uses us in different ways and that we can find it out through how different things he created act and react. They assume that people meet a lot of problems in their lives. But we children of God, difficulties open our eyes.
God want all of us, even those who do not know him, to rebuild the wall of His Kingdom.
We have to remember that we are a part of the Kingdom and we have to remain close to God. Even those who are not yet close to God have the invitation.
God does not call people according to their education or their social influence; everyone is invited (e.g. Nehemiah, Joseph, Moses, David, Peter, Paul, etc.).

 
2. 2. People who have been chosen

When Nehemiah heard the news on Jerusalem he got a vision: Rebuild the walls.
Isaiah, Moses, Abraham, have got a vision. Can we also get a vision? Yes.  We can have it like Paul whose name was Saul before.
The vision got by Nehemiah: to rebuild the walls, is the vision of the all church even if we do not understand it sometimes.

God’s work is not a human work; we have to do it like God planned it. A church is not an association which works according to human rules. It is a gift of God which begins in the heaven. It is God who sends people to his job (e.g. Moses and Gideon)
When you are called by God, you can not resist to Him (e.g. Peter and Nehemiah). God’s call can not be given. It is given by God Himself. The reason why things are going wrong today is that people are trying to call each other (they are not God).
When God calls you, He put a vision in your heart and he has a vision for you and His
People.
 
 
3. How to rebuild the walls?
 
        Get news
        Ask the permission of the authorities
        Check / control how huge the job is
       Pray God and understand his mission and his plan
       Make your plan
       Make a campaign / Get friends
       Create and entertain fellowship
       Work hard
 
4. The opposition to God’s work
 
4.1. Who are they?
 
        Ourselves: We want to be like others, we have fear, we are not courageous
        The devil: the devil is always trying to be were Christians are to oppose their work.
        Richness, money (if they become their slaves)
        Distractions: drinks, food, drugs, fests
        Human weaknesses: wars, political, social and cultural systems, political differences, religious differences, etc.
        The nature: disasters, climatic changes
 
4.2.  How powerful are they?
 
         Some are easy and funny
        Some give pleasure
        Some do not ask energy or effort
        Some make feel powerful
        Many of them push people to deny God
        Many of them push directly a lot of people to revenge
 
 
4.3. Which are there limits
 
 
         They do not bring the real satisfaction( they are never enough)
        They do not give real peace
        They do not bring the real happiness
        They are superficial and they pass
        They destroy and create sadness, discouragement, animosity
 
 
Money Can't Buy Happiness
Money can't buy happiness; it is not for sale,
If you don't believe me, just listen to this tale.
I know a wealthy man, who runs to and fro,
When I ask why he runs, he says, I really do not know.
Oh, I have responsibilities; I have to make some dough.
Yet, when I ask why he runs, he says, I really do not know.
Life is a game, he says, money keeps the score,
I need for my self-image that is why I need more and more.
Oh, I ask, do you need money piled by the ton?
He yells with an emphatic: Yes, then people will know I won.
Then I say, Gee, that is great, let me ask you this,
With all the money that you have, is your life one of bliss?

5. The solutions against the opposition
 
 
Serious prayers ( because the job is huge)
To read the Holy Word
To listen and understand others
To forgive
To aknowledge weaknesses and change
To avoid to try to be like all the others
To win against fear
To preach by examples: to live what we preach
To work hard
 
CONCLUSION
 
Nehemiah can be everyone of us. We are all invited to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. But we now know that Jerusalem can be our own body, our families, our cities, the countries were we leave, the countries were we come from, the world.

To rebuild our unity, our fellowship, to promote peace and understanding were we are to rebuild the wall of God’s Kingdom. It is to make the world a better place, where everyone feels at home.

But this task can be huge and tough: illnesses, wars, nature disasters, climatic changing, and other news that we get every day can discourage us, if we do not pray, if we are not covered by God’s power.