Finally we have arrived in Lublin after half a year of preparing to move, and some intense last months getting everything to fit together. Now we're here, we have arrived, but we're not done.

A wise man has once said: "When you think you're done; then you're done", and we are by no means done; on the contrary, now a new chapter is starting and we're excited to see what God has prepared.

We have more or less settled in the house even though there are still things we need to get in place. There are also some furniture we need to buy, but nothing urgent. But some days before we left Denmark we experienced some unexpected challenges...

There is a topic that has come up several times the last few months and since we have freedom of speech, I would like to share some of my thoughts on the subject.

First of all, I believe that the body of Christ is not divided into Protestants and Catholics and I believe there are born-again followers of Jesus in both camps. Paul makes it clear that this kind of division in the body of Christ is not good.

We see that Paul, one of the main apostles of the Christian faith, is defending that unity. He actually goes so far as to claim that even those who say, “I follow Christ” are wrong if their statement excludes the others. Christ is not divided, there is still one body and the head of this body is Christ Jesus.

So can I have fellowship with someone who claims to be Catholic? If the person is born again and follows Jesus, it does not matter if he is Catholic or Protestant; we can enjoy spiritual fellowship. Why? Because we are part of the same body and under the same authority (head).

Different denominations
The issue to ask is not what kind of denomination people are from, but if they are part of the body of Christ; or in others words if they are Christian. Christianity is properly defined by certain doctrines that are revealed in the Bible and they are as follows:

1. There is only one God, and you are to serve no other gods or worship images made by human hand
   (Exodus 20:3; Isaiah 43:10; 44:6, 8).
2. Jesus is both God and man
   (John 1:1, 14; 8:24; Col. 2:9; 1 John 4:1-4).
3. Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world and rose from the dead physically
   (John 2:19-21; 1 Cor. 15:14).
4. Salvation is by grace through faith
   (Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:8-9; Gal. 3:1-2; 5:1-4).
5. The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus according to the scriptures
   (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Gal. 1:8-9).
6. God is a Trinity
   (Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 2 Cor. 13:14).
7. Jesus was born of the virgin Mary
   (Matt. 1:25).

So, someone who is a true Christian will believe these things. Catholics believe most of them, but not exactly the first and the fourth point. The clearest example is, for instance, that they practice prayer to Mary and other humans they have declared to be “saints”. In Roman Catholicism, they say that Mary is the mediatrix (Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 969); Mary made atonement for the sins of man (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, page 213); Mary is the subject of preaching and worship (Vatican Council II, p. 420); etc.

What’s more, Catholicism violates the biblical doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone. This was Martin Luther’s big revelation and we should not forget that he was martyred with condolence from the official church for having this view. The Catholic doctrine says:

But we are not that different
One might say that we are not that different, which is to some extent true. Most of the Catholic beliefs are the same as Christian beliefs, but if you want to have fellowship with Catholics, you need to ask yourself how important some points are to you.

• How strongly do you disagree when it comes to praying and worshipping humans?
• How strongly do you disagree that faith is not enough for salvation?
• How strongly do you disagree with direct worship of the physical bread in communion?
• How strongly do you disagree with Jesus not being the only mediator between God and man?
• How strongly do you disagree with the teaching that there is a purgatory?
• How strongly do you disagree with the teaching that you can pay somebody out of that purgatory?
• How strongly do you disagree with the teaching that Mary also paid atonement for our sins?

If these are just minor points that do not hold an essential place in your doctrine, then you will have no problems working together with the Catholic church or viewing Catholics as Christians. But if you consider these points to be essential to the Christian faith, then you would have problems with the Catholic church; because they are not going to change their beliefs on these issues.

To be righteous means to have a right standing before God. It means that when you stand before God, you don’t have to feel embarrassed because you have not been able to live up to His standards.
    One of the big difference between the Old and the New covenant is how righteousness is obtained.
    Under the old covenant it was something you worked for by living right and offering sacrifices according to the law. The problem was that nobody could was able to do this as perfectly as a perfect God required.

The reason why some are better than others is not only talent. Yes, there are specially gifted people with great talents, but if they don’t consistently develop their talent, it will be buried.

You might be exceptionally gifted when it comes to playing the piano, but if you never get to play, that gift will stay buried inside of you. There are without a doubt many people who could have developed their talent to a much higher level, but because they lack consistency when it comes to improving, they never reach their potential.

Consistency is contrary to human nature
Aldous Huxley once wrote “Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead”. Huxley has a point here and I agree that consistency is contrary to human nature. I would actually say that most good habits are contrary to human nature, and I believe this is because we are living in a world suffering from the effect of sin. This is also why personal improvement has to be a conscious choice.

If you leave your garden to naturally grow as it wishes, you will quickly have a garden full of weeds and it will not be a beautiful sight. The same goes for you mind. Your mind is like a garden and if you leave the development up to chance, it will be full of weeds. Personal growth requires being conscious about making the right choices, and doing it consistently.

The priest and the gardener
There once was a priest that walked by a beautiful garden. He stopped to admire the beautiful sight and as he was standing there, the gardener walked by. The gardener greeted the priest and stopped to exchange a few words. As they were talking, the priest said to the gardener. “God has surely done a wonderful work with this garden”. The gardener was silent for a moment before answering back: “Yes, if it had not been for God, none of these flowers or trees would have grown, but you should have seen what this garden looked like when God had it for himself”.

I believe this is a good illustration when it comes to personal growth. Yes, God is the giver of life and without him everything would collapse. But our life is a garden given to us by God. What we do with the garden we have been given is our gift to God.

Some days ago I sat down at the piano and started to worship as I where recording. I have programed some rhythm and bass that added to the recording and if you would like you are free to download or listen to the result. You can download for free, but if you would like to donate that is of course also ok :-)

What separates us from the animals? The evolutionist will probably say nothing, but deep within I suspect that most people feel themselves to be superior to the animals. But why are we superior? Is it because we are smarter, stronger or more lovable?

There are many animals, that in their sphere of living, show great intelligence and I don’t think there are any humans that could claim to be stronger than an angry elephant.

Some might say that it is the ability of free will that makes us different, but I had a cat some years ago and I quickly learned that cats have free will. But what is it then that makes the human race to superior to the animals? After all we are not living on a planet controlled by apes (but the film was good).

This morning I was reading about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Reading this passage there is a sentence that always catches my eye and it is the angels question to the women that came to the grave.

What a powerful proclamation; “He is not here, but risen!”. I can imagine how the words made the alarm bells in the kingdom of darkness to start ringing. What confusion this must have brought to the devil and his demons. When they finally though they had killed the son of God, He burst out of the grave showing Himself as unbeatable – even death could not hold Him.

Not only did He triumph over the evil powers that tried to kill Him, but in the process he broke the power grip the devil had the human race in. Every human has sinned and has a rightful judgment awaiting them; and the devil was looking so much forward to dragging the creation God had made in His image, with him to hell.

But suddenly the devil finds the cross empty. Jesus was gone and instead he sees a note nailed to the cross with the ordinances that was against us.

My window is open as I’m writing this, and I now hear church bells starting to ring. What a power reminder! The enemy has been defeated; death could’t hold Him down. Don’t seek Jesus among the dead; He is risen, and in one blow He nailed all the devils accusations against you to the cross. The enemy has been defeated and now death can’t hold YOU down!

When I was reading this today I started to meditate on the phrase Paul is using here “…but one thing I do”.

For most of us it would be more correct to say “these seven things I so”, but Paul did not say that. He was a singel minded guy who knew what he was living for, and I do believe that this was one of the secrets to his success. His mind was not occupied with all kinds of worldly things, but he had devoted his life to the mission God had given him.

For us today this can be a big challenge, because we have so many options. There are so many alternatives and we are constantly being bombarded with things screaming for our attention. This is why it is so important, in todays world, to daily take time to calibrate your life and focus. God has great things ahead for you so don’t let your mind be filled with so many other things that slowly lose focus. We need to stay sharp and clear when it comes to why we are here on this earth.

Often there can be many things we do that are good things, but they are not what we should be doing. Everyone can not do everything, but when everyone starts to focus on THEIR mission, then everything will get done ...and it will get done even better.

Jesus told His disciples to seek first the Kingdom of God. As disciples of Christ we are to be Kingdom people, proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is here. Jesus is King and, as His disciples, the question we should ask ourselves is "Where does the King need me the most", or "where does the Kingdom need me the most".

The Kingdom needs workers who are willing to work, and this is why Jesus specifically asked us to pray for workers that would be willing to go. I believe this prayer still needs to be prayed, because while many Christians enjoy conferences and concerts, the "harvest" in Europe is still not being harvested.

We're moving to Poland... but why?

Poland is a country with a rich history and fascinating culture. Among the many European countries it is the most religious country because of the influence of the Roman Catholic church.

Even though Europe in general is getting very secularized, Poland is in many ways still holding on to biblical values, like saying no to gay partnership. About 58% of the population regularly come to church every Sunday, but still over 80% say they have never sensed the presence of God.

After 10 years in Denmark doing evangelism and church planting Kasia and me are ready for the biggest step of faith in a long time. Early summer 2014 we are leaving the safe and comfortable environment here in Denmark, moving to Lublin in Poland.

For a long time we have known that one time we would be moving to Poland. But as things are getting more and more comfortable here in Denmark the though of moving to another country seemed to fade away.

But about one year ago both me and Kasia got a prophetic word, and we started to realize that maybe God actually was telling us that time was getting close. After this, a lot of different things happened that was confirming that time was getting close. Still I must admit that I was thinking that 2015 would be the earliest.

So we sent a e-mail to the other leaders in the church explaining the situation to them, and then we used the summer to think and pray about when the right time for moving would be. More and more we started to realize that God was actually telling us the 2014 was the right time to move.

As I think about moving I remember when we first came to Nakskov to start the church there. It was exciting times, but also hard times. But then we where much younger, and now we also have kids to think about. I have to admit I feel a mixture of excitement and terror, but still confident that God will provide.

Last sunday Dan and Gudrun was preaching in our church about how God was testing Abraham, asking him to give up the son God himself had given him. As she was preaching I felt a little like Abraham. I love the church here in Ikast and Nakskov, and we also get lots of good feedback for the work that we are doing, and now God is asking us to give it all up and move to another country.

We know we still will have our friends here in Denmark, but still moving to Poland will be like starting from scratch again. We have some ideas when it comes to what we feel God want us to do there, but still there are a lot of question that needs to be answered.

I will be writing more about our Poland plans in the days coming.