Conference aims to ‘awaken’ believers to transformational power of Gospel

Jenni Pretorius previews the upcoming Awaken conference at God Adventure church in East London

When Samson stood bound between two pillars in the temple of pagan god Dagon, the once-champion and judge of Israel appeared a defeated man. The Nazirite, who had been the dread and fear of all Philistine, was now little more than a spectacle and a subject of ridicule and humiliation.

In the book of Judges chapter 16:19 we read that his final demise came when Delilah lulled him to sleep on her knees and in this place of unconsciousness, she had his head shorn. His hair was symbolic of his identity as a Nazarite – a man set apart and consecrated to God. Waking up, he discovered that his strength had left him and he was finally at the mercy of the enemies of God, and of Israel.

Modern context of old story
The story of Samson and Delilah is one of the often-told stories of Scripture but one that few of us relate to in our modern context. After all, how foolish is the man who allows himself to be deceived over-and-over by the same woman? But in our shallow reading of the text, we overlook the vivid similarities between Samson and ourselves.

The name Delilah comes from a root word meaning “to be emptied”. She represents everything that is insubstantial, vacuous and meaningless and yet she seduces Samson with the lie that she has within her the means to satisfy his desires.

How many of us have been lured by the world’s promise of reward and tempted by the glittery emptiness of wealth, power and fame? And as we have been lulled to sleep, we have lost the sense of the truth of our identity – sons and daughters of a king who are set apart to rule and reign – and we have become useless and powerless in the exercising of our faith.

It’s time to wake up.

As Samson stood disarmed before the Philistines, he was no longer a threat to their wickedness, or so they thought. He had become little more than a source of entertainment – not dissimilar to much of the Church today.

But his hair had begun to grow and with it came the reminder, and the strength of who he was. And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So that the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. — Judges 16:30.

At his end, Samson fulfilled the purpose of his life, which was to subjugate the enemies of Israel in preparation for the eventual coming of the king, David.

Our responsibility
We as the Church have been purposed with the responsibility of bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth in preparation for the coming of our King. We are commissioned to subjugate the kingdom of darkness, not only by preaching the good news of the Gospel but through tangible demonstrations of signs and wonders.

What Jesus started during his earthly ministry, we are to continue and to finish. In order to do so, we the Church, need to wake up to the truth that as He is, so are we in this world. –1 John 4:17

If you are tired of compromise, weary of performing the unending requirements demanded by religion or just desperate for an encounter with the true transformational power of the Gospel, we want to invite you to attend our “Awaken” conference at God Adventure church, East London from October 28 – 29.

Guest speakers are church and societal leaders, Surprise Sithole and Grace Kabuye, men who have been awakened by the transforming Gospel of Jesus, and the unrivalled power of His Spirit within.

Surprise Sithole
Surprise Sithole is the international director of pastors under Heidi and Rolland Baker of Iris Ministries. He has been in ministry for over 30 years, having first been awakened (quite literally) at 15 in the middle of the night, by the audible voice of God telling him to leave his village and family.

Surprise helps oversee the rapidly-spreading revival in southern Africa which has witnessed close to 7 000 new churches being birthed since the year 2000. He and his wife Tryphina are parents to three sons and are currently based in Nelspruit as pastors of Iris Revival Church.

Grace Kabuye
Grace Kabuye is a Ugandan pastor, farmer, father and husband. Married to Ritah, and father to their three daughters, Grace is the founder of My People Ministries and senior pastor of My People Worship Centre church in Entebbe. Grace moves in powerful demonstrations of signs, wonders and miracles; he himself having been raised from the dead!

Both men are catalysts for revival and reformation and demonstrate a grace to awaken the Church to the supernatural life that Jesus intended for all of us to experience.

Arthur Wallis, who has authored several books on revival, commented that “when the voice of the Lord awakens the Church, the voice of the Church will awaken the Lord…and the power of God will manifest in the hearts of sinners”.

Our hope for this conference is for you to experience a call of God that will awaken your spirit to pursue a life of uncompromising faith, and victorious overcoming. When the Church is fully awake, revival will be unstoppable.

Tickets for “Awaken” are available on Quicket.

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