Experiencing the love and power of God

God is so much more powerful than we can ever imagine, said Devon Van Hoffen, Class of 2012. Speaking at a recent chapel at Smithville Christian High School, Van Hoffen told students how his 2012 trip to South Africa with the school had a profound impact on him.

After graduating from high school, Van Hoffen returned to Africa with an organization called Hands at Work in Africa, which uses local care workers and volunteers, like Van Hoffen, to develop care plans and provide support and encouragement to meet people’s needs. Van Hoffen has served in Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Malawi, and is currently working in South Africa and Swaziland.

Van Hoffen said he has seen the power of prayer and God’s hand at work in powerful ways.

“The things you read about (in the Bible) are happening now,” Van Hoffen told students. “Things that seem impossible, God is doing.”

As he lives and works among some of the world’s poorest people, Van Hoffen said he regularly encounters God. “God shows up when you are in a place like that, with nothing, because when you have nothing else, all you can do is look for God,” he said.

Van Hoffen said he used to think God was angry and or upset with him, but he has come to know “how much God actually loves us. His work (through Jesus) is finished, and we are free to go and care for people.”

Van Hoffen told stories of the generosity and hospitality of the people he meets, and of the way God heals people.

“We have God’s love, and we can go and give it to other people, and show the love that only God can give.”

Van Hoffen said when he was a student in high school, sitting in weekly chapels, he had no idea of God’s calling in his life, but during a short-term trip to Belize he found himself praying one night that God could use his voice.

“I felt an arm come around me” and even though up until that point Van Hoffen had not been a good singer, the next day he was able to play the guitar and lead in worship. “It’s weird that God can use a gift I never knew I had,” he said, but God can do the same thing in the lives of all of us.

Quoting Psalm 139:13-16, Van Hoffen said he now understands “the depths of God’s love. It’s so amazing that God thinks about us and knows about us, deeply and personally.”

Van Hoffen encouraged students to make themselves available to God.

“God will make it known to you. God will be able to use you to serve him.” 

Van Hoffen played and sang “No Longer Slaves” by Bethel Music’s Jonathan David and Melissa Helser. 

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Devon Van Hoffen, who has to raise his own support, is holding an information and fundraising event on December 28 at 6 p.m. at Rose City Kids Theatre in Welland. This is a casual, all-ages event featuring praise and worship. Come and learn more about how God is at work through Hands at Work. Refreshments provided.  

Read more about Hands at Work: visit their website.

  

Facing an uncertain future

If life “under the sun” is meaningless and it’s basically unfair, how can we face an uncertain future?

“I am not trying to scare you here,” said Pastor Paul Vandenbrink during the fourth chapel in Spiritual Emphasis Week. “I am trying to push you so the opposite can happen.”

 

Vandenbrink said in his role as a pastor he has talked with many young people who are experiencing anxiety. He said we are healthier, wealthier and safer than any other culture in history, yet teen suicide is on the rise, more teenagers are taking sleeping pills and more young people are diagnosed with depression and anxiety than ever before.

But in the midst of a society experiencing increasing anxiety about the future, we can turn to the wisdom of the teacher as found in Ecclesiastes 11:1-6.

Instead of saying “hunker down and play it safe, protect yourself, don’t take any risks,” the teacher says the opposite, Vandenbrink says.

He says “cast your bread upon the waters,” which, in a subsistence society, would have been a foolish thing to do. But the teacher is challenging his listeners to think about what God can do. Instead of being cautious and stingy with what we’ve been given, we can choose to be bold, to “use those resources for God, for Jesus Christ.

“You will not be disappointed.”

Vandenbrink said he gave up a good job, a secure salary and a nice house in order to establish a new church, but it took him four years to finally follow God’s call.

“The truth is, most of us are afraid to live boldly,” he said. “But why are we so afraid to step out and try new things for the sake of the kingdom?”

The answer can also be found in the passage from Ecclesiastes: often we are paralyzed by fear of the inevitable. Just as rain clouds deliver rain or falling trees become immovable objects, so the inevitability of failure, hostility or rejection can paralyze us. Others are paralyzed by uncertainty (vs 4), and others are paralyzed by mystery – by their inability to comprehend the work of God “the maker of all things” (vs 5).

The fact is that life is unknowable and uncontrollable, he said, but just as Abraham obediently followed God to move to a new land or just as our vehicle headlights illuminate only a short section of the road in front of us, so we can trust God will show us enough of the way to safely proceed.

“God is in control. Our choices matter, but the final outcome is up to God,” Vandenbrink said. “How liberating is it to know that my decisions matter, but God, who loves me, is directing everything according to his ends.”

Jesus, who was the bread of life, allowed himself to be cast out and to sink under the judgement of sin for us, Vandenbrink said.

“What does Jesus have now that he didn’t have before his birth, death and resurrection?”

“It’s you.

“I promise you, God promises you that you will get a return far beyond anything you could ever imagine if you are faithful and leave rest up to God.”

A student praise team led in worship with “It is Well,” “I Am Free” and “My Redeemer Lives.”

Friday’s final chapel of Spiritual Emphasis Week starts at 9:30. All are welcome to attend.