Dudley Daniel - Father of NCMI

Anyone who follows Rob Rufus's ministry will know the impact that a man called Dudley Daniel had on his life. Dudley was a spiritual father to Rob and continues to have profound influence on Rob - even though City Church International is not part of New Covenant Ministries International. I am always interested in the influences on my heroes because the influences help to shape them become who they are. For example Dr Ern Baxter and Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones both had great impact on Dr Stanley Jebb - my first senior pastor. William Branham had great impact on Dr Ern Baxter. Dr John Stott and Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones had great impact on Terry Virgo and so on.

So over the past few days I have been watching with great interest - "NCMI TV" and in particular a series of interviews conducted by Tyrone Daniel - the current leader of NCMI - with his father Dudley Daniel. They really are well worth watching. In it Dudley shares his heart about where the movement of churches has come from and where he hopes it is going.

Here are the videos:

1. "The Dream".

2. "The Nations".

3. "The Price".

4. "The Transition".

5. "The Future".

6. "The Faith".

Each video is only about 5 minutes long so won't take long but the spiritual truth is well worth it! These videos have also re-emphasised to me the importance of "spiritual fathers". You can catch something of Dudley Daniel's heart here and it also helps me piece together something of how Rob Rufus became who he is today.

By the way - I do re-recommend an interview with Rob Rufus conducted by Adrian Warnock. They discussed something of NCMI and Dudley Daniel's influence and it's a vital interview for anyone interested in Hong Kong and in Rob's ministry.

Archive of Rob Rufus

The word "Archive" conjours up rather negative images of dusty library shelves which are hardly ever used. The word should be redeemed in connection with Rob Rufus though. No one who has ever heard or read Rob Rufus can accuse him of being dull and dusty! No, this is just my attempt to bring a degree of organisation to the "Rob Rufus - Grace and Glory!" blog. When I set it up last October I didn't realise how much the teaching and preaching of Rob would come to mean to me. I was speaking with Pete today and we agreed that this diet of "grace and glory" is simply to important to go long without listening to and being refreshed and gloriously revived by. Fortunately there is no danger of running out of Rob's sermons! There are four years of sermons from City Church International in Hong Kong to work through as well as a new sermon virtually every week.

Here is what my fellow team of Rob Rufus fans have collected so far - may it serve as a useful resource to break the bonds of legalism on many Christians and open their eyes to the wonderful freedom of grace!!:

2004

"The Presence of God" (Part 1 and Part 2) - CCI, Hong Kong - 30th June.

"Heavenly Churches or Earthly Churches?" - CCI, Hong Kong - 4th July.

"The Grace-Hating Spirit - Part 1" - CCI, Hong Kong - 22nd August.

"The Grace-Hating Spirit - Part 2" ("FREEDOM!") - CCI, Hong Kong - 25th August.

"Authorised/Unauthorised Fire" - CCI, Hong Kong - 22nd September.

2006

"Grace for Freedom and Fruitfulness Series - (1) - Freedom from Dead Works." - 19th February.

"Grace versus Law" - (Part 1 and Part 2) - CCI, Hong Kong - 5th March.

"Together on a Mission 2006" - Brighton UK

"Living Daily under the Miraculous Mantle of God's Increased Power" - (Track Part 1).

Main Session 1.

"Living Daily under the Miraculous Mantle of God's Increased Power" - (Track Part 2).

"Living Daily under the Miraculous Mantle of God's Increased Power" - (Track Part 3).

"The Power of the Authoritative Command - Part 1" - CCI, Hong Kong - 10th September.

2007

Rob Rufus at Church of Christ the King, Brighton - "Marrying Grace and Glory!".

"Together on a Mission 2007" - Brighton UK

Main Session 1 - "How To Be Filled With The Holy Spirit of Faith and Power".

Main Session 2 - "The Working Of His Mighty Power".

Main Session 3 - "The Timelessness in the Glory".

Mobilise Main Session.

"Competent ministers of the Spirit!' - (2 Cor. 3:4-6)" - THE Rob Rufus Seminar!

"Do Our Diaries Reflect the Priorities of Heaven?" - CCI, Hong Kong - 22nd July.

"Face to Face Intimacy with God" - CCI, Hong Kong - 5th August 2007.

"Knowing The Person Of The Holy Spirit" - Part 1 - CCI, Hong Kong - 9th September.

"Knowing The Person Of The Holy Spirit" - Part 2 - CCI, Hong Kong - 16th September.

"Knowing The Person of the Holy Spirit" - Part 3 - CCI, Hong Kong - 23rd September.

"Dealing with the Spirit of Conservatism" (an exhortation after Fini de Gersigny's sermon; "The Father's Love") - CCI, Hong Kong - 21st October.

"Grace and Glory Conference - Hong Kong" - Archive here.

"Knowing the Person of the Holy Spirit" - Part 7 - CCI, Hong Kong - 28th October.

"Prayer Meeting and Conference De-brief" - CCI, Hong Kong - 1st November.

"Knowing the Person of the Holy Spirit" - Part 8 - CCI, Hong Kong - 4th November.

"Self Righteousness vs the Gift of Righteousness" - CCI, Hong Kong - 9th December.

2008

"What to Expect in 2008!" - CCI, Hong Kong - 6th January.

"Invading the Impossible - Part 1" - CCI, Hong Kong - 13th January.

"Invading the Impossible - Part 2" - CCI, Hong Kong - 20th January (Part 1 and Part 2).

"Invading the Impossible - Part 3" - CCI, Hong Kong - 27th January.

"Grace and Glory Conference" - Dubai

"Session 1" - 29th January.

"Session 3" - "He will Come Upon You" - 31st January.

"Session 4 - Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost" - 1st February.

"Invading the Impossible - Part 4" - CCI, Hong Kong - 3rd February.

"Invading the Impossible - Part 5" - CCI, Hong Kong - 17th February.

"Invading the Impossible - Part 6" - CCI, Hong Kong - 24th February.

"Invading the Impossible - Part 7" - CCI, Hong Kong - 24th February.

"Invading the Impossible - Part 8" - CCI, Hong Kong - 2nd March.

"Invading the Impossible - Part 9" - CCI, Hong Kong - 9th March.

"Invading the Impossible - Part 10" - CCI, Hong Kong - 15th March.

"Invading the Impossible - Part 11" - CCI, Hong Kong - 23rd March.

"Grace and Glory Conference" - Sydney 26-29th March, 2008

"Session 1" - Righteousness as a Gift.

"Invading the Impossible - Part 12" - CCI, Hong Kong - 6th April.

"There is a Flood of Glory Coming!" - CCI, Hong Kong - 13th April.

"Condemning Condemnation and Glory Testimonies" - CCI, Hong Kong - 20th April.

"Fully Free from Guilt in Order to Be Fully Covered by the Glory" - 27th April.

"Testimonies From Europe Ministry Trip" - 25th May.

"Do Christians Need To Confess Their Sins To God?" - 8th June.

To be Continued!!

Learning from Our Mistakes!!

I found this article by Rob Rufus in an NCMI magazine called "One Step at a Time - Building Faith for the Supernatural". The whole article is so worthy of a read and it is wonderful that Rob's awesome material is being written down and published.

One point in particular caught my eye and it is a vital concept for 2008. How do we keep building faith for the supernatural?;

"Keep learning from your mistakes - fail FORWARD.

The twelve disciples had many occasions where they failed to cast out demons and heal the sick, even though they had been authorized and empowered by Jesus to do so. But Jesus came and healed where they had failed, proving the miracle was God's will and that God's first choice was that they did the miracle rather than Jesus! (Mark 9). The good news is that they continued to ask questions of Jesus, growing in faith, until (in Acts 5) we see them doing signs and wonders and healing miracles that were equal to what Jesus had ever done, proving that the new norm for every believer was to do the works that Jesus did.

Disappointment is a disastrous father of theology. It develops heresies and pervasive traditions that lowers and limits the word of God down to the level of your experiences, and unwittingly surrenders to the Spirit of unbelief while masquerading as main line orthodoxy!

If you are to keep growing in faith, you must let God turn your disappointments into divine appointments and elevate your experience up to the glorious unchanging promises of His Word. It is true that the Bible says hope deferred makes the heart sick. But the Bible also says with greater emphasis that it is through faith and patience, that we inherit the promises. Don't give up. Keep learning. A kingdom principle described in Luke 16 says those that can be trusted with very little can be trusted with much.

Don't focus on what is not happening in your life but give thanks to God for whatever He is doing through you supernaturally even if it is every little and soon you will see progressive increase".

I found Terry Virgo's latest "Firstline" unusally depressing this quarter. He shared honestly from his heart but it still doesn't make the truth easy;

"Why then do I feel some disappointment? ... I expected God to break out in power. We have been encouraged by remarkable waves of Holy Spirit breakthrough, but, so far, we've not experienced what could be described only as revival, when the Lord's intense Presence not only refreshes the saints but also overflows from the Church leading to multiple conversions and to the extension of Christ's rule and impact on the culture ... But I did expect revival. I must confess I still long for its coming".

We must tow a careful line between naive triumphalism and cynical disappointment. If we are not living in what the Bible would call revival - then let us be honest to that. But I am challenged by Rob's statement that disappointment is a disasterous father of theology. I have seen two men of God get toppled by disappointment and by hoping for more.

Let's fall forward!