Redemptive Dreams | Dream Sunday | Pastor Charles Mugisha

We have some amazing friends of ours from Africa New Life in the house with us today. Many of you are very familiar with Africa New Life. Pastor Charles is gonna come to the stage for just a moment. Why don't you turn your attention to the screen for this video? I couldn't believe my eyes. Even a few years later, the country looked dead. And the children, the children had no hope. We needed God to intervene. (dramatic music) One that has come so far since that whole about time, the country is self, the economy is growing, that people have hope, but many children still live in poverty. The African New Life, we believe in transforming lives, using the two hands, the hand of the gospel, and the hand of compassion. Each child has an inherent dignity given to them by their make-up. We believe when a child responds to the good news of Jesus. When they receive a quality education, and their health and communities are progressing, amazing transformation takes place. We invite you to come to Rwanda and minister alongside us. Join us in letting every child do everything. (dramatic music) Come on, what a beautiful Sunday in the House of the Lord.

How's everybody feeling today? You feeling good? Will you look good? My goodness, it is, man, it's an honor to be in the House today. Cassidy and I, this last week, celebrated 20 years of marriage. Come on, yeah. I think it's pretty amazing that she's liked me for 20 years. I mean, so we were out of town for a few days, and it just, man, it just does something to me to be in the House of the Lord. To be able to see just some amazing people, which is all of you, by the way. That's who we're at, so I'm talking about. But today, we are so blessed to have a long time ministry partner in the House with us today. African new life, you know, there's no coincidences in the kingdom of God, just divine connection. And the way that African new life and Christian life got connected is really a very unique way, but it has become just a wonderful partnership over the last, I think, seven and a half years. At this point, we have been partnered with African new life. A wonderful ministry who, their heart is to see children know Jesus. And they do that through so many different ways,

and I won't get into the details of that now. I'll talk about it at the end of our time together today, but we are blessed today to have the founder of African new life. Also, the lead pastor of New Life Bible Church in Kigali, Rwanda. With us today, Pastor Charles is no stranger to this church and to this pulpit. He's spoken here previously, and just an incredible man of God. And I'm so grateful today that Pastor Charles is here to share the word with us now. You guys know how we do welcomes around here at Christian life. We don't, this is not the master's golf club, right? That's not how we roll. We like to show honor where honor is due. And I just, I like people to remember, man, I went to Christian life. Those people were wild. Like, that just fires me up. So, I'm gonna introduce Pastor Charles, but this is where you come in. I need your help. I need you to make sure that when Pastor Charles travels around the country over the next couple of weeks, and he's got a busy schedule preaching, I want him to remember, man, I went to that church in Austin, and everything's better in Texas.

Thank you everyone. Thank you. You can have your seats. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. You can have your seats You know, it's really fun to be here It's always beautiful to come back to Christian life Amen, and I'm really really excited today to be here to bring God his word To give you some updates from Rwanda and Africa new life and what God is doing This same yeah, we had a team from your church here, and they really blessed us Our youth in ministry was taken completed to another level by your youth pastor when he visited us so We love you so much. I know many of you here sponsor children I want to say thank you for sponsoring children in Rwanda their lives continue to flourish and God continues to bless our communities. Amen Amen Let's pray God we come before you today We thank you for the presence of your Holy Spirit in this place We thank you because you're already working and you're gonna be working throughout this day I do ask you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit as I bring you what may you speak to someone here and Redeem their lives and give them a dream for what you're calling them to do for you We thank you, and we look to you, and I trust you to lead me and help me in Jesus name amen amen amen You know this is a beautiful morning like hey I say it I Love this church more than you guys can imagine this church he has done much more than he you know to partner with African new life and the one of the things I love in this church is that he the same spirit who is working in this church he is the same Speed to working at new life in Kigali. Amen. We had yeah two different nations he different languages different accents he different cultures But one Lord one spirit and one body of Jesus Christ

Amen amen, you know yes, they go God led me to Rwanda and We didn't know who was going to go with us and we kept praying it that God Who bring a pregnancy to come go with us see do ministry in Rwanda? They we went to so many people asked them to join us But the most interesting thing about this church and the miracle is that you actually found us You found us You believed in the visioning and invited us into a partnership That could only be Gody alone, okay, and we thank God for you and today African new life ministries is celebrating in 25 years of ministry in Rwanda and Going around the country celebrating in 25 years with a number of our partners So on the behalf of my wife Florence my family and your family of African new life ministries in Rwanda We want to say thank you for making a choice to partner with us 25 years ago, we had a dream and today we have a testimony of what Gody has done and Yeah, as I speak to you today, I want to speak about two Redemptive who dreams because the our testimony is Redemptive of what God has truly Redemptive and done now I have personally coined This whole idea of redemptive dreams. It's like a mine is personal It's from my hearty and what Gody has done. Therefore, I want to give you a definition of what I call redemptive dreams Redemptive dream is a vision Gody plants in our hearts or in your heart It's a vision of what go of what can be restored When his love and truth enters he a place he a brokenness When the love of God and the truth of God enters he in a place of to respond. We see people through His love. We imagine a future shept by the promises of God because the Bible is full of so many promises of God that He will redeem us, that He will heal us, that He will lift us. God has so many promises and scriptures for us and we take a step of faith towards Him, that future. We bring what is broken before God. We listen to His direction.

Then we raise in faith and walk in obedience. Where there is despair, God calls us to bring hope. Where there are wounds, God calls us to fakim. Where there are people that have been forgotten, God calls us to recognize their God-given dignity. So today I want us to look at Nehemiah because when I look at my mission to Rwanda and my calling to Rwanda is very much like the calling of Nehemiah. In the book of Nehemiah chapter 1 verse 1 to 4, we see the call of God to Nehemiah. God and Nehemiah at a certain time of the year, He got some news, news that broke His heart and the news was by the brethren that came to Him was that some men of Judah came with news. And the news was that they had escaped it. And then the few that were left in captivity were really in trouble and Jerusalem was a broken city. And Nehemiah says, and they say unto me, the remedy, a lefty, that a left of captivity there in the province are in greater friction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down and they get there of a band with fire. And it came to pass the Bible says, when I had His words, I sat down, I wept He, I moaned He for certain days Him and fasted Him and prayed He before the heaven He, before the God of heaven. You know, Nehemiah had about the people living in trouble and shame. The news reached His ears, but He didn't stop there. The news also reached His heart. It didn't stop there. That same news led Him to His knees. Nehemiah had had about the broken walls of Jerusalem. Obvious the way you have broken walls, that have been caused by war and genocide and various issues. You have more broken hearts than walls. And He prayed He and fasted Him and sought the fancy of God. So from the story of Nehemiah, I want to share with you five very personal, redemptive ideas from this see texting. Number one, let the brokenness reach your heart. In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah lived in a comfortable life. Nehemiah lived an American life in many ways. He lived very far from Jerusalem where there was a lot of trouble. It wasn't in some country, but it was a good place. Okay? But when He heard about the suffering of God His people, something happened to His heart. And He could have said, "That is not my problem anymore. I am in a good place." But Nehemiah, instead of entertaining His comfort, He knelt down, prayed, and called on the name of God on the behalf of those who are broken. Be funny, Nehemiah would review the walls. God broke His heart for His people. Church, sometimes God allows us to be broken because He wants to bring a restoration. God allows us to be broken because He wants to give us redemptive dreams, dreams that bring hope and renewal in the lives of others. In 1994, my home country of Rwanda experienced the wasty genocide you can never think of. One million people killed it in 90 days. I was 27 years of

edgy. Our immediate family members were killed. My family was able to survive because my parents had taken refugee in Uganda. 1995, just after the genocide, as a younger man, I walked into my home. the walls of the nation. But more than that, the children were in a terrible despair. I began to pray, asking God whether he could use me. And what God did before he used me was to break my heart. And as he broke my heart, and made me cry tears, I remember I prayed for nearly four years, asking God what can we do to bring redemption in the nation of Rwanda. Now, do not ignore what God is placing on your heart. Don't allow comfort to make you ignore the calling God is putting on your heart. Because a redemptive dream begins when we see brokenness through the eyes of Jesus Christ. Lesson number two, bring your burdens into the presence of God. Number two thing, Nehemiah prayed, he didn't go to build Jerusalem right away. He prayed him. The Bible says he fasted him and prayed before the God of heaven, before he approached the king, before he approached the king, he approached the king of kings. And I remember for me and my wife of Florence, we are living in Portland Oregon, I was going to school at Mount Noma Seminary, and we started praying in the middle of our seminary education. God, what are you calling us to do? And I remember we prayed and fasted for 40 days in a basement in Portland, Oregon. It can be a very cold and darker place. And in the middle of that darkness and coldness, we called upon the name of God. We had a redemptive dream, but we had no money. We had no buildings. We had no organization. All we heard was a broken heart that was crying out to God on the behalf of his children in Rwanda. Now during those days, what actually God did was to begin to heal us, before he could make us heal us, before he could send us to heal others, he started to work in our lives. You know, before God begins to use you, he starts to see by healing you. And when he heals you, then he commissions you to God do more for him. You know, you know, someone out there needs to hear this today, or you need to bring your pain to Jesus. You need to bring your body into Jesus. And you need to bring your dream to Jesus. Our dream became what we call the two hands of the gospel, pre-compassion and evangelism blended together. We wanted children to hear the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. We wanted them to experience the love of Christ through education, through food, through care, through an opportunity to have a better life. The gospel must be proclaimed with my lips, but also demonstrated by my acts of love and the dream continued to grow.

Number three in the process of a redemptive dream, of God, your next faithful step. You know, God is not asking for something big. He is asking for your next faithful step. He knows you don't have a building. He knows you don't have money. He knows what you are going through. But what is asking for you to give him is your faithfulness. After praying, Nehemiah acted. He went to Jerusalem. That's all he could do. He inspected the walls. That's all he could do. And he invited people to go building with him. You know, faith, he does not only pray, faith, he takes a step. In the summer of 2001, Florence and I will return thee to Rwanda. For you who don't know Florence is my famous wife. We've been married for 20, 80 years and together we founded African life ministries. Now, we didn't have millions of dollars. We did not have a big budget. We returned home with the nine soccer balls. That had been donated to us by a church on one of the Oregon costs. And a little bit of babysitting money, because my wife used to babysit children. And my wife was saving that money one day for us to be able to go home and buy a house. And for us, that house would be more than a property, would be really a home for people that have been refugees for a long time. But when I, when we arrived in one instead of building a house, I turned around to my wife and I said, honey, and husband, you have to be very careful. You have to pray a lot. Before, you say what I said. I told my wife, can I borrow your money? To start a ministry. And because she had prayed with me for four days, there is no way she could not let the money go. And very quickly, we started a smaller preschool, which has become a major high school in the entire nation, and waited a little bit.

We turned around. Our registered 29 children came back to America to go to school, but to ask people to help us help children. Today, those 29 Thug at Kids have become 20,000 children in the last 25 years of ministry. God has done amazing things. You know, the same, our story reminds me of the boy with five loaves and two pieces of fish. That boy had, what he had was, he didn't, that boy didn't know that what he had was enough to feed a crowd. He didn't know that what he had was enough to feed a crowd. Let me tell you, when God gives you a dream, he doesn't give you the information. But one thing I know, whatever he puts in your hand, he can use it to feed a crowd. He can use it to do miracles in your lives. So this reminds me that whatever you press in the hundreds of Jesus can become extremely very big. So never despise daisy of small beginnings. You may not have everything you need, but you can offer God what you have. And the question to someone here this morning, what do you have in your hands? What, what, what, some of you have time, some of you have resources, some of you have experiences. Many of us have none of those. All we have is willingness to go.

So you don't have to see the entire staircase to take the fastest step of obedience. You just keep going. So a redemptive dream moves forward one faithful step at a time. Number four, build with others and remember who gives growth. God gives the growth and the building with others. When the Hemaia began building Jerusalem, he didn't walk alone. In chapter three, we see him inviting families. He invites priests. He invites workers from different sections of the wall to come and serve with him. Everybody hardly apart. Church, great works of God have never accomplished alone. One person alone cannot accomplish great things for God. Redemptive leaders and redemptive redeemers. They invite other people to come and redeem with them and work with them. So when I look at the past 25 years of African life, I see the faithfulness of God through thousands of people. Some of those people have gone and have asked them to join us. Some people like AO Church, God spoke to them and they came and joined us and God is using them to redeem dreams and lives in the nation of Rwanda. I see my wife's forensic sacrifices. I see sacrifices of running pastors, teachers, medical workers, ministry leaders, and I see churches like AOs that have believed in this dream.

Some people have sponsored children. Some people are prayed. Some people have visited Rwanda. Some have given me successfully. Look at what God has done in the life of God. sponsorship and when you come to Rwanda, some of you have been in Rwanda. You're gonna find doctors, you're gonna find pastors, you're gonna find teachers, you're gonna find in lives that have been lifted from a cycle of poverty in a single generation. They have been redeemed in the name of Jesus Christ. 12 churches have been planted every Sunday over 14,000 people that did not exist before gathered to worship Jesus. That is a redemptive dream. Last August, we graduated two hundred seventy-five Bible college students in New Pastas from Africa College of Theology. Tell me that is a redemptive dream. You know, we start the hospital and every year the hospital welcomes over a hundred thousand people at the dream medical center exactly opposite to the church. Women is programming, keeping women and strengthening families. 25 years ago, we are asking God to sponsor just the 20, 90 children. Today, we are celebrating thousands that have been touched by the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Francie, again I want you to hear me well. This is not a story of chassis and fluency. This is the story of God is grace walking through people like you to make the dream happen and a Christian life, Austin, you are part of that story. You may never know on this side what God has done, but one day when you meet him first to first in heaven, you will encounter lives that have been changed and transformed because of your generosity and because of all these children you've sponsored in Rwanda. Only God knows, Nehemiah or Sophistic obvious opposition, but in all that opposition, God was there to support his redemptive dream. Number five, the last one as I finish, give God the glory and keep your hearty available. Today, I study here to give God the glory for the redemptive story of God through African New Life Ministries and all the patterners of African New Life Ministries. One special verse has become very special for my

family. It is the book of Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20 to 21. An dreamer and a man and a woman of vision, you must love this verse. Listen carefully to these words. The Bible says, "Now unto him who is able to do exceedingly, about and lay, about all we ask or think, according to the power that whacketh in us." And it says to him be what? The glory in the church by Jesus Christ through all generations. In every generation we see the redemption of God. In every generation, I say we see the redemption of God. A world without any man. Church, I love this Scripture. I love it because God is able. I love it not just because God is just able to do what we can ask you, not just able to do what we can imagine, but exceedingly above all we can ask you and think of. So today we stand again to put our confidence in our God and Paul reminds us that all the glory belongs to our God for what he has done. May God continue to bless you as you give him all the glory and the honor. And this time I traveled with one of our And she's a very special guest from Rwanda. Her name is Bukuru, a Rwandan singer and an African New Life alumna, who's in general reflects the transformation of your child sponsorship to give opportunity to children to go to school. As a result, she has performed on many stages in France, in Poland, in New York, as well as as the Formula One Awards, the giant sea of Africa, the voice sea of Africa, 20, 20, 60. Please join me to welcome Bukulu on this stage as a living testimony of redemptive dreams. May God bless you and continue to be with you. Amen. (audience applauds) (audience applauds)

- Praise God, hi everybody. I just wanna say thank you so much for who ever chose to come this morning because I bet one of my Rwandan brothers or sisters are going to be blessed by you just through this church ministry. My name is Bukuru and I am a Rwandan-based artist, now traveling artist. (audience applauds) Yes, and I am one of the products of Pastor Charles, loves of bread. (laughs) Redemptive dream. My story with African-year live ministry starts when I was 11 in 2009. Please don't count to my age. (audience laughs) And slightly before my mother works and worked then in medical ministry, sorry, medical administration and my dad was a soldier, now retired. And then my mother was studying and she was raising four kids. I am born in a family of four siblings, basically me, my twin sister, my eldest sister and my little sister. And it wasn't easy as you will might already know, our country went through hell and back due to the genocide against the Tuts in 1994. And my dad was part of the RPF,

the soldiers that liberated the country. And we were the post-genocide generation, so we were struggling with a lot of trauma, but also economic crisis. So my dad was not getting paid the best of the salaries. And my mom was studying and raising us and working at the same time, so you can imagine it wasn't enough. And I believe my biggest dream, I wore my hair today big, so that I would kind of make you understand the most ambitious dream as a kid, the most ambitious dream that I had was wearing, being braided and having beads in my head. In our country, shaving off a child's hair is not child abuse. It's something we do for economic reasons. So my mother used to shave us so that she wouldn't be in a position to have to care for us while I hair. And today, I wear my hair out like this. And I love... (audience applauding) Thank you. I love wearing it like this because it reminds me of the days that I couldn't. And it was such a very small dream, but it was my child's little dream that I had. And eventually, my mother went through a new life, and we went to me and my twin sister,

and then they were taking one child per family at the time because they wanted to share the opportunities in different families. I don't know if it's the same today. And they couldn't take my twin sister, they took just me, without the burden of thinking about the school fees and apart from the monetary support that received from the ministry we also received the constant reminding that we have to dream bigger than what we are seeing dreaming beyond what our resources are showing us dreaming beyond what our education is dreaming beyond our background because the neighborhood I was in I didn't even know the existence of a passport the neighborhood I was born in I couldn't tell you that I would speak English and be able to communicate with you today so it's such an honor it's such a privilege that I was able to join and it's such I don't know how God did it I don't know why God did it but I love that he did it for me I think God that I'm able to tell you the story of me as a little kid dreaming to be a superstar and having to leave the dream that I never prayed for I've been to 18 countries now I have been on stages I can only cry about because this is never something I very much into be at I've performed in front of presidents and princes and billionaires and people beyond my tax bracket and some of you might be here because one person at that dream Sunday called Jessica God bless her chose to give me an opportunity and she chose to walk in obedience and I am not bragging of my riches today I'm bragging of God's grace for my life and a lot of singers out there who could be bigger than me prettier than me much more privileged but I'm not sure they have the gift of achievement having to celebrate how much I've gone from how far I've gone into how far I've reached and how far I'm going because it's just the beginning hallelujah and today today I want to sing for you one song that I made for the ministry and I want to invite also the worship to join me later on as we sing gratitude because it's one of the songs that can express my gratitude in words and in sound I hope you will be blessed by it hardly a child feels more like a grown-up I'm bothered to my sisters and a father to provide Why, why, why, Lord, why? Then comes a saviour who brought lots of love to my dog and brought family and gave me a home God gave me home

(humming) and brought family, and gave me a home, and brought family, and gave me a home, God give me home. [MUSIC]