Times of Restoration

In the book of Malachi (last book of the Old Testament) God gave a promise that He would send the Prophet Elijah before the dreadful day of the Lord. It goes on to say that his ministry would be to turn people's hearts back. More specifically, the hearts of family members that Satan has caused to become harden and indifferent. In other words God was saying in the last days I will cause a spirit of restoration to occur. I think we would all agree that there are a lot of families that are torn apart today and children have become the victims of self-serving, pleasure seeking parents. Now it's not my intent to speak to the family crisis at this time. That's another post. However, I do want to explore the thought of restoration.
In (Acts 3:21) we find an interesting verse. In paraphrase it says heaven has received Christ and will not release Him to return until all of the prophetic things spoken have come to pass. Of course, there are prophecies that deal after the return of Christ. But this is referring to the prophesies that deal with the events prior to His return.
In other words there are some things that must take place before Christ can return. This is the reason God spoke through Malachi and said I will send Elijah the prophet.

Elijah was a mighty man of God. There is alot that could be said about him but for the sake of space I will limit my comments. I believe the spirit of Elijah is upon the Church now. Just like on John the Baptist, the spirit of Elijah was upon him. John was a forerunnner of Christ. The spirit of Elijah comes to usher in the Lord as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Now you may be asking what is there to restore? Well, restoration has actually already begun. We know from reading the book of Acts we see God's church. That is the same church in the earth today. However, read closely and we will discover some major differences. The Spiritual church in Acts became the structured church during the dark ages. The spirit of religion took over and man grew further and further from God.
Beginning in 1500 we see God beginning the restoration movement. Martin Luther rose up and began a revolution. From Martin Luther's day until now there has been a series of moves of God. The holiness movement, latter rain movement, pentecostal movement, charismatic movement, Apostolic and Prophetic Movement. The problem is people that were apart of one movement don't want to embrace the truths of the next movement.
My position is this, I believe God was and is a part of all those movements. Now, that doesn't mean man hasn't come along and perverted it. That has always been our problem. We mess up what God does. I believe the next great move of God will be within the Body of Christ. In past we see God raising up an individual. We will now see God move through His mature Church called the Body of Christ. As He does, we will see miracles like in the book of Acts. In fact according to (John 14:12) we can expect the exploits to be even greater.
I know this is a long blog but I had to get this out. There is a mighty move of God coming to those that hunger for His Glory. Let's seek the Glory of God. Church He rent the veil inorder for us to receive His Glory. It's time to move from Glory to Glory. Don't be discouraged, or fearful, this is time for faith to be stirred and Saints to arise and be God's Army!!!! Blessings

"Halloween And The Church"

Halloween to say the least has been a controversial subject for as long as I can remember. I must admit, growing up I always looked forward to October 31st. To me it was a time to scare people and get as much candy as possible. These were days where everybody knew everybody in the community. We knew the houses where we could get the good candy. In fact, I vividly remember one house where the lady always gave out sweet potatoes. I didn't like to stop there but mama must have needed the potatoes.
Needless to say, times have changed. The world is full of evil people. There are many people that are simply servants of Satan, and look for ways to destroy, defile and demoralize the lives of the innocent.
Concerning halloween, there are so many things that can and should be said about this day. First of all, halloween is not a Christian holiday. A lot of the things that are practiced today during halloween have a very evil origin. The "Jack o lantern" for instance represents souls that are damned. Costumes were worn because the celts thought they could trick the demons into believing that they were one of them. Trick or treat came about from the belief that if you set food or candy on your steps or porch the spirits would pass you by not causing harm to your home or family. (SIDE NOTE) Houses were known to have been burned because of people not participating. On and on I could go about the traditions of halloween. Now I know that most people participate in halloween knowing nothing about the origin and evil behind it.
What can the church do during this time. First of all, I'm not a legalist. However, we should be very cautious with the activities we engage in. Study the significance of the activity. What does bobbing for apples represent? We should ask these questions when we are planning events.
This is what I believe. October 31st is the day the Lord made. We should rejoice and be glad. It is also a day when a multidude of people will be out in the street and attending special events. I think the church should use this time to be creative and reach out to the many people in the community. It is a time to let them know we are here to serve. October 31st is a wonderful time to evangelize and let our light shine like never before.
I think it is necessary for me to say, that condenming people for participating in halloween is very unwise. We win people through love and leadership, not condemnation and critisism. Show love, and lead people into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Condemnation is never an evangelistic method.
My prayer is many souls will be saved during all the events planned for Oct. 31st.

Azusa Street/ Then and Now

As many of us know the Azusa street revival was an awesome outpouring of the Spirit of God. Since the years of the revival were from 1906-1910 I haven't met many people that were in attendance. In fact, I haven't met anyone that was in attendance. However, there are several books and articles that can be found concerning the great events of that day. Signs and wonders were a common happening in each of the services. A very interesting fact concerning that revival, is that most of the people involved were young people hungry for God.

This is a trend that I'm seeing today. God is raising up a group of young radical non-religious group of God chasers today. There is a hunger for a genuine experience with the living God. As we look back to Azusa street, there were legs that grew, blinded eyes openned, and many people saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. However, these things didn't come without a price. The leadership during Azusa street endured tremendous persecution. Likewise, today there are people sitting and waiting to pour water on the fire of what God is doing.
Let me just say, DON'T WAVER, DON'T QUIT, DON'T EVEN LET UP FOR ONE MINUTE. Be radical. Let God arise and watch His enemies scatter!!!!

I believe we will see another great move of the Holy Ghost. In fact, in 1909 Rev. Charles Parham and William Seymore (Azusa leader) gave a prophecy that in 100 years God would pour out His Spirit even greater than what they witnessed. According to my limited math skills that time is approaching. I believe 2009 will be the greatest year the Church has ever had. Now, I must say this doesn't apply to the religious crowd that are satisfied with status-quo. But for the hungry sold out unashamed worshippers look out, the Spirit of God is moving mightily and only going to increase.

2008 has been good. Many Churches have experienced tremendous growth. Others may have struggled. Don't be discouraged. We know that the number 8 represents new beginnings. This has happened for many. However, on the 8th day a Jewish boy received circumcision. I believe this represents a cutting away of flesh. 2008 has been a year where God has done a cleansing within His church. Pastors don't be discouraged if some have left with no explanation. They may have even blamed you for it, however, God is ironing out wrinkles and positioning His people for the greatest time ever. In the midst of gross darkness, His Light shines the brightest.
Be encouraged and stay faithful to Him. HE'S GOT YOUR BACK!! (ROM.8:28).

"Preparing The Church For Harvest"

Jesus called three fisherman to become fishers of men. Though all three were fisherman, they were different in there actions. Peter and Andrew were casting their nets when Jesus called them. (Mathew 4:18). We know from later text Peter was gifted to speaking to large crowds such at Pentecost. There is a need for that kind of Evangelism today. However, Andrew on the other hand was a one on one man. (John 1:41,42) Andrew brought Simon to the Lord. We need this kind in the Church as well.
John the other of the three was mending his nets when he was called. He was more concerned about not losing anymore fish. He was constantly repairing and fixing problems. This type is also needed in the Church.
As we listen to John in his writings, he is sharing a lot about the Church that needs attention. The following is a list of just 10 things John points out that needs immediate attention.
1.(Rev. 2:1-6) Return to first love
2.(Rev. 3:14-20) Repent of Lukewarmness and self-sufficiency
3.(1John 5) Walking in the Light
4.(1John 1:6) Dealing with inconsistency and hypocrisy
5.(1John 1:8-10)Ceasing from excuses and rationalization about sin
6.(1John 2:15-17)Ceasing from the love of the World
7.(1John 3:1-2)Fresh revelation of God's love for us
8.(1John 3:10-23)New beginning of love one for another in both word and deed
9.(1John 2:3)Obedience to God
10.(1John 5:21) Dealing with Idols and areas of compromise

Conversion vs Coming Forward

These seem to be days that we as church leaders are trying extra hard to bring people into the church. I for one love to see new folks every Sunday in our celebration service. However, I believe it is vital to reexamine our approach in bringing the lost to a decision for Christ. Now I know this doesn't apply to every church, but I have witnessed in many areas that when someone walks forward into the altar we assume they are being saved. The fact that they walked forward is nothing but works.

In the book of Acts, the Apostles were concerned about seeing conversions. (2Cor. 5:17) "old things pass away, behold all things become new." No doubt discipleship is a must at this point but I am concerned that many people walk forward into the altar and never get any further. They become a number on a roll book and end up lost in a crowd without a clue to what is going on.

My plea today is that we trully focus on making disciples out of the ones that make the trip to the altar. The scripture uses the word, "Born Again" (John 3:3). It sounds religious but it describes the requirement to reveiving eternal life. In fact religion is the last thing people need. We need a true heart felt relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Jesus is real so let's make our altar call real with a transferring of the old life new the new one in Christ Jesus.