Being Patient With The Patience Of God

Psalm 58:11 states, "There is a God who judges on the earth." I ask, "Have you ever found yourself feeling frustrated because of the way in which wickedness seems to win over justice?" If so then you get a sense of what the Psalmist is saying in this psalm.

The Psalmist struggled with the fact that in the very place one might expect to find justice, yo find wickedness, and corruption prevailing. Surely you can share some of the Psalmist cynicism.

You may have even found yourself being a victim of some unwarranted "wrong." Take courage, the Psalmist said, "God will judge the righteous and the wicked." Remember that wrong will not continue forever. The day is coming when all corruption and injustice will be called to judgment before the throne of God's truth. What we have to do in the interim, is pray for grace to be patient with the patience of God. Because every day the Lord tarries His justice, hundreds of souls are being won the Christ.

God of Wonders

My God is still such an amazing God. Last night in our worship service, a woman came forward for special prayer. Her arm was in a sling and she told my wife she had experienced a torn rotatory cuff in her left shoulder and was in need of surgery. She said she was experiencing "excruciating pain." Deana prayed the prayer of faith and then asked "Is the pain still there." The woman had a surprised look on her face and said, "No, the pain is gone." She then preceded to take off the sling and raise her arms to heaven and praise God. Completely healed, free mobility, free from pain!
One interesting side note is this same woman surrendered her heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ just one week ago.
In the same service a man came forward and surrendered he heart and life to Jesus Christ and we prayed that the addictions he had been battling would be gone.
Our youth pastor sent me a text stating they had two salvation's in their youth service. Three salvation's and one totally healed rotatory cuff! Yep! I'll say He is still a God of wonders!

Super Sunday

With the "Big Game" now fading into distant memory, fans across the United States will go back home and settle into their daily routines.
As I shared this past Sunday, you have to appreciate those "fans."

• They will spend anywhere from $1200.00 up to $6000.00 and more to go watch a football game.
• Their car will have to pay $105.00 to set in the parking lot...! They don't care, they're fans!
  
• They will stand up the whole game!
  
• And they will shout and scream the whole game. They refuse to shut up. They refuse to just set down and just be a spectator.
  
• It doesn't matter about the weather, rain, sleet or, shine, they are there....!
  

Well I think you get the point, as a "Fan" of my Lord Jesus Christ, I say, "Lord give us more fans!" Jesus won a great victory for humanity on the cross that is still being talked about today. He arose from the grave on the original "Super Sunday!" If you want to hear more about this, listen in to this past Sunday's podcast, "The Big Event" at www.unioncityfirstag.com

Faith in Action

God has really stirred my heart about this faith journey we are on. I shared with our church last night that Abraham is a great example of how we are to respond to God's direction in our lives. Abraham had faith and it was "counted to him as righteousness."
A couple of key thoughts about faith in action as it relates to Abraham's story is that faith in action takes courage and faith in action requires obedience to God's instruction.
Abraham was being directed to leave his country (his security), his father's household (his support system), and go to a country that God would show him ( surprise! A whole lot of what if's) That took courage and Abraham set out on that journey.
God was putting things in order that Abraham knew nothing of. God was creating a covenant of separation with Abraham and He was establishing a new nation we know today as the Hebrew nation from which the Messiah of the world would come through. God is always working things that we cannot see at the time, but God has a plan for everyone of us.
Abraham's action (stepping out in faith) activated the plan of God. God had a plan, but it would have never been activated had Abraham never taken action.
Faith in action activates the plan of God in our lives.

"Cash or Cred........no I'll use Faith!

Reinhart Bonnke said, "Faith is the currency of heaven!" How true that is. The Hebrew writer said, "Faith is the subtance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen." When we operate in that realm, faith really is the currency we must use. When the poor lady with the issue of blood approached Jesus for healing, all she has was faith, but it was enough to purchase her healing.
Paul said our God calls those things that are not as though they are! I'll use faith please!

30 A.D. Ministry in the 21st Century

I am absolutely convinced that the same methodology the early church used must be employed by the 21st Century church. The Acts 2 model shows they had worship, fellowship, discipleship, serving in ministry, and sending people out. Of course they employed those things through the Holy Spirit and we must do the same.
Yes we should use appropriate technology and current trends should be acknowledged, but Jesus said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!"

The Power We Need

I thank God for the power of the Holy Spirit that believers can have in their lives and wow, what a power we have to be witnesses for Jesus Christ.
Having said that, I like what I read in a recent publication from Tim Enloe called "Divine Order." In the book the idea is introduced that we need the power of the Holy Spirit more today than ever. I don't think anyone would disagree. But the power we need is more than power or ability to speak in tongues....we need the power of the Holy Spirit so we can speak in English.
Is that not profound? We in Pentecostal circles have focused so much on tongues that we missed the important point and that is we can have access to the full power of the Spirit and we need the full power of the Spirit to be effective witnesses for Jesus.
Yes I believe speaking in unlearned languages is still the inital evidence that people have received the Holy Spirit baptism, but that is just the beginning. There is so much more that the Spirit wants to do through a believer and Paul identified gifts of utterances, gifts of power and gifts of revelation that a Holy Spirit baptized believer can uses as the situation demands to the glory of God.
Bottom line .......We need the Holy Spirit baptism so we can know what to say to people in a language they can understand! And the prayer languages of men and of angels is just an added blessing that can help me pray the perfect will of God when I don't know how to pray, or when my English language just isn't enough.
Thank you Jesus for the power we need!

Who Am I That God Is Mindful of Me?

The Psalmist David wrote those words during a time of his reflection of just how majestic God is. In fact he opened Psalm 8 with those words, O LORD, our Lord, how majestic in your name in all the earth..." NIV and then in verse 3 he said, who is man that you are mindful of him...?
In the vast universe we live in, with it's thousands of galaxies, each as crowded as our very own, who are we that God is mindful of us?
That answer can be answered with one simple phrase.....you are part of God's creation.....you are part of His design.
And because you are part of His design, there is a purpose and because you are part of His creation, He will provide for your every need.
In life we need fulfillment in our physical needs, our emotional needs and spiritual needs. I want you to know that God "can" and "wants" to fulfill everyone of those needs. Listen to the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 6:25-33, Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the bird of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So don't worry saying, "what shall we eat?" or "what shall we drink?" or "what shall we wear?" For the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. NIV
You may ask, but why would God do that for me? Because You are His creation! Believe in Him and you will activate his blessings and give him the freedom to engage on your behalf.

People Need An Audience

As our church prepared for our Missions Sunday, the Spirit of the LORD stirred my heart to bring a message of challenge to our congregation about what the people of our culture really need.
If goes without saying that people need the LORD. But over 40% of our society have never had an adequate presentation of Jesus. So the message to our church was wrapped up in four simple truths;
People need an audience with the Holy Ghost. Jesus said He would send another comforter and that when "He" comes (speaking of the Holy Spirit), "He" would lead and guide us and teach us. But more importantly, "He" would convict the world of sin. The only way people can come to the knowledge of their need of a Savior is through the witness of the Holy Ghost. Therefore;
People Need to Feel The Holy Spirit's Presence In Our Churches. The biggest assault on the modern church is we have become so good at "doing church" that many feel as though we no longer need the Holy Spirit moving in the church. In essence we have programmed the Holy Spirit right out of the church service, with the exception of reaching one or two sinners at the end of "our" services. The tragedy of it all is, if the Holy Spirit is not free to move and stir hearts and set people free, then people will walk into our churches bound by the strongholds of sin and they will walk right back out the doors of the church completely unchanged and then the church will have lost it's relevance.
People Need To Feel The Holy Spirit In Our Lives. We are supposed to be the physical representation of the Holy Ghost in a dark and sinful world. As Spirit-filled believers, people ought to sense there is something different about us. When Moses had spent time in God's presence, his countenance was changed. If people cannot tell any difference in us from the next person, how will they see Jesus in us. We are supposed to be the salt and light of the earth. Salt and light affect their surroundings and as a Spirit-filled believer, we should as well.
People Need to Feel The Holy Spirit Where They Are. If we keep the message of hope and peace to ourselves and keep the work of the Holy Spirit sequestered away within the four walls of our churches, the world will fail to have the witness of the Spirit. Statistics have shown that people are not flocking to the churches therefore we must take the Holy Spirit with us to where they are.
The bottom line is, people need an audience with the Holy Ghost before they will ever feel conviction for their sins and before they will even know they are in need of a Savior.
What are we doing about that?

Relying On The Power of Prayer

The Holy Spirit has certainly stirred my heart regarding the Days of Harvest for this year. We started the year with a week of prayer and thi spast Wednesday night I shared a message that the Spirit stirred my heart about and I felt it was worthy to repeat in this blog.
We've all heard messages and sermons about prayer and the importance of prayer, the only thing we are lacking is praying.
I say that because prayer is more than just words. Prayer is one on one communion in the presence of our Creator. Having said that some points the Spirit quickened me about are;
1) We cannot pray effectively unless we have a desire to pray! Simply put, if we do not have a desire to be in our Creator's presence, then we will not pray. Oh we may bring a wish list from time to time but I'm talking about "being in His presence.' You see our desire for prayer will be birthed out of our desire to be in His presence, not just to bring a wish list.
2) We cannot pray effectively without the help of the Spirit! We need the mind of the Spirit because sometimes we do not know how to pray and the Spirit can pray through is in our prayer language. If you want to pray effectively then pray "in the Spirit." Use your prayer language. Some call it "tongues" but it is simply a prayer language and when you pray in that way the Apostle Paul says our spirit is speaking mysteries to God.
3) We cannot pray effectively unless we allow ourselves to be broken! I'm not necessarily talking about tears, although I have experienced God so real that way, but what I am talking about is having our pride broken. Pride will keep us from having a desire to move into our Creator's presence because in His presence our pride will be exposed. We have to allow that human pride to be broken and recognize we need our God engaged in our lives.
4)We cannot have the power without the Spirit and we cannot have the Spirit without prayer! If you want power in your prayer, then you need to seek the Baptism of the Holy Ghost that Jesus spoke about in Act 1:8. The early disciples received this infilling on the Day of Pentecost and they were refilled a few days later and the Gentiles were filled, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues some 8 years later in Cornelius's house and some believers in Ephesus received the same experience another 8 years after that. This experience is still available to you and I and it will give you power in your prayer. But you have to get into His presence in prayer and He will not withhold anything good from His children.

This Christmas

Even though Deana and I did not spend as much on Christmas this year, it was still one of the best times of Christmas. JR and Jennifer spent this year in Texas and Tiff and Corbo came over on Christmas and we had a great meal and opened gifts. I believe this next year, we will do the same thing, we will get back to keeping it simple. One thing for sure, JR and Jennifer will be with us next year. That will be fun.
I trust you and yours had a great Christmas as well and I pray your New Year be a great one as well. As for us, I believe we are going to have a great new year in our home in spite of the economic downturn and I believe this is going to be a great year for our church. We have a full staff this year with passionate pastors who really want to fulfill the plan of God for our lives. It will be awesome! Happy New Year!

Where Is The God of Elijah?

This past Wednesday I shared a message with our congregation entitled, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" Of course that was the question that Elisha asked after Elijah was taken up into heaven by the whirlwind. Elisha took Elijah's cloak and struck the waters of the Jordon after asking that question. The waters parted and Elisha crossed over on dry ground.
That question is still applicable to you and I today. Where is the God of Elijah? If He is still the miracle working God, why are we not seeing more miracles? If He is the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-sufficient God, why are so many people not walking in victory in their daily lives?
The answers to those questions was the point of the message. The fact of the matter is, God is right where we put Him.
On September 13, 2001, just two days after the World Trade Center buildings collapsed, Anne Graham Lotz was interviewed on the Early show by Jane Clayton. The following is a portion of that transcript;

Jane Clayson: I've heard people say, those who are religious, those who are not, if God is good, how could God let this happen? To that, you say?
Anne Graham Lotz: I say God is also angry when he sees something like this. I would say also for several years now Americans in a sense have shaken their fist at God and said, God, we want you out of our schools, our government, our business, we want you out of our marketplace. And God, who is a gentleman, has just quietly backed out of our national and political life, our public life. Removing his hand of blessing and protection. We need to turn to God first of all and say, God, we're sorry we have treated you this way and we invite you now to come into our national life. We put our trust in you. We have our trust in God on our coins, we need to practice it.

So, how about it? Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Where have we put Him? Are we even spending time talking to Him? How long has it been since we talked to Him? He's waiting......right there where we left Him!

What Is The World Coming To?

In the times in which we live, it is easy for us to ask ourselves the question, “What is this world coming to? In fact I have caught myself making that same comment. I believe the world is coming to a point in history that will be some of the most frightful times the world has ever known, but I also believe it will be a season where great faith will be on display. Habakkuk said there would be a time in which the knowledge of the glory of the LORD would fill the whole earth.

As I was contemplating that thought, I began to weigh it all out. Jesus has already come to earth as the suffering servant. He suffered and died on that old Roman cross for the redemption of mankind. He was place in a tomb and came back to life by the Spirit of God after three days. He was seen by the brethren, He was taken up into heaven and the Holy Spirit came to earth to fulfill and complete the work of Jesus on this earth. And in all that the scripture of Habakkuk has not been completely realized or fulfilled yet. So the question remains; At what point will the prophecy be realized?

Before you say; Well that was an Old Testament prophecy to the Israelite people listen to Paul told the Romans. Romans 14:11 states that one of these days, every knee would bow and every tongue would confess that Jesus is LORD. All means all! All must bow down and worship Him; all must acknowledge His splendor, His majesty, His power, His might, His goodness, His wisdom. As the water in the seas fill every nook and cranny, all the earth will acknowledge God as God.

There will be a time on this earth where Habakkuk's prophecy will be fulfilled and it will be when Jesus Christ sets up His literal reign upon this earth. I am longing for that day. I am looking for the day in which suffering gives way to gladness. I'm looking for the day in which war is replaced with absolute peace in this earth. But it will only come after Satan is bound and defeated. Having said all that I believe we need to understand the times in which we are living and we need to know that there will never be world peace until Habakkuk's prophecy is fulfilled. We have a ways to go before that happens. We are living in the perilous times that the Apostle Paul spoke to Timothy about.
What about it? What is the world coming to? Jesus said it in Matthew chapter 24.

The World Is Coming To The Time of Birth Pangs!

Listen to what Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 24:3-14;And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many."And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.
So, what is this world coming too?

1)Birth Pangs Of Wars And Rumors Of Wars
2) Birth Pangs Of Natural Disasters and Famine
3) Birth Pangs Of Persecutions
4) Birth Pangs Of Unrighteous Living

2 Tim 3:1-5 states, "People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying its power. NIV

So in answer to the question of what the world is coming? It is those perilous times, but through all that there is a silver lining and that is Habakkuk's prophecy, after all that has happened and Jesus has set up His reign on this earth and Satan has been defeated, then, The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14 NIV

The Presidential Election and Morality

As the month of October comes to close and November looms in front of me, my mind is immediately draw to the presidential election that will be taking place on November 4, 2008. With this in mind I have called for a Sacred Assembly at our church for Monday, November 3, 2008 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. This will be a time of worship and prayer for our nation as we seek God's will for our country's highest office.

As we go to the voting booth this year, we should do so prayerfully because so much is at stake. The next president will appoint members of the Supreme Court, direct this country's military, and set the tone for our country's level of morality.

When asked about the election, I simply tell people to vote their morality. As Christians we have a moral accountability to maintain and that moral accountability can be seen through the lens of scripture. The infallible, inherent Word of God should be the our basis for living and a guide in all matters of life for all Christians. It is not my intention to try to get people to vote for one candidate or the other but it is my desire to challenge them to know where the candidates stand on the issues of morality such as the sanctity of life. Where do the candidates stand on the abortion issue? How have they voted on partial birth abortion legislation? Where do they stand on the role of a Sovereign God in their decisions? Are they people who pray and will they seek God for decisions pertaining to all of us?

Historically the far left (liberals) have held the positions of pro-choice, separation of church and state, supporting the rights of same sex marriage, supporting the gay rights agenda, etc. On the other side of the spectrum, the far right (conservatives) has been pro-life, many openly confess their Christian faith and it's role in their everyday decisions, the far right has historically condemned same sex marriages and support the ideal of marriage as being between one man and one woman. Where does your candidate of choice stand on these issues? How have they voted in legislation pertaining to these issues?

As we go to the polls it is important to be aware of where a candidate stands on these issues and vote our beliefs through the lens of scripture. Many people will vote their pocketbook during this election but I want to challenge you to look at the issues of morality through the lens of scripture and after you have placed your vote, you will be able to walk away knowing that you have done your part. After that we will leave the results in the hands of a Sovereign God who will still be in control long after the political platforms are taken down.

One World Money

I shared a message with our congregation last night about how close we are to having a one world monetary system. The message I shared was from the Book of Micah. Of course Micah was a prophet who pronounced God's impending judgment upon both northern kingdom (Israel) and southern kingdom (Judah) prior to their destruction and captivity. But Micah's prophetic voice was not limited to that day. In fact he spoke about a coming Deliverer in the "last days."
Long story short, that Deliverer came to Bethlehem as the Prince of Peace. He was ultimately rejected by Israel, crucified on a Roman cross, but resurrected in great power by the Spirit of God. In Revelation, John saw Him in splendor and glory and the Lord gave him a message that we need to heed.
That message is that coming to the world seen one of these days ( which I believe is closer than we know) the stage will be set for a "one world ruler" who will be known in scripture as the anti-Christ. He will set up that one world system.
We used to laugh at the notion that we could be pulled into that but look at what is happening on the world scene today. The dollar is shrinking at an alarming rate. The global world markets and financial institutions are in dire straights. All it would take is for the large countries like China, who holds trillions of our greenback dollars to simply dump them and it would shake the world.
Since 1969, the idea of a common monetary system has been quietly batted around in financial circles and in presentations given at the Federal Reserve conferences.
But do not think that this is somehow a doom and gloom message. It's not, nor should it be because that means that the return of Jesus Christ is so so... close. And that means the eventual rule and reign of Christ as Micah predicted 712 years before Jesus was ever born. PTL!

Family and Friend Day

I am sitting here thinking about last Sunday and wow!, what a crowd we had between the two services. Our final numbers reflect that we had 328 people on our campus after deducting the duplicates from both services. While that is a phenomenal victory, the real victory is in the number of lives that were impacted. We intentionally set out to invite the unchurched crowd to our services and we had a great response. Pastor Lori reported that she had 26 kids respond to the invitation to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior in Kids Inc. and I had at least three respond in the second worship service. PTL!
I'm sitting here wondering just how many of those folks will be back tomorrow...or the next Sunday? Will they be drawn to get involved in one of our discipleship classes? That's the real key........discipleship. Helping people connect to Jesus and then grow into a disciple.............that is someone who is like Jesus!!

My First

Well this is my first post. Deana and I are in Pigeon Forge and we just finished participating in the annual Tennessee District Minister's Retreat. Doug Clay was the guest speaker and he did a great job. The last session tonight was probably the best where we were challenged to be a 21st Century Pentecostal Church. The idea was that the 21st Century Pentecostal Church should be activly engaged in winning the lost, focused on water baptism, being culturally engaged, totally reliant on the anointing of the Holy Ghost. There was much more to the message but that's just the summary. Great retreat! Woot, Woot! We head back home tomorrow and reengage in His Harvest!!!