What a great Sunday we just had. There was a powerful presence of God that accompanied both services. We need to keep the prophetic word in mind that “It is marveling time.”  God is doing things at which we will marvel.

Along that line, keep in mind that the appropriate response to a word from the Lord is to pay attention to it and to give it weight spiritually speaking. We need to watch treating the supernatural like it was common. The operation of tongues and interpretation was manifest in the evening service along with latecomers strolling in as though we were doing the announcements. I am sure that they were not aware of what was being done. At least, I hope they were not aware! Tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophetic words etc., are all manifestations of God speaking to us. The appropriate response is that we stop in our tracks and focus totally on what is being said.

If we treat the things of the Spirit with reverence and respect, we can expect to experience continued and greater manifestations in the future. The great news is that the Spirit of God is moving in our services. The presence of God is being manifested. We are experiencing a freshness that comes along with His presence. Revelation knowledge is coming forth. And, I am thanking God for Mike’s miracle. He received healing in the arm that was injured in an accident at work. He was unable to raise it more than a few inches from his side. During prayer time he received an instantaneous healing and regained full motion. Awesome God!

Just thought you should know that Youth Ministry is alive and well at Calvary. There have been questions about who is leading, etc. The answer to that is twofold, Jr. High and High School Youth are under my ministry portfolio for oversight and the individual services are being conducted by a team of veteran volunteers. These teams are made  up of a great cross section of our congregation. I am periodically visiting these services and conducting ongoing training sessions with the workers. We are following the pattern that Children’s Ministry has practiced for years with the use of team teachers and helpers. Things are going well. We have had modest growth in attendance in the Youth service and Jr. High remains strong. Both groups are involved in a series on the Holy Spirit right now. There have been several young people who have received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I will post again with more information later. Check back to receive updates and testimonies about what is happening and who is preaching when. Blessings!

Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:”

These words resonate with me every time I read them.  Everything has a season.  Everything!  We need to ponder that statement.  Every parent knows that with the passing of time, seasons pass never to be reclaimed.  Our children are only children for so long.  Our parents are only with us for a season.  Outside of God everything around us is in a constant state of flux.

Get a clue!  Things will never be exactly the same again.  We need to labor while it is day.  We need to respond when God calls.  We need to give attention to our relationships while we can.  We need to “redeem the time.”

Everything in this life is passing away; only the eternal will remain.  Stop placing importance on the temporal.  Some things are to be used, some things are to be enjoyed, and other things we are to pass on by.

Seasons = a set time, an appointed time.

There is a reason for every season.

Understand that things in life are here only for a season. While we are told to keep our eyes on the unseen realm, we live in the seen realm where time is passing. We walk out the temporal with eternal values, but time moves on. We need to enjoy the passing of time with an eye on eternity. The eternal things are the unseen. They are the only things that we will enjoy forever.

The first principle in prosperity is WORK. All giving  presupposes that you have something to give. Since God blesses the work of our hands it is safe to assume that He expects that what we give is ours to give. For most of us that means that we are taking a portion of our earnings to give.

Work is the unstated first principle. I believe that it is unspoken because it is assumed. If giving was first, then I suppose the case could be made that it would be permissible to steal in order to give. The 10 Commandments take care of that. Paul said labor with your hands that you may have something to give.

Eph 4:28 NASB  He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.

Our work is honorable and is meant to supply for our needs and to help meet the needs of others. Note that it is not meant to meet the needs of people who choose not to work. No one has a right to be fed while they do nothing to provide for themselves. There are times when a person may not be able to work at all and this would be an exception.

What do you want most from your church?

Stanley M. Horton, What the Bible Says About the Holy Spirit (p. 208)

People have a tendency to forget that the gifts of the Spirit must be received on the same basis as the gift of the Spirit and the gift of salvation.  It is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not of works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

That the gifts of the Spirit are by grace through faith is implied also by the most common Greek word used to describe these gifts.  They are charismata, “freely and graciously given gifts,” a word derived from charis,  “grace, the unmerited favor of God.”  Charismata are gifts given us in spite of the fact that we do not deserve them.  They bear witness to the goodness of God, not the goodness of those who receive them.

Don’t have your own agenda.

We need to make sure that we have surrendered our agenda and have taken up His agenda.  Jesus said, in John 14:10, “The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.”  If anyone could have had his own agenda it could have been Jesus.  He laid down His will and took up the Father’s.  Though He could have stepped out on His own initiative, He refused to do so.  He purposed to only be led by His Father’s agenda.  So many times I have seen people push their own plans when it seemed so evident to me and others that God was moving in a specific direction.  Sometimes preachers will “talk away” an anointing.  The presence of God is being manifest and rather than submit to what the Spirit is doing the preacher will start talking and keep talking and then the moment passes.  The plan of God was to go a certain direction but lack of sensitivity causes another agenda to be put forth.  We need to do what God prompts us to do, when He prompts us to do it.  We need to develop the habit it being instantly obedient to His voice and consistently obedient to His prompting.  Regardless of what has been prepared, all is at the Spirit’s disposal. This is not to say that we can fail to prepare and do sloppy planning and then blame the outcome on the Spirit.  The apostles were led by the Spirit and what they did was purposeful and worked to form a strategic plan.  God is not the author of confusion but of order.  Sometimes His order may look chaotic but the outcome will actually be in divine order.

Expect God to move, just don’t have expectations as to how.

This has helped me more than just about anything else I’ve learned in conducting revival services.  Congregations need to develop the same philosophy.  I believe that God is going to move in every service.  I have learned that it is best to drop expectations as to exactly how He is going to do it this time.  If you can expect the unexpected that is what needs to happen.  We fall into ruts so easily.  This is not to say that we ought not have any forms or traditions, these can be helpful.  We just need to be sure that everything is available to the Holy Spirit.  He may tell me what I need to do or say in a service but how that works out may not be as I expected.  We need to trust that God will move and then be open to just how that happens.  What He does always produces life and blessing.  We need to be open to His promptings.

Have confidence without conceit and boldness without arrogance.

Without a doubt we need to approach life with a great level of confidence.  There is more lost through timidity than is ever lost through overconfidence (my opinion). I think that experience bears this out.  When it comes to leading a revival, a classroom, or a family you can’t be without confidence.  The placement of our confidence is of major importance.  If you place confidence in your own abilities you are going to be disappointed.  Of course, the believer’s confidence should rest in the Lord. The book of Hebrews says, “Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward” (Heb. 10:35).

The trick, so to speak, is to have confidence without stepping over into conceit.  There is a real temptation to begin to think that you are the reason that people are being touched.  The arrogance that tries to attach itself to the success experienced when God moves is something to be avoided at all cost.  Boldness yes, but never arrogance.  Our confidence needs to be in the Lord.  We should be quick to give Him the praise and the glory.  We need to be able to direct people back to the Lord as the source of good things they received.  Being quick to thank God when good things happen is a good way to stay out of arrogance and conceit.

Without a doubt, the touch of God I received in the summer of 1993 was life changing.  As big as this was at the time, it turns out it was just the beginning.  It was during that summer that we experienced revival through the ministry of Rodney Howard-Browne.  Over 4000 people were born-again during six weeks of services.  There were over 1200 baptized.  Thousands of people came through the doors of Calvary Cathedral.  These people represented hundreds of different churches, ministries, and  many denominations.  This meeting, along with Rodney’s meetings at Carpenter’s Home Church in Lakeland, Florida, are a part of Pentecostal church history.

The meetings at Calvary started a new awareness of the Holy Spirit in my life.  My ministry was never the same and became marked by a greater effectiveness.  The Gifts of the Spirit began to manifest in greater frequency, altar calls had greater impact, and people were affected in a greater way than ever before.  Along with this touch of God came the anointing to preach as never before.  Prior to that time I had taught the Word but never had the powerful proclamation we usually associate with preaching – that all changed in ’93.

I want to present several posts that give you some of the things I’ve learned conducting revival services since that time.  I’ll try not to limit these things to being in charge of services.  Most of these things can be applied to walking in the Spirit and can be useful to every spirit-filled believer.