Monday, March 23, 2026
Friday, August 12, 2022
Gen Z's Getting Baptized, Experiencing Radical Move of God on Public College Campus
Charismanews
A wave of repentance and revival is sweeping across the nation and destroying the "seeker sensitive" church model.
For one congregation, what started as a time of consecration and repentance has led to its Gen Z group getting baptized in a radical move of God. In Corpus Christi, Texas, New Life Church is seeing young people operating out of a spirit of boldness like the Jesus People Movement.
"It has been a spirit of repentance, a spirit of conviction, not legalism ... there is a deep conviction, like hey there is a real holiness of God," says Mike Fehlauer, senior pastor of New Life Church in Corpus Christi, Texas.
It all started in 2018 when Fehlauer read Jesus' letter to the seven churches and was convicted himself in what he calls his "job performance review" through the lens of the seven letters.
The church body looked to what really matters to Jesus. They left the church growth model behind, and what has followed is like a page out of the book of Acts.
On Texas A&M Corpus Christi's campus earlier this year, students gathered on the plaza and many were getting baptized in the fountain during the 53-degree weather and were filled with the Holy Spirit. The church isn't just seeing a spirit of boldness operating through the college students but through middle and high schoolers as well.
In a matter of weeks, they saw 14 Bible clubs form at 14 different schools, all led by students.
"Kids are getting saved, teachers are showing up, they are being ministered to and touched by the Lord," Fehlauer says.
Churches nationwide are praying for revival and waiting for it to one day come, but Fehlauer says pastors have to realize how hungry the people sitting in their pews are.
"Not only are they hungry for the Lord, but they are also hungry for truth," he says.
Fehlauer says the Holy Spirit is ready to move in churches across America, but He can't move where there isn't any room.
"The Holy Spirit will fill all the space you are willing to give Him but we also discovered it's the only space He can fill," he said.
The revival at New Life Church Corpus Christi started in 2018 and it hasn't slowed down. It has only continued to expand. The church is seeing people with terminal diseases healed, blind eyes opening, hearing restored and spontaneous baptism even throughout the week.
After most churches leave the "church growth model," they fear their congregation will wane, but Fehauer says they have more people now than before.
Now starting this fall they are adding an additional six Bible clubs in elementary school, "it really is a movement," Fehauer joyfully proclaims.
Despite the widespread agenda to bring confusion to the identity of the youth on their gender, churches like New Life aren't just taking a defensive approach. They are taking the gospel to the school and are seeing incredible testimonies of lives being completely transformed by the power of God.
"We aren't here to make friends," Fehauer says, but "in the midst of insanity like this whole gender thing, that spirit just wants you to sit down, shut up and be quiet. We've got to be willing to stand up, and we can do it in love, we don't have to be knuckleheads about it."
The collective body of Christ is the only voice Jesus has to share both His grace and His truth.
As more churches leave the playbook behind and turn their services over to the Holy Spirit to have His way, the more the spirit of boldness will continue to flow nationwide and shake the dead back to life.
Shelby Lindsay is an assistant editor at Charisma Media.
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
No Revival without Reformation – A.W. Tozer
Wherever Christians meet these days one word is sure to be heard constantly repeated” that word is revival. …
So strongly is the breeze blowing for revival that scarcely anyone appears to have the discernment or the courage to turn around and lean into the wind, even though the truth may easily lie in that direction. Religion has its vogues very much as do philosophy, politics, and women’s fashions. Historically the major world religions have had their periods of decline and recovery, and those recoveries are bluntly called revivals by the annalists.
Let us not forget that in some lands Islam is now enjoying a revival, and the latest report from Japan indicates that after a brief eclipse following World War II Shintoism is making a remarkable come-back….
A religion, even popular Christianity, could enjoy a boom altogether divorced from the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and so leave the church of the next generation worse off than it would have been if the boom had never occurred. I believe that the imperative need of the day is not simply revival, but a radical reformation that will go to the root of our moral and spiritual maladies and deal with causes rather than with consequences, with the disease rather than with symptoms.
It is my considered opinion that under the present circumstances we do not want revival at all. A widespread revival of the kind of Christianity we know today in America might prove to be a moral tragedy from which we would not recover in a hundred years.
Here are my reasons. A generation ago, as a reaction to Higher Criticism and its offspring, Modernism, there arose in Protestantism a powerful movement in defense of the historic Christian faith. This, for obvious reasons, came to be known as Fundamentalism. It was a more or less spontaneous movement without much organization, but its purpose, wherever it appeared, was the same: to stay ‘the rising tide of negation’ in Christian theology and to restate and defend the basic doctrines of the New Testament Christianity….
Falls Victim to Its Virtues
What is generally overlooked is that Fundamentalism, as it spread throughout the various denominations and nondenominational groups, fell victim to its own virtues. The Word died in the hands of its friends. … An unofficial hierarchy decided what Christians were to believe. Not the Scriptures, but what the scribe thought the Scriptures meant became the Christian creed. Christian colleges, seminaries, Bible institutes, Bible conferences, and popular Bible expositors all joined to promote the cult of textualism. The system of extreme dispensationalism which was devised relieved the Christian of repentance, obedience, and cross-carrying in any other than the most formal sense. Whole sections of the New Testament were taken from the church and disposed of after a rigid system of dividing the Word of truth.”
All this resulted in a religious mentality inimical to the true faith of Christ. … The basic doctrines of the Bible were there, but the climate was just not favorable to the sweet fruits of the Spirit.
The whole mood was different from that of the Early Church and of the great souls who suffered and sang and worshiped in the centuries past. The doctrines were sound but something vital was missing. The tree of correct doctrine was never allowed to blossom. The voice of the turtle [dove] was rarely heard in the land”…. Faith, a mighty, vitalizing doctrine in the mouths of the apostles, became in the mouth of the scribe another thing altogether and the power went from it. As the letter triumphed, the Spirit withdrew and textualism ruled supreme….
In the interest of accuracy, it should be said that this was a general condition only. Certainly, there were some even in those low times whose longing hearts were better theologians than their teachers were. These pressed on to fullness and power unknown to the rest. But they were not many and the odds were too great” they could not dispel the mist that hung over the land.
The error of textualism is not doctrinal. It is far more subtle than that and much more difficult to discover, but its effects are just as deadly. Not its theological beliefs are at fault, but its assumptions.
It assumes, for instance, that if we have the word for a thing we have the thing itself. If it is in the Bible, it is in us. If we have the doctrine, we have the experience. If something was true of Paul it is of necessity true of us because we accept Paul’s epistles as divinely inspired. The Bible tells us how to be saved, but textualism goes on to make it tell us that we are saved, something which in the very nature of things it cannot do. Assurance of individual salvation is thus no more than a logical conclusion drawn from doctrinal premises, and the resultant experience is wholly mental.
Revolt from Mental Tyranny
The human mind can endure textualism just so long before it seeds a way of escape. The result over the last twenty years has been a religious debauch hardly equaled since Israel worshipped the golden calf. Of us Bible Christians it may truthfully be said that we ‘sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.’ The separating line between the Church and the world has been all but obliterated.
Aside from a few of the gross sins, the sins of the unregenerate world are now approved by a shocking number of professedly “born-again’ Christians and copied eagerly. Young Christians take as their models the rankest kind of worldlings and try to be as much like them as possible. Religious leaders have adopted the techniques of the advertisers; boasting, bating and shameless exaggerating are now carried on as a normal procedure in church work…..
The holy faith of our fathers has in many places been made a form of entertainment, and the appalling thing is that all this has been fed down to the masses from the top.
That note of protest which began with the New Testament and which was always heard loudest went the Church was most powerful has been successfully silenced. The radical element in testimony and life that once made Christians hated by the world is missing from present-day evangelism.
Christians were once revolutionists– moral, not political — but we have lost our revolutionary character. It is no longer either dangerous or costly to be a Christian….. We are busy these days proving to the world that they can have all the benefits of the Gospel without any of the inconvenience to their customary way of life. It’s ‘all this and heaven too.’…
For this reason, it is useless for… believers to spend long hours begging God to send revival. Unless we intend to reform, we may as well not pray. Unless praying men have the insight and faith to amend their whole way of life to conform to the New Testament patterns, there can be no true revival.
Monday, October 11, 2021
Prophetic Intercessor: What God Wants Every Person Over 50 to Know Right Now
For the generation over 50, the Lord wants to remind you that your age is your biggest asset, and your journey has increased in such value that all of heaven is now looking for you. Your weariness does not disqualify you from greatness.
On the contrary, because of your faithful witness and consistent walk of faith, the Lord is now calling on you to help deliver a nation.
"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, 'I am Almighty God. Walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between you and Me and will exceedingly multiply you'" (Gen. 17:1-2).
Father Abraham did not even begin to fulfill his divine commission until he was nearly 100 years old. All that had gone before him had been prepared for the plans and purposes of God in the autumn season of his life. Because of the immense weight of responsibility in birthing and discipling a nation, God needed someone He could trust. He needed someone who had already proven himself to be faithful—regardless of the cost. He needed someone who would obey Him, not because it was personally beneficial, but because it was the only choice worth making. Abraham had passed the test.
Moses didn't begin his commission until he was 80 years old (Ex. 7:7). He thought his assignment had been years earlier, but he was not prepared. By the time he met God in the wilderness 40 years later, he had totally forgotten his gift of eloquent speech and told God he was too tired to answer the call (Ex. 4:10). As it turned out, those 40 years of caring for sheep wasn't God's punishment for Moses' failure in Egypt. It was God's divine method of training his heart and molding his character for the true call on his life to set a nation free.
Noah was over 500 years old when he fathered his sons and built the ark (Gen. 5:32). God saw that Noah was a "just man and blameless among his contemporaries" (Gen. 6:9, 7:1). It was not some zealous young champion whom God chose to build the ark and steward an entire makeover of the earth's population; it was an older man who was time-tested and prepared for the challenge. Not only did Noah prove to have the physical stamina for the work required, he lived another 300 years—long enough to see his legacy endure.
Notice that the call on these three patriarchs was to work with the following generation so God's plan could succeed. Each of them was commissioned to work with their sons and those who followed them so that the promise of God would be fulfilled. Moses may not have had the grace to speak as he once did, but God provided him Aaron to mentor. Noah never could have built the ark on his own, so he enlisted his sons to help in the building and carry on the vision for generations following. Abraham raised his son, Isaac, to trust God with his life—literally—and it became the defining benchmark for those who walk by faith.
Scripture reveals that these three men had already lived a full life including favor with man and blessing from God. They could have easily gone into retirement and felt satisfied. But God had something much better in mind. Their lifetime of faithfulness had now produced a priceless commodity—absolute confidence in God's heart and unwavering trust in His plans.
Regardless of the worldly reputation, they had gained or any acquisition of goods, it was this heart after God that had been refined as gold through the furnace of affliction (Isa. 48:10). It was their determination to persevere when tested and remain faithful when forgotten that would establish their names in heaven as history makers. This kind of faith is a sacred treasure that gains its value by being put through fire. It is of incalculable worth. Heaven is looking for the faithful Abrahams to pass this on to the next generation.
The world tells us to stay young as long as possible. We often say, "I wish I were young again." We need to change our perspective. Though there are certainly benefits to having a younger physique with certain freedoms, there is a wholeness of soul, mind and spirit that only comes from a long life in God. It is this matured faith and fine-tuned perspective that is essential in building the faith of future generations.
"Wisdom is with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life" (Job 12:12).
If you wonder why you don't have the same passion or zeal you once did, there's a reason. The grace on your life has changed and He's now asking you to mentor others who can carry the vision to completion. There are sons and daughters ready and willing to pick up the cause and run with it. They just need the wisdom to guide the way and fathers and mothers to walk with.
Because of the cultural shifts that need to take place and the generational patterns that must be transformed across the earth, it's going to take a threefold generational partnership to see it happen. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob establishes His people through intergenerational relationships.
The call of Abraham is to equip, empower and encourage the coming generations of Isaac and Jacob so the entire household can be established. Now is not the time to kick back, but to step up. I believe those of us who are over 50 have actually gotten better over time and the fine wine that has been aging within us is about to be tasted.
My middle name is Joy, and it has been prophesied over me many times that in my "later years" I would have much joy. It struck me recently how Sarah reacted to her call when she was 99 years old. Having given up on her lifelong dream of bearing a child, she was now told that she would birth a son. Her response?
"Therefore Sarah laughed to herself, saying, 'After I am so old and my lord is old also, shall I have pleasure?'" (Gen. 18:12).
I could totally relate! She said she was simply worn out and tired! And yet—her laugh became a trigger point for a breakthrough. Not only did she see God's promise fulfilled, but the son she birthed was called "he laughs" (Gen. 21:3). Isaac was birthed in joy! Not only did he bring his mother great joy, but his life also produced another generation that would fulfill the covenant promise given to Abraham and change the course of history.
I believe the new wine of the Spirit that is coming upon the earth is partially dependent on the generation of Abraham answering this call from heaven. In this autumn season, there is a convergence of generations and grace to be apprehended that can bring great breakthroughs. The biological clock is irrelevant to those who have yet to see their promises fulfilled.
If you feel like laughing, it's just an indication that revival is about to be birthed through you!
Wanda Alger is a field correspondent with Intercessors for America. She ministers with her husband in Winchester, Virginia. Follow her blog at wandaalger.me.
Monday, June 15, 2020
LIVING THE ANTITHESIS
(Sr. Pastor of Calvary Charismatic Centre, Lahat Datu, Sabah and the founder of Station of Life)
For the past few years the Lord has been speaking to me about living in a manner that is the 'antithesis' to all that is happening in the church and in the nation. Over the years, as I waited on Him, I heard Him say, " There is darkness in My House. I am now calling those who can hear My voice to live lives that will be the antithesis to all that is happening. Stop your activities; start to pray and to live out that 'antithesis.'”
It was difficult because I had meetings lined up and my itinerant ministry was bringing in much financial blessing. The books and tapes were selling well and people were blessed. The only problem was, I did not have a deep sense of God's reality. I was finding it extremely hard to hear from Him and I did not enjoy the sense of joyful liberation and rest in my spirit that I am experiencing now. God settled my indecision by taking me through the typhoid incident! I was pathetic during that illness but so spiritually enriched after it. After I recovered, I could hear Him better and with His directives, came the explanations. I heard Him say, "Too many want to travel and speak for ministerial and money sake. They have no interest to build into my kingdom but into their own ministry which has no eternal validity. Now, will you obey and live in a manner that is the antithesis to all these?"As I cancelled my itinerant ministry to stay back and spend time to pray, the directives also came to price down my books, to put them on the website for free reading. I was also to sell my house to buy a piece of land and to pioneer a prayer community. Oh, have I been struggling over these directives and decisions for the past two years! No wonder so many of us do not dare to spend time in His presence. Who knows what He will direct us to do next?
The struggles ceased lately as I read Matthew 7:13-14 and Jeremiah 7. In Matthew 7:14, Jesus commanded His disciples to walk the narrow way (or to live in a manner that is antithetical to the popular worldly order) although it was an unpopular choice and 'few there be that find it.' In Jeremiah 7 He convicted me that the deception in the church worldwide had already produced decline and darkness, a darkness which will finally lead to destruction. I then saw the decline of many local pastors and also much confusion in our local church scene as everything climaxes into what Jeremiah described in verse eleven:
"Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes. Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord."
Many non-Christians are already disgusted as they could not find the difference between the church and the world.
Pope Benedict called the present culture the ‘culture of death’, and weaved his recent Easter Day message around the contrast between material and spiritual riches an told Christians to undergo a ‘purification of hearts’ so that we can heal a lacerated world. He warned against selfishness, corruption and said that the temptation of worldly riches is ‘the language of the serpent’.
Yes, even the church is now inundated with the ‘culture of death’ and the ‘language of the serpent.’ What, then, is God saying to us? What is His urgent and fresh call at this hour to the church in our nation? Are the prophets and prophetesses in Malaysia hearing Him or are we still prophesying ‘vain things’ and dishing out only favorable personal prophecies? Can we hear God calling men and women to live lives that are the antithesis to the horrible system of greed, materialism and compromise that has defiled the church and the land? Do we hear God calling us back to kingdom life and an apostolic lifestyle? When we do hear, do we then, have the strength to obey? To live a life that is the antithesis to all that is around us is like a fish swimming against the tide. Its strength could break against that onslaught.
Does God know? Yes, He does. This is why He told Israel, “Go on this special diet. Feed on manna (Me) daily. If you do, then you can fight against that order. The journey is indeed too hard for you but you can do it as you feed on Me and let Me infuse you with My life.”
But Israel rejected that special diet. This is why they could not make the journey. Will we let the same happen to us? God knows we can only walk the narrow way and be the antithesis to the defiled, worldly and devilish system if we have an infusion of the life of Jesus. But the church life today is hardly an ‘infusion of His life’; rather, it is an infusion of programs, activities, mental knowledge and great exteriors. If I had not stopped my itinerant ministry and spent time in His presence to hear from Him, and then to have been allowed to see what He showed me, I would not have the strength to carry out His directives. And to many of us these directives seem to be utter foolishness.
Does it seem too much for a single woman pastor who is in her ‘retirement years’ to sell her house and part with her only piece of visible and tangible asset? Yet my disobedience, after the Lord has shown me the rich rewards of my decision, would be worse than total foolishness and wickedness. My heart came to a liberating rest and joy when I could finally agree with what God was saying to me.
“The church must not only pray. She must live her prayers. If the church in Malaysia will not live lives that are the antithesis to all that is around her she will never be able to defeat the powers of darkness in this land; neither will she have the strength to avert My coming judgment.”
The infusion of His strength has helped me to yield, to agree to His directives and to start to live in a manner that will be the ‘antithesis’ to that which is selfish, worldly and devilish. I am doing it not because I m spiritual, wonderful or ‘one step above the rest’. I am doing it as an act of obedience and out of a deep love for God. I am also doing it because I want to ‘stand in the gap’ for many priests and prophets who are unable to come free of the psychic bondage to materialism. I am also doing it as an encouragement to others to follow. The Lord has given me the assurance that there will be many others who will follow as His reality enveloped us for “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power” (Psalm 110:3)
I now know what it means when I pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” God’s kingdom cannot come if His will is not done. The ‘kingdom lifestyle’ is the antithesis to the selfish, worldly and devilish order which the enemy has set up. It is wonderful to give it all to Him instead of allowing an incoming tsunami to sweep it away. Of course many still do not believe that a tsunami will ever hit the Malaysian shore or that Malaysian houses or properties will get swept off. People in Acheh and New Orleans did not think it could happen; nevertheless it did. Did people think that Subang Jaya and Shah Alam would get that badly flooded and that winds of that magnitude can hit the city? It happened and the worse is yet to come.
Is your life, up to this time just a product of an institution (the church) or is it an infusion of the life of Jesus? If it is an infusion of the life of Jesus, then you can come free of the psychic attraction to materialism and the ‘culture of death.’ You can live the ‘kingdom lifestyle’ and not listen to the ‘language of the serpent’. You can speak God’s language, ‘go against the tide’ and live the life that is the ‘antithesis’ to all that is around you so that you can heal the lacerated world … and the church.
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
3 million evangelicals march in Brazil: 'Our country belongs to Jesus'
CHRISTIANITY
Published June 28
People take part in the 27th edition of March for Jesus, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 20, 2019. "March For Jesus" is the largest evangelical event in Brazil. (Photo by Fabio Vieira/FotoRua/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Millions marched in the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil last week as part of one of the largest Christian gatherings in the world.
The March for Jesus in Brazil organizers report there were three million attendees with more than 10 hours of praise and worship, led by 28 Brazillian gospel bands and singers, and dozens of evangelical pastors and leaders, Evangelical Focus reported.
The president of the March for Jesus in Brazil, Estevam Hernandes, gave the opening prayer for the event that saw its largest turnout since it began in 1993.
“We cry out for Brazil, for the families, for the end of corruption, for the afflicted hearts, our country belongs to Jesus Christ," Hernandes said. "To Him all honor, glory, power, and majesty. As it says in Psalms 33: Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
And for the first time, Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has been called the "Trump of the Tropics," participated in the march, something he did last year as a candidate and promised to return after winning the election.
“You were decisive in helping change the destiny of Brazil," Bolsonaro told the millions who attended during a seven-minute speech. "It is very good to be among friends. And even better when they are friends with God in their hearts."
Bolsonaro pointed out that his country is "secular but its current leader is Christian," adding he hopes to overcome the "ethical and moral" problems in Brazil with the help of his Christian brothers and sisters.
The Brazilian leader, much like Trump, has not shied away from controversy and has been largely supported by evangelicals, a population that has spiked in Brazil, around 30 percent of the population of about 190 million people.
Although Bolsonaro is Catholic himself, his wife and children identify as evangelical.
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
BRAZIL REVIVAL - ONGOING SINCE 1940
Friday, April 12, 2019
Preaching That Hinders Revival by Richard Owen Roberts (2002)
Repentance must always begin in the house of God. Doubtless the best place for it to start is with those who preach. Let us examine some errors of preaching that stand in the way of revival.
1) Preaching that is Man-Centered
All of us, by our very own nature, are lovers of self more than lovers of righteousness. True gospel preaching exposes the wickedness of this self- oriented being and calls its hearers to radical conversion. It is only through a genuine Christian conversion that a thorough change of heart and life occurs, enabling one to keep the great commandments of Christ: loving God with one’s heart, soul, mind and strength and love his neighbor as himself (Mark 12:29-31).
Man-centered preaching cannot result in radical conversion. Tragically, the preaching which characterizes much of today's pulpit activity wallows in the weakness of pandering to perceive needs — needs which are normally different from true needs. For instance, many of those who are clamoring for acceptance really need repentance, and multitudes that come to church for comfort need to be severely discomforted and awakened out of their harmful slumbering.
In a day when multitudes have overloaded on self-love, man-centered preaching only fortifies man in the state of being lost. It may be add a measure of religion to his life, even a scripture assurance of faith to which he hopelessly clings, but it does not bring those who hear into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.Every preacher is in danger of telling his people what they want to hear. The motives for doing so are numerous, including bigger paychecks, greater applause, and hassle-free circumstances. If the preacher is called by men, he may sensibly give those who called him what they want, but what if the preacher so called by God? How can he dare to speak less than all the truth of God?
Every true revival constitutes a return of God’s people. Thus, any preaching that is not God-centered — that does not life up and exalt the God of the Bible above all else, calling all to return to Him — will prove to be a distinct hindrance to revival. May God have mercy and deliver each of us from this obstacle.
2) Preaching that is Timid
What happened to the fearless preachers whose fiery denunciations of sin and awesome warnings of impending doom used to grip the land? Are we too advanced a culture to be affected by prophets of God or are the men who think themselves called of God too timid to tell the truth?
I remember that old Sunday school song: "Dare to be Daniel to stand alone! Dare to have a purpose firm! Dare to make it known!"
Do you dare to be Daniel? Are you prepared to face your den of lions unafraid? Are you boldly standing, even if all alone? Are your purposes firmly set? Do all who you know to what you are unhesitatingly and compromisingly committed?
Do you dare to resist the clock-watchers who are vastly more committed to keeping the services short than to the prosperity of Christ's Kingdom?
Do you dare to stand against the unregenerate leaders in your church, calling them to repentance and faith, even when they are scheming your departure?
Do you dare to insist that the wealthy and prestigious must follow the same path of surrender and devotion to Jesus Christ as the poor and down-trodden?
Do you dare to preach against the favorite sins of your congregation or is you preaching fashionable and acceptable to the unrepentant Christ-haters among your people?
Do you dare to live a life of godly simplicity and open holiness before your watching world?
Does the daring of Daniel mark your daily devotions? Does the courage of Christ characterize your Christian walk? Does the fearless passion of a post-Pentecost Peter power your preaching?
Christians without courage are a strange and pathetic contradiction and a constant hindrance to revival.
3) Preaching That Evokes Strange Fire
In Leviticus ten the disturbing story is told of Nadam and Abihu who introduced "strange fire" into the midst of the work of God. This incident occurred at the time of the inauguration of the Aaronic priesthood and at a time when fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering. Prompted by pride and lack of self-control, these brothers grievously offended the Lord with their "strange fire" and were themselves consumed by fire from the same source that burned up the sacrifice.
"Strange fire" represents all those acts and activities of men in ministry that emanate from their own proud hearts and undisciplined spirits. The worship and service of God is under the control and authority of God Himself. The scriptures guide and govern the entire life and ministry of the church. God has spoken and men are not at liberty to introduce their ideas and ways into His work. True men of God spend their primary time and energy finding and following God's desires as He has revealed them in the Bible. Proud and undisciplined men think they do God service by introducing new ways and means and means into the life of the church. In recent years an almost unbelievable host of innovations have appeared. Many of them are now accepted as if they were a part of divine revelation.
Face the fact! Every arrogant act in the church and every undisciplined addition to its ways is a hindrance to revival. God may yet send His fire to consume these men, but how much better would it be for them to repent and return to the Lord now.
4) Preaching that is Self-Exalting
Some preachers love fine-tuned words and phrases more than divine truth, and symmetry of sermon construction more than the welfare of their auditors. What a tragedy that preaching, which was devised by God as an instrument of salvation for those who believe, should be one of the greatest possible hindrances to the progress of the gospel in ordinary times and to revival in times of great apostasy.
Certainly there is beauty in carefully arranged words — the Beatitudes of Matthew file are an outstanding example of this as is the love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 but beauty is turned into ugliness when the motive is impression rather than the glory of God.
Sir, does the way you prepare and preach hinder revival? Which receives the greatest attention: the ornamentation of your words and phrases, or prayer for empowerment from the Holy Spirit? Which is your greater focus: exciting pleasure in the people and praise for the preacher, or reducing the unrepentant to tears of contrition and repentance? After which does your heart clamor: the pleasure of knowing that your sermons have been remarkably good, or joy in seeing your people radically affected by the truth of God?
5) Preaching that is Non-Doctrinal
A pathetic wave of biblical ignorance has swept through the contemporary church. Much if the wind behind the wave is generated by the grossly erroneous preachers who frown on doctrinal preaching and from whose unsanctified lips emerge such impious frothing as, "Don't preach doctrine! It divides!" Of course it divides! It is intended to divide! It was never God's plan to have more goats than sheep in His flock! And yet that is precisely what has happened in multitudes of churches.
While the scriptures clearly indicate that there will be tares scattered throughout the fields of grain, and some goats lurking amidst the flocks of sheep, the biblical picture is not the prevailing image of this day. Instead, the tares vastly outnumber the wheat and the goats far more prevalent than lambs.
The direct result of non-doctrinal preaching is millions of people in the churches who believe that they are Christians as a result of something they have done, and whose claim to faith would have been denounced in a saner age as nothing more than mere mental acceptance.
Shame on the preacher who is too graceless to preach the sovereignty of God, the depravity of man, the wrath of the Almighty, the eternal condemnation of the unbeliever, the atonement of Christ, the mandatory nature of regeneration, the necessity of repentance, the justification of sinners by true faith, and all the other sobering and convicting doctrines of the Word of God.
6) Preaching that is Either Irrelevant or of Minor Consequence
Some sermons, which might have had a measure of usefulness fifty years ago when preached to a biblically literate congregation, are completely insignificant today when heard by generation of pagans unschooled in Bible basics.
What a strange phenomenon it is for preachers to boast that their preaching has not changed for half a century when society itself has changed so radically. My preaching has changed immensely. When I began preaching, people knew there was a God big enough to have created them, who had the authority to command their lives and control their futures. Today, multitudes who claim to believe in God know almost nothing of the God of the Bible and are often worshiping and serving a god no bigger than their own imaginations.
When we send missionaries to pagan lands we do not expect them to begin their proclamation to the heathen with statements about grace and forgiveness. We expect them to begin at the beginning, introducing their hearers to the God of the Bible. Indeed, the most effective missionaries take months in establishing the truth of God and His rights of authority before speaking of salvation.
A colossal hindrance to revival occurs when pearls are cast before swine. Jesus taught us that "They that are whole need not a physician but they that are sick" (Mark 9:12). The generations that preceded us preached the law, thus enabling people to feel their illness, long before the preached the grace that heals. Preaching grace to those who have never felt the sting of the law is a major infraction of God's ways. Preaching truth that cannot be appreciated and received by its auditors is ever a hindrance to spiritual awakening.
7) Preaching that is Without Authority
How can one read the life of Jesus with any care at all without noting the authority with which He conducted His ministry? Matthew, Mark, Luke all record this. The same essential authority is evident in the ministries of the New Testament days. Is such authority a special gift to Christ Jesus and to first-century Apostles but not to be hoped for in times like these? Certainly not! There are men of authority today just as in every preceding generation: but why do some men speak with impressive authority and others without noticeable impact?
Can a self-called man preach with the same authority as a God-called preacher?
Can a man who confidence in the Holy Scriptures is shaken by personal doubts with the authority of the man of the man whose heart, soul and mind are dominated by conviction concerning the absolute accuracy of the Bible?
Can a man whose own conscience rises up in condemnation of him for some secret sin in his life preach with the same authority as the man who conscience condemns him not (I John 3:21-22)?
All of us need to face the fact that there are self-called men in the ministry. They may be good men who mean well, but they are doomed to a different kind of work than the called of God. None who listen to their preaching should be surprised at their lack of authority.
While I believe with all my heart in an educated ministry, I know full-well that many men have lost what little confidence they had in the Scriptures during their of formal preparation. I will never forget the negative impact of my own seminary days as my confidence in the written Word of God bordered on destruction. It was only because of the interference of a gracious Providence that I was spared the permanent doubts and uncertainties that plague many men in today's pulpits.
While some might like to pretend otherwise, the men in ministry whose own lives are marred by unconquered lusts and unbridled sins are legion in number. It is utterly impossible for a man who rejects God's command "Be ye holy as I am holy" (I Peter 1:16) to preach with divine authority. The crippled churches and limping Christians affected by the ministries of these leaders are everywhere apparent.
Christian preachers say that they deal with the most significant issues that mortal beings can ever face; issues of life and death, of hope and destruction, of eternal salvation and everlasting condemnation. Yet they often handle these sacred matters with less enthusiasm and passion than prisoners working on chain-gangs.
In 2 Peter one the apostle speaks of applying all diligence to your faith by supplying "moral excellence" or "moral power" or "moral energy." Faith must be supplemented by passion.
Those who listen to preaching have the right to be convinced that the preacher is morally in earnest about what he is saying, that he believes in it with all his heart, and that it is of the greatest possible consequence. If the listener has reason to doubt the earnestness of the preacher, he is fortified in doubting the message preached.
Preacher, why is there so little passion in your ministry? Do you yourself believe what you say?
8) Preaching that is Without Power
Many a congregation is doomed to listen to a powerless preacher, a man without unction, one upon whom the fire of God never seems to rest. What a strange anomaly it is to see an unanointed servant of the living God who is an eternal fire. How can such creatures exist?
For some, it is a matter of theological error. By their system if beliefs they have ruled out the present empowerment of the servant of God by the Holy Spirit. Somehow, in their twisted thinking, special endowments of power either ceased at the end of the apostolic age, or all believers receive all of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit it is possible to receive at the time they first believe. God pity the congregations that must listen to such men.
For others, it is a very practical issue — they are too busy to seek the power of the Holy Spirit on their ministries. Empowerment does take time. It is connected with protracted season of prayer and seeking. True Holy Spirit power is not something once received, always possessed, but is to be freshly sought in connection with every opportunity of service. Oh, the tragedy of those too busy to seek!
For far too many, it is a moral matter for they are too sinful to allow for this profound and gracious influence of the Holy Spirit to work through them. It was ancient Job who recognized, "He who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger." But the reverse is obviously also true — unclean hands always rob men of power. How sad it is that multitudes listen weekly to powerless men with dirty hands.
9) Preaching that Heals Superficially
In Jeremiah the Lord laments, "For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for gain, and from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. And they have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, 'Peace, peace,' but there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:13, 14). These words are certainly true today and their application perfectly apparent. Because of greed for gain, whether it be the love of money, the love of power, the love of acclaim, the love of crowds, the love of success, multitudes from the prophet to priest are dealing falsely, pronouncing persons healed who are still fatally ill.
Think of a person who is dying of cancer but has been afraid to seek the help of the physicians. Imagine his family and friends finally prevailing, scheduling an appointment, and taking him to the doctor's office. Because of weakness, he must be helped out of the car and up the walk but suddenly collapses in front of the office, falling into rose bushes whose thorns scratch and pierce his arms, hands and face. When the doctor sees him he flies into a fury of healing activity, cleansing and treating the wounds, sending home with the assurance that all is well when all the time it is cancer that is killing him, not rose bushes.
A major portion of today's preaching deals with the superficial hurts. Millions have been pronounced healed who still are dying of the cancer of sin.
Does the Lord God omnipotent lament the healing nature if your ministry? Is it a hindrance to revival in your life and church?
10) Preaching that is Not Preaching At All But Merely Teaching
Tragically there are many men in ministry who do not know the difference between teaching and preaching. But there is a very real difference. That vast body of men who consider themselves preachers but are really teachers constitutes a major hindrance to revival. Do you know the difference?
Over a period of some years I was a frequent visitor in the home of a leading theological bookseller in the United Kingdom whom I had taken to be a very placid man. Then one day he called me indicating he was going to visit the United States and would like to spend some time with us in our home. We were delighted to be a part of his American itinerary. Upon my next visit to his home in England, I enquired concerning his impressions of this first visit to America. I was astonished at the vehemence of his response. In no uncertain terms he declared his great disappointment in not hearing a single preacher in America, albeit he had visited numerous churches in widely scattered areas. While he acknowledge hearing many teachers, he adamantly insisted he had not heard a single preacher. When I quietly asked, "What, in your opinion, is the difference between teaching and preaching?" I was amazed at the vigor with which he insisted, "It is not a matter of my opinion! It is a well established fact! To teach is to inform! To preach is to move! I heard all kinds of teaching in America but I was never moved from where I am to where I ought to be!"
Have you caught that distinction?
There appears to be tens-of-thousands of churches throughout the world where you can become better informed about a huge variety of issues, religious and otherwise, but where you will never be moved from where you are to where you ought to be. Granted, every sermon ought to convey information, but it will do much more than that if it is true preaching!
11) Preaching that Calls For No Response Or A False Response
Preachers must guard against two false extremes: on the one hand, the failure to issue any calls for response to the message; and on the other hand, the foolish notion that an immediate overt response to a presentation of partial truth always results in eternal salvation.
Much preaching appears pointless. If there is anything the hearers ought to do in response to it, they are left with no idea of what that response should be. A serious question must be raised whether this is preaching at all. Even if by some stretch of the imagination, or by some act of charity, pointless preaching can be favorably judged, a solemn fact must be faced: preaching that calls neither for a response nor moves people toward responding correctly is a hindrance to revival.
The hindrance to revival is equally as great when over-confidence is placed in overt responses. That the Holy Spirit is powerful enough to totally and permanently transform a person in an immediate response to a partial truth is not questioned. That this is the normal way the Spirit works is certainly not the case. In the ministry of Jesus, the bulk of the permanent responses came as a result of years of disciplining. The records of those who had a one time exposure to a tidbit of truth and were eternally saved are scarce. The stress I place is upon partial truth. Most of today's sermons are so brief and so shallow that almost any truth conveyed has to be incomplete. Surely there was wisdom in the practice of earlier itinerant evangelists in preaching for days, even weeks, before issuing any call for overt responses.
What is a major contributor to the moral and spiritual decline in this generation? Is it not the negative impact of the inconsistent lives of millions of professed Christians who have never experienced a transforming work of the Holy Spirit? To add to that multitude by overemphasis on premature overt responses to sermons is a grievous offense against the Savior. This is a problem that ever loving preacher can immediately correct.
Those of us who preach do not need to look for hindrances to revival in others until we have first eliminated all the hindrances already working in our own lives and ministries. Let us covenant together to make changes that are needed.
But what about those who are not called to preach? Is there some way you have contributed to those hindrances? If so will you repent? Then will you pledge yourself to pray that all the preachers you know will rise above these hindrances. To your prayers add whatever help and encouragement you can give. Together, with God's help, these hindrances can be moved.
Monday, April 8, 2019
Why the Azusa Street Revival Ended
In September of 2009, I had the privilege to travel to Los Angeles, California, and visit some of the original sites where the historic Azusa Street Revival transpired. As I shared some of my personal experiences online through Facebook and other forms of social media, one of my friends asked me to reflect on why the Azusa Street Revival ended.
The question of why religious revivals end is one that comes up often and usually elicits a number of different responses from people. Obviously the gradual breakdown of something that God has been in the middle of can be a mystery. So as I share my reflections, I cannot claim to have complete insight into these things.
In the case of the waning of the Azusa Street Revival, there was a number of things that hindered it. I would like share a few of them below.
Losing the Mailing List
One of the biggest setbacks of the Azusa Street Revival came with the sudden loss of their extensive mailing list in 1909. After some disagreement, Florence Crawford, the strong-willed secretary of the Apostolic Faith Mission abruptly left town with the extensive roster of subscribers. Without this, the mission's newspaper could no longer be circulated. As a direct result, the vast crowds stopped coming to the services. With absolutely no media to broadcast the testimonies or provide information about the ongoing meetings, many were convinced that the revival had ended. Without new visitors, the subsequent meetings began to lose much of the impact and urgency that they once had. With fewer people to pray for, many of the other problems that had been lying under the surface finally began to emerge. Soon conflict and disagreement became more pronounced in the once tranquil congregation. Sadly, nothing would ever be the same again at the Apostolic Faith Mission.Cantankerous, Independent People
In time, many ridiculous conflicts arose at the Mission. Several of the participants began to have disagreements over various things. For example, since neckties were little more than frivolous adornment, should they be worn by sanctified men? This debate invited even more arguments. Members also fought over whether constructing a storm shelter at the Mission demonstrated a lack of faith or not. Of course, one of the more absurd conflicts was over William Seymour's marriage to Jennie Evans Moore in 1908 (This is something that may have contributed to Florence Crawford and Clara Lum leaving the Mission the following year). As foolish as this this conflict was, it shouldn't be that surprising. Early Pentecostal and Holiness people were very cantankerous and independent. It was often hard for them to agree with others for any length of time. Many would break rank over the smallest differences of opinion. There is little doubt that rambunctious, obstinate people were bulk of the membership of the Apostolic Faith Mission on 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California. This contributed even further to the waning of the revival.
Competing Churches
There was something else that may have contributed to the breakdown of the revival. Some of the leaders who attended the services were convinced that they could do a much better job of perpetuating the revival than William Seymour and his team. By the second and third year of the revival, several competing missions popped up around Los Angeles; attempting to take the attention away from the Apostolic Faith Mission. Interestingly, one of which was a congregation launched by the infamous Charles F. Parham, the Pentecostal leader who had first influenced Seymour with the Pentecostal message in Houston, Texas. When Parham visited the meetings, he didn't like what he saw and began to voice his opposition. It wasn't long before he attempted to start a competing work nearby. Many of preachers would visit the revival services for a week or two and then launch out in their own work. A few succeeded in their efforts, but, like Parham, most failed. These ongoing expressions of opposition and conflict confused the people and made it difficult for the work to continue.Doctrinal Wars
To make matters worse, a tense theological war over the appropriation and experience of sanctification erupted on Azusa Street in 1911. Coming from a Wesleyan-Holiness background, Pastor William Seymour and his associates believed that sanctification, or a "moral cleansing," was a second, instantaneous work of grace. This was the standard view of all holiness leaders at this time. Yet others arose, William Durham to be specific, who taught that sanctification was more of a gradual process. While Seymour was away, Durham preached his understanding of the "finished work of Christ" at the Apostolic Faith Mission. When Seymour returned, he was aghast and felt compelled to lock Durham out of the church. This argument created a great schism among the ranks of the congregation that only intensified when Durham proceeded to start a new church nearby. A significant number of Seymour's congregation joined Durham and a gaping hole was felt in the already troubled congregation. This was truly a terrible wound that it really never recovered from.So, What Was It?
So, what is it that truly caused the gradual waning of the Azusa Street Revival? Well, as I have already shared, there was likely a number of different things that contributed to its breakdown.
We have seen how the mailing list was stolen and how this impeded the revival's promotion. Also, there was the terrible problems of disharmony and schism. Of course, the intense theological battles contributed to opposing factions and a general loss of trust among leaders. These attitudes and expressions all contributed to this great revival's cessation.
I guess things first began to wane in the fall of 1909. Just a couple of years later, the revival at the Apostolic Faith Mission was pretty much gone. While there is no denying that the flames of revival quickly spread around the world, impacting untold thousands, it had certainly ended in Los Angeles by 1912.
While it is difficult to perfectly pin down the cause of the Azusa Street Revival's waning, I believe we can make some valid observations that apply to us today. Modern-day revivalists need to work to avoid schisms and intense personal conflict. However difficult it might be, we should learn to major on the majors and minor on the minors. If we could only figure out how to stay together in spite of our differences, our ministerial impact will be intensified.
Yet, as I finish this historic exploration, I think there is one important lesson that the revival at Azusa Street provides for us. I believe that it helps us to understand that revivals seldom end because of the trouble without. No, revivals end because of the trouble within.
J.D. King is the director of the World Revival Network and associate pastor of World Revival Church.
What You Need to Know About the Powerful Women Who Helped Ignite the Azusa Street Revival
One hundred thirteen years ago, on April 14, a home prayer group moved its prayer meeting from 214 Bonnie Bae Street to an old dilapidated building at 312 Azusa Street in downtown Los Angles. From there, the prayer meeting became the famous Azusa Street Revival, and from this humble location, the message of Pentecost was spread around the world.
The move was made necessary when the crowds began to overflow onto the porch and into the yard of the Asberry home after a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit, with many speaking in tongues and gifts of the Holy Spirit being manifest. This prompted the group to search for, and obtain, a larger facility for their prayer meeting.
The old 40-by-60-foot two-story structure they found at 312 Azusa Street had formerly been a Methodist Episcopal Church, but more recently had been used as a stable and warehouse. They removed the debris and installed rough plank benches and a makeshift pulpit made from wooden shoeboxes. On April 14, 1906, they held their first meeting in the new facilities and revival fires blazed even more brightly.
Prayer Released Power
Although the prayer meeting was soon organized into a church that they called "The Apostolic Faith Mission," prayer continued to be the foremost activity. One participant wrote, "The whole place was steeped in prayer."
William Seymour, the recognized leader, spent much of his time behind the pulpit with his head inside the top shoebox, praying. An unpretentious man, Seymour's intense prayer life was rooted in a deep hunger for God and a recognition of his own human frailty. In later life, he wrote,
Before I met Parham, such a hunger to have more of God was in my heart that I prayed for five hours a day for two and a half years. I got to Los Angeles, and there the hunger was not less but more. I prayed, "God, what can I do?" The Spirit said, "Pray more." "But Lord, I am praying five hours a day now." I increased my hours of prayer to seven and prayed on for a year and a half more. I prayed to God to give what Parham preached, the real Holy Ghost and fire with tongues of love and power from God like the apostles had.
A spirit of prayer thus continued to characterize all aspects of the revival. Ernest S. Williams, who later became general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, visited the revival as a young man in 1907 and was astounded at what he encountered. Many year later, he wrote,
I wish I could describe what I saw. Prayer and worship were everywhere. The altar area was filled with seekers; some were kneeling; others were prone on the floor; some were speaking in tongues. Everyone was doing something; all were seemingly lost in God. I simply stood and looked, for I had never seen anything like it.
Women Played Prominent Roles
Although Seymour was acknowledged as the leader of the Azusa Street Revival, it was a black woman, Lucy Farrow, who provided the initial spark that ignited that revival. According to Mother Cotton, an early participant in the revival, no one spoke in tongues until Farrow arrived and began laying hands on the people and praying for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Farrow, who was the niece of the famous abolitionist, Frederick Douglas, had been Seymour's pastor in Houston, and he first heard of the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues from her. That she was held in high esteem by Seymour, is indicated by the fact that he specifically asked her to come from Texas to Los Angeles to teach them about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This occurred while they were still meeting in the Asberry home on Bonnie Brae Street.
It was only after she arrived and began laying hands on people that the prayer group experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, with many speaking in tongues and other spiritual gifts being manifest. A contemporary said, "She had an amazing gift for laying hands on people and them receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit."
It was Farrow's example, no doubt, that resulted in women having out-front roles in the revival. Many women evangelists, missionaries, church planters and pastors went out from the revival. The January 1908 issue of The Apostolic Faith, the official publication of the revival, carried a statement about the role of women. It reads,
Before Pentecost, the woman could only go into the "court of the women" and not into the inner court. But when our Lord poured out Pentecost, He brought all those faithful women with the other disciples into the upper room and God baptized them all in the same room and made no difference. All the women received the anointed oil of the Holy Ghost and were able to preach the same as men. They both were co-workers in Eden and both fell into sin; so they both have to come together and work in the Gospel.
The Revival Impacts Modern Muslim Nations
The impact of the revival was phenomenal, with its influence spreading around the globe. This was made personally real to me when, in 2006, Susan and I were invited to be part of the ministry team for "Azusa Asia-Indonesia," which was organized by Spirit-filled Asian believers to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival.
Held in Jakarta, Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world, I had the privilege of speaking to 70,000 people in the soccer stadium. This was not an evangelistic crusade, but a gathering of Spirit-filled, Asian believers who had come together to honor the Azusa Street Revival as a vital part of their spiritual heritage. Seymour, Farrow and others must have been smiling.
Susan preached twice in a large Spirit-filled church in Jakarta pastored by a woman, who was one of the supporters of Azusa Asia-Indonesia. In her home city of Jakarta, she was following in the footsteps of Farrow, Crawford and many other women who went forth from Azusa Street to preach the Gospel,
Sue also spoke at Bethel Seminary, which was located in a reputed jihadist area. In both places she saw many of the same manifestations that would have occurred at Azusa Street such as weeping, falling to the floor and speaking in tongues.
This experience highlighted for me the pervasive influence of the Asuza Street Revival for here we were in the largest Muslim nation in the world celebrating the 100-year anniversary of that revival. It was also a reminder that we are living in the time period spoken of in Acts 2:17, where Peter said,
"'In the last days it shall be,' says God, 'that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams'" (Acts 2:17).
What the Church Needs Now
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit that began on the Day of Pentecost was preceded by at least seven days of intense prayer in the upper room, and prayer continued to be a vital and fundamental part of the life of the early church.
In a similar way, the power of Azusa Street was preceded by times of intense prayer and seeking after God. Arthur T. Pierce was correct when he said, "There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer."
What, therefore, is needed in the church today is not better preachers or more talented singers or a different church order. To borrow from the words of E.M. Bounds:
What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but people whom the Holy Ghost can use—people of prayer, people mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through people. He does not come on machinery, but on people. He does not anoint plans, but people—people of prayer, people mighty in prayer.
Dr. Eddie Hyatt is the founder of America Reawakening, whose purpose is to educate Americans concerning their true Christian heritage, and to inspire the Christians of America to unite in praying for another great, spiritual awakening. His books on revival are available from Amazon and his website at eddiehyatt.com.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
One of the greatest deterrents to revival and awakening by Henry Blackaby
"I talk with so many pastors and leaders who describe their churches as rebellious and apathetic toward God. A question I always ask them is this: 'How long have you been there?' Many reply, 'Ten, twenty, and thirty years.'
I reply, " Then the people in your church are the product of your walk with God. You ought not to have been with a people for so long and the holiness of God not absolutely come over the people. The holiness of God should be so real in your own heart that when you get up to speak, there is a sense of holy awe that you have been in the presence of God."
Do you hold yourself accountable as a servant of God? Do you minister week after week- yet none of God's people come under strong conviction leading to radical heart felt repentance? One of the greatest deterrents to revival and awakening is that pastors and leaders do not hold themselves accountable!"
-Henry Blackaby
Thursday, June 4, 2015
‘Many in the Church Will Be Shocked to Find Themselves in Hell One Day’
4/24/2015 JOHN BURTON
A crisis is coming to the church. In fact, it's the church that must initiate it.
Matthew 26:73-75 (ESV), "After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, "Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you." Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, "I do not know the man." And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.
He Invoked a Curse on Himself
From the Life Application Commentary: While Peter may have hoped to seem a natural part of the group by joining in the conversation, instead he revealed, by his speech, that he did not belong there. This was too much for Peter, so he decided to make the strongest denial he could think of by denying with an oath, "I don't know the man." Peter was swearing that he did not know Jesus and was invoking a curse on himself if his words were untrue. He was saying, in effect, "May God strike me dead if I am lying."
Peter was running for his life. In the church today the prevailing focus is on our experience and the affirmation and protection of our lives and lifestyles. People go to church to enhance their lives. When their lives, or even their lifestyles, are threatened, people will begin to run for their lives. They will run to safety.
This clear and extreme denial of Christ will invoke a curse.
Jesus was so indignant about this type of reaction that he dealt with Peter in fierce fashion before this event even unfolded:
Matthew 16:21-23 (ESV), " From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."
Peter denied the cross, and Jesus rebuked Satan who was working through Peter (who Jesus had just identified as the rock, the CHURCH!). He made the point clear: Peter was mindful of thing things of man and not the things of God. Jesus then said:
Matthew 16:24-25 (ESV), "Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
A Crisis of the Cross
Apostles and prophets must step into their positions of authority and release a great crisis to the church. This is a necessary crisis as it will result in the true, abundant life of multiplied millions. The offensive, bloody cross must return to the church—and now.
When Jesus was hailed as King at the Triumphal Entry, the masses converged. The focus was self. They wanted Jesus to save them, make their lives better. They were crying out, "Hosanna!" which means, "save us now!"
So, Jesus complied. The only way to save the ones he loved was to face death on the cross. Yet, the rooster crowed and the crowds scattered and turned on Jesus. His closest friends ran for their lives. One cursed himself in his denial. Another betrayed Jesus and hung himself.
Yes, it's time not to snack on some bread and grape juice, but to eat his flesh and drink his blood.
When the cross is introduced in its full, bloody force again in the church, we will watch this drama unfold another time. People will flee from the church when focus changes from personal freedom to personal cost. Betrayal will skyrocket. Fear will grip those who haven't surrendered all.
Where will you be when the cock crows?
Generations Must Come to the Cross
Everybody ran for their lives but mom and son, Mary and John (along with Mary Magdalene) remained. The generations converged.
John 19:26-27 (ESV), "When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold, your son!' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother!' And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home."
Luke 1:17 (NIV), "And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous–to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
The elder generation must refuse to run. The younger generation must refuse to run. We must converge around the threatening, offensive cross of love. When we do, the harvest will come. The world is watching. The thief was watching and surrendered to the love that could only be revealed at the cross as the two generations deeply loved Jesus together:
Luke 23:43 (ESV), "And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
Any movement that doesn't take place at the cross is a false movement. This is one reason I'm so troubled by some events, certain unity movements in a city, pastors meetings, etc. If a pastor isn't fully ready to resign his mission, to lose his salary, to surrender his sheep, to shut his church down, I have little interest in meeting. The cross demands everything. When pastors of a city gather around the cross and don't focus on personal gain, revival will be at hand. Yes, many will be offended, but the Harvest will flood in!
False Love and False Grace
The false love and false grace doctrines must be exposed. These belief systems are causing Hell to continue to expand at an unprecedented pace.
These beliefs are centered around self. The focus is our benefits instead of cross of Christ and instead of the harvest.
I've heard it said that we as Christians no longer have to confess our sins. False grace.
Recently, I was challenged to focus on love and to redefine certain scriptural interpretations to make them more favorable to the homosexual community. False love.
Ignoring God's holiness and justice in our lives does not equal grace. Tolerance does not equal love.
True love and true grace are found at the cross of Christ. God's intolerance of sin resulted in the death of his Son. There is no way he has suddenly become tolerant of those sins today.
Mark 8:34 (NKJV), "When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."
Many in the church will be shocked to find themselves in Hell one day.
This is what God spoke to me after my life-transforming encounter with the forces of Hell 21 years ago.
The false grace/false love messages are resulting in entire church congregations unwittingly buying a ticket to Hell, all while they lift their hands and worship Jesus and read their Bibles and pay their tithes. They have an imaginary salvation.
Jesus told five out of seven churches of believers in Revelation that they were lost, on the way to destruction. A total of 5 out of 7 professing Christians were Hell bound! It's horrific yet easy to believe that this ratio may be accurate in our churches today!
Leaders will most certainly be held accountable for this silent slaughter of God's children.
It's time to speak plainly about the truths of scripture, the severity of the hour and the mandate of obedience. Heaven and Hell lie in the balance.
Ephesians 5:4-6 (ES,), " Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous ( that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience."
The passage goes on to say...
Ephesians 5:10-11 (ESV), "and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them."
We must discern, and then expose darkness. We must not become so focused on pleasure and enjoyment, especially as Christians. In fact, we can't be primarily focused on being entertained in the name of God. We must take up our crosses, discern what is pleasing to God (not to us) and expose darkness!
Check out this verse regarding focus on self:
Romans 2:8-9 (ESV)," but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek."
This is the risk the false grace/false love movement presents. This is the fruit.
Watch what happens when true grace is in the equation:
Acts 4:32-35 (ESV), "Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need."
So, we see those in the church had great grace! Does that mean God's judgment and holiness is no more? No way. Check out a couple of people who also had great grace on their lives:
Acts 5:1-11 (ESV), "But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much." And she said, "Yes, for so much." But Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
Their disobedience in a season of great grace resulted in great judgment. And, then, fear hit the church.
We need this fear of the Lord again!
If we are to avoid a repeat of this, we must renounce the false grace/false love messages and sound the alarm of holiness and death to self!
When the cock crows, will you be running for your life as you curse yourself or will you be at the foot of the cross as the blood of Jesus pours out over you?
Will you be using God for personal gain and experience his judgment or will you embrace the fear of the Lord?
A crisis of the cross is coming to the church again.
John Burton has been developing and leading ministries for over 20 years and is a sought out teacher, prophetic messenger and revivalist. John has authored nine books, has appeared on Christian television and radio and directed one of the primary internships at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City. Additionally, he planted two churches, has initiated two city prayer movements and is currently directing a prayer and revival focused ministry school in Detroit called theLab University. John's mandate is to call the church in the nations to repentance from casual Christianity and to burn in a manner worthy of the King of kings. He is equipping people to confront the enemies of God (established religion, Jezebel, etc.) that hinder an extreme, sold-out level of true worship.
For the original article, visit johnburton.net.
The Real Reason Jesus Sent the Holy Spirit
by SAMUEL RODRIGUEZ
Editor's Note: This message by Rev. Samuel Rodriguez was delivered at the recent Empowered21 Jerusalem 2015 conference in Israel.
Acts 2:14 says, "Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd:"
This passage represents a lot more than the normative description regarding the occurrences of that blessed day. This Scripture actually speaks to the catalytic macro-metric of a Spirit-filled encounter.
It provides the prescription for the church in our troubled times.
In other words, the fact that it was Peter who stood up and raised his voice should compel us. The same Peter that, before the cross and the upper room, fell in the water and was now standing up. It was the same Peter that hid from the crowd in denial of Jesus.
When you are filled with God's Spirit, everything changes. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you are able to do what you were not able to do before.
The Spirit came down and Peter did what? He stood up and raised his voice.
The Spirit filled those in the upper room and Peter did what? He stood up and raised his voice.
This change of physical position embodies much more than a passive act of physical posturing. It actually reveals what we as believers must do in response to the adversity of our times.
In essence, we can extrapolate from this Scripture the following truth: Religion makes us complacent while revival makes us courageous.
Saints, listen carefully. Today's complacency is tomorrow's captivity. There is no such thing as comfortable Christianity.
Let me be clear today.
The Spirit did not come so we could stay seated. The Spirit did not come so we can be complacent.
The Spirit did not come down so we can sing "Kumbaya." The Holy Spirit came down so we can get up.
He came down so we can go from ...
Natural existence to supernatural living; from "I am OK" to "I am more than a conqueror"; from surviving to thriving; from making excuses to making history ...
From saying "bless me" to "make me a blessing." From "answer my prayer" to "make me the answer to someone else's prayer." From seated with anticipation to standing with revelation!
The Holy Spirit came down and Peter stood up and raised his voice!
Simply stated, Spirit-filled people do what others cannot do. That's why The Bible does not say, "Be touched, caressed, motivated or excited about my Spirit." It says in Ephesians 5:8, "Be filled with the Holy Spirit."
People full of the Spirit thrive with the prophetic in the midst of the pathetic. Our faith stands measured not by what we do when heaven falls upon us but rather by what we do when hell stands next to us.
You are what you tolerate!
We are filled with the prophetic so we can stand up in front of the pathetic.
Full of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:14, in the face of false accusation, "They are drunk," Peter stood up and spoke truth.
Full of the Holy Spirit, Acts 7:55, Stephen, facing persecution, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God's right hand.
Full of the Holy Spirit, in Acts 13:9 Saul, also known as Paul, looked at the sorcerer, rebuked him and spoke a word that blinded him. Spiritual warfare!
Full of the Spirit, in Acts 27:21-22, that same Paul stood up in the midst of the storm and declared to those on the ship, "You will not die, you will live."
Saints, Just like in the book of Acts, just like with Peter, the accuser has risen labeling us as intolerant, bigoted and irrelevant.
Just like with Stephen, the enemy threatens, persecutes and slaughters our brothers and sisters—the people of the Cross.
Just like with Paul, we find ourselves under immense spiritual warfare where all hell has risen to impede us from occupying what God has promised.
And just like with the Apostle in Acts 27, the storms of relativism, decadence and apathy threaten to do nothing less than drown those in our ships.
So what are we going to do? Are we going to shrivel up in fetal position? Are we going to stay seated?
We are here filled not with emotion, constructs or religious paradigms, but with the Holy Spirit of God. Guess what the church guess will do next? Stand up!
Why? It's because we are not just any people. We are not Google, we are not Apple, we are not Ford, we are not even Starbucks.
We are the church of Jesus Christ. We are the bride. We are a Spirit-empowered ekklesia.
And the gates of hell shall not, cannot, will not and may not prevail against us!
So, with fear and trembling not out of the womb of emotional exuberance but by the very impetus of God's Spirit and an unbridled commitment to biblical orthodoxy I've come here to tell you what God told me to tell you:
Saints, go back home, filled with the Spirit and stand up! Stand up, for those who falsely accuse you will be silenced! (1 Pet. 2:15)
Stand up, for those who persecute you will discover that you overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony (Rev. 12:11).
Stand up, for you will occupy the very area hell has fought to keep you out of (Ex. 33:1).
And stand up in the face of life storms and declare, "I will not die until see all of God's promises fulfilled in my life" (Ps. 118:17),
Look at your neighbor and tell them: "We've been seated for too long. We've been analyzing for too long. We've been hoping for too long. We've been planning for too long. This is our season and to be filled and do one thing—Stand up!
And Raised His Voice
Not only did Peter stand up, but he raised his voice. Understand this; the sound came from heaven so our voices could be raised in this world!
He came with a sound so we can stand up with a voice!
There is no such thing as silent Christianity. There is no such thing as Christianity on mute. There is no such thing as a silent Pentecostal.
A silent Pentecostal is an oxymoron on steroids.
What you have been through was meant to silence you, but from this moment on you will do one thing: Raise the volume!
Testimony: As reported by the St.Louis Dispatch, Daily Mail and others, on Jan. 19, 2015, John Smith was playing in the Saint Louis Lake when he fell in and drowned.
He died for a total of 45 minutes; 15 minutes under, 27 minutes of attempts to resuscitate and three additional. Mom walked into room, raised her voice, "Holy God, send your Holy Spirit to save my son!"
At that moment, the boy came back to life.
Writing in the journal, Dr. Ken, the doctor treating him stated the following regarding cause of resuscitation; "The Holy Spirit did it in response to his mother's prayer."
Church, just like that boy, the world declares the next generation to be dead. God told me to tell you that as you stand up for righteousness, in holiness, and raise your voice, your children and your children's children will be saved.
In conclusion, stand up and cast out demons! Stand up and heal the sick! Stand up and speak in other tongues. Stand up and fulfill the great commission. Stand up and make disciples. Stand up and preach the Word in and out of season. Stand up and be fruitful. Stand up and be faithful. Stand up and be holy. Stand up and be light!
Be filled! Stand up! Raise your voice! And change the world!
Stand up!
Rev. Dr. Samuel Rodriguez is the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.