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There is a great article on Time magazine's website today about the impact of the Alpha course on London, England. It is entitled, "Finding Jesus in London." When Teresa and I lived in France, we saw the ripples of what was happening at Holy Trinity Brompton Church in the neighborhood we were living in. I would love to see someone start this as a ministry of Hillcrest Church...! Alpha exists in several languages, including Spanish. Any takers?
While I was at breakfast this morning with my dear friend, Rabbi Marty Waldman, from Baruch Ha'Shem Messianic Synagogue here in Dallas, he agreed to appear as my guest on our Word and Spirit telecast next Wednesday, December 17th at 9:30am. Marty will be sharing concerning the significance of Hanukkah and what it means to him as a follower of Yeshua.
You won't want to miss this program...!
Click on the image above to view the incredible healing testimony Paul and Carol Alexander gave recently concerning their son during the Promiseland Live! telecast I hosted for Mike and Hazel Simons. It will inspire your faith and be well worth your time. It originally aired on 10-31-08
Here are the web links to the full version of the testimony I used during my sermon this morning. Once the file is displayed on your screen scroll down to pages 8-10:
In Adobe pdf format (easiest to read, but you need to install the free, Adobe Reader program if you have not already done so): PDF format.
In html format (harder to read): HTML Format.
In his interesting piece in the Washington Post last Friday, September 12th, 2008 entitled, "Faith Based Condescension," columnist Michael Gerson takes issue with recent media coverage of Governor Sarah Palin's Pentecostal roots. Early in his article Gerson writes,
"...liberals have been drawn, helpless and mesmerized -- like beetles to the vivid, blue paradise of the bug zapper -- toward criticizing Sarah Palin's religion. Palin's former Pentecostal church is called a "shout-and-holler tabernacle." Reporters press Palin's former pastor to reveal if she has ever spoken in tongues, the way it was once asked if candidates had ever used drugs...Palin sounds most like President Franklin Roosevelt, who prayed on D-Day that, "by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph."He continues,
"The media treatment of Pentecostalism (Palin's main religious background) and Bible church evangelicalism (her current affiliation) has had the quality of a National Geographic special on a newly discovered Amazon tribe. You might not suspect that Pentecostalism -- grown from the admirable, racially integrated roots of the Los Angeles Azusa Street Revival of 1906 -- is one of the fastest-growing and most influential forms of mainstream Christianity. There are now between 250 million and 500 million Pentecostals in places from Latin America to sub-Saharan Africa to rural Alaska....While most religious people in America don't speak in tongues, many pray for healing in times of sickness and trouble, and most are offended when sneering elites attack the religious practices of their friends and neighbors. "Then he concludes with a trenchant observation,
During the first Pentecost -- the one recorded in Acts -- Christians spoke strange languages in public. Many observers dismissed them as drunk. The critics of religion, as is often the case, did not get the last word.Statistically speaking, Gerson is quite right. In its press release in October 2006 announcing the publication of the results from its ten country public opinion survey on Pentecostalism entitled,"Spirit and Power," the highly respected and very mainstream Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life noted that at least one quarter of the world's two billion Christians consider themselves Pentecostal or Charismatic, as do 23% of the inhabitants of the United States. The preface to the report points out that Pentecostals/Charismatics rank second only to Roman Catholics in the number of global Christian followers.
The GOP’s evangelical base rejoiced when the Alaska governor joined the McCain ticket. But how can the theological vision that women are subservient to men jibe with a Palin vice presidency?He continues,
It is an uncomfortable fact that many of the theologically conservative Christians who have endorsed Palin's nomination would not be willing to endorse her or any other woman for service as pastor of their church. Women cannot serve as pastors in groups such as the Churches of Christ, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church in America, most non-denominational Bible churches, and an influential advocacy group called the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood(CBMW)...at the local church level many congregations would not accept Palin or any other woman even as associate pastor, or deacon, or youth minister or Sunday school teacher in a gender-mixed classroom. The most conservative would not consider it appropriate for her to stand behind a pulpit and preach a sermon, or teach from the Bible, or lead a praise chorus, or offer a prayer, unless her audience consisted entirely of women or children.In my view, Dr. Gushee paints with too broad a brush when he asserts elsewhere in his article that only more modern elements within evangelicalism have permitted women to function in leadership positions. From the earliest days of both the classical Pentecostal revival a century ago and the more recent Charismatic renewal, women have been allowed to exercise whatever gifts God granted them within their faith communities. I do agree, however, that the Sarah Palin phenomenon is giving rise to fresh and ardent discussions of many topics theological as well as social and political.
"Sarah Palin, if she was just a plain Evangelical woman, would have a tough time thinking that she could be VP," said University of Rochester religion professor Anthea Butler. "An evangelical woman might have issues with submission. What's gonna happen with my kids? But a Pentecostal woman is saying God is calling me, I'm gonna answer this call."All of us who exult in genuine moves of God's Spirit and who long to lead other people into such fullness should make it a point to pray during this season that these journalistic forays, however imperfect or polemical they may be, will result in many more people coming into a personal encounter with the Creator who longs to be their Redeemer. I think the Apostle Paul would agree. He wrote to the Corinthian Christians,
"...if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” (1 Corinthians 14:24-25Let it be, Lord...!
NIV)
In case you have any question concerning the religious bias of certain, mainstream media outlets concerning the present-day work of the Holy Spirit, take a look at this cartoon which appeared on the Washington Post website... (To view it online, click here.)
In the midst of all of the current controversy regarding John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate in the upcoming Presidential election, one specific development has caught my attention more than any other. Yesterday I noticed that the media "feeding frenzy" began to take a new turn as articles began popping up which highlight the churches she has attended and the shepherds who lead them. These include popular blogs like the Huffington Post and the Daily Kos and historic print publications like Harper's Magazine. News items surfaced which cast both pastors and congregants in a very negative light, asking whether or not someone from a "Pentecostal" or "Charismatic" background is fit to serve our country in such a high office.
Certain of the articles I have read portray attitudes reminiscient of those I encountered toward Christian churches in Eastern Europe before the fall of the Iron Curtain when Pentecostals were considered to be in need of psychiatric treatment. Newsweek's article about Sarah Palin's church was much more irenic in tone, but ended by saying, "Sarah Palin may not call herself a Pentecostal, but she has deep and long experience in Pentecostal churches. And as the race wears on, this biographical fact will likely become another religious Rorschach test--pleasing to some, discomfiting to others."
This is the second time in this election that a candidate's choice of a church home has sparked controversy. Barak Obama's long-term friendship with Pastor Jeremiah Wright turned out to be such a flashpoint that the candidate publically disassociated himself from both the man and his message (Read more about this here). What strikes me as very different this time around is that criticism has moved from controversy surrounding specific, issue-related comments by Rev. Wright to a visceral rejection of such foundational Christian doctrines as eternal punishment for those who reject Christ as Saviour or certain facets of New Testament spirituality clearly depicted in the New Testament Book of Acts as normative for members of the Christian faith.
I suppose none of this should surprise me. The flurry of speculation and observation surrounding Sarah Palin's particular flavor of Christian spirituality appears to be emanating from the same segments of American intelligentsia that have gleefully stooped to holding up a seventeen year old girl's pregnancy as an object for intense public scrutiny, sometimes tinged with ridicule. This is being done while that same young woman is walking through a very difficult time in her life, simply in order to score what the journalists mistakenly believe to be political "points." I for one wholeheartedly commend Governor Palin's daughter for courageously welcoming another precious life into the world instead of killing it for the sake of convenience.
Politics has always been a rough and tumble business and our civic history may be replete with examples of journalistic excess, but in my opinion we have just reached an all-time low. I believe these latest jouralistic extremes bode ill for what lies before us as Christian believers in our nation unless God graciously sends our country a deep spiritual and moral renewal. I also believe it shows the extent to which spiritual forces are at work on many different levels and in many different quarters during this election.
Whatever your political persuasion, I urge you to join me in prayer for the Palin family and for the pastors and churches cited in the aforementioned articles. While I have never met Governor Palin, I have known one of the ministers referenced, Pastor David Pepper from the Church on the Rock in Wasilla, and his family for over thirty-five years. Pastor David and his wife, LaRae, are two of the finest people I have ever met and form a very effective ministry team. I would be honored to call them pastor and consider their flock privileged to have them serve them in that capacity. David and LaRae certainly do not deserve the treatment they are getting in the press.
As all of you who attend Hillcrest Church know well, I do not take public positions regarding political candidates or openly share my personal political opinions or intentions about what I will do when I enter the ballot box. My appeal to you as your pastor is very simple:
to see it on Amazon.com. I highly recommend it...!
In order to keep this blog as a means of sharing my thoughts with you in written and VLog format, in the future, I will be posting the video streaming files from our "Word and Spirit" television program to a seperate blog at: wordandspirittv.blogspot.com.
I continue my new series of telecasts dealing with the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
On this "Word and Spirit" telecast, I began a new series dealing with the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Originally aired on July 18, 2008.
Teresa hosts "Word and Spirit" dealing with the theme, "Dealing With Doubt in Difficult Times." Part II of III. Originally aired on July 16, 2008.
Teresa hosts "Word and Spirit" and shares part three of a three part series on "Dealing with Doubt." In this live broadcast, she shares from the Old Testament account of the life of Gideon and a personal testimony of a supernatural phone call during an hour of deep need. Originally aired on Thursday, July 17, 2008.
Teresa hosts "Word and Spirit" and shares part one of a three part series on "Dealing with Doubt." In this live broadcast, she shares from the New Testament account of the life of John the Baptist. Originally aired on Tuesday, July 15, 2008.
After having lived on three different continents and having visted many, many countries around the world, as much as Teresa and I love cultural and linguistic diversity, we still have a deep love for the U.S.A. and a deep gratitude in our hearts toward the Lord for the privilege of being born here. America is not a perfect nation, but I believe it has been a blessed nation, in spite of our sins and our shortcomings. On this July 4th, I encourage you to pause for a moment and thank God for the U.S.A., asking God for His blessing upon it. Happy Birthday, America, and may God's favor continue to rest upon you!
P.S. Pastor Mike and Hazel Simons from the Promiseland Television Network have called for 31 Days of Prayer and Fasting through the month of July. They are televising a live prayer meeting from their studios on our Hillcrest Church campus each night this month from 8-10pm. Be sure to prayerfully consider what the Lord would have you to do to join in this intercessory effort on behalf of the Metroplex, the nation, and the world...! (Click here to watch live via the internet from anywhere in the world.)
On Friday, June 27, 2008, Teresa hosted our "Word and Spirit" telecast live from our campus at Hillcrest Church.
Last Monday, Teresa and I were able to broadcast live on "Word and Spirit" from the campus of Hillcrest Church for the very first time! Please join us in praying that God would use this new form of outreach to our community and that our ministry team would quickly master all the technical aspects of producing and airing such a program. We welcome your comments and suggestions!
While perusing the internet researching a completely different topic, I stumbled across a fascinating article detailing how many of our nation's Presidents were deeply influenced by their absent fathers. Doug Wead writes,
There is curious anecdotal evidence that some of history’s most powerful leaders came from homes with absent fathers. And we are seeing this scenario acted out again in the lives of our two presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain.
Senator Barack Obama, whose father left home in 1963, was only two years old. They were separated by continents. Obama was twenty-one years old when he was told in a telephone call that the father he never knew was killed in an automobile accident.
John McCain, son and grandson of navy officers, had a father who was a four star admiral. He was very loving but very busy and usually faraway.
Many fathers of the American presidents die young. And even the ones who live usually fall into the Obama-McCain category. “I was never there,” says George Herbert Walker Bush, “Barbara raised him.”
Three fathers of presidents died before their sons were even born.
Andrew Jackson
Rutherford B. Hayes
Bill Clinton
And many others died at an early age. James Garfield was one year old when his father died. Andrew Johnson was three, Herbert Hoover six, George Washington eleven, and Thomas Jefferson fourteen. Fully nineteen presidents lost their fathers before they reached age thirty. And only two fathers actually attended their sons’ inaugurations.
There is a very predictable family formula for strong leaders, good and bad. They have an attachment to the mother and an absent father. Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedung all fit the pattern as neatly as Washington and Jefferson.
If a father only spends his life serving his sons, reducing himself to the role of a taxi driver, running them to little league and soccer practice and math camp, all to show that they are a loving father willing to sacrifice their own advancement to give their sons an opportunity they never had, don’t expect the sons to grow up to be major league ball players or brilliant engineers. They will likely grow up to be taxi drivers just like their fathers, driving their sons all over suburbia as well.
On the other hand, if a father does something great with his life, achieves something significant or heroic, then, even if he is absent, his son will likely follow and may even do better, just to rub it in.
There is now much evidence that the role of the father, even his absence, is just as important in shaping leaders and presidents as is the role of the mother. Affirmed and empowered by their mother’s love but also hurt and frustrated by their father’s absence, a leader, including most American presidents, will strive to prove their value and worth with their great achievements.
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:24-26 NIV)
According to the Barna research group's recent findings, the number of churches and adherents to Pentecostal perspectives and practices has grown significantly in the past two decades. Today, fully 36% of Americans consider themselves to have been "...filled by the Holy Spirit and believe that the charismatic gifts, such as tongues and healing, are valid and active today." For more insights, click here.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I am fascinated with emerging technologies. Paul and I flew on Emirates Airlines from Dubai on down to Colombo, Sri Lanka on the last leg of our trip. The seat back video screen from the entertainment system had what I think is a very cool feature, namely, live video from a camera mounted on the nose of the plane. This enables passengers to see what the captain sees throughout the flight, including during take-off and landing. I had only encountered this once before, on a Japan Airlines flight from Tokyo to Singapore, but it was only in black and white it did not show the take-off and landing. Hats off to Emirates (which is a fabulous airline, by the way - I will fly them again any day!) for offering this feature to their passengers. Here is the video Paul filmed of our night take-off from Dubai and the landing at Colombo the following morning.
Pastor and Mrs. Darshan Fernando who serve on the ministry team of People's Church in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Here's a little taste Sri Lankan worship during one of the Sunday services at People's Church.
What a great day we had here in Colombo, Sri Lanka, ministering at People's Church and fellowshipping with Pastor Dishan Wickramaratne and Dr. Colton!
Senior Pastor Dishan Wickramaratne
Whew...! It seems like Paul Kerr and I have been travelling forever. Of course, I have to remind myself that we are headed for the furthest international airport from DFW in the Northern Hemisphere, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. During our six hour layover in Amsterdam, Holland, we were able to hop the train, run into town, and meet up with Steve and Rhonda Ashworth who minister in one of the darkest parts of that very dark city for YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Our church has been partnering with them financially for several years and it was great to get an update on what God is doing through them. I was even able to record a TV program with Rhonda from "The Tabernacle" prayer center that your offerings helped build. I will air the interview on "Word and Spirit" when I get back. Thanks for your continued prayers as we fly all night tonight on to Colombop, Sri Lanka for our ministry there at People's Church and some 1,500 leaders!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Paul and I have arrived in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, en-route to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Later this evening, we fly to Colombo, Sri Lanka for special meetings at the People's Church and with some 1,500 leaders. After a visit to a local congregation this morning, we went to a nearby mall for lunch. Outside the temperature had already reached some 110 degrees, but look what we found inside...REAL, man-made SNOW(the H2O variety - not styrofoam or something synthetic) and a skiing slope...! In case what you are wondering what this oil-rich, cash-flush country is like, this short video says it all... As prosperous and progressive as it seems, this area also evidences deep spiritual needs. Pray for Dubai, its leaders, and the people from all over the world who are living here. It is a very cosmopolitan city - some estimates put the expatriate population at 90% of its current inhabitants.
Teresa and I are happy to report that our new, “Word and Spirit” program went on the air this morning on the Promiseland Television Network…!
Our thirty minute telecast will air every weekday morning at 9:30am and on Saturday and Sunday at 12:00 noon. It can be viewed over the air on KTAQ channel 46 and KTAQ-DT channel 47.1; on virtually every cable system in the Metroplex (check your cable listing to discover the right channel for your TV); on both Dish and Direct TV throughout North Texas; and live over the internet by clicking on either mms://ptn.streamsvr.com/ptn or http://www.mikesimons.com. Please pray that God will help us win many souls and that many new people will be added to our church family through this new form of ministry.
In order to get on the air as soon as possible, we have begun broadcasting with a very simple, taped format. We want to lift the level of technical excellence as quickly as we can, as our viewers respond with the finances necessary to buy our own equipment, etc. Please pray that God will quickly provide for those needs. My desire is that any expenses incurred by these programs be financed entirely by people in our viewing audience, without spending any Hillcrest Church funds.
Please pray as well that the Lord will help Teresa and me quickly acquire the new skills that we need in order to be as effective as possible in this new setting. Our goal is progressive excellence, day by day, in every way. For the moment, we are taping at the Promiseland studio in Greenville. I am hosting the program, ministering to the viewers, and interviewing guests by myself. When PTN moves onto our campus in a few weeks and we begin broadcasting “live,” Teresa will join me as often as she can, given her other responsibilities, especially as mother and home-school educator. Please pray that God will help us and the entire Hillcrest Church staff adjust to this new rhythm of life and ministry.
For all the home school families at Hillcrest and beyond...the "Adams Family" revisted...!
I had the privilege of welcoming my good friend, Rabbi Marty Waldman from Baruch HaShem Messianic Synagogue to the Promiseland Live! telecast recently while I guest hosted for Mike and Hazel Simons on the Promiseland Television network. Rabbi Marty, child of Holocaust survivors, shares his personal testimony of how he came to faith in Jesus (Yeshua) and discusses the prophetic significance of modern Messianic Judaism.
Here is the broadcast Teresa and I hosted for Mike and Hazel Simons this past Monday. During the first hour, we minister to people who are involved in occultic practices. During the second hour, we minister the fullness of the Holy Spirit and share about the importance and role of spiritual language (the gift of tongues).
Here a are a couple of more recent broadcasts from the Promiseland Television Network. In the first, Teresa and I host the Promiseland Live! telecast. In the first half of the broadcast, I share thoughts about the way Jesus delivers us from shame. In the second half of the broadcast, Teresa shares a message about what it means to follow Jesus with all our hearts.
In the second broadcast, I join Mike and Hazel Simons for the last hour and share some thoughts about revival.
I trust your week is off to a good start. Teresa, the children, and I drove over to
Ever since last Sunday, I have found my thoughts going back to our special healing service with Mike and Hazel Simons, Jimmy and Becky Pierce, and the Promiseland Television Network team. I want to share some of my reflections with you. I apologize in advance for the length of this post. Please understand that my heart is very, very full!
The ministry time following Pastor Mike’s message lasted until
Teresa and I were also deeply touched by the way Hazel Simons remained completely engaged in prayer and focused faith throughout the entire time. Mike and Hazel obviously have a deep love for each other and are equally committed to their ministry. This speaks volumes about them as people. One of the best evidences of any minister’s character is a happy wife and family. They typically know much more about what goes on behind the scenes in a man’s life than anyone else around them! I am also very thankful for the way the Simons were so easy to work with “behind the scenes.” They made no demands financially and were very easy to please in every way. What a refreshing contrast to the attitude of many ministers today, such as the ones I wrote about in my blog post entitled, Fire in Grady’s Bones. Teresa and I did our best to feed their entire entourage a fine dinner at Maggiano’s afterwards on your behalf. If you would like to add something to the offering we received for the Promiseland Television Network this past Sunday, you can do so by contacting our church office. We will be sure to forward every cent of anything you designate for PTN. We want to be as generous with them as we possibly can in response to the way that they have ministered to us.
If you received a definite, supernatural touch from the Lord on Sunday, I want to encourage you to rejoice over it and walk it out in faith without trying to understand everything about it or analyze how it happened. Know that Satan often tries to take things away from us that God has given to us. We must stand on God’s Word in order to prevent the enemy from stealing the blessing we have received. It is very important to clearly discern exactly what God is saying to you and then to trust Him to fulfill His promise. Sometimes the Lord speaks to us through people, sometimes He speaks directly into our hearts and thoughts by His Spirit. When such “spoken” or “rhema” words come from Him, they always line up with the Bible, His written word. You must listen “beyond” whatever human voice He may choose to use and beyond the voice of your own mind so you can hear what He is saying to you. Do not focus your thoughts, your spirit, or your faith on anything I said to you or that Pastor Mike said to you, simply because we said it and because you have confidence in us as servants of the Lord. Focus your faith on what you know for sure God was saying to your heart and soul by His Spirit. As you stand on His word to you, remember to “feed your faith” and “starve your doubts!”
If you did not receive a physical healing or some other answer that you were seeking from the Lord, remember this very, very important truth - GOD LOVES YOU, TOO…! Do not allow Satan to play tricks with your mind or “mess” with your spirit by planting seeds of doubt, disallusionment, or bitterness in your heart. God is sovereign and He expresses His love and faithfulness to each one of us at different times and in different ways. He loves us all and He cares about all of our needs…! Continue to look to Jesus as your answer. What He was, He still is and what He did, He still does! Many times, God profoundly touches people in the days and weeks that follow such a service as they reflect on what they saw God do and as they hear testimonies from the lips of others around them who received a miracle. God is not limited to our church facility. He can meet you right now in your home or office as you reach out to Him!
For some people, the most controversial and hard to understand part of such a service, especially if they have never been present in one before, is seeing people fall down as they are being prayed for. I have heard all types of theological, biblical, and historical arguments for and against this phenomenon, including a European perspective that in Scripture the only people who fell to the ground fell forward, not backward. According to that paradigm, the only “biblical” way to fall to the ground “under the power” is on our faces, not on our backs. My letter to you today is not intended to be a theological treatise. I am just going to share with you the conversation I had with our nine year old daugher, Charity, on Sunday evening. As we were lying together on the couch watching the fire die down in the fireplace of the cabin our family was staying in, she suddenly looked up at me and asked, “Daddy, why did the people fall down Sunday while they were being prayed for?” Here is the gist of my answer to her question on a level she could understand:
“Sweetheart, people fall down in church for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes it is because they suddenly sense the power of the Holy Spirit in an unusual way and they are no longer thinking or concentrating on standing up and they get “lost” in the Spirit and lose their balance. On the Day of Pentecost, when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they did something that caused people to think they were drunk. It may well have been falling down or staggering around without their normal balance. Drunk people do not suddenly start speaking in languages they have never learned like the disciples did or have tongues of fire suddenly appear on their heads like it says in the Book of Acts, so it wasn’t those things that caused people to think they were drunk.
Daddy has seen some other people fall down because I was so excited and enthusiastic about what I felt in the Spirit when I prayed for them, and about what I believed God was going to do for them, that when I laid my hands on their heads and prayed, I grabbed their heads or laid my hand on their forehead harder than I meant to, and I knocked them off balance and they fell over. That is why Daddy tries to be really careful about the way I lay hands on people when I pray for them, because I don’t want to accidentally knock somebody over and have them get hurt. Some other people who come up for prayer really want to fall down because they have seen other people fall down when they had a profound encounter with God and they want to experience it, too. They think if they don’t fall down as well then there is something wrong with them, so if I touch them at all or if they feel any touch of the Spirit at all, then they fall over. Sweetheart, I have even seen some people fall down in church because the preacher praying for them mistakenly thought that pushing them over would help them get in the Spirit so they could receive their blessing from God.
There are lots of different reasons why different people fall down in church services. I cannot tell you exactly why everyone fell down Sunday, but this I can say for sure…at least some of those people fell down because they were having a very, very profound encounter with God. When we prayed for Pastor Alvin, for instance, it felt like he had just been hit with a lightening bolt. I was standing nearby and I suddenly felt a really, really strong jolt of supernatural power, as strong as I have ever felt before at any time in my entire life, something like a thousand volts of electricity, something I do not even know how to describe. I believe God did something very, very special for Pastor Alvin in that moment, and I believe God did special things for many other people on Sunday morning, too.
Sweetheart, people fall down in church for all kinds of reasons. The most important thing is not whether or not they fall down, or even why they fall down, but rather, what happens in their hearts and lives and bodies, whether or not they receive a special touch from the Lord and have a supernatural encounter with Him. So don’t try to figure out or worry about why this or that person fell down when they were prayed for. Just thank God for what He did for those people who encountered Him in a very special way today and pray that they will let Him do everything that He wants to do in their lives in the days to come.”
On a personal level, what probably impacted me the most Sunday was seeing the desperate needs and intense hunger in the hearts and lives of the people who came forward for prayer, specifically in the area of divine healing. All throughout the afternoon, I kept thinking of New Testament passages like these,
"40 When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41 Moreover, demons came out of many people…42 At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him…" (Luke 4:40-42 NIV)
"32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons…35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”…45 Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere…1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered
"9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him." (Mark 3:9-10 NIV)
"54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. " (Mark 6:54-56 NIV)
" 23 Jesus went throughout
This last Sunday’s service dramatically illustrates the effectiveness of supernatural ministry in response to people’s greatest needs. At
As we move forward, I want to ask you to pray for the following things:
I want to thank each one of you for the way you have responded to my call to seek the Lord in a special way during these opening days of “2008 - A Year of New Beginnings!” I also want to thank all of you who made a special effort to come early to our Sunday service to help greet our many visitors. Some one hundred and fifty people either filled out visitor’s cards or signed in using our attendance books on Sunday morning!
Here are some of my favorite quotes from Pastor Mike’s message and ministry time, as accurate as I can get them from pure memory, without having taken any notes:
“The supernatural is when God takes His super and adds it to your natural.”
“Signs are things that point you in the right direction.”
“Wonders are things that make you wonder.”
“When people ask me if they should go off their medicine, I tell them to go see their doctor and ask him. He is the one that put you on medicine. He should be the one that takes you off it.”
“If you are really healed, go see the doctor and let him confirm it.”
The BBC News website is carrying an item this afternoon about the British Airways crash landing in London earlier this week entitled, "Plane Passengers Touched by God." From the news reports such as CNN concerning the details of what happened, it certainly does seem to be a miralce that the plane was able to land with no loss of life on the air on on the ground. I have flown in and out of Heathrow on several occasions and it is situated in a highly populated are. Had the plane touched the ground even a few hundred feet earlier, there would have been massive destruction.
Here are a couple of more recent Promiseland Television Network broadcasts.
In the first, I host the broadcast and share thoughts from God's Word about the change the Christ of Christmas brings when we place our trust in Him. In both the first and second hour of the program, Pastor Jimmy Pierce of PTN gives a two-part testimony to God's faithfulness to him during a plane crash on a busy highway in Chicago, Illinois. Originally broadcast on 12/21/2007. Please note that approximately the first 30 seconds of these videos are blank. If you click on the "play" buttons in the windows, the videos will appear after some moments...!
Below is a broadcast where I appear as a guest of Pastor Mike Simons. In the second hour of the broadcast, we discuss Biblical principles of prosperity and the law of sowing and reaping. Originally broadcast on 12/13/2007.
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