PENTECOST 2023 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHURCH!

644,000,000. That’s the latest estimates that I can find of how many people speak in tongues worldwide, approximately a quarter of the so-called Christian world population (2.2-2.4 billion people). World population may still have reached eight billion, despite the covid bioweapon/lockdowns/vaccines planned genocide that’s killed tens of millions (…vengeance is Mine, says the Lord. Judgment day is going to be interesting…). When you work through the numbers conservatively, you still conclude that 82% of the people in the world are going to die and go to hell unless something changes, like someone reaches them with the Gospel. What a joyful cause to live your life for – reaching people with the Gospel!

While America and the American Church follow Europe in civilizational suicide, the Church in the Global South has been in revival for decades. Soon America and the lands of the West that at one time evangelized the world will become mission fields for our saviors from the South. What we have anticipated for twenty years will come to pass. God still has a plan for America but its not in megachurches, or even the typical Sunday setup, but in house churches, where every believer is anointed to serve, filled with power and walking in the encouragement and responsibility to fulfill all that they have been given.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” John 14:12 NKJV

We’ve been doing a good job getting people saved and filled with the Spirit, but we’ve got to do better. 644M isn’t good enough. We’ve got to get to 1B filled, then 2B. Then we must train them up in the gifts of the Spirit. Most training today is too ‘gratification oriented,’ and doesn’t develop the spirit of humility and sacrifice necessary to really be effective. Therefore, it’s worse than a waste of time because you think you are trained when you really aren’t. John 14:12 is a high, challenging standard. We’ve got to rise up to it! Spirit filled believers reproduce themselves, just like fire in a whirlwind. Get and stay on fire for God…billions will seek you to bring them to Him who is the light and the hope of an increasing hopeless world!

By the way, speaking of training, here is a link to a teaching from our new video Holy Spirit Seminar. This one is called TRAINING FOR SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION. Let me know what you think!

FAT AND FLOURISHING

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh (Heb. DASHEN, fat, rich, fertile) and flourishing…

Israel is like no other place on earth, simply because it is where Yeshua walked, lived, died and rose again. The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem touched me like nothing else. They have volunteers who come to be guides at the GT for two months at a time from all over the world. Our guide was from Canada, and he choked up and was crying as he shared the Gospel with our group. I choked up and was crying too!

To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Ps 92:12-15 NKJV

We entered the Tomb, a few at a time, and had Holy Communion as a group afterwards. I was ‘wrecked’ to my core there at the Garden Tomb, the first place we visited in Jerusalem!

…far above all principality and power (Grk. EXOUSIA) and might and dominion, and every name that is named… Eph 1:21 NKJV

While in Jerusalem the Lord spoke to me about a demon I had not considered before which I call for lack of a better term an old age demon. Derek Prince taught that EXOUSIA demons were enforcers of satanic destinies. Do you realize that the devil has a plan for your life, as well as the Lord having a plan? The overall characteristic of an old age spirit seems to be ‘diminishing capacity.’ The Word even describes this spirit and its effects. Notice when we read this that there is no indication that this is an inevitable situation for anyone. See if you recognize this spirit…

In the day when the keepers of the house tremble (LEGS WEAKEN), and the strong men bow down (KNEES WEAKEN); When the grinders cease because they are few (NO TEETH), and those that look through the windows grow dim (VISION DIM); When the doors are shut in the streets (INCONTINENCE), and the sound of grinding is low (NO ABILITY TO WORK); when one rises up at the sound of a bird (MENTAL TERROR AT TRIFLES), and all the daughters of music are brought low (NO HEARING). Also they are afraid of height, and of terrors in the way; When the almond tree blossoms (GREY HAIR), the grasshopper is a burden, and desire fails. For man goes to his eternal home (THE GRAVE – NOT HEAVEN), and the mourners go about the streets. Eccl 12:3-5 NKJV

Is the time of old age to be a time of mourning, a time of a long, slow slide into death or is it a time to be bearing fruit, to be fat and flourishing, anticipating Heaven? Which destiny do we choose?

How do we choose to be ‘fat and flourishing’? Before I get into that let me say that physical, mental and spiritual ‘maintenance’ is essential at any age. You can’t be an overweight couch potatoe and expect to be healthy and vigorous! You don’t have to be frail or fragile. Bone mass and density can be built AT ANY AGE with resistance training. Lots of water, real daily hydration cures so many things its like having a new body when you go from a static dehydrated state to comprehensive hydration, and this is true for everyBODY, at every age…

…and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. 1 John 1:3-4 NKJV

How do you get a happy heart? A happy heart would seem to be the key to a blessed life. Happy in your relationship with the Lord, happy with those you love most intimately, happy with neighbors and strangers, and happy in present circumstances and in promises of the future. Did you like THE GAME OF THE KINGS? My friend Steve wrote another article about his trip to Israel where he concluded that its not about gathering stones from the valley of Elah, from the creekbed where David got his five smooth stones, or getting water from the Sea of Galilee, that is meaningful but the great takeaway from Israel is a greater relationship, sweet KOINONIA fellowship with the Father God Elohim and our beloved Yeshua. KOINONIA with the Father and the Son makes one full of joy. Joy on the inside produces happiness on the outside!

Joy guards your heart against an old age spirit.

…and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. Matt 7:24-25 NKJV

A broken heart breaks down the walls of defense against any spirit. Everyone has ‘bad news,’ setbacks, defeats, failure, rejections even betrayals because we don’t control others lives, nor do we try to, and we aren’t perfect either. There is a great reality about our Father God that I think we fail to understand because it is so far out of human experience, and that is this – He doesn’t change. Even as He reveals more and more of His heart, His nature, His perfect God and Fatherhood, He doesn’t change. Everything changes constantly. From the tiniest quark to the fullness of the universe, everything is moving, changing, transforming in patterns that are understandable – at least somewhat – but God? No change. That is why we build everything on Him. I have some wonderful friends that I stayed with recently. Each morning I would arise early only to find Sylvia sitting in her big chair, reading the Word. I thought, Everything in her life is built on her relationship with the Father and the Word. Yes, she has a happy heart!

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day…2 Tim 4:7-8 NKJV

The sun rises and the sun sets. Yes, there is an eventual end to this physical life if the Lord tarries for every one of us. But we can choose our destiny. Yes, we may have to fight at times for different aspects our lives, but It can be a joyful fight as part of a fruitful life, that can bear fruit for generations to come. On this Pentecost I reflect on the fact that hundreds of millions of us are still enjoying the fruitful hunger of Charles Parham, who sought the Holy Spirit for himself and every born again one, and the fruitful prayers of William Seymour who prayed and prayed for hours a day until God came down in a little barn in Los Angeles on Azusa Street. Yes, each one of us can bear great fruit as we joyfully live our lives on the rock Messiah Yeshua. Let’s be fat and flourishing! Happy birthday Church! Love you!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…