Notice****

Hello everyone. To my thousands of fans. I have moved my blog. I can now be found at http://facelessman.wordpress.com/. I decided to go with WordPress because I have the Pray-Tell Blog on WordPress also. So..... look over there. I placed all of my posts from this site to the new one. Thanks! Be blessed!

Talk vs Power

1 Corinthians 4:20-21 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you prefer?

I read this in my morning devotion and it has been stuck in my mind. Even though verse 21 is a precursor to the rest of the verse, it made me think. "What do people really prefer?" Words, or power? Looking at the church the past 20 years it appears that "Words" dominate the season. Power seems to be absent in the church. In some churches today, if you feel a little tingle during worship you think that the power of the Holy Spirit is just rushing through the place, when 15 years earlier in the same church, the power of God was so evident, that you could almost reach out and touch it.

I was talking with a friend last night at a birthday party. We had both cut our teeth in ministry at a certain church we had both attended. We reminisced about how you had to be at this church on Sunday Nights at least an hour or more before service started to get a seat. It was generally standing room only. Sunday evenings were much more "free" in a sense because there were no time restraints. Worship was over the top. You could feel the "Glory of the Lord" in and outside the sanctuary. At times you could see it. It was like a cloud hovering over. People accepted Christ not because of what the pastor preached, but due to the presence of power in the place. No words needed to be spoken. God was there and everyone knew it. Even the people who came in off the street and did not know God knew who they were in the presence of. People were healed of sickness, set free from addictions, and totally restored. Services started at 6pm and many times we left after 10pm. Why? God was moving. Man stayed out of the way. Man did not input his own wisdom into the service. Man followed God, and His Word. This same church is just a shell of what it once was. The leadership and people currently attending this church now will tell you that it is alive and has cutting edge everything, and reaching people for Jesus, but like in Revelation 3:1, "I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead." They are following one of the church "models" that are out there and now they accept what used to be unacceptable. Rich Wilkerson asked on FaceBook what we thought "Status Quo" meant, well concerning today's church, it is doing what everyone else is doing. Just getting by. Doing just what is good enough. Using man's creation other than God's.

What do I prefer? That's easy. I'll take the manifestation of God's power any day. I have heard enough talk in church. I want to see action. Prayer brings action. Prayer lays the ground work for God to move. I was once a proponent of the best bands, fun in service, cutting edge technologies being used in services, all the things to draw people to church. It was all man's ways. I had been influenced by other church leaders, conferences, and even seeing people come into church in large numbers, but I found how shallow the church was. Now I am not against good worship music/bands, technology, or even have a fun service, it's all about why? Why do we do what we do? Do we want bodies to fill the seats to show that we are successful or do we do it because we have a heart after God? There's a big difference between the two. Paul had it right. 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

Ron Auch's Message on "Run for Your Life"

Go to this link, "Pictures and Videos", and click on the message for 071909runweb.


http://www.prayerhouseag.org/

Brad

Today's Thoughts

If you know me, you know that I can be outspoken and I do tell you what I think. I am not real articulate with speech and maybe I should be, but direct speaking makes a point. I do not sugar coat. Some like it, others don't, but I am what I am, and I believe I was made this way for a purpose. I guess it is the evangelist in me.

The purpose of this post comes from the fact that God is pushing me to change even more. The change is to be even more radical. The radical change is not what would be considered radical in perspective to the Word of God, but would be considered radical to the standards of the church in America today. I was at a multi-church rally a couple weeks back here in Kenosha, and after Ron Auch and I baptized people in Lake Michigan, as my wife and I walked back to our vehicle, we walked by some passers by. A man said, "must be a bunch of Jesus freaks." My first reaction was real Christian, I thought, "you dope, if you only knew." I was reprimanded through my spirit with a, "that was unchristian." It was. This man had no clue. I was passing judgement. I should have prayed for his salvation, which I eventually did, but he like many do not know the truth. I thought about what he said. "Jesus freak." Years ago, the Jesus freaks caused a huge movement in our country. The followed the Word by loving others where they were at no matter how they were treated. It wasn't about them. It was about those who where not free. Hmmmm. We need that today. Am I a Jesus freak?

Back to me. Radical. I pray and study the Word, but do I do it for habit to say that I do it, or do I do it for purpose? I want to draw closer to the Lord, but what really are my intentions. I want to walk in the gifts, but again what are my intentions? I am 51 years old, and I look back, (which I shouldn't) but I see so many missed opportunities, and lost time. Time....... something we have so little of in this very short life. Our lives are like the blink of an eye. We are here, then we are gone. What am I to do with this short time left? I don't want to stand before God with a bunch of missed opportunities due to my short sightedness, laziness, or not setting priorities.

Radical. God said, "Be ye Holy". What is Holy? I wonder how many people in the church of America can even answer that question. What is holy to me? How am I holy? What do I do to become holy like the Word means it? Man has his sense of what holy is, but it is so far short of what the Word means it to be. What does "walking in the light" mean? How do I walk in light? What does, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me", mean? What must I do? Matt. 22:37, Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself." How do I love the Lord my God? What are my actions? How do I love my neighbor? I must do the first to do the second. All questions but the answers lead to completeness in Christ.

1 John 2:15 says, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."

What is the "world"? Worldliness. I must abstain. I must move away from it. I must shelter myself from it. I must wash myself from it. I am in it only to save those out of it. To much of the church this is radical. The church is so much part of the world they do not even see a line anymore not to cross. It has become blurred. I am not one that says that you should hide. I believe that you should be seen. You should be seen walking in the power of the Almighty. That what you possess, can not be removed from you and that those seeing you should want what you possess. Weak Christians stay from individuals who are unchurched because they are afraid. They make excuses for their lack of power because they have not made a stand, and are not walking in power because they do not have a right relationship with God. Maybe that is better that they don't. That just don't need to talk about those they do not want to rub shoulders with. The issue is that if they had a relationship, more people would believe. Jesus hung with those who did not know the truth. He did not live they way they lived, but showed them how they should live. His life brought freedom. We should do the same. If we are living in freedom, individuals will want that freedom too.

All this babbling brings me to this point. One of my future endeavors will be to lead a small group of men who will want to walk to the beat of a different drum. Men who will be radical in a sense that they will turn their backs on their former life and live their lives totally different. They will abstain from those things that do not honor God. They will strive to be Godly at all costs. Be Holy. Love the Lord their God with everything in them. Love people the same way. Pray for power to minister, and walk in that power. I am looking for men who want to be generals. Will I find them? Let's hope so. People are dying with no hope. Who will rescue them if we don't?

Radical Christian

I like this "Tangle", great stuff. Here is another good video clip. I like the beginning of this clip the most. If we had this fervor, we would change the face of the world.

Run for Your Life

Pastor Carter Conlon delivered a poweful message right after the 9/11 tragedy.

Jesus at Disney

Got this off of one of the daily emails I receive from "Breaking Christian News". Jesus is alive and well and miracles happened at of all places, Disneyland. They videos of this on YouTube.

When the "Magic Kingdom" Starts Looking Like God's Kingdom
Aimee Herd (June 23, 2009)
When a group of Christian youth visiting Disneyland pray for one young man and he's healed instantly, many other healings and salvations suddenly break out.
Jesus made a visit to Disneyland recently (in the form of healings and salvations), according to a blog by Jason Chin on the website for Bethel Church in Redding, CA. A small group from Bethel went down to Disneyland for a day of fun, but God had much more than that planned for them. As Jason says, "It made the happiest place on Earth even happier!" Read Jason's testimony below, and don't miss the YouTube video (below) which was recorded while the young people prayed for others in the food court at Disneyland's "Frontierland."
(Thursday, June 11th) Jason Chin's Testimony:
I went down to see my best friend, Jason Tax, in Los Angeles, just to visit for a week and hang out—and who knows what adventure the Holy Spirit might lead us into. Jay and I love to do street evangelism together. On the way down, I saw a Disneyland sign, and I remembered the times of lying on my bed dreaming with the Holy Spirit of revival inside the theme park. I thought, "Wow that would be cool if that ever happened for real."
I had the privilege of speaking at my friend's church on Wednesday night, and after the service, a lady asked me if I wanted a free ticket to Disneyland the following day. Yippie, Jesus. I thought, Wow! Those tickets are $94!
Jason Tax, Hanna Ford and I went to Disneyland to have a great day in the sun with the Son—and God set us up through one key miracle of a young man's shoulder that was in a sling. We approached him and asked if we could pray for healing. Jesus instantly, completely healed his shoulder, and he removed his sling and began to test it out. He started crying from God's goodness, and he told us how he could not raise it at all because of a fresh torn rotator cuff injury. He then started raising his arm over his head and moving it as freely as the other one. His friends explained how he is the star football player at their school and he would have had to take the entire year off from football after his scheduled surgery, so we explained the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the miracles to the group of eight or so, and they all got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, and two of them got healed—one of scoliosis. The other had Jesus grow out his leg as his friends all looked on.
They all started freaking out, and the heavenly momentum hit and it erupted into an all-out Holy Spirit healing miracle service in the Disneyland food court for four and a half hours as groups of young people got their friends and brought them back to us for healing. They would come to us and say, "Can you heal this?" as they would point to a lump on their knee or a bad ankle. We would answer something like, "We cannot heal anything but Jesus can heal everything and that same Jesus is in you now, so everyone put your hand on this person and say, 'Be healed in Jesus' name! Now test it out.'" Really, that's how we prayed: "Be healed! Now test it out." Almost every healing was instant as the looks of shock appeared on the faces, then praise and cheers to Jesus would erupt from the crowd of youth!
Flat feet were healed as arches formed in front of everyone to witness. One girl was so scared as her friends dragged her up to us. She was almost crying from fear. We told her, "Hon, you have nothing to be afraid of. This is Jesus and He loves you very much." She had extreme scoliosis and a dislocated thumb that was in a hand brace. She was still very much afraid so we told her, "We won't even need to touch you because the glory is here. Just remove your brace and move your thumb around." She did and her thumb was instantly healed. We asked her to touch her toes and then check her back out. She did and her friends lifted up the back of her shirt to check out her spine. They all screamed because it was now perfectly straight. Jesus! We asked her if she knew Jesus, and she said no. We told her it was Jesus who just healed her and asked her if she would like to know that Jesus? She said yes, so she got saved and then we explained to her about being filled with the Holy Spirit and she said she wanted Him, too! So we asked her to put her hands out in front of her and say, "Holy Spirit, come and fill me up. I give my life to You." She started shaking under the power of God. God is soooo good!
We witnessed bone knots dissolve from knees, asthma healed, crooked knees straightened out, and eyes healed. Some protruding ribs were pulled back into the chest. Even gold dust showed up on many and three youths experienced supernatural weight loss as their once tight pants got looser and looser. Screams erupted as one man grew an inch taller while everyone looked on.
A super cool thing was how each kid got saved and then we prayed for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit and almost every kid felt a strong manifestation of the Holy Spirit like electricity, heat, tingling all over their bodies or a heavy, weighty presence.
They would then ask us questions like, "Can you make the sadness I feel leave the inside of me?" All their friends would say, "I feel that way, too," so we started praying in large groups, commanding depression to leave them and joy to come. Kids were crying, laughing, yelling "Jesus," saying things like, "I can't believe this! This is way better than any ride here!" Those kids were getting set free. We prayed for healing for the first few kids only. Then we taught the youth that the same Spirit dwells in each of them, and then we watched Jesus heal through their hands! We witnessed around 120-140 healings, most of them instant and about 100 or so decisions for Christ, of which 50 or so were first-time decisions, asking Jesus to forgive them of their sins. Yea, Jesus! One young man came up to me and said, "I never knew that Jesus died for me," and he yelled at the top of his lungs: "Jesus!"

New Update

Yes it has been about a month since my last post, but many things are happening in my life. Most importantly, I am working full time and getting paid for it. Woo Hoo! Makes my wife happy. The only thing with working full time (general contracting) I can't minister full time. I do have another big change. I have been led of the Lord to do ministry in Kenosha, WI. I am leaving Life Church in Gurnee, IL my last day being May 24, 2009 and I will be ministering out of Pray House Assembly of God with Ron Auch the Lead Pastor there. I am also ministring with Pray-Tell Ministries based in Kenosha, the organization I am licensed through. Ron is president of the ministry and in we are in the process of praying as to what God would have us do with the ministry. The ministry primarily taught people how to increase their intimacy with God through prayer. That point will still be a standard of the ministry, but we are praying for the possibility of other directions. Our ministry board primarily has youth and college age singles pastors, so who knows where God will lead. I would like to see a church plant directed at 18-30 year olds with a 24/7 prayer worship center. Only God knows and we are open to His leading. So this is an exciting time for the Williams' family. God sending us somewhere new again to serve. We are expecting great things. May God receive all the glory.

Thoughts

Usually every Thursday evening I attend open prayer at a church in Kenosha, WI. The church is only a couple miles from my place, so it makes it easy to run over for the hour prayer at 9PM. I was talking to the lead Pastor afterward about his church. The church is growing in numbers and we discussed that in time the church was going to have to add another service. God had been moving in the church, probably due to the huge amount of prayer that takes place there. Now this church would probably not be thought of by many of the circles I have hung with as being anything real special. Not cutting edge as they think of themselves. The building is functional, not super eye catching like some churches, when you do visit, the people are very friendly, and you actually feel like they are happy you are there. The worship team or band is not the power bands you see in many churches that have what looks like professionals playing. The teaching Pastor himself may not be seen as the flashiest looking speaker out there. He looks like me, short, bald, and chunky, with a dry sense of humor. The reason the church is growing is due to the fact as I stated earlier, God is moving in the place and in the people who attend there. There have been services lately where they did not get to the preaching due to the move of the Spirit. Where God's Spirit is, His people will be also. God's Spirit draws people into His presence. Also, the church preaches meat, not milk, big difference. It reminds me of, 1 Corinthians 2:13 "This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. {13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to spiritual men} NIV ."

I was reading also in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 this morning, "1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. "

Today, in many churches, there is much elequence, wisdom, and persuasive words. You can doubt me, but I have seen and heard them. Pastors have reverted to "words" to draw people into their churches along with programs. Paul said he did not come with words, he came "with a demonstration of the Spirit's power." That is what is lacking in the church today. No Spirit, no power. The church has reverted to men's words, men's plans, men's designs, men's programs, everything having to do with drawing people into the church using man's wisdom. After years of hearing words that have no depth, in churches that have no Spirit, people are leaving their church for other churches, but they are not finding what they are looking for because many churches are the same. Even the Mega-Churches are seeing this. I have never seen so much church hopping as I have seen in the past ten years or more. The last five have been unbelievable. The younger generation has said, "forget it, I am not even going to church". Many in church leadership refuse to change and continue with their own ideas or use someone elses of how church should be, even though they are not growing spiritually or in numbers. The churches that have recognized that they are stagnant, have moved to change. People want more. God is calling His people to more. The spirit within us yearns to know God. Milk and no Spirit doesn't do it. Paul knew, he wrote what was needed. The Spirit of God. Something that is absent today in th church. Pastor's have told me they don't go there, or they don't need it, or the Spirit is over rated. Over rated. Can you believe that? They wonder why they have a revolving door in their churches, or the people are basically dead in their pews.

The church I went to prayer in, well, guess what? The church was built on the fundamentals of the Word. The Lord revealed to me in prayer that the foundation of the church was deep, and the prayers of its people was extending the foundation deeper. It was a foundation that He the Lord was going to build upon. He was going to grow it. I could see it in my mind. The early church was very fundamental in it's structure and mission. Its foundation was deep. It grew into a power house. Maybe we should go back to that. Allow God back in, and take man out.

Starting a new revolution, using ancient ways, one church at a time. Changing the landscape, changing our world.

What is Truth

John 18:38, Pilate asks Jesus, "What is truth?".  What is it?  Today, I do not believe many know what truth is anymore.  The lines between truth and untruth have been blurred.  Now those lines have blurred only concerning man.  When it comes to God and His Word, those lines are still present and true.  They have not moved, will not move, and are the only remaining constant in the universe.  I believe very soon, the lines again be moved back to where truth is truth and untruth is untruth.  Why, because history shows this to be a cyclical event.  Throughout the Word of God, you read where man comes to a place where he in his multitudes have reached the bottom.  That which was wrong, became right, and that which was right became wrong.  A total rejection of God by the masses.  Then, when people were wallowing in their complete disgust of a life living out in the lusts of their hearts, God would intervene, and a revival would ensue, and man would turn himself back to God.  We are very close to an intervention.  The sins of our nation, and the lack of power or care in our present churches for following the Word, holiness, and loving people, I believe is bringing us to a massive move of of the Spirit of God on His people.  

I was talking with my mentor last night.  We were talking about the church and it's rejection of the truth of God's Word.  Man in his limited wisdom has decided that his own intellect is above God's and he believes that he can create the model that draws people into the church.  As we have seen over at least the past 20-30 years, the massive decline of individuals attending church, man's ways and ideas do not work.  Seeker, Emerging, and whatever other models that are out there with many titles will never work, because they come from man.  In all of these models something is always lacking. They seem to focus on only one or two things. What is good for one church will never be good for another.  Now the leaders of these churches had good intentions, and they must of prayed for guidance, but concerning the ways of God, His Word already had everything laid out.  If man took time to pray and consume God's Word, and live His Word, and operate in the fullness of His Word, there would be no thoughts to "Church Models", the concern would be about training new pastors and leaders to lead the huge number of unchurched people coming into the church.    

Having a house in order is all that is needed.  The order is fairly easy.  Jesus stated two things to start, one: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind." Matt. 22:37.  To do this means your total being, all that you have, all that you do, your completeness in life must all be directed to God.  You make Him the source of all things for your life.  You honor him, and worship Him with your life.  Complete and total obedience to His Word striving to be holy as He is holy.  Something that is not heard much in churches anymore.

The second item: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Matt 22:39.  Love God, then love those around you who ever they are.  The church was all about this in ancient times, and it grew because of following these two statements from Christ.  In Acts 2:42-47  "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.  44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.  45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,  47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."  Quite different to the philosophy of the church of today. 

In today's church in America, there is not much "awe", and there is hardly any "miraculous signs and wonders".  Why, man ideas rule the church.  Man thinks he knows better how to run the church than God.  Man's prayerlessness and disbelief of the total Word has caused him to not know the truth even though it is in front of his face.  We might scare people away if something real spiritual happened.  When a prominent pastor who created a movement in the church in the 70's and 80's by his "style" of church found that many of the 10,000 + people attending his church in a survey wanted more meat than the milk they had received for years stated in a conference I attended that, "it is time to go back to the drawing board."  You could see that again, he and his leadership were looking to themselves to rework the church to what the people wanted. Yes, they were going to offer more meat, but on their terms. The church was created by asking people what they wanted in a church, and that is what they got.  In time it was found to be lacking.  Good music and light preaching to make you happy and allowing you to continue in a carnal lifestyle only produced emptiness with a Holy Spirit tugging on you to want more of what a living God can offer.  More was not found. Why wasn't the church offering what was needed in the first place?    

There is a stirring happening.  People want more.  The church in general is not offering more. These churches will die.  New churches will rise up in the ashes of the churches that refused to believe in the Word or follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Something needs to change.  With every year, church attendance declines.  With ~92% of 16-30 year olds being unchurched, I guess you can say that the church models of today, do not work.  But what is funny, many church leaders refuse to change.  It is like a basketball coach I know.  For the past 5 or 6 years he has a play that he has his high school girls practice and practice and practice.  He calls the play in every game.  It never works.  The other coaches know him and his play.  They know how to defense against it. His team would be losing the game, but this coach was  going to make darn sure that the girls ran this play right.  Even when people close to him told him the play didn't work, and I believe because of his pride he thought he would make it work, he would not change. His program has never grown or gotten better.  Actually, in the beginning he had one good season, but never went all the way.  This sounds like many pastors and church leaders and their churches. We are going to use this model even though it has been proven not to work.  Just because one church or two had success with it, they think they can use it too and have the same results.  Statistics and history show, only one model works.  The church model in God's Word. Why don't we get it?  We are blinded from the truth.  Worldliness has crept into the church so much that we think we in our own minds think we can do anything using our own intellect, we are our own gods.  Change will only come when we return to the ancient ways.  When we return to that first commandment of Jesus and believe and follow the Word of truth.  One way or the other we will bow down.  God's Will, will be done in the church for His people.  I would rather be walking with Him than against Him.

Youth of the Nation

I'm typing today from Christian Life School in Kenosha, WI. I am a substitute today for a creative writing class. I was talking with the five students that are left in the class, and they said that seven of their other classmates have dropped the class. They said, "why would they do that?" My response was some youth are more analytical so they are drawn to science, some have a creativity that draws them to art, music, and writing, and others are more mechanical and are drawn to working with their hands. Creative thinking really is for a smaller group, but I believe sometimes technology takes away creativity because it thinks for you. You become accustom to a computer or other piece of technology to think for you.

But looking at these youth the past so many months, I have found that they are far more connected to life than those in my generation or maybe the one after. I would imagine that this age of technology where your mind is flooded with energy coming from every angle, you must be aware of the motion that is around you at all times. My daughter can watch TV, listen to her Ipod, do homework and attempt to keep a conversation going with me all at the same time. I guess I am one of the few in my generation that finds myself doing the same thing, but I believe that the "noise" of this world is pulling us from focusing on reality and the truths of life. We seem to fill our lives up with stuff to be ever moving, but not moving with focus or relevance. Maybe when I was a teen I only looked as far as going to work, getting that next assignment finished, or wondering if I was going to that party next Friday night, but I believe because we are not plugged into our Creator, we "fill" up with stuff because when we get drawn into that quiet place, we find ourselves fearful. Well the class is done, I gotta run, finish later........

The Unbelieving Church

I know, its been a while since I've typed here, but I have been had many thoughts to type but just haven't had the leading to put the thoughts into print.  Here are my thoughts today.

It is funny how God, through prayer can change your view of things.  Well its really not funny, its the truth of the Word of God.  The more you pray, the more God reveals the mysteries of the Word, and opens your eyes to truths that you did not "see" before.   I have been spending more and more time in prayer lately, and not just due to having no income stream, but just having a heart yearning to draw close to my Lord.  Through this process, my ideas of reaching the unchurched has been changing.   Over the years, I was caught up in the "if your music sounds the best, and everything looks professional, and you have the right look, and the right technology and really know what the people want, and...... well I hope you know where I am going?  I thought that we the church, or we the church leadership by using our talents.  Using our knowledge.  Using the best of what other churches did.  We would have a church that people would flock to.  We, me, us, I.  I had forgot that ~ 9 years ago, when I was helping plant a church, God showed me in his word, his basic model for the church.  Act 2:42-47.  The church was committed to prayer, growth from the Word, fellowship and accountability, and reaching the less fortunate in love and not condemnation.  Something that I can't say I totally forgot, but I believe through other influences I followed what others were doing to grow the church.  I was caught up in "models" of other church growth like many other leaders.  I believe many church leaders who want numbers that show growth begin to look at what others have done to grow.  I believe that the church in the 70's and 80's used marketing techniques from the corporate world to grow their churches, but many of the market grown churches had no Spirit.  They processed as a church and grew in numbers, but the individuals attending did not grow spiritually.  The current generation of 16-30 years who are unchurched reflect the lack of personal spiritual growth of their parents and guardians.  

Another thing lost in time was the belief in the power of the Holy Spirit.  It is talked about in churches, its in their statements of belief, and they may say they are Full Gospel or Pentecostal, but you see nothing and hear nothing when the church gathers.  The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is irrelevant or not needed, and there is a belief that you can do just as well without it, as well as you can receive the baptism without tongues.  In some circles, pastor's who have been baptized in the Spirit with the evidence of tongues do not want to see any manifestations of the Spirit because they are afraid it might scare someone off or affend someone. Here again they worry about what man thinks more than God.  It is time to get back to the basics and back to walking in he gifts.  Churches who have moved back to using what I call the ancient ways ave been seeing God move in their midst and guess what?  People are flocking into the church.  Yes a few leave as they were not grounded, but Paul put it right.  You don't need fancy words, and today we don't need pre-planned over the top services.  We just need to allow God to show up in full power, and do what he wants in our services, and do what Jesus laid out for the first church.  We would save a lot of time and money and frustration, and end up with a strong body of believers who draw the unchurched to Jesus because of the testimony of God's grace manifested through his power for everyone who believes in him.

The Ancient Ways

1 Corinthians 2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.  2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.  3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.  4 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  5 that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. 

"and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. "

I wonder how many pastors even recognize, understand, or even care about Paul's declaration of how he preached to people?  I imagine if those who preach, did, and even attempted "Paul's way" the unchurched population of the US wouldn't be growing.    Paul said, "I did not preach anything persuasive from my own wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." 

The key word here is "demonstration", in Greek ἀπόδειξις, apodeixis, manifestation; or to show or a showing off.  Another added word in some interpretations reads αποκαλυψει, in the revelation of the Spirit. The doctrine that he preached was revealed by the Spirit: that it was a revelation of the Spirit not from himself or from anyone else.  He did not copy.  

The manifestation of,  "In the showing" ἀπόδειξις, apodeixis, manifestation; or in the testimony or evidence which the Spirit produced. The meaning is, that the Spirit furnished the evidence of the divine origin of the religion which he preached, and that it did not depend for its proof on his reasoning or eloquence. The proof, the demonstration which the Spirit furnished was, undoubtedly, the miracles which were performed.

Miracles were performed.  Wow!  The actual manifestation of the Spirit of a living Holy God through his Son. The shed Blood of Jesus in action.  Something you don't see much in the church today.  Why? Men walking in their own wisdom believing that their words, have more power.  Many have not seen the power manifested themselves, or have and deem that the "Power" is not relevant anymore, or they feel that power may scare people away because those attending have never seen it either.

And I can guess some reading this are thinking, "Oh no, one of those ultra conservative pentecostal kooks who wants the churchback in the dark ages."  Not at all.  I actually think of myself a bit liberal actually to much of the church.  I am not orthodox by any means and at the moment I am in an independent contemporary church and its great.  But......

Through prayer, and a lots of it.  The Lord has been speaking to me about "walking in the ancient ways".   What are the ancient ways?  Ancient means old, and the Word of God is old.  Well read the Word.  It lays it out, plainly.  We as Pastors read the Word but do not see. We listen, but don't hear.  It is as plain as your hand in front of your face.  Paul walked in the ancient ways, and men throughout history did also.  Men today walk in the ancient ways.   So what's the issue?

Paul said he did not speak with "excellence of speech" as reads in many interpretations.  He spoke, but what did he speak?  Christ crucified.  He spoke the Words of God.   God manifested Himself, people believed.  Do you think Paul preached a series on healing?  How about a series on the power of the Holy Spirit?  He didn't have to. People saw it and believed.  Hands were laid on people and what ever their issues, they were healed of those issues.   Today we preach the power of positive thinking with the hope that people can fix their problems themselves or place them in "help" groups so we can all help each other get through issues.   I had a friend who was a drunk, coke addict who was a chain smoker.  He was prayed for one time, and walked away with no addictions, and no desire to abuse his body anymore.  That is the Power of God manifested.  Thank the Lord that the pastor didn't tell him to go to some place to get dried out.  It wouldn't have happened.  I imagine you get where I am going.

The power is at our finger tips, and with our mouth, and with our ears.  It is the Word of God, and prayer, seeking God just to know Him.  To get close to Him.  Be one with Him, and be at a place where we hear Him when he speaks to us.  When we are at that point in our walk, we will not have to come up with some great message to "feed the flock" to make them happy, or hopefully help them through life's issues.  No, it will be a place where God shows up, and "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  5 that "men's" faith should not rest on the wisdom of "other" men, but on the power of God. 

I am going to continue with this in the future, but I am wore out from typing at the moment.  Be Blessed!

Copy of a post from Ed Stetzer. It's great.

I saw this on Dan Ohlerking's Blog and had to put it on mine.  Ed Stetzer had a great piece on his blog:

I just wrote an article for Catalyst on the dangerous trend of gaining converts to our causes without gaining converts to Christ. Here are a few paragraphs.

I continue to see movements gaining traction among Christians that do not seem to have many converts. In other words, they have recruits to their cause, but few converts to Christ. And, I am concerned. I am concerned that in the name of "fixing the Church" we are not proclaiming the Church's gospel.

...

So, my Reformed friends, let's not only read 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John (that is, John Calvin, John MacArthur, and John Piper), let's go plant some more churches. My emerging church friends, let's take a pause from the theological rethink and head into the neighborhood and to tell someone about Jesus. My missional friends, let's speak of justice, but always tell others how God can be both "just and justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." My house church friends, let's have community, but let's be sure it is one focused on redemption. My Baptist friends, let's focus more on convincing pagans than Presbyterians. And, my charismatic friends, let's focus less on getting existing believers to speak in tongues and more on using our tongue to tell others about Jesus

...

If you want to convince me (and the body of Christ) to your cause, you must show me it is a better way. You must tell and show something different. You must not just protest what is, but you must show me what should be.

You need to go an read the whole article to see these excerpts in context at Catalystspace.com, 

Thoughts

Revelation 3:14-18

14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

NIV

Interesting reading today in my devotions.  "I know your deeds, that you are either hot nor cold.  I wish you were either one or the other!"  This represents much of the church today, primarily in Europe and North America.  It's unfortunate.  We are in the Laodicean Church age.  An age where there is a resemblance of power and a moving of the Spirit, but there is none or very little as a whole.  The church following tradition, but not the first commandment. 

Matthew 22:37-38

37 Jesus replied, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 

TLB

Service or "works" is good, helping your fellow man.  The church has been growing by assisting in "causes", but has forgotten about really loving God.  Many churches put out a great product, great music, great children's and youth programs, a great place to hang out, but they don't seem to take that next and greater step.  Spiritual growth.  Holiness.  Numbers are seen as the sign of of a growing church, but spiritual growth of a believer should be a sign also.  But I really think many churches don't know how anymore.  Doing something for the sake of doing something that is just "right" accomplishes nothing.  Doing something because you were compelled by the moving of the Holy Spirit is something totally different.  Yes some individuals are moved differently and you don't have to have some holy aura about you to do something for God, but when someone is totally enveloped into Christ when service is done because of the love for the Savior and Father, it takes on a whole meaning.  That is what the church lacks. We need to have that relationship with our Lord which only comes from deep prayer and the study and meditation of the Word in whatever form, to where "works" that bear fruit, walking in the second commandment to "love your neighbor" is Spirit driven and has more impact and the un-churched see love in a pure form.

Now that I think about it, that's the issue, no love.  Since we are not passionate for God, which should be our first love, we don't know how to love.  Since we do not know how to love, we don't know how to walk.  We then walk in between darkness and light.  We in our flesh feel safe there.  We don't go to close to the light, because we don't know what is "there".  We've heard what was "there", but we have not experienced "there".   So we have a fear of "there".  We don't have love so we have fear.  

1 John 4:18

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 

NIV

We don't go close to the darkness because we know its bad.  We have been taught that way through tradition. It is not that we fear it.    So we are not hot nor cold.  So what do we do?

It states in 1John 4:18, "perfect love".  What is perfect love, and how do we get perfect love?  Matthew 22:37. "Love the Lord your God".    That is where you find perfect love.  That is what will pull us from center to the Light.  That is what causes us to look at darkness totally different.  Now I am just rambling at that is what blogs are for, but I believe there is some truth in this.  How will the church get things right?  How does the church find its direction?  One way.  Love your God!

Today's Thoughts

I came across the first message I preached at Life Church after returning to Illinois after 8 years in Louisiana, and one part of the message struck me again. It was an excerpt from Rob Bell's book "The Velvet Elvis" where he plainly put it that the church really needs to change its thinking about the unchurched.

“The most powerful things happen when the church surrenders its desire to convert people and convince people to join them. It is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is radically and openly displayed to people. And the only way to do this, is the church has to stop thinking about people in categories of in or out, or being good or bad, believer or non-believer, saved or unsaved. Those terms and that thought process completely go against what Jesus taught us about how to treat each other. Placing people in categories is offensive.” Rob Bell.

The early church in the Book of Acts chapter 2 had it right.  They shared food (Acts 2:46), they shared their stuff or sold it to help others in need when they needed it (Acts 2:45), they were all on the same page (Acts 2:44), and they had gladness and simplicity of heart (Acts 2:46).  

Their lives were a testimony of goodness, grace, and love.  In Acts 2:47, it states that they had favor with all the people.  ALL the people.  Why?  They lived a life of servanthood and love.  When you love someone, you look past how they dress, how they talk, who they hang with, and if they are rich or poor.  You don't care about those things which are really insignificant when you come to it, because what is significant is the heart.   What condition is their heart in?  When a heart is healed, transformation takes place.  

The early church went through a transformation.  They did not live by strict rules anymore.  They lived by grace.  They were free.  They were freed by the death and resurrection of a Savior, Jesus Christ.  The church today has re-created rules again.  You must look like them, talk like them, and act like them.  If you don't you are not part of them, and to be part of them, you must change and be exactly like them because they are right and you are wrong.  You wonder why the unchurched portion of our society is getting larger, and why those unchurched individuals despise Christianity and the people involved in it.

Jesus was The Model for reaching the unchurched.  He hung out with them.  Ate with them.  Treated them like they were just like anyone else.  He understood it was a heart issue.  How do you get someone to open up their heart?  By building a relationship with them.  To have a relationship with someone, you have to hang with them.  To hang with them, you have to meet them where they are at.  Jesus met them where they were at.  He did not hang in the temple and expect people to come to him.  They wouldn't come then because of "religion" and "hypocrisy", and they won't do it now for the same reasons.  

When we quit trying to "convert" people, as Rob Bell states, and just love people by building relationships and serving those in need. By going out.  Out of the "sanctuary" of a building to hurting people. Maybe, just maybe, we'll find favor with those that really need love, a kind word, or a hug, maybe a coat, or food, and then, Jesus.

Starbuck's Church

I thought this was pretty good. Makes you think.

First Post

Thanks for checking out my blog.  I hope this blog will be thought provoking.  I guess I have come to a point in my life where I become more transparent, but also more black and white.  I guess age may be a part of it, but I am not mellowing with growing older.   When you pursue a life of holiness as I am being drawn into, light and darkness become ever more clear.  Gray is not as broad but is consumed by either contrasts.  Life decisions become easier to follow as that line we won't cross becomes clearer and the sense not to go near it becomes stronger.  Now this blog will rarely talk about black and white, but in future writings by this author you will know where I am coming from.  

I am a pastor.  I have been called since a teen, but have only taken the walk in the later years of my life.  My passion is for people.  Lost people, found people, sick people, healthy people, unloved people, loved people, poor people, rich people, hurting people, happy people, not so good looking people, and good looking people. All people.  

We all have a story, but the story is in our past.  What is our future?  That is what I am concerned with.  How am I going to live tomorrow?  But then most importantly, how am I going to live now?  This second?  Today? That is what matters.

So this blog will be about two things.  Us, today and how we live life in it, and secondly, about the Church.  Yes the Church of Jesus Christ.  I'm a pastor.  I have to talk about the church.  Where its been, and where its going. Why?  Because the church is about people.  People inside it, and people outside it and where do all these people stand in our world today.  I hope you come back and dialog with me and we will see where we can take this thing.  Hopefully to the place where my life, and your life will be changed for the better.

Peace,

Brad