In our most recent Teaching E-mail, 46. Developing Spiritual Maturity in an Atomistic
Age, we noted the difficulties
confronting those who are living wholeheartedly for our Lord
Jesus in this age of self-idolatry. It’s tough enough to
press on being true to HIM, never mind discipling others who
are straying into worldly compromise! You may have discovered
for yourself that the support and encouragement that would be
so streng-thening in your spiritual life journey is minimal or
non-existent.
We know that some of you regularly gather
to “fellowship” with people who are fervently
pursuing self-interest with at least one foot firmly planted in
the goals and values of the world. But our Father’s
definition of “fellowship” is clearly presented in
His Word as a life set apart for Him and His purposes! (To review
His criteria for biblical fellowship, see Teaching E-mail 29. Are Your Friendships Spiritually Authentic? July 19, 2007).
You may find that Father God’s
purposes for fellowship in His Son are in fact completely at odds with the self-gratification and self-satisfaction you find
among the spiritually lethargic. This is particularly true if
you’ve neglected or even denied God’s call for His
children to resolutely uphold both personal and communal righteousness. By ignoring
a life of obedient trust, you can conveniently tolerate and
entertain certain sins in your own life and also
“fellowship” with others who do likewise (Hebrews
12:1).
When you intentionally gather with people
who are harboring or rationalizing sin the way you are,
you’re violating a specific warning from God. He knows
how susceptible each of us can be to give way to sinful
compromise through people who “have
a form of godliness but deny its power.” His command? “Have nothing to do with them” (2 Timothy 3:5).
How do you recognize if your spiritual life
is one of words only, but devoid of the life of the Holy
Spirit? Honestly examine yourself and the lives of those with
whom you “fellowship”, and then ask yourself:
• Do you and those with whom you
fellowship emanate the same spiritual power as the first
followers of Jesus?
• Is Jesus truly the “pearl of
great price” in your life, the One Whom you are devoted
to pleasing and obeying?
OR,
• Does your lethargic disbelief or
spiritual laziness make Jesus out to be a liar when He says, “You will do
even greater things than these,
because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12)?
• Do the demons recognize your
self-idolatry and sham faith as they did in the seven sons of
Sceva: “Jesus I know, and I
know about Paul, but who are you?” (Acts 19:
15)?
Having answered those questions, how do you
feel about your relationship with Jesus? If your responses
indicate shortcoming, now is the time to repent and be changed!
You need a revival of your spirit. And, that revival is our purpose in this
Teaching E-mail.
We mentioned previously that in 2010
we’re being restricted by our Father to come alongside to
help ONLY those who are applying the Hebraic foundations as a
way of life. These are the
called-out in Christ who love Him
wholeheartedly and are responding to
His Spirit to live in obedient trust according to the authority of God’s
Word.
This restriction isn’t our choice but
our Father’s. For nearly sixteen years, through seminars,
our website, videos, and writings we’ve been sharing the
He-braic foundations we received from Him.
You may be among those who cherish your
relationship with us more than you do following Jesus by
enacting the scriptural truth of the Hebraic foundations in
your life. Our Father has warned us that this unresponsive
“ear tickling” can no longer go on. If our
relationship is blocking your wholehearted commitment to Him,
we’re ready to obey.
During the past few weeks He has breathed
into us several “divine opportunities.” Key among
these was happening upon a book we’d read decades ago, Azusa Street by Frank
Bartleman. You may not be familiar with the “Azusa Street
Revival” which began in 1905. As we read this
autobiography, the Holy Spirit impressed on us that authentic revival awaits those who are turning to the Gospel and the life that
the first followers of Jesus embraced.
Isaiah wonderfully captures the humble
attitude needed by those who earnestly seek revitalization of
their spirit:
For this is what the high and lofty One
says— He who lives forever, whose Name is Holy: ‘I
live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is
contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive
the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite’ (Isaiah
57:15).
If you hunger for the Holy Spirit to revive
your faltering devotion to our Lord, you need God’s view of
revival rather than man’s limited understanding:
• Man defines revival as a reawakening of religious fervor, especially by
means of a series of evangelistic meetings. This narrow perspective focuses on the means of how people
see the Holy Spirit move on upon certain people.
• God perceives revival as a period of time in which He harvests those who
forsake everything to love Him through their unconditional
obedience to His Word (see Luke 10:
27;14:26,27,33; Matthew 13:44-46).
If up to this time you’ve ignored
our Father’s standards for a relationship and way of life
that are totally devoted to Him, then repent! Make this
forthcoming series of Teaching E-mails fruitful in your life.
We’re including excerpts from Azusa Street in this
Teaching E-mail so that you can glimpse the kind of determined heart commitment our Lord looks for before He releases His Spirit on
people. Alongside several of the excerpts we’ll note how
some of the Hebraic foundations our Father gave us to share
were also foundational to the Azusa Street Revival over 100
years ago.
You may want a copy of this paper back for
yourself. Look on Amazon.com for Azusa
Street by Frank Bartleman (New
Kensington, PA: Whitaker House) 1982.
Please note: This Teaching E-mail will be a
waste for you if you don’t hunger to seek our Lord Jesus
with all that’s in you, no matter what the cost.
We’re living at a time much like that of Elijah when he
charged the Israelites:
“How long will you waver
between two opinions?
If the LORD is God, follow Him;
but if Baal is God,
follow him” (1 Kings 18:21)
In recent e-mails we’ve addressed
pagan roots that have been broadly accepted throughout
Christendom, especially the clergy system that was not only
done away with by the sacrifice of Jesus but was also adapted
from the practices of heathen religions of the first centuries
AD. Again, ask yourself:
• How many pagan practices can be part
of my faith walk before I grieve God?
• In my life, is one religious practice
that's been adapted from paganism acceptable to our Lord? Are
two? Three?
• Are any pagan-based faith practices okay with God
in the lives of those who proclaim to be His?
NOW is the time to flee ALL pagan practices
you’ve been falsely led into believing are acceptable to
our holy God. NOW is the time for you to seek Him and the life
that pleases Him as never before.
Excerpts from Azusa Street by
Frank Bartleman
p.8 - Little Esther’s death [Frank
Bartleman’s young daughter] had broken my heart, and I
felt I could only live while in God’s service. I longed to know Him in a more real way and to
see the work of God go forth in power. A great burden and cry came in my heart for a mighty
revival. He was preparing me for a fresh service for Him. This
could only be brought about by the realization of a deeper need
in my own heart for God, and a real soul travail for the work
of God. This He gave me. Many were being similarly prepared at
this time in different parts of the world... Intercessors were
the need. “He wondered that
there was no intercessor” (Isaiah
59:16). “I sought for a man
to stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not
destroy it; but I found none” (Ezekiel 22:30).
§ Ezekiel 22:30 has hung on our
refrigerator door for years as has Jeremiah 1:17-19, the reason
our Father gave us for taking us to Israel in 1993. We want to
be those who “stand in the gap.” Are you willing to do
this?
p. 9 - “Some churches are going to
be surprised to find God passing them by. He will work in
channels where they will yield to Him. They must humble
themselves for Him to come... Some
people are too well satisfied with their own goodness. They have little faith or interest for
the salvation of others. God will humble them by passing them
by.”
§ You may have never perceived
yourself as a depraved sinner desperately in need of the
reconciling sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf. Only by taking
ownership of your innate sinfulness can you fully and gratefully appreciate the love
He has demonstrated on your behalf to present you clean before
our Father!
p. 10 - We must keep humble and little in
our own eyes... Repentance and sorrow—i.e., true
repentance—endure as long as a man is displeased with
himself... The depth of any revival will be determined exactly
by the spirit of repentance that is obtained.
§ If you’ve embraced the true
Gospel that’s detailed in The
Gospel of the Covenant is the Pilgrimage to Salvation (free download at our website), then you know
that our Father’s Covenant can be entered into only through repentance,
and maintained only by ongoing
repentance.
p.11 - I had received a new commission
and anointing. My burden was for revival... The spirit of
revival consumed me. The spirit of prophecy came upon me
strongly also.
p. 14 - Only the man who lives in fellowship with divine reality can be used to call the people to God... I
found most Christians did not want to take on a burden of
prayer. It was too hard on the
flesh.
p.17 - Then suddenly, the Lord Jesus
revealed Himself to us. He seemed to stand directly between us,
so close we could have reached out our hand and touched Him.
§ You’ll find in both our book Restoring the Early Church and in Lesson 46 of Discussing How to
Restore the Early Church a vital
point concerning any fellowship gathering: The presence of Jesus in
our midst must be the foremost consideration. Consider this: If
Jesus doesn’t “show up” in your gathering,
should you? As you’ll see in these excerpts, the Spirit
of Jesus did show up!
p.18- The Lord said nothing to us, but
only overwhelmed our spirits with His presence. He had come to strengthen and assure us for His service. We knew now we were workers with Him, fellowshippers of His sufferings, in the ministry of “soul
travail”.
p.19 - The work in our own hearts must go deeper than
we have ever experienced, deep enough to destroy sectarian
prejudice, party spirit, etc., on all sides. God can perfect
those whom He chooses.
p.20 - When we began to pray in the
spring of 1905, no one seemed to have much faith for anything
out of the ordinary. Pessimism in regard to the then present
conditions seemed to be felt generally among the saints. But
this attitude had changed. God
Himself had given us faith for better things.
p.22 - Mercy
rejected means judgment, and on a corresponding scale. In all the history of God’s world, there
has always been first the offer of
divine mercy, then judgment following. The prophets ceased not day and night to
faithfully warn Israel, but their tears and entreaties for the
most part proved in vain. The awful destruction of Jerusalem,
in 70 AD, which resulted in the extermination of a million Jews
and the captivity of multitudes more, was preceded by the offer
of divine mercy at the hands of the Son of God Himself.
§ As boldly as the Spirit has had us
write, we both realize fully the tender
mercy of our Father. He is
faithfully pointing people toward repentance, that is, to turn away from their sin and to
receive His forgiveness and His Spirit so that their way of
life pleases Him and serves His Kingdom purposes. That was the
understanding of obedient trust in
Christ in the earliest centuries!
Soon, very soon, He will chastise this
nation—and His judgments will be severe. Such severity is
needful for people to repent of both their sinful living as
well as the religious lies of unscriptural compromise
they’ve swallowed.
p.29 - The New Testament Church, begun by
Brother Smale, seemed to be losing
the spirit of prayer as they increased their organization... They had taken on too many secondary
interests. They had become ambitious for a church and
organization. It seemed hard to them to not be “like
other nations (churches) round about them.” And right
here they began to fail...Human
organization and human program leave very little room for the
free Spirit of God. It means much
to be willing to be considered a failure, while we seek to
build up a purely spiritual Kingdom. God’s Kingdom cometh
not “by observation.”...The prayer life is needed
much more than buildings or organizations. These are often a
substitute for the other. Souls are born into the Kingdom only through prayer...
A rich lady offered them the money to build a church edifice.
The devil was bidding high... We had been called out to
evangelize Los Angeles, not build up another sect or party
spirit.
pp.40,41 - There was a general spirit of humility manifested in the meeting. They were taken up with God.
Evidently the Lord had found the little company at last, outside as always, through whom He could have His way. God had not chosen an
established mission where this could be done. They were in the
hands of men; the Spirit could not work... That which man esteems had been passed by once more,
and the Spirit born again in a humble “stable”
outside ecclesiastical establishments. A body must be prepared,
in repentance and humility, for every outpouring of the Spirit... At Wittenberg stood an ancient wooden
chapel... falling into ruin... It was in this wretched place
that the preaching of the Reformation began... Among those
thousands of cathedrals and parish churches with which the
world is filled, there was not one at that time which God chose
for the glorious preaching of eternal life.
§ In Chapter
1. “Invitation to the High
Places” of our Going to the
High Places series, and repeated in Lesson 45 of Discussing How to Restore the Early Church, we wrote: “The reevaluation of your priorities is part of your identification with our Lord in
this exhortation:
And so Jesus also suffered outside the city
gate to make the people holy through His own blood. Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing
the disgrace He bore. For here we do
not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that
is to come (Hebrews 13:12-14).
If you can’t bear His disgrace by
leaving reliance on religion behind, you will NOT experience
either His presence or His power.
p.42 - There is a necessary time for preparation... Men may wonder where it came from, not being
conscious of the preparation, but there is always such. Every movement of the Spirit of God must also
run the gauntlet of the devil’s forces... So it was with the present Pentecostal work in
its beginning. The enemy did much
counterfeiting. God kept the young
child well hid from the Herods, until it could gain strength
and discernment to resist them. The flame was guarded jealously
by the hand of the Lord from the winds of criticism, jealousy,
unbelief.
§ In our Teaching
E-mail 25. Out of the Rubble, June 28,
2006, we discussed how lonely it can be if you’re willing
to make the Hebraic foundations a way of life. The time of
separation from religion is in fact a time of preparation. You
must first be deprogrammed from that which you held dear as
religious ritual and obligation. Then the Spirit can give you a
determined and devoted heart toward our King. Keep in mind that
only with a total commitment to Jesus as your Lord can you do your
part in His Kingdom.
p.43 - The wonder was, not that Luther
had the courage to face pope and cardinals, but that he had the courage to endure the contempt which his own doctrines brought upon him,
as espoused and paraded by fanatical advocates.
pp.44,45 - Adam Clark said:
“Nature, along with Satan, will always mingle themselves, as far
as they can, in the genuine work of the Spirit in order to discredit and destroy it.”...When Luther nailed his theses to the
door of the cathedral at Wittenberg, cautious men were
astonished at his audacity. When John Wesley ignored all church
restrictions and religious propriety and preached in the fields
and byways, men declared his
reputation was ruined. So it has
been in all ages. When the religious condition of the times
called for men who were willing to sacrifice all for Christ,
the demand created the supply, and there
have always been found a few who were willing to be regarded
reckless for the Lord. An utter recklessness concerning men’s
opinions and other consequences is the only attitude that can
meet the needs of the present times... “When Thy judgments are in the earth, the
inhabitants of the world learn righteousness” (Isaiah 26:9). A tre-mendous burden of prayer
came upon me that the people might
not be indifferent to His voice.
§ Look around at all the catastrophes
and crises going on across the globe. GOD is sovereignly doing
this to bring people to repentance—to open their hearts
to turn to Him! The World Trade Centers—God used those deluded
men to take on the principality of
greed that rules this nation. When
that didn’t work, He sent a recession. What will He have
to do next before He brings us to
repentance?
p.47 - The combined forces of hell were
set determinedly against us in the beginning. It was not all
blessing. In fact, the fight was terrific. As always, the devil
combed the country for crooked spirits to destroy the work if
possible. But the fire could not be smothered. Gradually the
tide arose in victory. But from a small beginning, a very
little flame.
p. 48 - There was a presence of God with
us, through prayer, we could depend on. The leaders had limited
experience, and the wonder is that the work survived at all
against its powerful adversaries. But it was of God. That was
the secret... On the day of Pentecost, Christianity faced the
world, a new religion without a college, a people, or a patron.
All that was ancient and venerable rose up before her in solid
opposition, and she did not flatter or conciliate any one of
them. She assailed every existing system and every bad habit,
burning her way through innumerable forms of opposition. This
she accomplished with her “tongue of fire” alone... The apostasy of the early Church
came as a result of a greater desire to see the spread of its
power and rule than to see new natures given to its individual
members. The moment we covet a
large following and rejoice in the crowd that is attracted by
our presentation of what we consider truth, and have not a
greater desire to see the natures of individuals changed
according to the divine plan, we start to travel the same road
of apostasy that leads to Rome and her daughters.
p.49 - Nearly every pulpit in the land
was working overtime to prove that God had nothing to do with
earthquakes and thus allay the fears of the people. The Spirit
was striving to knock at hearts with conviction through this
judgment. [re: the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco]
§ An interesting insight came in the
Jan/Feb 2010 Mission Frontiers magazine that may startle you if you doubt God
uses catastrophe to bring people to Himself. Ponder this in
your spirit: “Forty percent of church-planting breakthroughs among Muslim
people groups followed some kind of natural disaster. Eighty percent of
major crises (including earthquakes, wars and famines) in the
last 20 years have taken place in the 10/40 window region. [The
10/40 window is the area between 10º latitude above the
equator and 40º latitude below it—home to the
majority of the world’s Muslims.]
p.52 - There was much persecution, especially from the press. They wrote us up shamefully, but this only drew the
crowds... Soon the meetings were running day and night. The
place was packed out nightly.
p.53 - Great emphasis was placed on
Christ’s blood, for cleansing, etc. A high standard was
held up for a clean life. “When the
enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall
lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19). Divine love was wonderfully manifest
in the meetings. They would not even allow an unkind word said
against their opposers or the churches. The message was the
love of God... The Word of God
itself decided absolutely all issues. The hearts of the
people, both in act and motive, were searched to the very
bottom.
§ In our December
2002 Newsletter, Acquire the Character of Jesus, and in Lesson 32 of Discussing How to
Restore the Early Church we
emphasized that the Hebraic foundations rely on you being “Obedience-based”, not “Outcome-based.”
Obedience-based followers of Jesus live a
love-grounded life of trust. As the character of Jesus is
formed in them, they’re able to do the work of Jesus
—doing only what their Father wills.
Outcome-based people pursue need
fulfillment and activities according to how they want things to
turn out, irregardless of whether it’s God’s will
for them. They’ve been taught that “spiritual
busyness” is pleasing to God because religious systems
need busy, involved people to keep the system running smoothly.
p.54 - Any cheapening of the price of
Pentecost would be a disaster of untold magnitude. The company
in the upper room, upon who Pentecost fell, had paid the
highest price for it. In this they approached as near as
possible to Him who had paid the supreme price in order to send
it. Do we ever really adequately realize how utterly lost to this world, how completely
despised, rejected and outcast was
that company?
p.55 - We may, therefore, each of us say
to ourselves: As your cross, so
will your Pentecost be. God’s way to Pentecost was via Calvary. Individually it must be so today also. The
purity and fullness of the individual Pentecost must depend on the completeness of the individual Calvary. This is an unalterable principle.
§ We wrote in Lesson 7 of Discussing How to Restore the Early Church, “If your relationship with our Father and
Jesus is not right, nothing in your life will be right.”
Our Father offers us through the shed blood of Jesus the
opportunity to live in Covenant union with Him. In The Gospel of the Covenant is the Pilgrimage to
Salvation you’ll find His
stipulation for entering Covenant with you: your full heart’s determination to live in union with Him.
p.56 - In the beginning at Azusa, we had
no musical instruments. In fact, we felt no need for them.
There was no place for them in our worship—all was
spontaneous.
§ As with the early gatherings of
extended spiritual family in Christ, each person was to come
prepared to offer themselves spiritually in some way as the
Spirit empowered them: “Whenever
you come together, each of you has a psalm, or a teaching, a revelation, a
tongue or an interpretation. Let all things be done for
edification” (1 Corinthians 14:
26). If this isn’t characteristic of your gathering
together, then you’re locking the Holy Spirit out!
p.57 - Hymn books today are too largely a commercial proposition, and we would not lose much without most of
them. Even the old tunes are often violated by change, and new
styles must be gotten out every season for added profit. There
is very little real spirit of
worship in them. They move the
toes, but not the hearts of men... [W]e had no pope or
hierarchy. We were brethren. We had no human program; the Lord himself was
leading. We had no priest class, nor priest craft. These things
have come in later, apostatizing
the movement.
p. 58 - We did not even have a platform
or pulpit in the beginning. All were on one level. The
ministers were servants, according to the true meaning of the word. We
did not honor men for their advantage in means or education,
but rather for their God-given “gifts.”... The people came to meet God—He was always there. Hence a continuous
meeting. The meeting did not depend
on the human leader. God’s
presence became more and more wonderful. In that old building,
with its low rafters and bare floors, God broke strong men and
women to pieces, and put them together again for His glory.
p. 58-9 - No subjects or sermons were
announced head of time, and no special speakers for such an
hour. No one knew what might be coming, what God would do. All
was spontaneous, ordered by the Spirit. We wanted to hear from God, through whomever He might
speak. We had no respect of
persons. The rich and educated were the same as the poor and
ignorant, although the former found
it much harder to die to self. We
only recognized God. All were equal. No flesh might glory in
His presence. He could not use the self-opinionated. Those were
Holy Spirit meetings, led of the Lord. It had to start in poor
surroundings to keep out the selfish, human element... We were delivered right there from
ecclesiastical hierarchism and abuse. We wanted God. When we first reached the meeting, we avoided
human contact and greeting as much as possible. We wanted to
meet God first. We got our head under some bench in the corner
in prayer, and met men only in the Spirit, knowing them
“after the flesh” no more... We had no prearranged program to be jammed through on
time. Our time was the
Lord’s.
p.59,60 - We had real testimonies from fresh heart experience... All obeyed God in meekness and humility.
§ As we were reviewing our years
within the Nicolaitan system, we recalled how few authentic
testimonies to our Father's faithfulness came forth in those
gatherings. Anything that was shared was very
"me-oriented", aimed at some personal desire that had
somehow been accomplished.
Other testimonies generally voiced what we
called "God emptied my garbage
pail again" — a besetting
sin or problem was proclaimed yet again as overcome only to be
engaged in once again during the next week. What were some of
these “victory/defeat”, week after week testimonies
in front of the congregation? Smoking, getting drunk,
immorality, gossiping, anger. Over time, the demons use
repeated testimonies of shortlived pseudo-victory to defame
God's power and to create doubt and distrust in others that He
really can change lives.
p.61 - The whole place was steeped in prayer.
God was in His holy temple. It was for man to keep silent. The
shekinah glory rested there... Presumptuous men would sometimes
come among us. Especially preachers who would try to spread
themselves in self-opinionation. But their effort was short
lived. The breath would be taken from them... They were up
against God... The “old man” died with all his
pride, arrogance, and good works.
p. 61,62 - In my own case, I came to
abhor myself. I begged the Lord to drop a curtain so close
behind me on my past that it would hit my heels. He told me to forget every good deed as though it had never
occurred, as soon as it was accomplished, and go forward again
as though I had never accomplished anything for Him, lest my
good works become a snare to me. We saw some wonderful things in those days. Even very good men
came to abhor themselves in the clearer light of God. Often, it
was hardest for preachers to die to self. They had so much to
die to. So much reputation and good
works. But when God got through
with them, they gladly turned a new page and chapter. That was
one reason they fought so hard. Death
to self is not at all a pleasant experience. And strong men die hard.
p. 64 - Many high dignitaries of the
Roman Church in Luther’s time were convinced of the need
for reformation, and they knew that he was on the right track.
But they declared, in so many words, that they could never
consent that this new doctrine should issue from ‘such a
corner.’ That it should be a
monk, a poor monk, who presumes to reform us all is what we
cannot tolerate, they said.
‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’
p.67 - Heroes are being developed, the
weak made strong in the Lord. Men’s hearts are being
searched as with a lighted candle. It
is a tremendous sifting time, not only of actions, but of inner
secret motives. Nothing can escape
the all-searching eye of God. Jesus is being lifted up, His
blood magnified, and the Holy Spirit honored once more.
§ Do you believe that God can use you to do something
great in His Kingdom? Just look at the people He used
throughout the Bible. Organized religion has long looked to the
wrong type of people as their guides, those who are highly
esteemed by the worldly and the powerful. Yet Jesus tells us, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that You concealed these things from the sophisticated
and educated and revealed them to
ordinary folks” (Matthew 11:25, CJB). The truths of His
Kingdom are hidden from the learned and those who think too
much of their own ability!
You can be sure that the two of us didn't
ask our Father to give us the Hebraic foundations to share! In
fact, after years of ministry that led up to our going to
Israel, our marriage was barely hanging on by a thread. Yet,
our Father in His divine selection recruited us to reveal His
divine plan: to both restore the Jewish people to Israel one
last time according to His Word, and to restore to the Gentiles
the foundations of the earliest Church that made them so
spiritually powerful and relationally intimate as family in
Jesus.
God's ongoing revelations to us of what to
share and how to share it often come suddenly and unexpectedly.
And sometimes we almost shrink from writing because of the
rejection we frequently face. But for His glory alone through
His Spirit in us we’re strengthened and encouraged to
press on.
p.69 - Opportunity once passed is lost
forever. There is a time when the tide is sweeping by our door.
We may then plunge in and be carried to glorious blessing,
success, and victory. To stand
shivering on the bank, timid or paralyzed with stupor at such a
time, is to miss all, and most
miserably fail, both for time and for eternity. O, our
responsibility! The mighty tide of God’s grace and favor
is even now sweeping by us in its prayer-directed course... It
is time to “get together” and plunge in,
individually and collectively... Let
us lay aside all carnal contentions and divisions that separate
us from each other and from God. The opportunity of a lifetime—of centuries—is at
our door, to be eternally gained or lost. There is no time to
hesitate. Act quickly, lest another take thy crown. O, Church of Christ, awake! Be baptized with power. Then fly to rescue others, and
to meet your Lord. “If anti-Christ is about to make his
mightiest and most malignant demonstration, ought not the
Church to confront him with mighty displays of the
Spirit’s saving power?” - Gordon
p.70,71 - Pierson has said: “The
most alarming peril of today is naturalism—the denial of all direct divine agency
and control [the Humanism of today]. Science
is uniting with unbelief, wickedness and worldliness,
skepticism and materialism, to rule a personal God out of the
universe” [Remember, this
was written over 100 years ago!]... Oh, our weakness! Oh, our unbelief! May
the Lord help us get back to Pentecostal experiences. “When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find
faith on the earth?” ”The
presence of God in the Church will put an end to infidelity.
Men will not doubt His Word when they feel His Spirit.”
Spurgeon
We’ve shared with you excerpts of the
first three chapters of Azusa Street. You can sense the intensity of their commitment
and the cost of their choice to be true to our Lord.
We’ve also cited various materials our Father has given
us to write to help equip you in a Kingdom way of life.
The issue for you today is this:
Do you have the same heart’s fervor
and willingness to pay the cost our Lord Jesus calls for in
order to follow Him in obedient trust? If you don’t, then
cry out to Him in unceasing prayer until He breaks through and
gives you this yearning to trust and obey! Nothing else is
acceptable if you are to have Jesus revive you this
coming year!
In our next Teaching E-mail we’ll
explore more of Azusa Street to help you develop the fullness of what
authentic revival entails.
