Saturday, April 12, 2008

He Will Pour Out His Spirit On All Flesh!

Hey bloggers,

We’re home now…had a wonderful time in NYC…

Every time I’m there I stop in for a few minutes of reflection at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 5th Avenue. I don’t know why exactly, but I always sense a strong presence of God in that place, and He speaks to me there, usually through some confirmation in the daily prayer book that they use in the Mass.

Today was no exception. Deb and I had lunch and then we walked over to the church before leaving for the airport. I sat down in a pew and began reading what I thought was the selection for today, but she came over to where I was sitting and asked if I had read the liturgy for tomorrow, 4/13, which I hadn’t…but it was all out of the
2nd chapter of Acts about the coming of the Holy Spirit, which is what I had just told her over lunch that I was going to talk about tomorrow! Confirmation!

I was going to wait until Pentecost Sunday to bring this message, but I think that I’ll begin a new series on the Holy Spirit tomorrow because I have a sense of urgency about this word.

I’m sure that I’ll mention all of this in tomorrow’s service, but if you read this tonight it will help prepare your heart for an outpouring in the next few hours…

In Job 33:4 the Holy Spirit is referred to as the "Breath of the Almighty"…
In John 14:16, 26 and in 15:26 He is called "The Comforter"…
Hebrews 9:14…The "Eternal Spirit"…
Psalms 51:12…Free Spirit…
In Acts 5:3, 4 He is simply called “God”…
…"Good Spirit" (Nehemiah 9:20; Psalms 143:10)…
…"Holy Spirit" (Psalms 51:11; Luke 11:13; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30)…

Unless there is a change of plans, I will observe all of the titles/names of the Holy Spirit in the sermon/series…if you are a part of CITN or cyber-CITN, go ahead and begin meditating on these things so that you’ll be on the page with me…

Also, be in agreement for us to have the mind of the Lord on this…Deb and I have been invited to Israel the second week in May to engage in some peace talks with Muslim leaders…trying to work out all the details…I confess that our steps are ordered of the Lord…

I love you all…

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bishop, how awesome is God! We wait for the power of the Holy Spirit! We believe that everyone will receive a manifestation of the Holy Ghost ITB like never before. We want the flow of the Holy Spirit as we get our agenda and flesh out of the way!

This traveling is ordained for you Bishop, in my humble opinion, and when you mentioned the trip to Israel, my spirit said you will go! WE need you to go, so we can go to the next line of our line or the the next percept of our percept..

I will read tonight in great expectancy for tomorrow!

So we bless the Lord/and we bless you and Pastor Debye,

Welcome Home, Peace and blessings

Yvonne

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you made it back.

Holy Spirit guider over our spirit.
We unite together Spirit to spirit. Guide us in all we do.

Bishop can't wait to hear more about the Holy Spirit.

Kettly said...

Welcome Home Mom and Pop,

I was going to ask, what you bring back for me from NY. And you said the Holy Spirit. Thank you I guess this the best gift I’ll ever receive.
Remember, last week I said to you the Lord said “to come up and see”. And He said sense you were up what did you see?
I hear the Lord’ said: “Remember, you are only an instrument. Not yours to decide how or when or where you act. I plan all that. Make yourself very fit to fit to do my work. If you look back over My Words to you, you will see that my leading has been very gradual, and that only as you have carried out my wishes.
I do believe God has truly order your steps. Yes! I believe you should go.
Here I am trying to write Ms.Oprah about your Ministry, when God all along has a much better plan in mind.”” GLOBAL””. I believe that is the reason He said “to come up higher, and He will show you things”.
May the Holy Spirit guide your step and lead you to with His wisdom revelation.

Love k.
.

Erik said...

Hey Bishop,
Excited for tomorrow, you know, we are ALWAYS pulling, so yay!!!!
Re the trip to Israel, is that in any way corresponding with Jimmy Carter’s upcoming meeting with Hammas ? If so, …. If not, still excellent in all the ways. It seems there is such a fear and focus on politics, economics, religion, military & social power to provide some sort of security so especially concentrated in that area of the world. In actuality, there is no such thing as security in the natural, the ONLY security is in believing, it is ONLY in Faith, G-d is the ONLY security, following the cloud by day, the fire by night. And that is the ONLY security. Guns, Prime Ministers, Money offer nothing in terms of security. ONLY connection with G-d can provide that security, So, whatever the opportunities are, you and Pastor Debye will make the understanding of security beyond any natural ability. Guns fail to deliver security, someone will always have more guns, someone will always have more money, but no one will ever have more G-d, since G-d is always available to every one, Palestinian, Israeli, Gentile, every other label possible.

Friend4Life said...

Good Morning All. Just wanted to give you a song that I listened before heading to bed late last night. I know I put up before. HS said do it again. So...I am obeying.

Cover Me by: Bebo Norman

Cover me, cover up my tears
Cover up this man who's covered up in fear
I need a peace of mind, I need a piece of you
TO cover all that's gone and everything that's new
You unveil me with your mercy
I want to breathe you in
You unfold me, then you hold me

Cover up my heart, cover up my soul
Cover up this world and everything I know
You cover up the sky, you cover up the sea
Cover up the mountains and every part of me
Everything single breath I breathe...cover me

I am still alive and covered up in years
Covered up in lines as innocence appears
So give me a peace of mind, give me a piece of you
To cover all that's old with everything that's new
You unveil me with your mercy
I want to breathe you in
And you unfold me, then you hold me

You unveil me with your mercy
I want to breathe you in
You unfold me then you hold me
I want to she'd this skin
You unveil me with your mercy
You unfold me, then you hold me
You unbreak me, would you take me home

Selah

Anonymous said...

Shalom Bishop!,

I'm glad to be off work today to come and worship and hear the message.

In the words of a recent song out there by Robin Seay, I believe, goes somethin' like this;

Oh sing a song of hope
Sing a along
God of heaven come down, heaven come down
Just to know that you are near is enough, God of heaven come down,
heaven come down.

Just to know you and be loved, God of heaven come down, heaven come down...

-Karl Cobos

Anonymous said...

Welcome Home,
I am glad you were able to take some time to enjoy yourselves; everyone needs that including pastors and bishops. Although that is not a commonly held opinion by many congregations since listening to many conversations. They will say things like "can you believe that preacher and his wife went on A VACATION?" " Well, I mean all he does is work three hours a week -two on Sunday and one on Wednesday - and I don’t guess his wife works at all"

If they only knew.........

Anyway I just wanted you to know that I am happy for you both. but I am glad you are back today. I cant wait till you give me what you brought me this morning. I know you brought me something and I cant wait to hear it.....see you in cyber-spirit-space.
Peace,
Dennis

Anonymous said...

Bishop & Debye
Just wanted to add that; since we are "the body of Christ" I feel like we are incomplete without you - both. In this line of thought this came to me. Bishop your intials are JES and JES + US = JESUS ! the complete body of Christ! We could not be Jesus without you.
Peace,
Dennis

Anonymous said...

Cyber Spirit Space ?

Thought has just occurred to me that back when the disciples and apostles were meeting and The Holy Spirit came apon them like a mighty rushing wind as they were gathered in the upper room. That was a normal way and place for believers to meet. NOW we have evolved into a “society of cyber citizens”. We meet in IMs, Blogs & “Chat rooms” instead of upper rooms, we meet in Cyber-Spirit-Space an “upper” room because it is brought together by a Satellite high in the sky. Sometimes we know we are in a meeting in a “Spirit-FILLED-Cyber-Space” everyone knows that we are connected in a way that only the Holy Spirit could connect us and we can actually “FEEL” His presence. We know that it is the Lord that has brought us together. And the Lord is speaking to us and through us in this new environment. God will use everything for his power and Glory including the internet and cyber space turning it into Spirit-Cyber-Space. What is the difference in reading a letter from an apostle, brought around to different area churches; and reading a post written on a blog or chat room; except the medium by which it came? Oh, is God not still speaking…..in the now? I say YES he is; through His body on earth. I am not trying to make light of the Bible I will always read, respect, study, the Bible; and accept it as the word of God the Bible in its original form and intent. But I believe God speaks in many ways by His Spirit through many mediums, circumstances and people. I see the Holy Spirit as everywhere, but intensifying in certain areas where He is welcome. So we should not make light of the Spirits work in the mediums we have available to us today. The Lord is really speaking to me about this and I need to do some study and meditation on it; but I have to go for now CITN is about to start.

Peace,
Dennis

Anonymous said...

Jesus IS the Spirit/Rain that falls on all. So ALL WILL RECEIVE JESUS. Jesus went away but came back as the Holy Spirit and God has promised that He will pour out His Spirit (Jesus) on ALL flesh…….in the last days. What is the last days? Last days of what? The age? Our life? Well you might say I believe someone would know it when they get wet. OK would you know what had happened if you had never been wet? Would they confess the NAME of JESUS as Lord? What language do you speak. What version of the bible does God use? Well what is a name in the bible but the underlying meaning? What does the name of JESUS mean…….It means “The Eternal one Saves” would Jesus pour himself out on all these rotten sinners? Well did he make his presence and mercy known to those kinds of people when He was on earth? Of course He did; even MORE than He was around the “religious leaders”. Why did He do that…….to show that His relationships were not restricted to the ones you think are the “right ones” but to All the others to.

All this was coming to me as the Bishop was ministering in the Spirit at the last of the Service today.

Wow connect the dots, painting a picture, renewing the prophecy, its time, something is coming, it’s happening, this is speaking to me, I am receiving this now.

Preach it Debye, WOW talk about anointing I am sooo feeling your word this place is FILLED with your Spirit.

I don’t know why I did this its new to me – typing while hearing the word in a service; but I felt compelled to do this….I had to.

Wow! Now your playing the movie clip, here goes the Chills again….Stop it! I can’t keep up, I’m not a fast typist.

Thank You Bishop, thank you CITN, loved this service.

Peace,
Dennis

tracy said...

Good God Almighty! I have never felt anything like what I felt today. Bishop when you were calling out names you said Tyrone, but not. I doubt you even know that I have a brother- I do. his name is Tyron. He got locked up Friday and has my family has been dealing with it all weekend. He was a severe alcohol abuser(notice the was?) When I called the jail this morning they told me they had him in medical detoxing. I know his world was changed today, I felt it for him.

famman87 said...

Wow!!! what a service. Bishop, you came back with the top notch stuff for all of the kids!!!Thank you so much.this series you are embarking on is sooooooooooo exciting. I can't wait 'til next week. Can't we just continue on tonight??

the nickname thing was kind of cool. Kinda glad you didn't pull out some of my past nicknames...

When you were speaking about the movie "Singin' In the Rain", it came to mind how much water Gene Kelly was throwing and kicking around during the dance. Kind of have a picture in my mind of you throwing the Spirit all over us just like that this morning, and how when we are drenched, how wet we can make others... Shake it all over folks like the dog after a bath.

Maybe a bad analogy, that last part,but...

Donald, nice to meetcha, good to see ya.

back later...

Much Love...

Be back later...

Lisa said...

Wow Wow Wow!!!! That is all I can say. When you called out Frenchie I thought mom go up there that is you. I had no cle my mother had that nickname until she called me after service and said that she felt she should have went up that was her nickname when she was younger but she was afraid to go forward! I so got the Sarah laughed when God gave a prophecy about her and now it isn't funny anymore. I was so there until today. I just want to say I am starting to see the picture. I get it I am worthy of it and I recieve it. I had always felt so unworthy of God Love and mercy and grace that when he spoke the word to me I laughed and said yeah right. I played along for awhile and watched everything go in the oposite direction than what was said to me. Until today I had said yeah whatever. This is way too much heartache. Now I feel renewed refreshed and I just know it's all better than good!
Donald your family is beautiful!!!! I am honored to have witnessed the renewal of your vows! My husband and I celebrate our 12th on wed.
I so can't wait Bish to hear about your trip to Isreal!!!! We are hoping to make a drive down in May and can't wait to hear all about this wonderful trip! Go for it!

Scribe said...

Hello Family:

I know that I've been off the radar for a few days, but wanted to check in. Bishop, today was an incredibly phenomenal service / move of the Holy Spirit.

Everyone, please continue to hold me up before the Lord in your prayers. I'm extremely worn out and exhausted right now due to everything I'm dealing with. Thanks so much to you all and its a great thing to be blessed with prayerful brothers and sisters in faith! May God's peace, favor, overflow, and grace overtake you all suddenly and immediately!

HollyC said...

A few years ago I was at the beach sitting at the edge of the water enjoying the day. All the sudden I could see it raining all around me. There were big drops falling as far as I could see. I could even see the drops hitting the sand and leaving their mark.I lifted my hands up as if to say.. "ummmm I'm not getting wet. What is this?" I wasn't dreaming.. I hadn't had too much sun. In the natural we were not getting wet, but I could see it raining. I kept this to myself for a long time wondering what it meant. I had no idea until this morning.

Teezy313 said...

The only ting about being at college that I dont like is that you miss so much back at home! I missed this morning's service because of my lack of sleep lately due to rehearsal for a play we're doing this week.....anywho....from this blog i can really see that this series on the Holy Ghost is gonna be powerful and I soo wanna be in on it!!! Lovin everyone's comments so far and am in toatl agreement with anyone who has a need whether it is physical, financial, or spiritual...I speak the name of Jesus to your situation and over all that concerns you!!

Coming home soon...finals in two weeks...semester is almost over!!!

From God with love,
TEEZY

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

Thanks, Yvonne, for the confirmation about Israel…

Thanks for the welcome and the prayer, Laura…

Thanks for your visionary intercession, Kettly…

No, Erik, our trip isn’t connected with Jimmy Carter’s, but I think that the simultaneous timing of both of them is significant…

Thanks for sharing a song, Friend4life…

Glad you could be there today, Karl…

Fortunately, Dennis, I don’t think that anyone in our world resents the couple of 2 or 3 day vacations that Deb and I take during the year between Sundays. We actually vacation less than most Pastors that I know, even less than some of our staff, but that’s our own personal choice and preference. We don’t enjoy being away too much, and because we are so hands-on with the ministry, it’s not practical for us to take long vacations like many Pastors do. But thanks for your great words, and for the immediate response from today’s service. It was very powerful ITB, and apparently it translated over the internet. Looking forward to your being here next month…

Tracy, that’s a trip! I didn’t even know you had a brother, but he’s in my prayers…

Thanks, Famman, and (from yesterday) we’re not celebrating for 50 years…that little trip was planned before Korea and was the only time that we could find to be away…and Patrick Stewart was very cool…nice “Singin’ in the Rain” imagery…

Lisa, we’ll save y’all a seat…

Stay strong, Scribe38…

Very cool, HollyC…

Thanks, Teezy…do well on your finals…

PattiL007 said...

Grace and Peace to you my fellow Bloggers,

I, like some others, have been maintaining a sort of "blog silence". I have been catching up on post reading and just wanted to say that y'all just get more intelligent, deeper, and more amazing with each passing day! It's good to be back in the blog of the Lord!

Bishop...welcome back and I'm glad you and Pastor Debye had such a great time in NYC and I look forward to another great report when y'all return from Israel. I agree...line upon line. World Peace in our lifetime? YES WE CAN!!!

Today? Well, today (like last Sunday) was one of the most EXTREME rhema messages I've heard and I'm still trying to absorb everything the Spirit is saying to us. It was so much more than off the chain...it was completely out of the atmosphere. A flood is rushing through and out of us all...the flood of living water and of holy fire and there is some sort of palpable change. (IF I had ever had any experience with mind-expanding substances, I think it felt/seemed similar to what has been going on lately...of course, I know nothing of such things and I plead the 5th!)

I only wish I was as articulate as are so many on this blog so that I could express what I hear what I feel and what I see (I think we may be entering some rapids in the River of God--if so then buckle up--this is going to be fun!), but right now I'm just so awestruck that I guess I'm just checking in to say thank you for delivering the word of the Lord to us again today. I'm feeling a bit like an astronaut navigating my way through uncharted space...but the view is really awesome!

famman87 said...

Bish,
Please DO celebrate for 50. It seems that we all share in your overflow, and OMG is it
in-credible!!!

By the way, I think today was the first time I've ever heard Stephen King referenced positively inside of a church. As a big fan of his stuff, it seems to me there is almost always alot of spirituality in his novels. (Love "The Stand" the most). Good always seems to win, always with some deep sacrifice... what kind of parallel is that?

Scribe,
Was just groovin' with my son and some Bob Marley(he has just become a fan) and as we were downloading this came for you(and me):
" Every little ting, gonna be alright!" My prayers are still comin' for you...

Mystic,
Who you tryin' to fool with that modesty? Everything you say(type?) is fantastic!

It's awesome to me that everyone's true self shines through here even though we can't physically "see" each other. What a true spiritual connection we have been blessed with.

Stephen King and Bob Marley, and The Holy Spirit.

What a strange,wonderful place this family lives in...

Anonymous said...

my session here at the library ends in 5 minutes, so I'll just say "Baah, baah!", that's sheepie talk for "Good morning to you too, beautiful shepherd, and adding my amen to other bloggers".
I wrote earlier this morning but got disconnected from the server, oops. Will try to write soon, have some things to say about Sunday's service and Tower/Pentecost-Karl Cobos

Tom said...

Bishop Swilley,I really hope and pray that everything works out and y'all get to go to Israel and meet with those Muslim leaders.They are to many of us who view peace in that region of the world as a work of Antichrist,who only think in terms of blessing Israel,and seeing everyone else in that region as just the enemies of Israel.We forget that God told Abraham that in him all the families on Earth would be blessed,including the families of Ishmael.They need to see that the seed is Christ and by Him we all are Abraham's seed,not just Isaac.You have the mind of the Lord,all your steps are ordered of the Lord and the Holy Spirit will give you words to penetrate their understanding that they may see they have a place in Christ.

Peace to everyone and be blessed