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…

Greetings From The Big Apple

Hey bloggers...you can't imagine what I've been through trying to post something...computer doesn't work in the hotel...can't post through Blackberry...tried Starbuck's...now I'm at a seedy internet cafe off of Times Square...anyway, everything's great here...as Robyn posted for me yesterday, this trip was planned before Korea even came up, and we'll be back Saturday night...I've got a good word for you on Sunday...

Your comments on the last article have been interesting, moving, even heartbreaking...I do believe that this subject, unpleasant as it may be, needs to be discussed...thank you for your candor...what you have shared may help someone else...

Last evening we went to see the first "all Black cast" production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I wanted to see it because James Earl Jones plays Big Daddy, but he was sick last night...it was still good, though...Felecia Rashad as Big Momma and Terence Howard as Brick...tonight we are going to see Macbeth with Patrick Stewart...very cool...

I can't wait to see everyone Sunday...in the meantime, feel free to post...that part is easy for me...and remember...God is real...God is here...God is now...God is love...God is speaking...

What has He been saying to you today?

I love you all...


P.S. Sounds like Pastor Willie did a great job last night...thanks my brother!

Food For Thought

Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most respected leaders of modern history. A Hindu, Ghandi nevertheless admired Jesus and often quoted from the Sermon on the Mount. Once when the missionary E. Stanley Jones met with Ghandi he asked him, "Mr. Ghandi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?" Ghandi replied, "Oh, I don't reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ." Apparently Ghandi's rejection of Christianity grew out of an incident that happened when he was a young man practising law in South Africa. He had become attracted to the Christian faith, had studied the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, and was seriously exploring becoming a Christian. And so he decided to attend a church service. As he came up the steps of the large church where he intended to go, a white South African elder of the church barred his way at the door. "Where do you think you're going, kaffir?" the man asked Ghandi in a belligerent tone of voice. Ghandi replied, "I'd like to attend worship here." The church elder snarled at him, "There's no room for kaffirs in this church. Get out of here or I'll have my assistants throw you down the steps." From that moment, Ghandi said, he decided to adopt what good he found in Christianity, but would never again consider becoming a Christian if it meant being part of the church.

Over the years I have had many conversations with people who claim to be Christian "backsliders" or non-believers or atheists, and nearly every time I hear their personal histories I discover a story similar or in some way relatable to this one in their past. It seems to me that when damage is done to the horizontal in spiritual relationships, it always affects the vertical. I've never met anyone who just decided to be an atheist for no reason...the disconnect in every case seems to be more about people-experience than about God-expereince.

Do you know of any situations like the Ghandi story? Did something like that ever happen to you, and, if so, how did it affect you? How did you get past it?

Consider these quotes and this passage and tell me what you think.


"I am not sure exactly what Heaven will be like. But I don't know that when we die and if comes the time for God to judge us, He will not ask, "How many good things have you done in your life?" Rather He will ask, "How much love did you put into what you did?"
- Mother Teresa



"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.



"So this is what I need to leave with you - these are my last words to you - what I want, more than anything, for you to remember. I have given you many instructions and insights during our time together, but here is the new commandment, the new order, the thing that is superior to every other thing, in a word: LOVE ONE ANOTHER. In the way that I have loved you, so you must love one another. Do you understand? You see, this is the only way that people will know that you are My disciples. Your love for one another is the solitary thing that will validate My message in the long run - not the miracles, not the signs and wonders, not the teaching - but your unconditional love for each other. It is not optional." (John 13:34, 35 - JITN)

Pentecost In The Now!

When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.

There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn't for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, "Aren't these all Galileans? How come we're hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?

Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and ASIA, Phrygia and Pamphylia, EGYPT and the parts of LIBYA belonging to Cyrene; Immigrants from ROME, both Jews and proselytes; EVEN CRETANS AND ARABS!

"They're speaking our languages, describing God's mighty works!"

Their heads were spinning; they couldn't make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: "What's going on here?"

(Acts 2:1-12 - The Message)


In my "Pentecost" painting at the top of the page I connected three powerful images...the Holy Spirit...the world...the Tower of Babel...what's your take on that?

...and here's an acrostic I just wrote...I may use it for a sermon outline next month on Pentecost Sunday...


PENTECOST IS ABOUT:

P - ushing limits

E - mbracing diversity

N - etworking nationals

T - ranscending culture

E - mpowering believers

C - ommunicating truth

O - vercoming divisions

S - eeing globalism

T - aking dominion


...All over the world, the Spirit is moving....are you ready for it?

Meanwhile, Back in the USA

Hey bloggers…just getting caught up with everything here…getting back on a daily blog schedule…

Yesterday was wonderful…I want to thank you all for hearing the message with mature ears…your agreement and support is important to me…more than that, however, it is gratifying/satisfying to me that you discern what God is doing in my (our) life and ministry…it’s a great time to be alive…anything is possible…

Communion was very sweet last night…having you all up close like that was very powerful…it felt unusually real for some reason…

The new AYITN came out today…it's the third edition and fourth printing...very cool…I’m excited about it…Judah said it looks like something that should be sold at Starbuck’s…I'll be doing a signing soon...




I don’t know if you’ve paid attention to any of the new songs on the playlist or not…I added 10 last week and another 10 this week…one of my favorites is The Power of the Gospel by Ben Harper…it has a long guitar solo at the beginning of it, but when you get past that part, you hear the song…I don’t know what it is about it…the song itself…his haunting voice…it’s just very moving to me for some reason…makes me cry every time I hear it…

I also love Spirits in the Material World by the Police…

And America the Beautiful by Ray Charles seems quite timely and prophetic right now…sort of like speaking faith over the country…which of the new ones most speaks to you (they’re all at the end of the list)…

Several of you have e-mailed me about what you got out of the service yesterday…what you heard in the Spirit…I really wish that you would blog it and share it with the class…and I always want to hear from people out in cyberspace...you don't have to be connected with CITN to participate here...all are welcome...

One more thing…don’t be moved by anything negative you perceive with the 5 natural senses today…the life/power/victory/joy is in the Spirit realm…in the 6th sense of FAITH…stay tuned in…look at the big picture...God is good…God is real…God is here…God is love…God is now…

Bringing Out the God-Colors in the World

When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.

"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.

"You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

"Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

Salt and Light

"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:1-16 The Message


Glad to be home...

Thanks for the prayers...

There are 10 new songs on the playlist...

Now, where were we?