Pastortimteague's Blog

May 22, 2010         Acts 1.12-14

You remember how it felt!  You misbehaved and put into a corner.  You had to wait.  Wait and wait.  It was as though every minute was an hour.   You remember!  Waiting in the doctors office.  Waiting.  It seemed like every minute you are sitting there is an hour.  Waiting.  You’re in a hurry.   It seems like every traffic light in town catches you and as you wait for the red to turn green….it seems like hours.  Oh yeah!  Waiting.  It can be the most miserable moments of your life.

Nearly two thousand years ago one hundred and twenty believers gathered in an upper level over a flat in Jerusalem.  They were told to wait.  Go there and wait.  So they did.  They were told to go and wait on the “promise” from the Father.  This was a big deal to these Jews.  They were accustomed to being in Jerusalem.  It was the feast of Pentecost.  They were supposed to be there.  It was one of three feasts that was mandatory for men to attend.  They typically would bring their families to Pentecost.   So they were in Jerusalem because they were supposed to be there.   It was this waiting thing that they may have been uncomfortable with.  What do you think?  Go and wait on the promise!  Easy right?

Well maybe not!  Waiting in an upper room prayer meeting.  Waiting while down the street tens of thousands of Jews were gathering in the temple to surrender their sacrifices, free will offerings and get on with the temple program.  It was a time of celebrating the wheat harvest.  All of their Jewish relatives were in the temple.  Only a small portion of Jews were gathered in the upper room.  Wonder what those in the temple were thinking about them?  After all this rag tag team of followers were considered different and weird anyway.  Now they were gathered together and they were waiting for some mystical “gift” Jesus had told them about.

Waiting paid off.  As it normally does.  Waiting paid off and this rag tag team would experience the fullness of the Spirit.  They would experience the Holy Spirit in a way that would literally change the world.   Literally impact the world.  Nearly two thousand years ago a little over one hundred and twenty believers left the place of their obedience and would never be the same.  What about us today?

Are you willing to put family and friends on the line to wait for a promise you can’t really personally define until you experience it?  Are you willing to wait for an experience that will redefine who you are as a believer?   Are you willing to wait for an empowering touch of God in your life that you have never experienced before?  Are you willing to surrender your life to the Holy Spirit just as much as you did to Christ for salvation?  Are you willing to surrender the one part of your physical being to the Holy Spirit that we absolutely want to mega control?    You know.  Our tongues.  With it we can set a forest ablaze!  With it we can surrender to the most awesome gift the Father ever gave to the church outside of salvation.

Waiting.  Waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit.  Are you waiting for the Gift?  Are you willing to be part of a rag tag team of believers that are willing to obey the Father?   Waiting.  I challenge you to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit.  Wait for your awesome personal experience with the Holy Spirit.  Waiting isn’t so bad after all.  Right?

May 21, 2010     Matthew 28.11-15

Lies.   Without a doubt one of the sharpest weapons of the enemy.  We have all been victims of lies.  Intentional and unintentional lies – they still do undeniable damage.  Often times, as in the case with Jesus and the resurrection – a lie can be believed for centuries.  In other words some lies are so successful in their intent the damage they do is irreversible.  Note verse fifteen, “and is to this day.”  In other words the lies the guards told that day – took only a few minutes but have lasted for nearly two thousand years.   Again, one of the sharpest weapons the enemy uses in his perpetual fight against the kingdom of God.

There are people who are pathological liars.  They tell lies to become something they are not.  They tell lies to cover lies.   They finally come to a point where their life is one huge lie.  They live within the lie.  The lies becomes their character.   The lie becomes their personality.  The lies they’ve told creates a whole new world for them to live in.  Eventually everyone around them knows that they lie but they don’t get it.  Their lies have been become, to them, truth.  They would give their life for what they believe is truth. 

Nearly two thousand years after the death and resurrection of Jesus there is another venue of lies being told.  Lies about the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  Lies that inhibit the believer from receiving an awesome gift from the Father.  Lies about speaking in tongues.  Lies about demonic influence.  Lies about needing the fullness and not needing it.  Lies about not being saved if you don’t speak in tongues.  Lies about not going to heaven if you don’t speak in tongues.  So many lies have been told that more than likely on a daily basis there are parties in hell over the success of lies that have spread fear and confusion over the Gift of the Holy Spirit.

You and I must come to a place where we go back to the Word and just accept the simplicity of the personal baptism of the Holy Spirit.   I get angry about the lies.  I become so upset with the enemy.  I then become upset with the gullible believers who buy into the enemies lies.  The enemy has taken one element of Pentecost and built monuments to the success of his lies.  That one element is the evidential tongue one practices when you receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

I think the easiest thing to remember about the fullness is that the experience of Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 12 are two different occasions and bring to surface two different experiences.  Acts 2 is for your personal experience and 1 Corinthians is for the edification of the body publicly.  One cannot mix and match the two gifts.  One cannot create a hybrid gift out of the two occasions to satisfy the flesh.  And one certainly should not believe the lies told about the Holy Spirit.

Here is the kicker.  I am making accusations that referes to a portion of the population that tells lies about the Holy Spirit.  While you’re reading my blog there are those who are writing blogs and accusing me of telling lies.  Who is telling the truth?  To find out – why not begin seeking your personal experience with the fullness of the Holy Spirit?  The simplest thing to do?  Start reading the book of Acts.  Read it over and over.  Pray this simple prayer: “Lord! I want the Gift of the Holy Spirit.  I want to receive it just like the early church received it.  I want to do what they did when they received it.  I am sincere in my request.  I lay all inhibition down.  I turn my back on all I have ever been taught.  I want my personal experience with the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  I believe and therefore receive.”

I hope to see you at Victory Hill on Sunday, May 23.  We are going to celebrate Pentecost!  We are going to engage in faith to receive.  We are going to stay with simplicity.  After all, isn’t that the early church did?

May 20, 2010    Matthew 28.8

This particular verse engages two of the most demonstrative emotions we can experience.   Fear and joy.  Fear on one hand and joy on the other.  Mary Magdalene and Mary (the mother of Mark) had just encountered an empty tomb and an angel giving them specific instructions to go and tell the disciples about what they had seen.  Fear and joy!  What a mixture of emotions! 

Fear because of the fact that the tomb was empty.   Joy because the tomb was empty.  Fear because of the known consequences of the tomb being empty in regard to the Roman government.  Joy because the angel had just told them Jesus was alive!  Can you imagine? 

There are those stories when a family is told a son or daughter has been killed in an accident or some tragic event.  They attempt to make all the mental life loss adjustments they can.  Then there’s a strange turn of events where mistakes have been discovered and they are informed their son or daughter is alive.  A case of mistaken identity.  They have gone from fear to joy in the same fashion. 

It’s like losing a diseased person to death.  There is a relief that they are no longer in pain and are with the Lord.  It’s a subtle sense of joy.  But there is an uncomfortable fear if not a guilty feeling about them being gone.  It’s a strange mix of emotions.

The one good thing is they would not have to go back to the tomb.  The tomb represented so much pain about the past.  The tomb represented so much fear about the past.   Due to resurrection life the would not have to deal with the tomb of Jesus ever again.   The tomb would have typically represented decay and rot.  But they were able to move past the tomb.   I would rather deal with mixed emotions about the present and the future and be moving forward as to have to constantly deal with the past.

Moving forward would take the two Mary’s to the upper room.  They got past the tomb experience and went on to the upper room experience.  One represented death, decay and the past.  The other represented resurrection life, power and the future.   These two Mary’s would exit the upper room in the same fashion Jesus did the tomb – empowered by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8.11).   Think about that with me for a moment.

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the same Spirit that dwells in each of us!  Do you know how much power it would take to raise a dead body from off the table?  Lots!   We’re talking mega power!  The same amount of supernatural power that quickened the body of Christ to bring it back to life is the same amount of Spirit that actually in-dwells each of us.  That is an awesome amount of supernatural power! 

Moving past the tomb was the first step towards the upper room experience.  Many of you who are reading this blog need to move past the “tomb” doctrines that only keep the empowerment of the Spirit in your life at a safe distance.  The tomb doctrines that bring death instead of life to your spirit.   The tomb doctrines that keep you from moving forward.   It’s up to you.  You can spend the rest of your life dealing with the tomb and all it represents or you can move away from the tomb and pursue the Promise of the Spirit.  Personally, I would rather push forward and approach Pentecost with mixed emotions clothed in honesty as to hang out at the tomb and wrestle with emotions about the past.  You can live in fear or in faith.  The choice is yours.   Pursuing the Promise of the Gift of the Holy Spirit will lead you into a life of personal supernatural power – not personal spiritual death.

May 19, 2010     Mark 16.20

There those times when you’re doing a job and you really want to work alone.  Too many chiefs and not enough indians can make a job rather difficult and drawn out.   There are those times when partnering in accomplishing tasks is a necessary evil.  For instance I installed some recessed lighting in our kitchen recently.  Due to some restrictions physically for me – I had to get some help.   I asked Josh to help me.  I asked Bill Hall to come and do some wiring for a switch for me.  Together we accomplished the task and with the flick of a switch my kitchen looked like Chicago O’Hare Airport!   I couldn’t have done it without the help.

I absolutely love Mark 16.2 because it is evidence that we are not alone in our work here for the Lord Jesus Christ.  Being alone with Him is much differently than working with Him.  Alone time with Jesus is awesome because it is intimate worship and devotion.  Nothing can replace that time with Him.  But working for the Master is another.  Several principles need to be understood here.

First of all, scripture makes it rather clear here that we can’t accomplish the task of laboring in the field without His affirming Hand working with us.  Second, it highlights the fact that we are “co-laborers” together with Him (1 Corinthians 3.9).   We are laborers with Him.  This means we all hold hands to get kingdom work done.   There are no big i’s and little u’s in the kingdom.  We are laborers together to accomplish the task of taking the world for Christ.

Then there is the issue of the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  Yeah…you know what I’m talking about.  That “tongues” thing again.  But as we have discussed for nearly fifty days, Pentecost is bigger and much more focused than just speaking in tongues.   I used to race cars as a young man.  At the drag strip we would do what is called “burn-outs!”  For the purpose of heating our racing tires up for the run we would hold the car in place and turn the rear wheels.  Smoke and burned rubber would fill the air!  The odor of burning rubber to a race driver is like an expensive bottle of Faberge to woman.  I can smell it now!  Anyway….I digress.   The “evidence” of the burnout was the black rubber laid down on the pavement.   The bigger picture was getting down the drab strip faster than your opponent.  Evidence was necessary to the process but wasn’t the bigger issue.  Tongues is not the issue.  There is a bigger picture painted in Acts than tongues.  Tongues is an evidential principle – not the progressive picture of reaching the ultimate goal of winning people to Christ.  I think you get the picture.

When we read in Acts that the Lord was working with them by confirming the word with signs – it points us to the bigger picture.  What were the signs?  Reading through the book of Acts gives you an indication.   As a matter of fact if you read vss. 17-18 you will get an inside memo on exactly what the Lord wanted out of the early church.   He wanted proactive results that would be hinged to what happened in the upper room.   He had never instructed them is way before.  He had never given them an assigned task quite like this one.   Could it be due to the upper room empowerment?

It is interesting that the word for “following” here is out of the same family as the Holy Spirit’s name “Helper” as recorded in John 14.26; 15.26 and 16.7.   The word means “one who walks along side of; a helper”.   Now when the scripture mentions that the Lord was working with them confirming the word with signs following the implication very well could point to the work of the Holy Spirit assisting them.  Isn’t that the ultimate reason He came?  Isn’t the role of the Holy Spirit to help us get a task accomplished?  Absolutely!  We just don’t want to do His way.  We would rather attempt to get the job done our way.   We really don’t need the supernatural element of evidence by the Holy Spirit in us do we?  

I mentioned in my sermon this past Sunday an illustration.  I used a pocket knife as a gift.  The Holy Spirit’s reference in the book of Acts is the Greek word “dorea” not “charisma” as is in 1 Corinthians 12.   Two different Greek words define two different operations of the Holy Spirit.  One is for enablement to do and the other (1 Corinthians) is for the operation of graces to edify the church – not empowerment.  What if I gave you a pocket knife and said the pocket knife was to open boxes of food set out along Memorial Drive through town?  What if you gave the knife back and said “I’m not comfortable with knives!”   What if you determined you could get the job done just as good without the knife?  What if you gave the knife back and told me you weren’t comfortable with the knife?  Now you know how God probably feels.  As a Father He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We have determined we’re not comfortable with it….His way.  We think we can get the job done without the gift because we aren’t comfortable with tongues.   Father is offended but we assume He will get over it.  He has not.  He is still working to give us a gift to operate, to carry out His will His way.  We have attempted for nearly 2000 years to get the job done our way.  We have been opening the boxes – no doubt about it.  Opening them has given us the erring opinion that since we opened the boxes we really don’t need the gift of the Holy Spirit.  But the problem is we didn’t open them His way.  We didn’t do it His way.  Remember the Old Testament story of David and Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6)?   Attempts were made to carry the presence of the Lord their way and their way caused problems.   Oh they carried it for a distance…they moved it…but not God’s way.  Under the new covenant of Christ we are sidestepping God’s way and only by His grace do we do what we do without similar results. 

Why not do it His way?  Why not accept the gift of the Holy Spirit His way?  Why try to cheapen the gift or be so offensive with God that we would give it back?   This isn’t the ugly tie from a distant relative who may never know we took the gift back to Kohl’s.  This is a divine enablement to accomplish a destined task.  Doing it His way is so much more powerful.  So much more right in His eyes.  Why would we want to work on our own?  Why can’t we work with Him His way?  Why can’t we accept the gift of the Holy Spirit and not worry about the tongues?  Again, tongues is a manifestation for evidence of personal reception.  That’s all.  Tongues will never save anyone.  Tongues will never heal anyone.  God does that through us just like He speaks through us with His language!  Let Him work with you!

May 18, 2010       Mark 16.17-18

Somehow those in the faith community have become somewhat disconnected from signs and wonders.  We have had just about every fake and ministerial fraud come and go.  We can turn on our television and watch “Christian” television and see the high-end of marketing Jesus that for the most part turns the stomach of most viewers – both saved and unsaved.  We have seen “signs and wonders” manufactured for the gain of one man or a woman for the prosperity of entire movements.  We have made a mockery out of signs and wonders.  I am almost positive that our actions here on earth have offended and grieved Father many times over.  I can’t imagine the grief He has sensed over our uncontrolled exuberance to make something happen in order make ourselves look good and anointed or to merely impress an innocent victim of shipwrecked faith.

Signs and wonders.  According to our text the word signs means “markers”.   In other words there will be markers that “follow near” the believers.  My understanding of this here is similar to going into the woods without a compass.  You typically tie pieces of cloth or “markers” to trees, bushes, etc. so you can find your way out by backtracking to your starting point.  Getting out is as easy as getting in.  So when Jesus said that markers would “follow near” to the believers – Jesus was saying that we are doing several things.

First, we leaving markers.  These markers Jesus was discussing were miracles that would point people to Him not the performers of those markers.  The markers were not about the one going in and out of the woods – but rather to point others to the same journey.  

Second, if the markers were following the believers then the markers were pointing forward and not backwards.  Verse 20 reveals that the “Lord worked with them confirming the markers.” What this indicates is that the Lord worked through the believers to confirm His   Word.   It wasn’t about the believer it was about the Lord.   He worked through them to confirm His Word to point people to salvation.  The markers were there to point people to Him – again, not the performer.   Today, the performer of the miracle usually wants a lot of attention.  Sometimes these individuals can do more harm to the kingdom than good.  I think you get my drift here.

I like verse twenty.  I like the idea that the Lord works with the believer.  That’s a partnership.  That’s not a “lone ranger” evangelist, pastor or some other ministerial positional person doing works and acting like some super hyper spiritual kingdom hero with a big red S on his chest.  It’s about giving the “senior” partner – ie: Jesus – credit.  It’s about glorifying Jesus not man.

I am thirsty for more of God.  I am hungry for more of Him.  I too want “signs” to follow us.  I want markers to line the road behind us.  I am so desirous of markers to point to what God is doing through us so we can glorify His name.   Markers!  I am believing that there will be countless affirmations of the Word as we preach, teach and sing of the glory of the Lord in the earth.  The markers will not point to me, us or our church in particular.  They will point to Jesus first and foremost. I want the Lord to work through me so that others will see that it is not about us but the Lord of Lords!

Markers.  I want them follow us as we minister in the Name of Jesus.  I want what follows me to point people to Christ…not away from Him.  What about you?

May 17, 2010                 Mark 16.16

Someone once said that God made the water of salvation shallow enough for a baby to wade in and deep enough for an adult to swim in.  God the Father made salvation real easy.  Believe and receive forgiveness of sin and be saved.   Believe and receive.   God didn’t make salvation a difficult dynamic.  We’re the ones who make it difficult. 

I wonder if I were lost and didn’t know the Lord already…if I was interested in finding Christ and went to the phone book to find a church…what I would do.   All those churches.  All those different representations of faith.  Which one would be right?  Are all of them right to some degree?  Is there room for just “some degree” of being right in all of those churches?   My head would be spinning trying to figure out which church to go to find Jesus!   Mind you I could find Jesus in many of them but in some I would only find legalism and ritual.  I would have to search with a sincere heart to find Christ but find I probably could if I really wanted to.

That’s why the previous verse (15) is so important to this one.  You know, that “go ye into all the world” part.  If we go and tell others than they won’t have to rely on the old phone book to make faith choices.  We  would lead them to Christ by our testimony and therefore they could come with us to church.    Again, God made the issue of salvation so easy.  If we were witnessing as we should then those we win to Christ wouldn’t have such a difficult time finding Him.   So easy.  Wonderful plan…if we engaged it like Jesus intended.

God made the reception of his gift of the fulness of the Spirit just as easy.  Believe and receive.  Simple.  Again, we’re the ones who complicate it.  Receiving the gift of the Spirit is just as simple as receiving salvation.  Believe and receive.  We make it hard not God.  I want to challenge you to pray and seek your personal Pentecost experience.  Believe and receive. 

A special note on our community worship service tonight.  If you were there, let me say thanks for your attendance.  There was a young band there tonight that sang and lead us in worship.  We experienced diversity in the body tonight in an anointed and powerful fashion.  I met and worshipped with a band tonight that was introduced as, if I remember correctly, “242”.   The bands songs had some great lyrics.   But I was mostly touched not by their talent or vocal ability.  I was moved by their sheer sincerity.   This band worshipped without any reservation.  They didn’t care if you liked them or not.  They didn’t try to impress you with vocal perfection.  They sang, danced and worshipped out of the purity of their heart.   One guitar player was very demonstrative and even attempted to bounce off a speaker as he danced before the Lord.  Again, you may not have liked their style, liked their mannerism of worship…but they extremely sincere.  Deeply sincere.  In reckless abandon they worshipped.  I enjoyed their worship.

I was supposed to share a little tonight on Israel.  I didn’t do it.  I was drawn to go the platform and affirm this band.  Couldn’t figure it out at first.  I just had to affirm the purity of their worship.  They were different and they obviously knew it.  It was a huge step for them to be in our community worship service.  I felt led to pray for the bands leader whose name was Brooks.  I was so wrapped up in deciding to flow with the leading of the Holy Spirit that I didn’t quite obey the Lord’s leading.   I side stepped His instruction to me.   For that I have asked for forgiveness.  I missed it.

I found out after the service that Brookes has brain cancer.  He is going to the OSU James clinic this week for treatment.  He could be there quite awhile.  He is in serious shape and outside of a miracle he has a rough journey ahead of him.   The young lady who sang with him tonight is his fiance.  They announced to their pastor today that depending on what happens – they will get engaged after he gets out of the hospital.   I was moved by the love and commitment this yougn couple showed to each other and the Lord whom they worshipped tonight.  I digress to my point.  We did pray for Brooks after church.  Several pastors joined me and others and we layed hands on Brooks and asked God to heal him.  My heart was deeply touched.

I know now why I had to break protocol and affirm this group tonight.  Tonight may have well been the last opportunity this band had to minister until Brooks is out of the hospital.  Again, outside of a miracle -this could  be awhile.   I know this band wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea.   Their worship style wasn’t “normal” for some who were at church tonight.  But when the Holy Spirit led me to affirm this group – I had no idea why.  All I know is that I couldn’t minister on Israel.  I had to let this band lead us into further worship.   I had no clue that Brooks had brain cancer.   I was trying to be obedient knowing that some who were there tonight may have thought, “The pastor has lost his mind.”

This is just a minor point in allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us.  I am confident somewhere tonight that Brooks and his young fiance are gleaning off of the affirmation they received tonight.  I could have missed it completely.   I could have allowed a wonderfully prepared and thought out program to inhibit me from stopping the service and recognizing this band.  I could have blown it off.   But Father God knew that this young man needed to know his gift and who he was – was being accepted by the church.   I think the Holy Spirit accomplished that tonight.

How many times have we played David’s wife ( 2 Samuel 6) looking out the window and being critical of another’s worship and or their worship style?  How many times do we criticize the diversity of the body of Christ instead of affirm each others personality and form of worship?  Some weep before the Lord.  Some dance before the Lord.  Some dont’ show any emotion or demonstrate their praise in any way to the Lord.  Some are by nature stoic in their worship.  But why are we so critical of another’s posture before the Lord?   Brooks was being honest with his worship.   He laid down on the platform tonight.  He wept openly.  He was so focused he couldn’t hardly articulate his emotions.   He was giving God his all and he didn’t care who thought what about his worship.   He may as well have been David dancing before the Lord with some Michal’s in the audience. 

I want to express my sincere concern for Brooks and his fiance.  I want them to know that I and others will be praying for his healing.   If you were there tonight with us in church I think you would agree with me that months ago when the plans of man were laid out for this service and Paul Reif asked this band to sing at the service -God was in it.  Tonight, God allowed this band, He allowed Brooks to share with us his best in worshiping God.  I can only pray that you gave God your best as much as Brooks did.  He could have laid down and quit.  Instead he laid down in worship.  Seems to me the body of Christ and Brooks won tonight – not cancer.   What do you think?  What if that were your son on the platform tonight?  What if that was your son or daughter fighting brain cancer and wanting to be affirmed?  What if someone criticized your son or daughter for their demonstration of worship?   Now you know why God allowed us tonight to affirm this young man and his band.  God is awesome!  Be blessed Brooks…be blessed.

May 15, 2010    Mark 16.14

Unbelief is like having a tied shoe come untied.  Unbelief is belief that is coming “untied” or “undone.”  I really can’t blame these followers of Christ for “coming undone” with their faith.  Think about all they had been through.  Jesus here and then not here.  With us and then not with us.  Hopeful and then hopeless.   Then there’s the issue of the “promise.”  He had mentioned it before to them but now He had attached commands with it.  Go to Jerusalem and stay there until you receive the “promise of the Father.”  Ooooooh K!  But what is the “promise”?  Another  incarnate man to minister to us and then leave us?  No.  He had told them the comforter would come and dwell within them and never leave them (John 14.16-17,26; 15.26; 16.7).  All of this was so overwhelming to them.  You might say they were having some “faith issues.”  

What I love about scripture is the reality of it is so in our face!  I mean, we read scripture sometimes like a fairytale book.  We assume all the characters were just super hyper spiritual people who ran around with hero capes on all the time.  Not so.  These people were real.   They had families to take care, vocations to manage, fields to plow, wheat to grind and take time out of their busy days for prayer and devotion.  They were real people just like you and I.  They even struggled – hold on to your hat – with faith just like we do from time to time.

I wish I could tell you that I have never had a trial of faith that beat me black and blue.  I wish I could tell you that as a minister I have never wrestled with faith and felt the pressure of my opponent whose name is Un.  You know him.  You have met him before.   When the future looks bleak – it’s Un who shows up at the door.  When there’s too many bills compared to your income – Un shows up at the door.  Un is there to connect with your belief.  If you let him in he will partner with your belief and you will deal with Unbelief.   Oh yeah!  Un is for real.

You know the Orkin commercial on TV?  The giant termite is at the door and wants in to use the phone.   The idea is that we are sometimes over sympathetic to the termites at the door.   Oh yeah!  You have opened the door to him on several occasions. What they don’t show on TV is the termite introducing himself as…..Mr. Termite Un!   If you let him in the door your faith, your belief system will immediately come under attack. 

Today is the second day of our fasting schedule.  I hope you’re fasting at least one meal a day.  I trust you’re fasting the most important meal of your day.   Not the one that doesn’t mean anything to you or is the biggest meal of your day.  Fasting is supposed to be something we sacrifice.  Food is one of the most necessary parts of our life.  To fast is to sacrifice something that is costly to you.  Fast an important meal – not the unimportant.  There he is again…Mr. Un.  Fast the important meal…not the UNimportant meal.

What did we call the fast for?  We are fasting to prove our hunger and thirst for more of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We are fasting to see a perpetual manifestation of the Lord’s presence.  We are fasting to see miraculous healings.  We are fasting to see deliverance.  We are fasting to see people baptized in the Holy Spirit.  We are fasting to see people saved from a  life style of bondage to sin. 

This coming Wednesday night I want to pray over specific, life threatening and critical needs in our church.  We have set aside this Wednesday night (May 19) to spend time in worship and prayer.   I want you to join me in fasting and prayer that we will see some healings and deliverances take place.  Write down the needs and email them to me at bishoptwteague@yahoo.com.   We are going to take these needs and bring them to the altar.  We are going to stand in faith and tell Mr. Un to take a hike.  We believe that God can and will answer our needs while we set aside meals and prove our sincerity to the Lord.

Join me this coming Wednesday night at Victory Hill for a night of intense worship and prayer.  Come expecting – not UNexpecting.

May 14, 2010     Mark 16.8

Fear holds far too many people hostage.  Fear doesn’t manifest itself with automatic weapons and hand grenades.  Fear doesn’t show up with weapons pointed at us.  Fear abides in the secret corridors of all human beings.  Fear is there.  It is masked.  It is well hidden.  It is disguised.  It lies just under the veneer of a thin layer of self-confidence that usually struts its stuff like a rooster in a barnyard.  Fear is there and for some reason the most dangerous level of fear is that fear which inhibits our testimony of Christ.  I haven’t figured it out yet but as you might expect – I have some assumptions.

I believe fear peers out of the heart of man when we don’t want others to know we have a pseudo relationship with Christ.  For whatever reason.  While people who have a genuine relationship with Christ aren’t afraid to let it be known – there are those who hesitate to let anyone know.  If others know we have a fake relationship with Jesus then it would demand certain behavior patterns from us that we aren’t willing to display.  So, we keep it a secret.  We hide it out of fear.  Whatever “it” is because Jesus plainly taught that if you are ashamed of Him He would be ashamed of you (Luke 9.26).  So is there any validity to a pseudo relationship with Jesus?  I think not.  Fear disabled any resemblance of a relationship.

Fear shows up when we don’t want to fail or be rejected.  Fear.  It can paralyze the best of intentions in us.  We fear failing.  We fear someone turning their back on us.  We fear humiliation of failure.  We fear what others will say about our well-intentioned attempts to share Christ.  We live in one of the most critical generations ever.   The generation for the most part that is under thirty years of age is extremely critical and rarely complimentary.  We fear the judgment of others.  We fear the criticism of a generation that holds most everybody at some level of contempt for some stupid unjustifiable reason.  So the testimony we hold within our heart is paralyzed.  The lost, the lonely, the unsaved never hear our testimony because it has been handcuffed by fear.

Satan wins far too many victories because of fear.  It is the sharpest weapon in his arsenal.  He never fires a shot.  He never picks up a sword.  He uses less fiery darts.  He throws out fewer traps.  Why?  Why should he use any weapon but the one that works so well for him?  Why waste his time?  Why waste his energy?  He sits in hades and commands his troops to release the spirit of fear.    He sits back and watches the body of Christ shut down and become mute. 

On this journey to Pentecost Satan uses fear to inhibit any progress on the part of the Body of Christ pursuing the promise of Christ.  We fear speaking in tongues.  We fear it being a real experience.  We fear the necessity of the gift.  We fear the history of the gift.  We fear the practice of the gift.  We fear….whatever.  We are held hostage by fear.  We have heard the positive and negative.  We have allowed others to develop our opinion of the gift.  We have allowed others to convince us we don’t need the gift.  We have accepted a truck load of excuses for not pursuing the personal experience of the fullness of the Spirit and most of them have roots in fear. 

I challenge you again on this journey to Pentecost to read the “Book.”  Read Acts chapters one and two.  Read these chapters and put yourself in the arena of faith to receive.  Take the spirit of fear and give it one way ticket out of your heart.  Believe and receive.  Jesus didn’t make the reception of this gift difficult.  We make it difficult and we do so by dressing our intentions of reception with fear.  Those intentions suddenly become frozen and paralyzed.  We distance ourselves from the reality of the experience.

Hungry people seek food and thirsty people seek out water.  Jesus explained that if we seek out of truth we will receive and taught this in relationship to the Holy Spirit (Luke 11.8-12).  Do you really think God would tease us with the offering of such a gift?  Do you think the Father would tease us with such a promise by the New Testament manifestations of the gift?  Only a cruel Father would offer such a gift, prove the gift by ongoing perpetual manifestations of the gift and then somehow cease giving the gift to the church.  My heavenly Father is not a cruel Father.  The cruel one is the father of the spirit of fear.   Put fear where it belongs.  Take authority over fear and pursue the gift.  The gift is yours for the asking.  Really.  There is nothing to be afraid of.

May 12, 2010       Mark 16.3

Rolling stones.  No, not the rock band!  The kind that we assume we will have to deal with in life.  Those big ugly oversized stones that are in our way.  They are the “Red Sea” stones.  They are the “Jericho” stones.  They are the “rise up and walk” stones that are right there in front of us.  They are strategic blockades the enemy sets up in our heads.  We allow them to roll into our minds before we ever have to confront them. 

Mary and Joanna were on their way to the tomb.  They knew that law and order was to roll a stone in front of a tomb after placing a dead body in it.  As they walked toward the tomb they discussed between them how they would roll the stone away.  Fact is, it was there.  Fact is, it had been rolled into place.  Fact is, it had been rolled away and the two ladies had not yet realized it.  Go figure!  How many times have we done the same thing.

We deduce that an event or a circumstance is real.  We know that there is indeed a stone of obstruction or opposition in our way.  We know it.  We have not assumed it.  The evidence has been presented and it is a fact.  In our life’s faith journey something of significance has been rolled into place to keep us from experiencing a resurrection level moment.   We have all been there.  Mary and Joanna were anxious about getting rid of the stone when indeed the Lord has already dealt with it.  What I like about the event of the empty tomb is this.  Mary and Joanna, knowing for a fact that the stone had been rolled in front of the tomb did not allow the information to stop their journey.  They went forward.  They didn’t stop and give up when they realized that there was something bigger than they were waiting for them at their destination.

Isn’t this the epitome of faith?  Moving forward when we don’t know how we are going to deal with the obstacle we know for a fact is in our way.  We know the tumor is real.  We know the layoffs are scheduled.  We know our marriage is teetering on the edge of a cliff.  We know our kids are into some things that could lead them to self-destruction.  We know there is bitterness in our heart toward the one who offended us.  We know our boss hates our beliefs.  We know we aborted a baby years ago.  We know some things.   We are wrestling with where we go from here.  How do we deal with the tumor?  Who will help our marriage?  What will we do when we are handed a pink slip?  How will we talk to our kids?   We know the bitterness is rather deep but how can we past the offense?  How do we reverse the abortion mistake? 

Let me say that whatever it is that you are dealing with – keep moving forward.  Don’t second guess the fact that there is an obstacle in the way.  Don’t lie to yourself and say it isn’t there when in fact you know it is.  Just keep moving.  Discuss your anxiety with another believer.  Talk about your angst in dealing with it.  Be honest.  Be open.  But don’t stop or turn around.  Keep moving forward.   Mary and Joanna didn’t stop and when they arrived at their destination, they discovered God had beat them there. 

Moving forward to Pentecost often times will have many stones rolled in the way.  I can only tell you to keep moving forward.   One hundred and twenty believers didn’t have a clue as to how the “Promise” of the Father would manifest – but they made their way to the upper room.  Think about the “stones” the enemy may have attempted to put in front of the staircase leading to the upper room.  Maybe something like, “Jesus is no longer here.  He left you.  How can he fulfill a promise now?”  Or maybe Satan would make it a bit more personal.  “Why would you pursue a promise from One who has so offended you?  Let you down?  Disappeared after giving you empty commands and promises!”  But one hundred and twenty believers kept on moving.  They climbed the stairs.  They tarried in an atmosphere of prayer.  The promise arrived.  The received their gift.  The sound was tornadic in decibel levels.  The fire was real and it sat on everyone in the room.  All of them spoke in a foriegn, unknown and unfamiliar language.  They hit the streets with a supernatural empowerment that would lead them to change the course of history.  Mary and Joanna were in that group.  They never allowed the anxiety of who would roll the stone away to stop them.  I can only pray you won’t either. 

Move forward in your desire to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Don’t allow the enemy to set up a stone in relationship to the tongues issue.  Tongues happens on its own.  While you are pursuing the journey – as Mary and Joanna did – don’t allow what you are anxious about to stop you or slow your progress toward the gift down.  Run.  Go for it.  Chase after it.  Climb the stairs to the upper room out of sheer obedience and the will of God lead you into a personal Pentecost.  What are you waiting for?  What stone?  I don’t see a stone.  Do you?

May 11, 2010     Luke 24.52-53

Going back.  Sometimes going back to an event, a place and even going back to a person can be the most painful and difficult task we can undertake.  I wrote about going back to Jerusalem yesterday also.  Let’s go deeper today.   “Going back” to what?  “Going back” why? 

There is a distance between Bethany and Jerusalem.  If you’re in Bethany and need to go to Jerusalem to “get back” – the distance of a mile might as well be a thousand miles.  Honestly!  Jesus has led his followers on a roller coaster of post resurrection events.   He has proven the supernatural to them beyond their wildest imaginations.  Now they are taken to the place of the ascension.  Here He will leave them again – for a long time.  Oh, He will come back.  The angels made sure that message was understood.  But when will He come back?   Will He tease them again with false hope about His being here in the first place?  Will He take them someplace again and leave them?   Will He force them to revisit Golgotha?  Will He take them to another “ascension point”?  No.  We know it now but they didn’t know it then!   The handful of followers who were following Jesus and obeying His word were doing so by raw faith.  He had proven Himself on several post resurrection occasions.  Now they were really being put to the test.  Go back to Jerusalem.  Yeah right!  That’s where they killed Jesus.  That’s where they were hiding behind closed doors.  That’s where they feared for their life!   He wanted them to go back to Jerusalem.   

Jerusalem was the place they would receive the promise of the Father.  The focus of Pentecost is shear, raw obedience.  Do you get it?  Obedience to the Word.  Shear obedience.  Go.  Tarry.  Receive.  Witness.  Work the plan.  Win the lost.  Grow the church.   Obey Him.  If you want to question the obedience factor then get into the Star Trek Time Tunnel and go back and interview Ananias and Sapphira.  They would be able to tell us a lot about grace, mercy and New Testament obedience. 

We have all been to those confusing places called Bethany.  We have all heard the Lord speak to us in one way or another to leave Bethany.  But…we didn’t or we aren’t.  Whichever.  In not leaving our “Bethany” we leave ourselves open to pain and often times tragedy of disobedience.  To stay in Bethany is to lose the blessing of Pentecost.  Do you know how many denominations, churches, groups of believers and individuals have set up camp in Bethany?  Untold millions since Jesus gave the command to go and tarry in Jerusalem.  This is what frustrates me as a Pentecostal.  We have had millions of people believe the Word of God…up to a point.  When they get to Acts chapter two they follow the instructions…all the way to Bethany.  But that’s where they stay.  Monuments to anti-Pentecostal messages have been built there.  Ideologies, doctrines, theories, lies and fraudulent messages have been established in Bethany.   They would rather believe a limited message as to buy into the supernatural personal Pentecost than to believe the message in its entirety.   Give me a theological break!  Come on people!  Go to Jerusalem!   Believe it like Jesus taught it.  Receive it like they received it.  Speak like they spoke it.  Work it like they worked. 

This one issue of speaking in tongues has caused more faith division than any other doctrine.  To many people its like a mine field.  They would rather stay away from it as to dance through it (no pun intended for our demonstrative charismatic brothers and sisters).   I challenge those of you who are doubters and want to dispensationally put the manifestation of tongues in the field of cessation to purchase Jack Deere’s book entitled, “Surprised by the Spirit.”   Awesome book that will challenge you because this Baptist theologian opposed and then received the fullness of the Spirit.  Jack’s testimony is powerful.  But beyond that – start your own Pentecostal journey.  Wipe the doctrinal slate clean and read, believe and receive.

Go back.  Go back to the Word.  Go back to Acts.  Read it like it was written.  Read it as the Acts of the Apostles.   Read it as God intended it read.  Read it as Luke’s journal written to us.  Read it as a personal handbook on the role of the Holy Spirit in the church.  Come on!  We’re close to starting our fasting season which will represent the last ten days of our journey.  We’re close to looking to the last ten days of the journey to Pentecost.  Visit the upper room.  Stay. Tarry.  Pray.  Surrender.  Receive.  Speak.  Move.  Minister.  Reach.  Celebrate.  Share. 

Go back.  Go back to the place you know you can’t go wrong.  Pray this prayer and leave the rest to God:  “Lord, I want what the early church had.  I want the “promised” Gift.  I want it like they had it.  I want to receive it like they received it.  I want to do what they did when the received the gift.  I want to speak like they spoke when they received the gift.  I want to reach people like they did when they received the gift.”   Try Him.  Taste and see that He is good.  Pursue the gift.