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Pray in Tongues – Thursday Theology

Pray in tongues more than you have.  I can’t explain exactly how it works, but when you pray in tongues you activate the gift inside you.

When you pray in your private prayer language you are yielding your mind, body, and spirit to the Spirit of God.  This is why the religious come against the baptism in the Holy Ghost so strongly.

Jesus said that antichrists were already among the early disciples.

Anti – against,  christ – the anointing

The antichrist spirit is the demonic spirit that comes to destroy the anointing.  The world could not care less about tongues.  You know who hates tongues?  The religious.  They don’t mind you going to church, but they don’t want you to operate in power.

When you pray in tongues you throw a giant target on your back for the Holy Ghost.  You are speaking mysteries but you are showing Him that you are a yielded vessel to His work.

So go right now.  Pray in tongues.  Let it rip and glorify God!
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Want to know more about the gift of tongues?  Check out this free message from The Mission Delray.

Gift of Tongues August 30, 2009

You Don’t Run, You Trust God – Wednesday What’s Up

You know people who are running around looking for God but you don’t. You trust that God knows what’s best for you and has you right were He wants you.

Want a Reward? Wednesday What’s Up

This world wants to tell you your reward is right now.  But the Lord Jesus has a reward in heaven for those who serve him.  Not every bit of payoff is for right now.  There is a reward in heaven for those who trust in God.

Without Truth People Cannot Get Set Free – Tuesday Thought

Not every spiritual experience is from God.  Not every feel good teaching is truth.  There are teachings, even in the church, that make us feel loved and accepted by God but they are lies.

God sent us His written Word because we get tossed by feelings and emotions.  We can begin to think that Christianity revolves around us feeling good and blessed instead of the worship of a holy God.

But sometimes to go up we have to get low and that is rarely fun.  The world tries to invent ways to justify our shortcomings. False doctrine says that God does not mind our failings.  That is a lie.

There is a truth.  The way to the Kingdom is narrow.  The truth comes and we are to look at it, look at our life, and decide if we are reflecting the truth or reflecting the lie.  Where our lives do not line up with truth, we cooperate with God in changing.

Sexuality is one of a million areas where the world has it wrong.  I don’t blame them.  They don’t have the power to change.  But we do and we need to let the world know.  But the world has redefined the issue as one of tolerance.  That’s a clever argument, but it isn’t truth.

Friend, me saying that you must turn from your life of sin to inherit eternal life is not an easy thing to hear.  But if I don’t tell you that, you can never get free.

Take a Look at What God has Given You – Wednesday What’s Up

It is so easy to get familiar with what God has given us. Often we give the least amount of weight to the people God placed closest to us. Whether a best friend, spouse, or a pastor, take a fresh look at your relationships and see if you are giving them the authority in your life God has intended.

Love Your Enemies – Tuesday Thoughts

Very few people have genuine, unearned enemies.  Most times we had a part to play in people not liking us.  Even when we accidentally offend someone, we often are to blame for our conflicts.  But Jesus said that if we are truly in Him, offenses will come and we are to deal with them the same way He did, with compassion and forgiveness.

The other day we got a series of notifications that someone had been commenting on videos from The Mission on Youtube.  To say these comments were hateful is an understatement.

Jesus asked His Father to forgive the men who murdered Him because they did not know what they were doing.  Have you ever found that odd? I never understood that because these guys killed people for a living.  Clearly they knew what they were doing.  It was no accident.  It took a bunch of effort.  It worked.

I think Jesus was saying that they did not know that they were the very tool of Satan.  They didn’t know they killed the Prince of Peace.  If these men knew the gift they had before them they would have done anything to not allow Him to die.  But die He did, and Jesus forgave His murderers.

Now this is nothing compared to that but it is an offense against Christ nonetheless.  Jesus warned men that they are storing up wrath when they call Holy Spirit a demon and in fact that is what this misguided person has done in his youtube comments.

I am a fairly clever guy.  I grew up in rough neighborhoods and am well able to light people up verbally.  I have a degree in written communications.  I can write a witty come back. But while my flesh began to take on the offense of Christ, I remembered that His reaction was not to bring the sword but forgiveness.

As the comments began to morph from mocking Holy Spirit to insulting the people of The Mission I realized that the man does not posses the Spirit of Christ and in fact does not know what he is doing.  I deleted his comments, blocked him from commenting on our videos, and forgave.

Truth be told?  Jesus said that the generation He visited would not pass until they saw His wrath.  He told the folks that vengeance was His.  And in AD 70 it all went down in a really ugly way.

I challenged people today:

Today, you don’t fear conflict. You don’t react with religious denial. You thank God that the exposing of your insecurities will bring healing.

Father do your work in me and bring healing to every offense.  And while you are at it, let that dude keep watching the videos and get gloriously converted.

Ladies, Don’t Settle, Don’t Be a Loser Magnet – Thursday Thoughts

Some women are a magnet for losers. In this timely prophetic word, Pastor Carl Thomas ministers to the hearts of women who are trapped in a cycle of bad relationships.

Leave the worldly cycle of bad relationships and move into Kingdom relationships.

The Greatest Pitfall in Your Path to Ministry – Wednesday What’s up

Don’t allow the enemy to minister the cup of bitterness to you and steal the call of God in your life.

When Jesus refused the cup of sour wine and gall (bitterness) He was making the statement that even though men acted like they were trying to help, He knew they were still His persecutors and were trying to curse Him.

Many times friends and family try to steal you from the call of God on your life by sowing doubt, disappointment, and outright bitterness into your life. You can’t allow them to use their failures to steal your call.

Jesus has you right where He wants you. Be faithful and fruitful where He has planted you.

Leadership Thoughts on Tuesday – One Team One Goal

I hold a pre-service meeting every Sunday exactly 40 minutes before the service for with every person who has a part to play that day.  Though we are a church, the reasons are valid for any organization:

People need to know where we are going

I seek the Lord to determine how He wants me to minister that week.  It is then my responsibility to hold true to the word of the Lord and do everything within my power to faithfully minister that revelation.  If the Lord has instructed me to preach a salvation message then have an altar call at the end of service, all the ministry teams in service need to know that is where we are going.  They need to pack for that journey accordingly.  Whatever they wanted to do that Sunday has to take a back seat to that vision.

We all need to work from the same page

I just got off the phone with Khamille our worship leader.  Holy Spirit spoke very clearly to me about what He wants to accomplish this Sunday.  She needs as much time as possible to assemble a set list that supports that work.  The church is not just a collection of players, it is a team with a coach and a game plan.  We are not a collection of ministries.  We are one ministry advancing one agenda.  I lead that ministry and I need the players to be in their position.  You want your best receiver running down the sideline to catch a pass from the best quarterback on the team.   You wouldn’t have the kicker run off the sideline and try to catch a pass in the middle of a play.  That would be crazy.  But I see the equivalent all the time in church services.  The coach calls the play and the players join together to bring the win.

I need to gauge the room for potential pitfalls

I don’t want to find out when I get on stage that the lighting guy is not able to make it that day, or we don’t have the graphics for my announcement.  The worship team will not be able to minister with excellence if they find out at half way through the service I want them to play a song they don’t even know.  This has saved me so many times I could not even begin to count.

The Holy Ghost moves in unity

As a Spirit filled church we have given Holy Spirit liberty to move as He wishes in service.  That should never be an excuse for lack of preparation but it does require people to be flexible so that our service is not just a performance.  In our morning meetings I share leadings I am perceiving and we pray as a team.  The folks in that room have more power to block the move of God that Sunday then any witch or warlock in service.

All it takes is a sound man who does not care or a worship leader bent on their own agenda or a lazy overhead operator to allow the people to be completely side tracked and miss their day for life transformation.

In whatever ministry or business you run, get your folks together, cast the vision, and give them the opportunity to be a part of the big picture.

Thursday Theology: Cessationists Do Not Believe in the Authority of the Word of God

Time and again in Scripture we are warned of false teachers and are told to test revelation.  The first step in testing a teaching is to compare it to other scriptures on the same matter.  When the bible is silent on a matter it becomes a matter of conscience and cannot be held as a fundamental doctrine.

Examples:

In Acts 18:24-26 The Holy Ghost was nice enough to show us this error was refuted even before the Reformation.  Lining up with the corrective word in that passage should be enough.

All through the Gospels and the book of Acts we see Jesus and the disciples performing miracles.  Paul taught that we are to “Pursue love, AND earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” If love was the point of the gifts, why would Paul teach to pursue both?

Again, the Holy Ghost knew the error of today would come so He had Paul write, “earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.”

Beware of people who teach that the Bible is not the infallible word of God and is no longer valid for teaching today. One day, each and every believer must come to understand the authority of the Word of God.  I pray it is on this side of eternity.