The Debate Concerning The Native Language Of Jesus Continues

Israel's prime minister has verbally sparred with the Pope over which language Christ might have spoken. Several languages were used in the places where Jesus lived — so which would he have known?

Stop Running And Receive Christ

Picture credit: http://www.visualpharm.com

 

Are you running from God?

***

 A UPMC Presbyterian Hospital trial starting this month which brings us one step closer to suspended animation. "The researchers behind it don't want to call it suspended animation, but it's the most conventional way to explain it. 

The world's first humans trials will start at the UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, with 10 patients whose injuries would otherwise be fatal to operate on.

 A team of surgeons will remove the patient's blood, replacing it with a chilled saline solution that would cool the body, slowing down bodily functions and delaying death from blood loss.

 According to Dr. Samuel Tisherman, talking to New Scientist: 'We are suspending life, but we don't like to call it suspended animation because it sounds like science fiction... we call it emergency preservation and resuscitation.'"

 "Knife-wound or gunshot victims will be cooled down and placed in suspended animation later this month. The technique involves replacing all of a patient's blood with a cold saline solution, which rapidly cools the body and stops almost all cellular activity.

 'If a patient comes to us two hours after dying you can't bring them back to life. But if they're dying and you suspend them, you have a chance to bring them back after their structural problems have been fixed,' says surgeon Peter Rheeat from the University of Arizona in Tucson, who helped develop the technique.

 10 gunshot and stabbing victims will take part in the trials."

***

"Over at Forbes, Kashmir Hill examines the disturbing Internet footprint of Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger.

 'A decade ago,' observes TechCrunch's John Biggs in The Internet Is Now Part Of The Crime Scene, 'a crime scene was a photo and a report.

 Now it is a sea of interconnected tracings, the murderer bobbing loosely in social media and the forums. We can watch him make his way through these straits, we can watch the madness growing, and we can watch his terrible end, all through murk of media.

 We are quick to judge and we are quick to look at his wake and say, definitively, that he was this or he was that. He was frustrated. The frustration grew.

 He went to a place he thought would help. It didn't.'"

Here is where he might have found some much needed help had he known:

  Blah Therapy - Online listening service. "Experience the rewards of venting to a stranger or lending an ear."

7 Cups of Tea - Free online counseling service

Thrive On - Not completely free, but aims to bring affordable online mental health programs to those who would otherwise go without.

***

Still running windows XP and have no plans of ditching it? Want to get updates even though they have been discontinued?

  "A registry workaround, which tricks Windows Update into thinking you are running Windows Embedded POSReady 2009, allows you to get free security updates until 2019.

 All you need is a simple 32bit or 64bit registry entry in order to make this work. 

POSReady 2009 is slated to receive security updates for another five years. Microsoft ended support for Windows XP on April 8th of 2014."

Get a geek to run it for you if you don't understand.

***

The world's largest paper airplane.

The plane sort of comes apart a bit in mid flight, but this is a great idea and an even better video.

Pastor Tilson Of Shekinah Fellowship Share

DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE ?

The answer is obvious

Your sick friends would be healed.

Your life would bring joy instead of sorrow.

Your countenance would shine with love.

Your motives wouldn’t be what they are and your heart would be at peace.

I have found that when I simply give up and believe, my giving becomes uninhibited and a prevailing peace floods my soul. It’s almost as if I have been wrong all along about everything I have ever thought I believed.

 

 I simply begin to believe in Jesus again without the questions.

 

 I have compassion and I believe in miracles. I believe every miracle recorded in the bible just as if it is still true for us today. If they are not true for everybody, they were never true for anybody.

 

 I embrace the fact that God truly is love and that I can depend on that love in every situation.

Is healing for everybody, all the time, every time? 

 

Every demon is subject to the name of Jesus and must give way to God’s will. No demon in hell can prevail against us.

 

 The devil simply cannot violate the blood of Jesus Christ. There is power in the blood. We overcome the devil by the blood of the lamb and by the word of our testimony.

 

 When we command demons to depart in the name of Jesus they must depart, and if our command is to never return, they must never return. That is always God’s will.

The destroying death angel had to pass over every house in Egypt that had the blood applied to the door. There is no way in hell that Satan could have dishonored the authoritative power behind that blood.

 

 All power in heaven and earth cannot and will not stop the power unleashed by faith in that blood. Demons must bow, sickness and disease must bow, poverty, anxiety, loneliness, and all addictions must bow. Nothing can by any means hurt you when you believe in and apply the blood of Jesus Christ.

Now I can hear the voice of human reason saying, "But what about…" I don’t care what doctrine, what logic, what scholarly theological argument that you or anyone may have. I am leaving them all behind to embrace a faith that says, "Yes and now" to every miracle of God.

 

 I have determined within my soul to believe the word of God. To take it for what it says, to believe on it and to act upon it.

 

 We are unstoppable, indestructible, and completely dependent on the predictability of God’s word. He means what He says and He even says it before it happens. What He has decreed will be.

The outcome of our faith is without doubt predicted by the word of God. It will come to pass just as you have believed.

 

 Jesus said, "Be it unto you according to your faith." If we stand in faith, as it is written, we will also receive by faith as it is written.

By faith be healed, be delivered, blind eyes see, deaf ears hear. Nothing but unbelief can stand in the way of Gods healing power. In Africa we say Kira – (be healed) and people are healed. What do you say?

Pastor Tilson

Richard White Shares

His Name is as Ointment

...The ministry was called Shekinah Fellowship.

 

 There were probably close to 100 of us who traveled as lay ministers throughout the Southwest to wherever we were invited, holding huge miracle and healing services.

 

 It was intense and a real partnership with the Holy Spirit. The faith healer himself was Brant Baker, a personal friend of ours, and a man undeniably under the anointing of God.

 

 The services were often televised with no attempt to hide the signs and wonders which were being manifested continually. We saw incredible miracles of healing every week and the ministry got a real boost when Paul & Jan Crouch of TBN began supporting it.

 

 In its heyday there was nothing like it, and I've shared some of the things in my forthcoming book showing how God used and blessed us; gay and straight together.

 

 When it got to a place where it no longer could be denied that Brant and many of us in the ministry were gay, the spotlight on us was quickly turned off and we were dropped like a hot potato to a point where Brant's once household name was never allowed to be mentioned over the TBN airwaves again.

In time, due to a series of unfortunate events, the ministry dwindled to nothing. Brant died of AIDS. So did his brother. So did David, and Jerry, and so many others.

 

 All of us knew in our hearts that this was a one-time shot for us, that we'd never walk in the anointed miracle power of the Holy Spirit in the same way again in our lifetimes.

 

 We'd go in our separate directions and some would find a degree of fulfillment in other things, other ministries, but never again would we be so up close and personal with Jesus Himself. 

 

2000 years ago when Jesus went forth to bring healing and salvation to multitudes of people, scores of disciples and supporters went both with and ahead of Him, setting up the crusades and working in a body ministry just like we did in Shekinah Fellowship all these centuries later.

Hang on, there's a reason why I'm sharing this with you.

 

 Sometime during the years of our involvement in this incredible miracle ministry, Vince took some time off and vacationed in Europe.

 

 He attended a small church in the south of Spain and recorded part of the service. Fortunately it included a young woman with the most beautiful voice, one of exceptional quality by any standards. As she sang the church fell dead silent.

 

 Her melodic voice echoed throughout the church. It was extraordinarily mesmerizing, spiritual, hallowed, and even eerie. The presence of the Holy Spirit hovered over the parishioners like a cloud.

The experience translated right through the tape recording. Only God can do that. Neither of us could catch the name of the song, thought to be of African origin, but the melody has haunted my head for almost 30 years now.

 

 I took the tape to the office where I worked at the time and had my boss, a Christian, listen to it. The song bothered him too in the same spiritual way as it did us, but none of us were able to come up with it's title no matter how much research we did.

Just recently a number of web sites have been put up on the Net in honor of the Shekinah miracle ministry of all those years ago. You can find them.

 

 People who were involved with Shekinah are still hurting in their hearts because that intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit and particular anointing of power has been a once in a lifetime experience for most.

 

 What I didn't know was that Brant used to sit on the steps of the Shrine Auditorium after Kathryn Kuhlman's miracle and healing services for hours crying to the Lord to allow him to be used like she was. 

 

The part I knew so well was that God did do exactly that. What I also didn't know was that that song was instrumental in the formation of the Shekinah Fellowship and that it was called His Name Is As Ointment.

Why has it taken so long for me to connect with this one song which has unceasingly haunted me day after day all these years? 

 

Am I coming full circle? I think so.

 

 The Holy Spirit is reminding me what this is all about. It started with Jesus and it will most decidedly end with Jesus.

 

 Alpha and Omega; the first and the last. 

 

Without Him my life would have been a waste.

 

 If you're young you may not know it, but in retrospect I can tell you that I regret not even one moment, the bad with the good, because I have walked with Jesus.

 

 I have known Him intimately, and yes, Jesus' name is like an ointment poured upon me.

 

 And on you.

 

 An ointment of comfort, protection, and all encompassing love beyond description.

 

 His name is unspeakably Holy. It's the warm liquid whisper of love infiltrating deep within your soul. It's the ointment. Let Him pour Himself on you, through you.

It's no stretch for me to see how blessed I have been, that God has chosen to protect me for 62 years.

 

 My life has been spared over and over from close brushes with death - car accidents, near drowning, concussion.

 

 Not to mention escaping AIDS which stole the life from well over 100 friends throughout the years; many of them spirit-filled Christians.

 

 I don't have answers, but I can speak to the mercy of God.

 

 When nothing else is left, God's mercy faithfully endureth.

His name is as ointment poured forth
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
His name is as ointment poured forth
His name is as ointment poured forth

by Richard White

"Thy name is as ointment poured forth.

 "Song of Songs 1:13

A Bishop Shares

The Bishop

...Brant Baker was having healing meetings on Saturday nights at Pastor Billy Adams' First Foursquare Church in Long Beach.

 

 His flyers were tacked up on telephone and power poles advertising "In Person GOD" and God the Holy Spirit did show up regularly, healing people of all manner of sickness and disease.

 

 With an anointing similar to Kathryn Kuhlman's, Brant and his Shekinah Fellowship acquired the old West Coast Theater across the street from the Convention Center on Ocean Boulevard.

 

 We eventually opened the East Long Beach Street Mission, a drop-in place where you could watch those early broadcasts of TBN, have some free coffee and donuts, and hit Anaheim Street or PCH with some gospel tracts that we printed right there.

Bishop David C Holdridge

A Young Man Recollects

I used to go to the Fox on Friday nights through 1975 and 1977 or so. I really didn't know Long Beach as it was a very un-familiar and far away place to me at 12 years old.

 

 We were there for Rev. Brant Bakers Shekinah Fellowship.

 

 Believe it or not, I really enjoyed those nights out there even though I resented my parents for making me attend a religious function or "church." 

 

Who would have figured that I now live in Long Beach and drive by the old location almost daily. 

 

Well, I learned a lot from Brant Baker and his Shekinah Fellowship.

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1971/

An Incognito Pastor Shares

Nonetheless, I do want to give credit to Surfer51 for doing the difficult work of preserving the historical record about Shekinah Fellowship, which otherwise would have been airbrushed away.

 

 And believe me, there are plenty of people who would like very much to blot out the story altogether, for they have never been able to reconcile themselves to the fact that God often uses flawed and imperfect people to accomplish marvelous things.

Oengus Moonbones

A Pastor Shares

Pastor Floyd

On February 7 of 1975, at the age of 46, I was restored, to my place in Yehovaw's kingdom, through the ministry of Brant Baker's Shekinah Fellowship, in Long Beach, Southern California!

The Rev. Brant Baker was an astounding healing minister, at that time, which got my attention by his healing my back of severe pain and my heart of severe sin in the name of "Jesus Christ", the English translation of the Hebrew "Yeshuaw ha Mawshiyakh"!
http://www.powerfulachievement.com/vault/pages/pastor.htm

Christ Gives All Of Us Vision

Vision

Proverbs 29:18

18: Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. 

In the mid twentieth century, in Bangkok, Thailand, the government wanted to build a large highway through a village. Yet in the path of the planned road was a buddhist monastery with a little chapel, so they had to relocate the monastery, including a heavy, eleven foot clay statue of Buddha, to another place

 

Using a crane, the government workers moved the monastery in sections. When the workers transported the statue of Buddha to the new location and began to lower it into place, however, the clay on the statue started to crumble and fall off.

 

 The people were afraid because this was a precious religious symbol to them, and they didn't want it to be destroyed. 

 

Yet the more the workers tried to place the statue, the more it fell apart until, eventually, all the clay was falling off. Suddenly, the workers stared in amazement because, as the clay fell away, something unexpected was revealed; The statue was pure gold underneath.

 

 Before the statue was moved, people thought it was worth about fifty thousand dollars. Today, that golden Buddha is worth millions and, because of the story behind it, is visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year.

This story illustrates that what we can see is not necessarily what really is. 

 

I believe that many of us are living as clay vessels when, in reality, we are pure gold inside. Our lives do not reflect who we truly are or what we can be.

A lack of purpose and unfulfilled potential in our world. Yet just as the gold statue was hidden inside the clay one, the "gold" inside each of us is waiting to be revealed.

 

 This gold is the dreams we have- or once had- for our lives that are not yet reality, the gifts and talents that we have not yet developed, the purpose for our lives that is not yet fulfilled, the "something" we've always wanted to be or do but for some reason have not been able to accomplish.

You have a personal purpose, for every human being is born with one. God created each person with a unique vision. He has tremendous plans for you that no one else can accomplish. The tragic thing is that many people live their whole lives without ever recognizing their visions.

How do you remove the clay and uncover the gold within you? 

 

Your dreams, talents. and desires can be refined in a process of discovering and fulfilling your life's vision so that the pure gold of your unique and personal gifts to this world can shine forth.

The destiny of an acorn is a tree. By faith, you can see the tree within the seed.

 

 You have a vision of it in your mind's eye because you know the potential in the seed. The same thing is true of you and me.

 

God has given us birth for a purpose, and as far as God is concerned, that purpose is already finished because He has placed within us the potential for fulfilling it. We can see that purpose through faith.

For true visionary's, the imaginary world of their visions is more real to them than the concrete reality around them. In fact, a visionary's vision is his reality.

When you have no vision you will simply relive the past with it's disappointments and failures. Therefore, vision is the key to your future.

One of the awesome things about Shekinah Fellowship during Brant Baker's watch was you left the meetings with vision. Somehow Brant was able to inspire others to draw close to Jesus and to receive more from Him then what they came to the meeting with.

John 10:10 

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Satan seeks to rob us of our vision. God seeks to install a vision in us.
Don't let Satan rob you of your vision!

Revelation 2:25 

But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.

Hebrews 10:23 

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Living life aimlessly is not God's best. To hold true to a vision is.

 

 The vision energizes us in the Holy Spirit. The vision causes the clay to drop off and the gold to be revealed in all of it's beauty. To exercise faith and to lay hold of the promise of God is life.

Most people fail because they give up their vision the first time they fall down. People stop too soon. they don't win because they give up when they fall down the first time or the next time or the next. A person of passion is is always eager to fulfill their vision. Passion is willing to pay the price.

When you capture your vision and stay with it, you will be rewarded. Defy the odds. If you become passionate about your vision, you can defy the odds and persevere to the fulfillment of your goals. 

 

Whenever you are tempted to quit too soon or stay down when life knocks you over, remember the examples of Nehemiah and apostle Paul.

 

 Capture your vision and stay with it, and you will be rewarded with seeing that vision become reality, no matter what might try to come against it.

 

Oftentimes your own close friends or family members will not understand your vision in Christ and there will be poison on their lips. 

 

The wind will be taken from your sails and you will go nowhere if you give heed to their words against your vision in Christ.

Luke 9:51

And it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem

Jesus determined resolutely and stedfastly to set his face like flint to go to Jerusalem. He held true to his task, his vision to save souls from hell. Nothing was going to stop Him, nothing!

So how about you? What is trying to rob you of your vision.? 

Are you holding fast to your vision in Christ and setting your course resolutely towards your goal?

Your Life Vision In Christ

More On Vision

Imagine if John the Baptist came of age during the 1960s counter culture, the charisma of Jim Morrison flowing from the mantle of an Old Testament prophet.

 

 Meet Lonnie Frisbee, a seeker turned Jesus freak evangelist who compelled thousands towards a profession of Christian faith.

 

 It was during a trip into a canyon that Frisbee claimed that God gave him a vision of his future as an influential evangelist to the hippie generation.

http://lonniefrisbee.com/

 

So many of us trace our Christian roots to this man. The power of God flowed when he preached. He walked in supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. Everywhere that he went there were 'divine~appointments' that always resulted in salvation or healing of others.

 

Brant Baker and Lonnie Frisbee were close friends. Lonnie had introduced me to Brant at his 'Costa Mesa' clothing store. Both men had an impact upon their generation. Both men have gone to be with the Lord.

 

Today it is us who are still walking this earth.

 

You who were there when these men ministered, what is your 'vision' today? Vision being a clear conception of something that is not yet reality, but which can exist.

 

How do you answer this question? Your vision uniquely belongs to you as a person called of God. As you pray, it will become clear to you.

 

You have a passion for God and His ways. You want to see your vision become reality.

 

Ephesians 3:20

20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

According to His power that is at work. Working within you.

 

 That power is the mighty power of God's Spirit who lives inside of you, enabling you to fulfill the vision He has given to you. God's power is actually working within you for the fulfillment of your dream.

 

Exceeeeedingly abundant!

 

Beyond all that you could ask for, think about, or imagine. You can't grasp all that He wants to do for you. It is and will always be steps ahead of you.

 

Your potential is determined by the assignment God gave you to do. Whatever you were born to do, you are equipped to do. God gives you the ability to fulfill your responsibility.

 

God does not call qualified men. He makes men qualified whom He calls.

 

Faith is vision in the heart. Sight without vision is dangerous because it has no hope. God gave us vision so that we would not have to live by what we see.

 

Vision is so powerful it can live beyond the grave. Lonnie Frisbee and Brant Baker have spiritual children born of their vision in God who are alive today. Children who know God and know of His power.

 

Children who have struggled with their vision in God for years. Satan has tried and tried to convince them that it was all just a foolish dream. It was not.

 

That flame flickering inside is the vision. That vision that can and will inflame future generations for Christ...

The Military has a new technology antenna so they are shutting down the old HAARP

Can a facility that has inspired global conspiracy theories be designated a World Heritage Site? If so, that might be the only way to prevent the shutdown of the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) in Alaska, which studies the ionosphere—or creates lethal hurricanes—depending on whom you talk to.

No big deal because:
Actually truth be told the military has progressed to a newer and better antenna design  

Mazzaroth

 

Psalm 19:1-4

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.
 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through the earth, And their words to the end of the world.

The Gospel message is written in the stars. Early Christians knew this and had mosaics of the Zodiac on the floors of their gathering places. In Hebrew the constellations are "Mazzaroth."

 All previous interpretations of the zodiac, whether pagan, Jewish, or Christian, have failed to account for the meaning of the sun's sequential path through the twelve zodiacal signs. Since the creation, the sun's path each year through the 12 zodiac signs has foretold the whole story of God's plan to redeem the creation through the nation of Israel. In doing so, it demonstrates that the God of Abraham is the source of the zodiac.

According to many Christian scholars, God depicted his story and his promise of salvation within the stars with the Gospel written in symbolic pictorial language manifesting the path to eternal life.

Here is a pastor who has a webpage about this with some excellent audio teaching on it.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUMM96hsmJA&feature=youtu.be

Mondays Choice

The name Neo is interesting because it reminds us of a character in the Matrix movie.

In the movie we see the character Neo is presented with a choice of remaining oblivious or coming into the realm of reality by Morpheus.

The heavenly message system given to mankind, the Bible, is like the choice set before Neo in the Matrix movie. We either believe it or reject it and remain oblivious to truth.

It is our choice to believe or reject, a choice all of us have to make.

Here is the choice we see in the Bible given to us all by Almighty God through Jesus Christ our Lord…

To accept what He says about Himself or to reject it?

…8.
“All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9.
“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.…
John 10:8-10

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:16

An indication of what is wrong with the world today

 Unsold perfectly good "New" vehicles left to rot. The numbers are ever increasing. it is not looking optimistic. Advertising is all geared to programing the buyers to want only new vehicles. Older vehicles are painted as unreliable and uncool to drive. They made their bed...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-16/where-worlds-unsold-cars-go-die

Jesus The Fruitful Vine by David L Sloane

Way back in 1987 Pastor Chuck Smith had written a somewhat sanitized book called, "The Harvest."

He had neglected to tell the stories of some key individuals that had helped to build Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa in this book.

I found my self getting irritated. And apparently so did God. I explain how I know this in the book that I wrote.

So I sat down and began to type out my own story as it were because I had a hand in helping to build Calvary Chapel.

This is a PDF rough draft of what I had written back then. There are a lot of missing pages and a few errors in spelling.

I have not worked on it at all, but yet it has been read by a lot of people who got back to me and told me how it impacted them deeply.

One couple uses the book as a text book to teach young people how to walk in the Spirit.

Because I do not believe in making personal profit from anything that God does through anyones life I give the book away freely.

Although one intelligent theologian told me i should publish it so that it can reach a wider audience.

I still think that you, my dear readers are fully capable of spreading the book around through the current day media avenues, such as twitter, facebook, blogs, texting etc...

I would humbly ask that you would do as such if you find that the book ministered to you and blessed you.

Which of course is my sincerest prayer. 

David L Sloane

 You will need the free Adobe Reader to access the Book if you do not have a PDF file reader.
https://get.adobe.com/reader/

Here is the download page to my book, "Jesus The Fruiful Vine."

Fresh Air

Image credit: AP

In the smog-filled city of Zhengzhou, one travel company offered bags of mountain air to residents in a stunt. Giving them a taste of fresh, breathable air, the company hoped to lure oxygen-deprived citizens of the Henan province's capital city to their mountainside resorts. Twenty large blue bags of air were shipped 120 miles from Laojun Mountain to the city. Hundreds of people lined up. Each resident had a few minutes to inhale the air before the next person had their turn.

Wordwise: Are You Baptised In The Holy Spirit?

There was an utterly crucial thing that the apostles needed in order to be the most effective instruments in the hands of the living Jesus. They needed to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Today we see Christians who are not baptized in the Holy Spirit. They live entirely on a mental level when it comes to their Christian walk.

Jesus commanded the apostles to stay and be baptized with the Holy Spirit:

" And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." 

We see that there are two baptisms, one to be immersed and covered in water. And the other to be covered and immersed in the Holy Spirit.

They had been baptized in water, but it was not enough, they now were told to wait for something that Almighty God, the Father had promised.

So when Peter explains what is happening in the baptism with the Holy Spirit, he says in verses 16–17:

This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: "And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy."

So when Jesus said in Acts 1:4, "Wait for the promise of the Father," what he meant was, "Wait till the promise of Joel 2 is fulfilled." The promise of the Father is what is now being experienced by the disciples. This is confirmed in Acts 2:32–33.
 Cyril of Jerusalem observes:

 "as he, , "who is plunged in water, and baptized", is encompassed by the water on every side, so are they that are wholly baptized by the Spirit-
Cateches. 17. sect. 8. p. 247.

Earlier John the Baptist had led a brief renewal movement among the Jewish people by calling them to repent and receive forgiveness for their sins and be baptized as a sign of their new relationship to God (Luke 3:3). But John made it clear that the Messiah was coming soon and would baptize the people not merely in water but in the Holy Spirit. In Luke 3:16 he says:

I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

 So Jesus is saying here in Acts 1:5, "This is going to happen in just a few days—you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. John immersed you in water; I am going to immerse you in the Holy Spirit. John drenched you in water; I am going to drench you in the Holy Spirit. This is something you need in order to be effective instruments of my life in the world. You need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit." 

So the main question to now be asked is,"Why do we need this baptism of the Holy Spirit?"

The essence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit is when a person, who is already a believer, receives extraordinary spiritual power for Christ-exalting ministry.

Some men would refer to this spiritual power as "the anointing" of God for service of Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, we read: 

"Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." Thus are we taught that there is a divine resident in every child of God."

 I think it is clearly taught in the Scripture that every believer has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him. He may be quenching the Spirit of God, and he may not glorify God as he should, but if he is a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost dwells in him. 

But I want to call your attention to another fact. I believe today, that though Christian men and women have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, yet He is not dwelling within them in power; in other words, God has a great many sons and daughters without power.

 Now I tell you when the Spirit of God is on us for service, resting upon us, we are anointed, and then we can do great things.

I believe this is a mistake a great many of us are making; we are trying to do God's work with the grace God gave us ten years ago.

 We say, if it is necessary, we will go on with the same grace. Now, what we want is a fresh supply, a fresh anointing and fresh power, and if we seek it, and seek it with all our hearts, we will obtain it. 

The early converts were taught to look for that power. 

Philip went to Samaria, and news reached Jerusalem that there was a great work being done in Samaria, and many converts; and John and Peter went down, and they laid their hand on them and they received the Holy Ghost for service. 

I think that is what we Christians ought to be looking for- the Spirit of God for service - that God may use mightily in the building of His Church.


Acts 19 we read of twelve men at Ephesus, who, when the inquiry was made if they had received the Holy Ghost since they believe, answered: 

"We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." 

 I venture to say there are very many, who, if you were to ask them, "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you first believed?" would reply, "I don't know what you mean by that." 

They would be like the twelve men down at Ephesus, who had never understood the peculiar relation of the Spirit to the sons of God. 

I firmly believe that the Church has just laid this knowledge aside, mislaid it somewhere, and so Christians are without power. 

Sometimes you can take one hundred members into the Church, and they don't add to its power. Now that is all wrong. If they were only anointed by the Spirit of God, there would be great power.

The great question before us now is, Do we want it?

The subject of witness-bearing in the power of the Holy Ghost is not sufficiently understood by the Church.

 Until we have more intelligence on this point we are laboring under great disadvantage. Now, if you will take your Bible and turn to the 15th chapter of John and the 26th verse, you will find these words:

 "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me; and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning."

 Here we find what the Spirit is going to do, or what Christ said He would do when He came; namely, that He should testify of Him.

 And if you will turn over to the second chapter of Acts you will find that when Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost, and testified of what Christ had done, the Holy Spirit came down and bore witness to that fact, and men were convicted by hundreds and by thousands.

 So then man can not preach effectively of himself. He must have the Spirit of God to give ability, and study God's Word in order to testify according to the mind of the Spirit.

The witness of the Spirit is the witness of power.

 Jesus said, "The works that I do shall ye do also, and greater works than these shall ye do because I go to the Father." 

I used to stumble over that. I didn't understand it. I thought, what greater work could any man do than Christ had done? How could any one raise a dead man who had been laid away in the sepulcher for days, and who had already begun to turn back to dust; how with a word could he call him forth?

 But the longer I live the more I am convinced it is a greater thing to influence a man's will; a man whose will is set against God; to have that will broken and brought into subjection to God's will - or, in other words, it is a greater thing to have power over a living, sinning, God hating man, than to quicken the dead.

 He who could create a world could speak a dead soul into life; but I think the greatest miracle this world has ever seen was the miracle at Pentecost.

 Here were men who surrounded the Apostles, full of prejudice, full of malice, full of bitterness, their hands, as it were, dripping with the blood of the Son of God, and yet an unlettered man, a man whom they detested, a man whom they hated, stands up there and preaches the Gospel, and three thousand of them are immediately convicted and converted, and become disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, and are willing to lay down their lives for the Son of God.

 It may have been on that occasion that Stephen was converted, the first martyr, and some of the men who soon after gave up their lives for Christ.

This seems to me the greatest miracle this world has ever seen. But Peter did not labor alone; the Spirit of God was with him; hence the marvelous results.

Are you baptized in the Holy Spirit? 

You need to seek out those who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Get them to lay their hands upon you and pray over you for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Have you received the Holy Spirit baptism?

 Paul asked the disciples of John the Baptist this in Acts 19:2
 
   He was told that they had not heard anything about the Holy Ghost. So Paul explained some things and then baptized them for a second time (only this time, in the name of Jesus). Afterward, when he laid his hands on them, they received the Holy Ghost!

Many professing Christians have never heard this because most ministers do not believe this Bible experience is for people today.

However, regardless of the theology or doctrines that most ministers have been instructed to teach, the question above should be asked of every professing Christian today. Those who are truly independent thinking Bible students will search it out for themselves in the scriptures, and will find out what the Bible has to say about this matter.

Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:5, "... Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Romans 8:9 tells us, "...Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."
.
 How does one know when they receive the Holy Ghost?
 
  Some ministers teach that the Holy Spirit is received "automatically" ... with no apparent outward manifestation ... when a person "believes" and accepts Christ as their personal Savior. However, in Acts 8:12-17, we read about people who believed, yet they had NOT received the Holy Spirit.
.
Acts Chapter 8

12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

13 Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.

14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:

15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:

16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

 Acts 8:17 - Then laid they [their] hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

2 Timothy 1:6 - Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

1 Timothy 4:14 - Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

If there is no one to lay hands upon you, it is still very possible to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
 
We are filled with the Holy Spirit by faith.

How did you become a Christian? By faith. "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast." "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him."

You receive Christ by faith. You live by faith. Everything you receive from God, from the moment of your spiritual birth until you die, is by faith. Do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

You can be filled right now, by faith.

 The "just shall live by faith."

You do not earn God's fullness. You receive it by faith.

 Now, is it God's will for you to be filled and controlled by Him?

 Of course it is -- for it is His command!

Then right now you can ask God to fill you -- not because you deserve to be filled, but on the basis of His promise.

We are leaky vessels that need to constantly be filled.

 Being filled with the Holy Spirit, however, is not a once-and-for-all experience.

There are many fillings, as is made clear in Ephesians 5:18.

 In the Greek language in which this command was originally written, the meaning is clearer than that in most English translations.

This command of God means to be constantly and continually filled, controlled and empowered with the Holy Spirit as a way of life.

Pray this prayer with me now in faith:

"Dear Father, I need You. I hunger and thirst for a more vital relationship with You. I admit that I have been in control of my life. As a result, I have sinned against You.

"Thank You for forgiving my sins through Christ's death on the cross for me. I now confess and turn from my sins and surrender the control of my life to the Lord Jesus. By faith I invite You to fill me with the Holy Spirit as You commanded me to be filled. You promised to fill me if I ask according to Your will. I pray this in the authority of the name of Jesus Christ.

"To demonstrate my faith, I now thank You for filling me with Your Holy Spirit and for taking control of my life. 

Amen."

 Now, if you sincerely prayed that prayer, you are filled with the Holy Spirit.

 You will begin to experience a greater love for God.

You will want to spend time with Him in studying His Word and in prayer.

 You will want to trust and obey God and His Word.

 You will want to share your love for Christ with others who do not know Him.

There will be power when you trust and rely upon the Holy Spirit to move through your yielded life in your service for Christ.

***

Come O Holy Spirit, Come And Rain Down Upon Us.

Fill us and empower us to do the will of the Father.

Help us in our neediness, we come to You as your adopted children who depend upon You and rely upon You and cling to You like Velcro.

Lord We Wait Upon Your Spirit.

Fill us now...

Jaded and puffed up?

Was thinking of something while watering my front yard.

After years of being involved in "professional" Christianity do some get jaded and caught up in routine? I mean do they loose the flame that set their hearts afire when they first came to Christ?

If it be so, then does God step over them and go elsewhere to manifest His presence?

Celebrity Christian leadership must be a hard thing to survive. All of the attention such a position gets by default may go to one's head in some degree, we being only human.

What if they buy into their own celebrity and rise above others in their own estimation of themselves?

Even though Jesus said,
"But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant."
Luke 22:26 

Our system of churches and organizations may not be where God is moving.

Anytime we lift up the individual or organizations we may be causing God to step over them and manifest elsewhere.

Over the years of my Christian experience I have taken note that it seems to always be the "new" Christian Church or fellowship that has God manifesting in their midst.

But only for a few years and then God seems to move on to other "new" places.

Could it be because we lift up and elevate ourselves?

Just my thoughts while watering my garden.

David Sloane

Repost of Hannelore

For a few years now I have been trying to find my friends that were in Shekinah ministry. I have found only a few.

I am happy to say that since I found Davids web site I have been doing a lot of remembering of those days with Brant. I have been silent to long. There are a lot of happy memories and sad ones also. But the work David is doing I feel is Gods work. Those years with the ministry are always with me.

I came out of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. I was not a new Christian when I met Brant. It was in the early days when Brant was just starting out. He was only 23 yrs old and already on fire for God. There was only a handful of us.

When I first came to a service I knew that is were I belonged. It was in a small store and we all sat on the ground and listened to him preach. We soon moved into a foursquare Church.

Many people started to attend the Sat night services and it soon grew to fill the large church. The choir was wonderful.

 I remember Joe Dallas at the piano and the various singers.

 I remember that before each service Brant would be waiting on the side of the stage praying , eyes closed or raised , hands folded or uplifted to the Lord. As we all sang worship to God the room would fill with a cloud of Gods presence. It could literally be felt and seen.

There were many healings that I saw, and I can testify to one that I saw before my eyes.

 I was on stage with Brant and Randy West, while people came up to testify of their healings.

 A lady came up and she was healed of a illness but her hands were still twisted from arthritis and as Brant started to pray for her , I saw her hands straighten out fully. Brant said, "did you see that" Yes, I did.

There were times when it was hard to stand next to him as you could feel the presence of Jesus ever so softly. We all Loved the Lord and looked only to do his will. I was involved for about 3-4 years, from the beginning to almost the end of the ministry.

I remember when Brant's mother started coming to the services more often. I felt she may have wanted too much control of the ministry and this bothered Brant. She was a lovely and gracious lady but could be domineering. I loved Brant's father , he was so sweet and humble.

Brant became engaged to one of my best friends, Lesa Green. This did not last very long. She was so very beautiful and kind. She took this very hard after he broke it off with her.

There are more memories that I want to share but feel I should think about it for a few more days before I share with you all. I must say that if anyone remembers me or were involved in the ministry, please come forward by writing here or David or emailing me if you would.

En Agape
Hannelore

Christian oldies from the Jesus People

JesusMusicOldies.com was the premiere Jesus Music and Christian rock radio station online.

Programmed by veteran radio personality, Rob Whitehurst who was a music director for the ground-zero Christian Rock station WINQ, the station started on Live365 in 1999.

JesusMusicOldies today still lives on Slacker Radio. For a blast from the 60s through the 90s, tune into JesusMusicOldies on Slacker Radio.

http://slacker.com/r/gqGZq 

http://www.myspace.com/jesusmusicoldiesradio

http://www.2ndchapterofacts.com/

http://www.chuck.org/

http://www.the-way.cc/

http://www.philkeaggy.com/

http://www.artistsinministry.com/parable/

http://www.one-way.org/lovesong/index.html
http://www.thearchers.us/

Share The Gospel Shekinah Fellowship Shares The Gospel

Biblical Wisdom For The Word Wise

Every Christian Should Share The Gospel Message.

The only thing that you as a Christian can not do in Heaven is share the Gospel message with the unsaved. 

What you do down here on earth now matters for all eternity.

I despise the damnable attitude that "not everyone can evangelize."

 Every Christian can and should share their faith with others.

Luke 11:33
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.

This is more then the so called "life style evangelism." This is proactive sharing of the Gospel. Actually going out and sharing with the unsaved. Have you ever done that?

James 5:20
Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Not only that but save someone for eternity. Jesus saves. Jesus came here on earth to make a way of salvation. It was important to the trinity. It should be important to you. More then building churches, more then meetings.

Jesus gave up His life on earth for our salvation.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Matthew 18:14
Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

All of us 'Jesus People' got it. We knew how to share proactively with the unsaved. We were very good at sharing with others.

But today we are losing the youth in America.

We have to allow the Holy Spirit to take control of the Church if we want to win the youth for Christ in this generation.

"The study shows that 16- to 29-year-olds exhibit a greater degree of criticism toward Christianity than did previous generations when they were at the same stage of life. In fact, in just a decade, many of the Barna measures of the Christian image have shifted substantially downward, fueled in part by a growing sense of disengagement and disillusionment among young people.

 For instance, a decade ago the vast majority of Americans outside the Christian faith, including young people, felt favorably toward Christianity’s role in society. Currently, however, just 16% of non-Christians in their late teens and twenties said they have a "good impression" of Christianity."

http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=280

May the Holy Spirit convict us for thinking otherwise. We need to get out there and do the work of the Gospel. We need to witness.

We have this truth and this incredible power of God backing us up and we are being passive and stagnant when it comes to spreading the Gospel.

 O but we give to others to do what we ourselves are to be doing.

 Truth be told, every one of those "others" live a better more profitable earthly life then you or I do. Everyone of them.

 Don't think so?

Go look at your pastors home and at his job security that you provide him. Check out how well off his children and his children's children are doing.

Romans 10:15

And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

1 Corinthians 9:14

Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

1 Corinthians 9:12

... Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.

1 Corinthians 9:17

For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward.

1 Corinthians 9:18

What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.

Proverbs 11:30

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

The Divine Call To Ministry

Are You Being Called Into The Ministry?

What is a call to the ministry? 

 A call to the ministry.

Let's see what the scripures show us that the above link doesn't go into...

A. God hath set some in the church. There is a divine call.

1 Corinthians 12:27

King James Version (KJV)

²⁷Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

²⁸And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

1. Ephesians 4:11 says "Jesus gave." This passage says "God set."

2. Notice this Corinthian passage calls the Body of Christ the Church. The Church is the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is the Church. Not a congregational brand name church or a brand name fellowship or a geographical place or building. Not organizations. People become loyal to their brands and organizations.

B. God sets ministry gifts in the Church- not man.

1. There is a vast difference between God's setting some in the Church- and man's setting some in the Church.

2. A study of Church history reveals how down through the centuries various groups have endeavored to get back to what they call New Testament practices.

They've set up organizations which often were something man manufactured- something in the flesh, something carnal.

They "called" and "set" people who had no divine calling into certain offices.

This is unscriptural.

God does the setting.
God does the calling.

C. You do not enter the ministry- any phase of it- just because "you" feel it is a holy calling and you'd like to respond.

1. You cannot make yourself a ministry gift.
2. It is dangerous to do something just because "you" want to do it.

D. You do not enter the ministry because "someone else" tells you that you are suited for it.

1. Don't go because somebody else called you.
2. Don't go because your mother called you.
3. Don't go because your father called you.

There is a divine call. Recognize whether it is on your life and don't go out without it.

E. How can you tell a divine call?

1. You will have the conviction in your own spirit.
    You will have the witness in your own heart.

2. God deals with man's spirit.

3. Learn to listen to your spirit.

A. Learn to listen down on the inside of you and you will know many things you don't otherwise know.

B. But if you are just messing along in the world, about half~dedicated, half~in~half~out, because you are living too much in the carnal area, carnality will dominate you and you won't be conscious of your spirit.

C. If you are fully dedicated and consecrated to God to do anything He wants you to do, you will become concious of that something inside you.

d. There will be a divine compulsion on the inside of you.

F. The methods by which men are called are unimportant. But obedience to the call is important.


1. If methods were important, the Bible would emphasize them; it does not.

2. The Bible has much to say about obedience.

3. Sometimes God does move in extraordinary ways. But this is not the rule.

A. Sometimes people will have visions. Paul did.


B. Prophecy. Ministry gifts are not set in the Church by prophecy. There may come a confirmation by prophecy.

Acts 13

¹Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

²As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

Barnabas and Saul were not called by prophecy. They were not set in by prophecy or by man. God just confirmed something by prophecy.

1. If a so~called prophecy does not confirm what you have in your own spirit, forget it.

G. Seeing a need is not a call to ministry.

1. If we are not careful, we slip into the attitude of the Church in general that seeing a need is a call. This is not scriptural. THIS IS NOT A DIVINE CALL.

2. Naturally, as Christians we see a need, we are concerned about that need and will endeavor with all the ability we have to minister to that need. That is scripturally correct. But it is not to be confused with the divine call to the ministry.

H. An anointing evidences a divine call.

I. If God didn't call you to full time ministry, don't try to get into it; you will be a misfit.

J. Knowing that you are divinely called settles the matter once and for all. There should be no confusion on the subject.

I am not moved by what I see.
I am not moved by what I feel.
I am moved by what I believe.

Learn what spiritural things are, they are more real than natural things.
Learn to look to your spirit.
Your spirit will tell you.
Your spirit will tell you things your head doesn't know....