ITS ABOUT YOUR FAITH

It's all over the news! I'm sure you've heard! The greatest problem in America, issue of this election is the economy! Well that is not true! It is not about the economy, IT'S ABOUT YOUR FAITH!

Peter said, "that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ..." (1 Peter 1:7).

From the very beginning of the church we have been persecuted for our faith. The enemy has tortured and killed many of the believers in an attempt to cause others to stop believing. Some were crucified upside down, others were fed to lions, some were even burned at the stake. And yet the church held firm to the "faith which was once and for all handed down to the saints" (Jude 3). Yes they had to "contend for the faith," and it is not different from today.

The enemy did not want the Twin Towers or New York City. The enemy did not care about the 3000 plus people in those towers. The enemy wanted to terrorize the rest of America in to giving up. Terrorism is the very strategy of the enemy. He will attack your house, your finances, your health, all in an attempt to get you to stop trusting in God.

He wants you to stop believing in Jesus Christ. He wants you to give up! It is not about the economy it is all about our FAITH! Peter probably understood this better than any of the other disciples. The Lord spoke to him and said, "I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail" (Luke 22:32). And the Lord is praying for us right now! We cannot stop believing God now.

Our faith is not based on the stock market or who is in office. Our faith is in Jesus Christ and His love for us. Our faith is not based on our religious piety or performance. No, our faith is based on His relationship with us. A relationship that He initiated and that He maintains. It is not about our doctrinal stand but rather about our intimacy with Him.

Paul encouraged Timothy, "For this reason I suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know in WHOM I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day" (1 Tim. 1:12). Paul explained his ability to suffer because I knew in WHOM he believed. Many people are trying to survive on the basis of what they believe rather than on WHOM they believe.

Peter says, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake in Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:12-13). The enemy has always tried to cause us to give up by attacking us, but we must not stop having faith in God! In fact this is the time to "stir up our Faith." In fact we must guard our faith.

Our faith is not in the economy, but in the God that raises the dead! Our faith is not in any government but in God's Kingdom. Even Jesus warned us of how Satan would come to steal the word that was sown in our hearts. He even told us that many would hear the word with joy, but because they had "no root in themselves" they would not be able to endure (Mark 4).

We must build our faith! St. Jude, who encouraged the believers to "contend for the faith" gives us some great insight into how to stay strong in the Faith.

Jude 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

You certainly don't hear a lot of conversation today about the Holy Spirit. The fact is that the Holy Spirit was sent to us to fill our lives with the very knowledge and presence of Jesus. Jesus is the very basis of our faith. If we are to be strong in Faith we must rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to us in the midst of the world in which we live.

I want to strongly encourage you to make your self available to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Paul reminds us, "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26).

We are living in a world that is trying to steal our faith! We must lean not to our own understanding but in all our ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct our paths (Pr. 3:6).

I want to encourage you to tune in to my web cast of last Sundays message I truly believe it will help you to rescue, recover and restore your Faith.

Unconditionally

Pastor Quintin

EXTREME MENTAL MAKEOVERS

"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious -- the best not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse." Phil. 4:6-8.

What we fill our minds with is very important. The world around us wants to fill our minds with uncertainty and fear. We cannot allow that to happen. Each of us our responsible for what goes into our minds. I want to encourage each of you to focus on what God has spoken to us. As we fill our hearts and minds with His Words we can be sure that God will give us His Peace.

In a world where there is chaos and confusion we can walk in His Peace and manifest His Presence to others around us.

WHY CHURCH

Many times I have been asked what is the use of going to church, what good does it do me, what will I get out of it? It is like being asked what is the use of getting married, what good does it do me? If I answered such a question by saying, “Well, it is very useful to get married! You have someone to do the housework, the shopping, cook the meals, etc.,” it would clearly be a false view of marriage. No woman wants to be merely a housekeeper, kept because of her functionality. There is only one supreme reason for getting married—for love’s sake, for the other’s sake, for mutual love, self-giving, a longing for intimate communion, and sharing everything.
So in Christian worship, we worship God for God’s sake; we come together for Christ’s sake, motivated by love. An awareness of God’s holy love for us, revealed in Jesus Christ, awakens in us a longing for intimate communion—to know the love of the Father and to participate in the life and ministry of Christ.
Love always implies a communion between persons. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is a community of Love! God is Love! The Church (those adopted into the Father’s family of love) gathers in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—in love; to commune with the God of love and each other. We were created for communion – to be “co-lovers.” We are to find our identity, our fulfillment in this community of love—our true “being” is in “being-in-communion” with God and one another, sharing in God’s love for the world as “co-lovers.”
So, what is the use of going to church, what good does it do me, what will I get out of it? I discover who I am by realizing “whose” I am! I develop who I am by living in this community of love! I am deployed (or sent) into the world as a living expression of the God who is love!
Only as I commune with God in His “body” (the church) do I truly become the “image” of who He created me to be. Only in this atmosphere of love, THE BODY OF LOVE, can I really come to my fullest and highest potential in Christ.

The Power of Your Words

I thank God for the people who have believed in me through out my life. The words that they spoke over me and the encouragement that they have given me are beyond anything that money can buy. I think that we forget just how powerful our words are to those around us. Words are life or death. Our Father used words to create and to heal and He has entrusted us with the privilege of speech.

I was preaching last Sunday and I remember this story about Ben Hooper. It is a great story and I wanted to share it with all of you ... Please take the time to watch the 3 minute outtake of last Sunday. And remember you can make a difference in the life of those around you by your Words!

Pastor Quintin

Now is the Time

We mark our lives by keeping time and I believe we need to understand what time it is. There is ordinary time (chronos) and extraordinary time (kairos). We are living in an unprecedented time of worship!

There is a call going forth right now that is the fullness of what Christ spoke when he was here; “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” (John 4:23).

I have this gut feeling, this suspicion that the angel of the Lord spoken about in Revelation 14:1-7 is right now calling the nations to worship. “….worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and springs of water,” (v.7b) The question is are we hearing this call? Is that call to worship being heard in our community?

It is my sense that there are marks of worship; “radical, rooted, relative, revelatory, and relational.” I think that you can see the youth’s radical expression, I also think that there are those who understand that worship must be connected to our continuum of history (rooted in the truths). I understand the need to relate to those who don’t know our story or language. There is also a need for revelation or prophetic insight in the midst of our worship. And worship is intensified in the context of our human relationships. It is my sense that worship should be; “radical, rooted, relative, revelatory and relational.”

I truly believe that there is a renewal of the convergence of these basic marks of worship within our community right now. There is always an emphases on one or two of these markers but all are needed in our lives.

“The hour is coming and NOW IS…” This is the time to worship Him with a new or renewed passion. There is truly something in the air that is refreshing. I am trying to blow the trumpet so that all can hear.

Come and encounter the Goodness of God in the midst of His People! We as human beings are changed by being exposed to the very presence of God that is encountered in the midst of worship. I fully believe that there is a call being issued for worship. Help me give this call.... "come and worship."

Pastor Quintin

It's All About His Prsence

Is was a Presence, not faith, that drew Moses to the burning bush, and what happened there was a revelation, not a seminar. It was a Presence, not faith, which drew the disciples to Jesus and what what happened then was not an educational program but his revelation to them of himself as the long promised Anointed One.

Their lives, just like Moses, were changed radically by that encounter with a Presence which upended all their ordinary expectations.

David said, "Cast me not away from your Presence, take not your Holy Spirit from me." I wonder today if we cherish the Presence of God the way we should. Jesus promised to be with us when we gather together.

I am living in such expectation of our being together and His Presence! I hope you are too!

Lets Go Swimming

Life with God is an ongoing, ever-changing, relational adventure. It is not a matter of being driven through life, and then ever once in a while stopping and looking around. No, God expects us to journey with Him, breathing in the breath of life, feeling the blood of life flow through our hearts, and experiencing the very wonder of having been given a body with which we can see and hear and smell and taste and touch this amazing world that He has provided.

Sometimes I wonder if we truly want a life with God? This God who is a Spirit and who has created us to live in the revelation of Him desires us to live in spiritual union with Him. We have the ability to live in the created order as spiritual beings, "his divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." (2 Peter 1:3). We have been given "everything needed" because God wants an active partner in relationship.

The Spiritual life is just that -- A LIFE!

We learn as we as we go. We learn as we do. As we go and do with God, we are changed along the way. Thus we are called into the struggle and the joy of being changed by the relationship with God. We are either drifting along in the world around us, or we are moving with the very currents of God's love.

What we are called to intentionally live within the Spiritual Disciplines (or exercises), which are merely directed actions, that place us in a position to receive from God the power of His loving presence which enables us to accomplish what we can not do on our own.

"For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). These exercises will allow God to work in our lives that which alone we are unable to do.

Michael Phelps is propelled through the water by the use of human strokes. Spiritual disciplines or exercises are the strokes that move us into the transforming streams of God's Presence. In order to learn how to swim you must overcome several fears, so it is with learning how to move in the very Spirit of God. We must shed our dependency upon self and trust in God's provision.

We are all being called to learn some strokes (ways and means) by which we can move into this Spiritual life. We have all been caught up in worship, or prayer and sensed God's Presence. There are some exercises (practices) that will give us some ways of finding our way into His Presence where we belong and where we are called to live continually.

Let's swim for the REAL GOLD!

Over the last several weeks Stephan has been asking me all kinds of questions about how to grow in his spirituality. Of course we all know the usual answers, but his questions have required a more thoughtful and ordered response. The truth is that you can't get a perfect body in one fell swoop, no matter what the latest magazine headline tells you! Michael Phelps did not become the gold metal athlete that he is over night.

We can learn a lot about being "spiritually fit" by understanding physical fitness. There are many people who suffer from attitudes toward spirituality similar to their attitudes toward fitness; namely, wanting the results without really understanding the process that leads to results. We want to have inner peace, a sense of meaning, a connection to other people, a knowledge of God and the World -- and we want it now! Generally we realize the need for spirituality in the midst of a crisis. We realize that something is missing and we try to quickly find whatever it is so that we can feel better right now. But it doesn't work that way. We must come into reality and understand that this will take time and accept the fact that our work and dedication to spirituality will pay off in the end.

What is spirituality?

Unfortunately, a lot of people think that spirituality is just about themselves -- it becomes a "self-help" exercise, just another kind of consumer product. If spirituality is to have any meaning at all, it must be about God. Spirituality is what leads us deeper and deeper into the mystery of life, of beauty, of truth, of goodness -- in short, into the mystery of the person we call God.

Ignatius said, "spirituality is the practice, a regular endeavor through which we come to build our lives on the love of God -- to order our lives according to God's plan for us." Therefore, its focus, then, is not primarily ourselves, but God.

"A regular endeavor through which we come to build...." We then are called to develop a long-term spiritual "workout." A workout that first and foremost confronts the reality of God and the reality of ourselves. The first step is to "repent," or identify the wrongs ways of living and don't do them again. Secondly, is to build good habits in place of the bad ones. This may sound overly simple, but truthfully it is the only way to begin. If we want to develop spiritually we must learn what we're doing that is harmful to us and we must also learn to do those things that are helpful to us.

Thus spiritual "workouts" or "endeavors" will help us to become better human beings by practicing the love of God and neighbor.

I will try to walk you through some of these endeavors.... so come walk with me!!!

A Wake Up Call

As I stood there during Sunday’s seconded service these words became mine; “This is my son in whom I am well pleased….” I was overwhelmed with gratitude as I watched and listened to Stephan express his passion for Christ and encourage others to renew their own passion for the Lord.

He was truly giving us all a “wake-up” call. We are instructed to “seek the Lord while He can be found.” God seeks us and desires that we seek Him. Just this morning Susie Hutchinson reminded me of Psalm 24. In the Amplified, verses 3-7, reads: "Who shall go up into the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in HIS holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted himself up to falsehood, or to what is false, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. THIS IS THE GENERATION [description] of those who seek HIM, who inquire of and for Him, and [of necessity] require Him, who seek Your face, O God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be lifted up, you age-abiding doors; that the King of Glory may come in."

We are to be that GENERATION that seek HIM. Christ told us ; “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). And the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says, “…that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (11:6).

What we witnessed Sunday was not only Stephan’s hunger for the very Presence of God, but many other young (and not so young) people. While the world offers all kinds of experiences and a multitude of stuff it is only the Presence of the Risen Christ who can fill and fulfill the human experience. In the midst of difficult times it is His “real Presence” that can not only save, but sustain us. We must he hear His voice as He is calling us to “seek Him.”
Some of you might be wondering how do I do that? Or what does a seeker look like? I thought of this verse first, “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul,” (Deut. 4:29).

With ALL of our heart and soul, in other words we must make a commitment, a decision to FOCUS on Him. We all are so torn by all the demands of living that we many times only think to seek or search for Him when we have a need that we know we can’t fill alone. We come running to Him to “fix” the stuff of life and forget that He really is “LIFE.”

Rather than treating God as a mechanic who we visit to fix life, I believe that we are to daily read the word, to daily pray and to daily give thanks for His Presence in our lives all the time. It is too easy to forget about who it is that is sharing His life with us every moment of every day.

What happen last Sunday was awesome in the sense that you and I witnessed the “raw hunger” of a young man who wants not to be seen by you or anyone else, but who wants to be accepted and embraced by the “ONE” who is and always shall be the source of Life and Love.

On May the 11th, (Pentecost Sunday) the Lord gave me this perception: “My perception is that spiritual authority is going to increase in the next 6-12 weeks. The thing that I am seeing is that you are going to be given the power and authority to break and destroy the limitations and strongholds that you have been dealing with in your lives for years. You are going to go free from those limitations in areas of your life that you have been merely coping with because you couldn’t get rid of it. There is going be such an experience of freedom in the lives of individuals and families that strongholds will be broken off of people’s lives. Listen to me, it is happening to you. You need to exercise it. The authority is coming up into your life, but you need to be the one who exercises it and says, “I am going free of that.”

Stephan (and it think others as well) went free. He merely exercised it. He took a step and got out of the boat and walked where he had not walked before. Strongholds were broken and freedom was experienced.

You and I are also called to “step out” of our own boat and walk with Christ. To walk in ways we have never walked before. To walk in freedom that we have never had before, to walk in authority that we have never experienced and to find ourselves with Christ in ways we have never know before, that is our calling.

This is your moment…. Now is your time! Wake up and Walk with Jesus!

Bishop Quintin

The Way into The Place

John 14:1-6
1 The Way, the Truth, and the Life
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.4 And where I go you know, and the way you know."
5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"
6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
NKJV

Jesus shed his blood and died that we might have our own place with the Father. There are those who think that they will have to wait until they get to heaven to have that place. But I believe that no only do we have a place in heaven, but that we also have a place with the Father right now. In fact the Psalmist referred to it as a “secret place.” The secret place is a place where we are protected and shadowed by the very Presence of the Lord.

Far to many times we have a hope in the future of being with God and yet are hopeless in our present reality. This is so sad. Not only did God promise us a future but he also promised us a “present.” God is with us right now. He is as much our Father now as He will be in the future. I absolutely love what David said; “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.” (Ps 27:13 NKJV).

There are way to many brothers and sister of the Lord who are losing heart. And the reality is that they have lost hope of ever seeing the “goodness of the Lord,” in their own lifetime. I am writing this to break that “hopeless” spirit off of our lives.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.” (Ps 23:6 NKJV) David believed that the very “goodness” of God was pursuing him. Jeremiah said,

I believe that every Christian needs a revelation of the goodness of God. Hope springs into our lives when we realize that God is going to do good to us while we are still in this world. In fact God through Christ has prepared a “place” for us in the goodness of God. We are called to live in His goodness. We are to have faith in His goodness towards us.

When our natural circumstances seem to be going amuck we have a tendency to doubt God’s goodness. But the truth is that God has promised to “never leave nor forsake us.” The difficulties that we all face are being used by God to bring us into our own “place.” Don’t ever allow the trials or tribulations of this present world to ever cause you to doubt God’s Goodness.

In fact Paul said, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28). Every thing that we are going through will ultimately work for our good. Think of Joseph, his brothers sold him into slavery, his masters wife lied about him and had him thrown into prison and it was there that he was forgotten. And yet overnight he was elevated into a “place” of destiny. God was using all of the trials and difficulties of his life to bring him into a “place prepared for him”.

Joseph’s story reveals to us God pattern of bringing us into our “place.” It is a way that often times takes us through some difficulties and yet the end result is our being established in that “place.” It is from that “place” that we are able to bless others with God’s goodness.

I truly believe that I am speaking prophetically when I tell you that God is taking you through some stuff to get you into your “place.” Don’t give up now. Jesus endured the cross because He could see the “joy” that ly ahead. By understanding the “way” you can make it into the “place.”

“And where I go you know, and the way you know." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Jesus is the “way.” Stay in close relationship with Jesus. Walk with, talk with, rely on Christ and He will take you into your “place.” In fact every trial that you are experiencing is to try and break your relationship with Christ, your faith in Jesus. It takes a daily choice to remain in fellowship with Jesus. Remember He is the “way.”

[ if you want to hear more about “finding your way into the place” visit the website for this teaching]

Breakout #2

It is my opinion that people will not join or stay in the Church because of some great theological insight, but rather because they are hugged. The Church should be the greatest toucher and hugger within society. As the body of Christ in the world, the Church should be the greatest lover of all. But that is easier said than done. In fact if you’ve been around Church much at all you know that most churches spend more time shrugging than hugging.

Most Churches are great “filling stations,” step right up, get your high-test grace. See you next week: same time, same place. Well it is my desire that the Father’s House Churches would not merely be a “filling station,” but a place where God’s people are formed and fashioned into the family of God, the very Body of Christ. That requires reaching out to others, hugging, shaking hands, and lots of amens.

I believe that the Church is a community of disciples, in which lay people share ministry with the ordained. For me the Church is a community where we try to create as many opportunities as possible, on a quasi-sacramental basis, to lead people into encountering some kind of touch from God. I truly believe in the “real presence” of God in the everyday lives of ordinary people – in the eating, the drinking, the singing, the weeping, the birthing, the marrying and the burying.

Our holiness is in the ordinary, our holiness is in loving with everything we’ve got, and in loving the way Jesus loved. The Church doesn’t make me holy. The Church doesn’t make you holy. The Church reminds us of what we already possess.

With all my heart and soul I believe that the Church is the Body of Christ. I also believe that the Church is the family of God and that I am bound to every man, woman and child of the Church because of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. I believe that in Christ I am a part of every member of the Body of Christ and that they are a part of me. I believe that this relationship in the Spirit is as real and as profound as the bond of the flesh and blood. I believe that I am truly part of the Body of Christ. But just believing all these beautiful things about the Church is not enough. If they are to have the influence on my life that they are meant to have, I must also experience what it means to be part of the Body of Christ. Knowing and believing are just not good enough.

Family and relationships have taken on a totally different meaning for me. Relationship is where I primarily find the Lord. My own quest for holiness is to live all the relationships of my life as completely and as lovingly as I can. The call to shepherd for me means to belong to my people and to allow them to belong to me. I see my life as one in which I am called to share my life with brothers and sisters as they become “flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone.”

The only thing that truly touches us is the knowledge that we are “loved.” The “successful” or “effective” pastor touches his people not because of his theology, style or personal gifts. He touches his people only when he loves them and allows them to love him. The successful fellowship is the place where God’s people experience this love – ministers, deacons and lay staff loving others and being loved in return.

Community is the place where I feel loved, accepted, important and known. Community is not just the place where I am told about the love that God has for me in Christ Jesus; it is the place where I am loved and empowered by that community to give that love to other people. Community is far more that correct theological, scriptural and moral teaching. If the doctrines of the Church do not personally engage and touch me, I can never really hear them or respond to them.

People don’t understand and accept Christian teaching because of logical and scientific explanations, as true and as correct as they may be. Somehow these truths must come alive. The only place where this happens today is in a living vibrant community that is always in the process of celebrating the sacrament of friendship and family. In order to become a real community people must pass from mere formal adherence to principle and rule to a living and joyful sharing of faith and life.

My heart is overwhelmed with the knowledge that the enemy has established strongholds, (seats of resistive authority), within our lives in order to keep us from being fully integrated into the body of Christ, the Community of His Love.

Two of the very strongest “holds” on people today are; “individualism” and “expectations.” Everything in this world is designed around the fulfillment of the individual, thus every individual places expectations upon people around him or her. These two factors are strong barriers to the reality of God’s community of love where every person works for the fulfillment of all.

We are called to lay down our lives for the sake of Jesus and the gospel. We have been called to a kingdom that is more than the sum total of the individuals but rather about the family that is being formed in the likeness and image of our father.

It is time to start a revolution of “re-forming” the family of God that is centered around the very revealed love of the Father, Jesus Christ. His sacrifice was for us “all” not merely as individuals with expectations but rather as a family living and loving together.

The children of Israel thought of themselves as grasshoppers. That is in part because they looked at themselves individually rather than collectively. I want to challenge you to see yourself collectively as the Body of Christ rather than individually trying to tackle the entire world alone.

Unity is the forerunner of the power of the Holy Spirit. With that reality in mind let us move to be re-united as the very family of God, empowered together by His Presence for the removal of every stronghold that has hindered the body of Christ.

In His Great Love,

Bp. Quintin

The BreakOut of Love

The Following is an excerpt from Bishop Quintin Moore's Book "Love the Heartbeat of Christianity" and and excerpt from Bishop Moore's current sermon series "BreakOut"

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Modern Christianity has elevated the written word so high that it has removed the need for people to have an encounter with God. Modern Christians replaced relationship with for rules and regulations. Jesus said, “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want.”

The scriptures are given to reveal, to led us to the Christ. The One who was and is God’s Love revealed to us. If the Church is to recover her role within society and fulfill her assignment to witness to the world, she must have heart surgery and remove the blockages that have hindered her from receiving the love of God and from loving the Lord and each other. Paul had his heart jump started on the road to Damascus. God took the paddles and shocked his heart back to life.

Listen to these words: “If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.” He admits that his world was totally overcome with the love of Christ.

Love took complete control of his living. It was the driving force of his life. Love was the energy of all that Paul said and did throughout the journey of his life. He very clearly states that the heart of a Christian is to be filled with love: “…the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Nearly all of the other Apostles have similar things to say about the subject. Peter says, “Above all things have fervent love for each other.”

ABOVE ALL THINGS!

Peter made it very clear. It is not your doctrine, your denomination, or your degrees that will give you the life that you seek; it is love! Peter says to make love your first priority. Focus on it. Don’t let anything take its place. HAVE FERVENT LOVE!

Wow! Do not just love, but have fervent, unceasing love. Never take a break from loving each other. Why? “… Love covers a multitude of sins.” Lord knows we all need a covering. Peter is very clear; nothing else even comes close to love. The world has offered counterfeits. Even religion has bowed to the demand for new fads and fashions, for the latest and the newest. But Peter and Paul were moved with passion by the love the Master revealed to them. Love is our passion. It stirs and controls us to live beyond the status quo of the culture. It drives us to be reckless and radical. It forces us to love those whom the world and religious people reject and neglect.

Love demands justice for dying children. Love does not just feed the hungry but redistributes the wealth of the world by forgetting the debts of all and restoring the land to the original owners. (the essence of the year of Jubilee)

Remember the last question that Jesus asked Peter? “Do you love me?” Jesus knew that Peter knew He was the Christ, but the question now is, do you love Me?’ Not once but three times Jesus asks this question. Why? I think He was driving the point home, deep into Peter’s heart.

No wonder Peter says, “ABOVE ALL THINGS HAVE LOVE.”

John the Beloved, goes even further: “He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.” Very simply, to know God is to know love. If you don’t love, then you don’t know God. Only those who love know God. The one who laid his head on the chest of the Lord, the one who had listened to the beating heart of the Master, says very clearly God is Love. God does not have love, no, His very nature is love and Jesus is the revelation of the Father’s nature. John challenges us to step out of our reasoning and step into relationship.

The very heartbeat of the Christian life is Love.

Without real God-love, our hearts can never beat with the Life of God. That is why each of the apostles goes to such extremes about the love of God. They heard the Lord’s answer to the question. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” His reply was very direct and every one of the Apostles heard His answer.

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

All the Law and the Prophets rely upon these two commandments. In other words, all the other commandments are built upon or spring from these two. Over the last five hundred years the church at large has focused on everything but these two. The Body of Christ is separated and weak because of the differences of opinions about everything from music style to baptism. Rather than loving God and each other we have majored on methods and interpretations.

In Christ’s day men were working their way to Heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments, and the hundreds of others that they had manufactured out of them. It is not much different today. People are still searching for the right doctrine or denomination. These arguments have separated the very family that Jesus died to create. Today people are looking for the right Christian formula that will guarantee success and heaven to them. Unaware that heaven is within and that success cannot be measured except within the heart of ones soul, humanity continually seeks to acquire by human effort that which can only be received as a gift from God.

Into this world of rules and regulations, an unlearned rabbi from Galilee named Jesus makes this outrageous statement that if you focus on one thing you will fulfill everything. If you love, you will unconsciously fulfill the whole law. Isn’t it time to repent and return to loving God and loving each other?

Any attempt to become righteous without love is futile. However, I want to quickly caution you, your behavior alone will not open up the doors of heaven for you. (How many people do you know who perform all the right things but don’t really love people?). This little book is a cry in the wilderness for a return to Love. But in no way do I want you to interpret it as a call for merely behavioral change. The change that is needed must be the results of a heart change that has been and continues to be the work of the Holy Spirit. You and I can do nothing on our own, but empowered by the Father’s Spirit we can be and do all things.

We are created by “love,” for “love.” Only the reception of unconditional love will bring us into our fullness as a created being. The enemy does not want any of us to receive that “love.” So he established “strongholds,” in our minds that keep us from being able to believe or receive the “love that is God.” Those false perceptions of who we are and who God is are to be destroyed by the “truth,” of who God is and who we are. He desires to reveal His love to us.

God desires to break into our lives that He might break us out of the limitations that has held us back for generations, I believe that His love is going to break through all the barriers that have been erected in our lives and in our regions. There is a revolution of love that is breaking out right now. So join the revolution and start loving yourself and others and God.

Prophetic Word from Sunday, May 11, 2008

“My perception is that spiritual authority is going to increase in the next 6-12 weeks. The thing that I am seeing is that you are going to be given the power and authority to break and destroy the limitations and strongholds that you have been dealing with in your lives for years. You are going to go free from those limitations in areas of your life that you have been merely coping with because you couldn’t get rid of it. There is going be such an experience of freedom in the lives of individuals and families that strongholds will be broken off of people’s lives. Listen to me, it is happening to you. You need to exercise it. The authority is coming up into your life, but you need to be the one who exercises it and says, “I am going free of that.” And when you go free of it, you’ve got to hate that thing. Those things that were strongholds in my life before, I hate them now. You cannot go back and play with them…. If you have strongholds, thought patterns, limitations, habits, particularly low self-esteem; particularly you don’t think you are worthy, you’re insecure…that is going to be destroyed, because low self-esteem is the Enemy robbing you of the potential in your life. If the Enemy can keep you thinking you don’t matter, you don’t count, nobody loves you or likes you, if He can keep you there he can keep your gifts from coming out. Those strongholds are coming down, that is coming off, and you’re going to come out of that thing and go, yes go into the freedom that He has purchased for you.” (May 11, 2008)

Contentment

Christianity is more than just a question of where you will spend eternity; it is a choice of who you are following? Eternal life is more about who is on the journey with you than where the journey leads. If we are walking with Jesus we can trust the destination to Him. A Christian then should be more focused on his or her relationship with Jesus than on performing in such a way as to be rewarded with heaven. Christianity is more about allowing the King of Heaven into your life than merely getting you into Heaven.

I have discovered that the journey of the Christian life is far more exciting and fun when you focus on who is with you than where you are or where you are going. Christ promised to “never leave nor forsake us.” Christ empowers each of us to face the issues of each day. Our challenge is to live this day! To live in this moment and not the past nor the future is truly contentment. To be present to this day and to each other is real living. You and I are alive right now. Breathing and exhaling is the gift of life that is ours by His Mercy.

And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)

I have come to understand that we must see ourselves as living souls who belong not to our own self but to God who made us and who loves us. To come to this understanding is to accept an invitation to hold life, relationships, and possessions loosely, recognizing that nothing is really ours but that we belong to God and to all that is around us – our family, neighborhood, communities of work and worship, our country, our neighbors in the world, and the earth that sustains us all.

This reality has brought me a peace and contentment that is rarely found in a world that is driven to succeed, whatever that means. Rather than living in the light of His Presence, many live in the shadows of progress which is a consumer-driven market eager to shape our desires and replace holy contentment with an insatiable hunger. Instead of living souls, breathing in His life, they have become avid consumers.

We are eternal beings accountable and belonging to God. I admit that I would rather sleep than keep a prayer vigil, and I would rather eat than fast. And I know that I am not alone. We live in a world that believes that freedom is found in our self-determination. This is a world that calls us from the pursuit of God to the pursuit of self-actualization and self-fulfillment thus replacing sacrifice and self-denial. But we know that real freedom comes as we surrender self to He who is the source of our life. God ultimately has our highest and best in mind.

The economy in which we now live depends on keeping people discontented, so that they will keep buying the new and improved products that will bring them contentment and thus drive our economy. In the midst of this economy the Church must offer the “economy of the Kingdom.” We must remain “living souls” rather than “self-absorbed individuals.” Human beings focused on being “themselves” become nothing more than consumers in search of satisfaction, contentment and peace the latest and greatest product.

The Church must stand in contrast to this world’s economy and live as people who are content and at peace with breathing the very “breath of God.” We were created to be “living souls,” not “consumers for our self.” That is “Abundant Life.” Contentment, peace, joy and freedom are the results of our relationship with God and His Christ not in owning or possessing people or things.

I am more and more convinced that the Church world wide is “spiritually disorientated.” We have become misdirected by the voices of society that offer satisfaction as a result of their product or of our performance. This misdirection has led to a sense lostness that has left humanity wondering through this world in search of contentment that can only be found by returning to the One who created us.

Christ came “to seek and save the lost.” It is far to easy to speak of the lost as those who have never heard of the Christ, rather than acknowledging that even those of us who know Him can lose sight of Him. Lent, is the season of self-denial! It is the season in which we are called to evaluate our own lives in light of our relationship with the Christ, who for all others gave Himself.

Have we allowed the economy of the world to creep into our lives? Are there areas where we can reclaim ourselves as “living souls?” Is our discontentment and discouragement and depression a result of having believed the “lie” of the advertising consumer-driven world in which we live? Can we stop and “breathe in” the very life of God which we were designed to depend upon?

I truly believe that Prayer, meditation, and daily Bible reading are ways in which we can rediscover the very breathe and the life that is ours by the mercy of God. I sincerely desire to encourage you to take account of your life as we journey towards the celebration of the death, burial and resurrection of the Christ.

I am attempting to call others to join with me for daily prayer here at the church at 6:00AM – 12:00PM – 6:00PM…. If you can’t be with us please pray and give your self to Him in a more devotional way as we approach Easter.

Grace and Peace

Bishop Quintin