This is a very interesting passage that I feel holds a spiritual principle that if we would apply could yield maximum fruit (results) in the Spirit-empowered movement. The gist of the scripture is this: God will not send rain on the earth until He has laborers to tend the harvest.

In Spirit-filled circles we have seen amazing services, conferences, camp-meetings. They are marked with great singing, great preaching, excitement, and zeal. We love our services so much, that now people will plan their spiritual lives based upon events rather than a daily walk with God. We have become great at gathering people, but we have a hard time sending people. And then as leaders we wonder why the church isn’t moving forward, why the attendance is declining, and why aren’t we seeing visitors? It’s because we are entertaining saints, appeasing the preferences of the saved, and not commissioning and challenging them to go into the harvest. This may be why we aren’t seeing the rain of God’s presence, because we have no laborers to tend to the harvest. This is an issue however, that has a remedy.

In Genesis 2:4-5, God lets us know that there will be no rain because he doesn’t have a man to till the ground. This is very similar to what the prophet Hosea said in Hosea 10:12. Watch how this same principle plays out in this scripture. “Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” The working of the field proceeds the rain that comes from the Lord.

God is looking for laborers of the land, that will cultivate it daily, through their personal devotion to God. We need Spirit-filled leaders who walk with God daily and equip their people to be laborers in the land. When the land is cultivated, then we can expect the rain of His presence to come every time. God is seeking for a man who will work the land. How can we be that man? God said, “I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land…” God is looking for laborers who will call upon Him and intercede for the land. When we intercede we automatically become the laborers of the land who tend to the harvest. Which leads to my next point.

Intercession births evangelism! I will prove it to you in Matthew 9 & 10. Jesus said in Matthew 9:37 “The harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few. ³⁸Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Jesus gets His disciples to intercede for laborers to be sent and then in Matthew 10, those who prayed become those who are sent to labor and tend the harvest. This is the call of the Spirit-empowered movement, to begin praying for laborers to be sent. When the laborers are sent, the harvest is tended, then God will send the rain of His presence upon our cities!

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:6, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” If we would just be faithful to be the laborers in His harvest field, then He will be faithful to send the rain and bring the increase.

As everyone else excused themselves from the table and went their separate ways, I begin the scheme as to how I could get another Oreo cookie. When the coast was clear I snuck back into the kitchen, opened the cookie jar, and grabbed an Oreo. Just as I was biting down on the cookie I heard my mom’s voice say, “I told you one cookie”. I was caught “red handed”.

In the Bible we find a story in John 8:1-11 where someone was caught “red handed” but it wasn’t because they were getting an extra cookie but in a very sinful act. In the story we read of the religious leaders bringing a woman to Jesus that they have caught in the act of adultery (interestingly enough the man is not brought to Jesus and last I checked it takes two to tango) and they want to stone her but more importantly they want to trap Jesus in his words so that they may accuse him later. But unlike the response from my mom, Jesus bends down, writes something in the dirt and says to the men, let he without sin cast the first stone. At that point all the men dropped their stones and went away. Jesus then proceeds to tell the woman to look up and find her accusers and when she saw that there were none, Jesus said then I don’t accuse you go and sin no more!

Wow! That is what I call grace! You might be reading this and saying, yeah that’s a great story to read but it’s just that a story. No my friend it’s not just a story, it’s your story, it’s my story. At some point in time the enemy of your soul, called in the Bible as the accuser of the saints (Revelation 12:10) came before God and said I’ve caught them “red handed” breaking your commands.  God simply looks over to Jesus, then back at the accuser and says the blood has covered them, depart from my presence! God’s grace has redeemed us from the past and is allowing us a bright future! God says go, tell the whole world about what I have done for you and I’ll even give you my Holy Spirit to empower you to do it! It’s time for you to get up from the seat of condemnation and stand in the place of confidence! Remember, He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world!

Mario Hood is the Next Generation Pastor at “Church on the Living Edge” in Orlando, FL.

You can follow Mario on Twitter @mariohood

http://mariohood.blogspot.com/

If you haven’t noticed, there has been quite a bit of shifting in several ministries across the United States. The moment this happens, rumors begin to fly and people speculate, who did this or that? And why did this happen? We immediately think that these ministers are moving because of disagreements, moral failure, or inability to get along with others. However, I want to submit to you that the reason the ministries are being shifted is because of us. It wasn’t the ministers’ fault for transition; the problem lies solely upon those of us who allowed these voices to become the face of God in our lives.

Many in the church have turned certain men and women of God into people that we follow like celebrities. We like this one because of his style, and we like the other because of his or her passion. Some people are so mesmerized with spiritual gifts that they look to the gift more than they do their own personal relationship with God. Many of us have a relationship with God through our celebrity preachers. But this is not what God intended.

God intends for His voices to lead us into encounters with His face, not with their face. We look to these men and women for a word, so much so that they become our idols. This was a problem in the church at Corinth. Look at these verses:

First Corinthians 3:4-7 – “For when one says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”

Here we see the same problem. Paul was letting them know that the men are only messengers, and people should get their eyes back upon God. Paul even tells them that the one who plants and the one who waters is nothing!

This reminds me of a story I heard several months ago from a man who met and knew William Branham. During one meeting with Brother Branham, he told those who were around him that the Lord was about to take him to heaven. The people asked him why he thought that and Brother Branham’s reply was this: “The people are worshipping me and not God.” It was only weeks later that Brother Branham died in an automobile accident. What a sad story; yet the Bible declares in 1 Corinthians 1:29, “No flesh should glory in His presence.”

This is a warning to both the minister and those who follow ministries. Don’t allow the voice, even though God is using that voice, to replace the face of God. If this nation ever needed to focus on the Lord, it is now. God is raising up voices like John the Baptist to call us back to Him. But let us learn a lesson from the life of John. He was used for a season; but when Jesus showed up, John understood: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

We are entering a season where the glory of God will be revealed like never before, and we cannot allow the voices to be the ultimate experience. These voices are here for one reason—so that you can, in turn, listen to the message they bring, but allow the message to bring your into your own encounter with the very face of God!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD RESOURCES

I would like to propose that one of the largest idols in the church today is the idol of numbers. Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve heard it time and time again. Well Pastor Craig numbers represent souls, so we need to be all about numbers. We should all care about numbers. Any church that does not want more numbers is telling the rest of the world you can go to hell. I’ve heard them all it seems. Of course each of these statements have a sliver of truth to them, but they are not “cutting it” to cover for or excuse the idolatry that is setting itself up in the hearts of pastors everywhere.

One of the most disturbing things about ministry today is that 99% of pastors you talk to about how their church is doing, they respond with one of three things: attendance numbers, budget numbers, or facilities. Does anyone find this unusual since not one of those three is ever mentioned in the New Testament? Our religion began by meeting in caves and upper rooms. In Jesus’ seven letters to the churches in Revelation, we do not know what one of them was “running” on a Sunday morning. Laodicea could have been “running” 25,000 but it did not matter because God was vomiting them out for apathy. The Smyrna church may have been “running” one hundred but they were faithful and in tune with God. God was not reviewing quantity or numbers but quality.

Superficial Christianity and youth ministry today is quite simply eating us alive. America is a psychological society, and its philosophy has seduced the church. Most people in our churches have been programmed to ask the wrong questions: What can this church do for me? Can I get all of my needs met there? How does it make me feel when I leave that church? How can they serve me currently? Does the pastor’s preaching make me feel guilty?

What do each of these questions foster? Self-idolatry. Thus we have a needs-based theology. We see it everywhere. The most popular theologies today in the church are those that are directed toward immediate need gratification. Nothing lends to this theology more than TV. Many have called it the healthy-wealthy heresy. God wants to heal you and make you rich. All you need to do is believe. Bill Hull says following Christ in our nation has become just one spiritual buzz after another. If you are poor or depressed, simply close your eyes and believe. By the end of the worship service, everything will be corrected. I think we can agree on one thing. It is not working. What burdens my heart is a lot of the youth ministry I have interacted with that is leading others down this exact path.

When is the last time you asked a pastor how the church was doing, and he responded in this way, “Well we have two of the five-fold functions (Ephesians 4:11) functioning within the priesthood of believers here, and we are striving to get the others operating”? Very rarely, huh? It is time for youth pastors and senior pastors alike to examine again the calling of our lives. Our ministries should not just produce decisions for Christ, but rather disciples of Christ. The people we minister to today need strong spiritual experience that is built upon the foundation of objective truth that we find in the Bible. Youth pastors, if you will, are deprogramming students to unlearn the superficial “gospels” of the 20th century and learn for the first-time the teachings of Jesus.

Will it be easy? Never. The church never gets easy. The temptation will constantly be placed before you to reduce your goals and “lighten up.” Consumerist Christianity in our nation will always challenge the Biblical standard. But we can’t give into it. We will have to answer to God Himself one day soon about the quality of our work.

—

Originally posted on DiscipleMakingDisciples.com

To be honest, I don’t enjoy feeding people on the street, I don’t like stacking chairs, and I hate setting up and tearing down for the church plant that I’m a part of. In those moments that I do engage in these things, there’s always a since of guilt that comes over me. I should be happy doing this. I should feel good about what I’m doing. But….I don’t. Because unlike you, I know my heart. My heart is full of sin. It’s selfish. It’s always about me.

But like Paul proclaims in the scriptures, “who will save this wretched man?” It’s only Jesus. The redemption of Jesus and his gospel constantly reworking the inner desires of my heart and my mind. Like Paul, I haven’t attained the goal. But I do press on. And I’ve learned not to press on by my effort, but by the grace and strength in which his gospel is already doing in me.

What simple words. But at the time they were rhema to me. As I ended my week in the Philippines this last July, I was about to start the 24-hour trek back home to Cleveland, TN. This was my intended travel itinerary, my 24-hour journey, if you will: Manila, Philippines to Tokyo, Japan; Tokyo, Japan to Detroit, Michigan; Detroit, Michigan to Chattanooga, Tennessee (not Atlanta, Georgia). After a week of such refreshing, I could do nothing other than praise God on my flight from Manila to Tokyo. I arrived in Tokyo, grabbed a Starbucks, and then loaded the 13-hour flight to Detroit. As anyone over 6 feet tall would do, I spent most of that flight standing near the bathroom. My legs are just not cut out for those small seat spaces. By the time I arrived in Detroit, I was worn out because I did not sleep the night before I loaded the plane (so I was going on about 20 hours of no sleep). It was 12:00pm in Detroit, and my scheduled flight leaving for Chattanooga was not until 7:30pm that evening. It was scheduled to arrive in Chattanooga at 9:50pm. Surely there had to be an earlier flight leaving for Atlanta, GA and then I could catch a flight from Atlanta onto Chattanooga and get there way before my flight from Detroit would get me there.

Then the bright idea hit me: I will go to the Delta desk and see if they can re-route me to Atlanta asap, and then I can fly from Atlanta to Chattanooga and be home to see my wife and son much sooner than scheduled. So I approached the Delta desk. Bingo! There was a flight leaving Detroit to Atlanta at 1:30pm! I would make it to Atlanta by 4:10pm, leave Atlanta at 4:45pm and be home in Chattanooga by 5:30pm. I had figured it out. I had managed a way to hurry the journey.

By the time the plane for Atlanta got in the air, I was already fast asleep. Next thing I knew I woke up and the pilot said that we had been delayed to land in Atlanta because of a storm and that we would be arriving 45 minutes late. I looked down at my watch. It was already 4:45. NO! I had already missed my flight to Chattanooga. Once we landed, the Atlanta airport was more packed than I had ever seen it. I was placed on a waiting list for Chattanooga, and then I received the much dreaded information for someone who had already been traveling now for about 22 hours. I would have to wait until the next morning to catch a flight to Chattanooga. Frustrated and without even a thought about God, I grabbed my carry-on items and began walking out of the airport to catch a shuttle from Atlanta to Chattanooga. I didn’t even care if I left my checked luggage behind. I would figure that out later. The two-hour packed shuttle ride would be way better than spending the night in the airport. I had caused myself an absolute headache by switching and alternating my scheduled route.

As I was walking through the packed concourse, the Spirit of the Lord whispered into my heart as clear as day, “What did I tell you this week in the Philippines? Don’t get off the journey. Stay on the journey. Don’t hurry the journey.”

The people around me probably thought I was crazy. I was almost moved to tears. I had caused myself unnecessary pain and headaches all because I attempted to speed up the journey. My impatience had created a mess.

I loaded the shuttle and took the two-hour ride to Chattanooga. When I arrived there, my wife picked me up and I sat down in the passenger’s seat. We pulled out of the shuttle station, and I glanced at the clock on her dashboard. It read 9:51pm. I surely enough had arrived in Chattanooga at the exact same time I would have arrived if I would have waited in Detroit for my flight.

Same destination arrival time. Only difference? Pain and unnecessary mess when I tried to speed up the plan.

God will get you where you need to be when you need to be there, if you allow Him. God will always give His best to us when we leave the choice up to Him. “But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him (Jeremiah 18:4).”

Stay on the journey. Be patient. He who promised is faithful. We serve a God who is able to make you become what He has already called you. He doesn’t wait until you become it to call you it. The reason God can do it and we can’t is because if God calls you something, He has the power to make you whatever He calls you no matter what you are! You just must stay on the journey.

2,000 years later these words still are echoing to the four corners of the earth. Believers throughout all of Asia have heard the call and are crying out for the power of the Holy Spirit. Why are they crying out for this power? Asian believers are crying out for the boldness and power of the Holy Spirit so that they can reach the over 2 billion Asians who do not know Christ or His saving grace. Two billion! In one of the most persecuted regions in the world, God is at work that all may hear and know that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Empowered21 Asia in Jakarta, Indonesia has proven to be a catalyst for this movement. We are seeing God move in such a mighty an powerful way. We have delegates from 49 countries throughout Asia. We have delegates from such countries as Malaysia, China, Vietnam, North and South Korea, and Indonesia just to name a few.

E21 Asia is an historic event in many ways, first, we are in the largest Muslim nation in the world with a group of over 9,000 believers coming together to worship and declare that Jesus is Lord and His love is available for all who desire it. Secondly, we are launching the NGYN21 (Next Generation Youth-Leaders Network) in Asia. We are expecting over 500 next generation/youth leaders to connect and be a apart of a massive global initiative that will unite next generation and youth leaders worldwide, Lastly, we have assembled an event that has gathered delegates from over 45 nations and crossed national, ethnic and cultural and generational lines to see men and women come together to worship Jesus Christ.

Empowered21 Asia consists of seventy-two learning tracks and several general sessions to which those participating can engage with Lord. We are seeing people who are being baptized in the Holy Spirit and growing in their relationship with the Lord. We are seeing a giant arise from its sleep. We are seeing the continent of Asia being shaken by the power of Christ by the working of the Holy Spirit and we are seeing the beginnings of what is going to be one of the greatest harvests this world has ever seen!