Revival begins at Home. Begin gathering again!

Back in March a week before Covid we had an Evangelist at our church. He had a real heart for Revival and lit a fire that could not be contained. Those 6 days we saw well over 100 people come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. We saw many things we as believers have never experienced before. It was one of the most powerful weeks of our life. At the end of 2019 our pastor Mike’s wife Vicki received a word from the Lord for 2020. The word was to see souls saved and brought into the kingdom. The word and mission for our church in 2020 was based on a verse from the book of Acts. “You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.” - Acts 20;20. During this time frame in bible history there was major persecution coming upon the early church. Paul would travel from city to city and preach house to house. He also preached in the synagogues when welcomed but was often rejected by the pharisees and saduccess. He loved preaching to the unbelievers which in the bible were called gentiles. The Gentiles received his message while many of the Jews rejected it. Paul is responsible for spreading the gospel all over Asia Minor and Europe. Paul also wrote about 1/3 of the New Testament. Paul had an explosive ministry filled with the preaching of a bold gospel. He feared nothing and never shut down! Paul had a ministry where many came to know Jesus Christ. Beyond that new believers were filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul and his companions would lay hands on the new believers and they would be filled with the Holy Spirit and power! His ministry was also filled with signs, wonders, and miracles that followed the preaching of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went together into the synagogue of the Jews. They spoke so effectively that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. However, the disbelieving Jews stirred up and embittered the souls of the Gentiles against the brethren. For that reason, Paul and Barnabas stayed there a long time. They spoke boldly in the Lord who testified to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the population of the city was divided —part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles.” (Acts 14:1-4).

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. - Acts 8:14-17

When Covid hit we were coming out of 7 days of Revival meetings. The church in America was heading into shutdown mode. I can remember a Friday morning in prayer the Holy Spirit spoke a word to me 3 times; BUILD…BUILD…BUILD. I knew it was time to start gathering a few believers in our home. As it says in Hebrews 10:25, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” We decided to start meeting together. We began praying for God to do a work in our day. We have been believing for world wide Revival for the last 14 years! My wife began to have dreams of people showing up at our door looking for direction and the movement began. As the Holy Spirit began to draw people we began to meet with people in our home every Friday. God began to move and you could tell He was doing something all new but all original straight out of the word of God. We began going through the book of Acts as a group and started an online discipleship group called Activation Bible Training. We study 1 chapter a day online and meet every Friday in our home. We began to see people gripped by the presence of God and turn to Jesus in repentance. We have saw individuals drawn back to Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. People started coming under conviction and walking away from sin, alcoholism, addictions and strongholds that were keeping them from a right relationship with Jesus. Genuine repentance hit many people. We baptized individuals into a new life with Christ through water baptism. We laid hands on around 20 -30 individuals and have saw them filled with the Holy Spirit and power. These individuals are experiencing God in new ways and walking intimate with him on a daily basis. We have had prophetic words spoken over new believers that were so spot on it would make your jaw drop. Essentially we have been living in a modern day book of Acts movement. We have had a couple amazing healing stories as well and Jesus gets all the glory! It has been full of God’s grace and He has been the author of it all. God is releasing His presence on hungry believers all across the country. People that are hungry and looking for a real relationship with a real God. I believe God is pulling people out of their religious boxes and leading them into a real relationship with Himself. God is beginning to unite his remnant and unite his body back to the Himself through the Holy Spirit and the word of God. The word of God is like the tracks the train ride on. The Holy Spirit is like the powerful locomotive that comes charging down the tracks. When you hit your knees in repentance, seek God, read His word and start to move according to the Holy Spirit Revival and Rebirth will break out! God is looking for vessels to work through and will use the common man looking to step out in faith for his purposes. We are living in a new day where the institutions of America have started to crumble. There is corruption is so many high places! God is raising up a grassroots movement that will walk according to His ways, His Holy Spirit and walk in radical obedience to His word! God is raising up and army that will bring many many people into the kingdom of God! I pray someday soon our churches are full once again, but for now we are meeting people where we can, right in the home. Join the fight and say yes to Jesus, He has an amazing plan for your life! The awesome part is out of this group the Lord has raised up a team that is beginning to go to other towns and cities to evangelize and charge the church for the days ahead. God is taking common men and woman and anointing them to preach the gospel, sending them on a mission to redeem sons and daughters back to Him! It may be getting darker in the world but it is getting brighter in the Kingdom of God! God is on the move awakening His people!

“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
 See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
 Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Isaiah 60:1-3

"Revival in the Mission in 2020 & Beyond - Fellowship of Christian Athletes"

"ACTIVATION"

Keys to walking in the fullness . . .

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13

What are the keys to revival in America? I have given so much thought to this question. What are the keys to seeing people set free from addictions? What are the keys to seeing families strengthened? What are the keys to seeing people walk in total freedom and in power. The Bible is full of stories of power. It is full of miracles, healing’s, casting out of demons, people dropping everything to follow Jesus. In the gospel, people are willing to shout from the rooftops what they believe. They are willing to die for what they stand for and believe in. I believe the key is reaching out in response to the love of Jesus! A prayer, repentance, a turning away from what the bible calls sin. It takes coming to Jesus in surrender and embracing of the Holy Spirit, the third part of the Trinity. Jesus saves you from your sin and the Holy Spirit gives you the power to overcome your sin. Coming to Jesus and as your Lord and Savior and embracing the fullness of the Holy Spirit is the key to Revival.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Today, many are scared to share their opinions or be a little different from the crowd. Today, what we need are those who are willing to question the current structures of American culture. The nation is in need of change in just about every area. Our government, schools, homes, marketplace, and culture. Close to 70% of church going men view pornography, people are struggling with addictions, and are unsure of how to get free from those strongholds. In Jesus’ day people struggled with sin in the same way; however, the difference was, that the gospel He preached set them free. People left a life of sin and they were healed of disease. People also dropped all they had to follow Him.

In Mark 16:15-20 Jesus said: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.”

In my first 26 years of life I can honestly say I never saw a person commit their life to Christ in a church service. I really didn’t see people lay hands on sick people in order for healing to occur. I for sure did not see, or hear, anyone pray in tongues, or pick up deadly snakes and drink poison. It is strange, because the Word of God says these will be the signs of those who believe.

In Mark 16:17-18 it reads, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

The gospel I witnessed growing up was extremely gifted in the areas of care and teaching. I grew up in a great area where people knew the word of God. They were also some of the most compassionate people I have ever met. They cared about people, which I believe goes along with the greatest commandment of all–To love the Lord your God with all your heart, and next, to love your neighbor as yourself. Now with that being said, I personally struggled with addictions in my early 20’s. I was no church boy, but went to church twice a Sunday. At age 26, God drew me too Himself – I surrendered, and was born again. Those first few years I loved the Lord with all my heart, finally understood the Bible and had a desire to seek the Lord with all my heart. My life began to change; however, through this process I still battled sin. There are certain struggles I just could not overcome. I witnessed others struggling all around me–Christians, struggling with alcoholism, viewing pornography, men struggling in many areas. Little did I know, it was all about to change. In 2009 I had a great friend Randy Hartz ask me a question. Mike, “Are you filled with the Holy Spirit?” I said yes. Again, Randy asked, “are you filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of tongues?” Of course me growing up in a church that never really experienced or saw anything supernatural said no. Randy said, “would you like to be?” I said just like a little child, of course! Randy, his wife Melissa, and a few others prayed over me while praying in their prayer language. Nothing happened to me. Randy made the comment, “we did our part, let God do the rest.” I went to bed that night about 11:00PM. I am an extremely deep sleeper. I was out cold after a later night. Out of nowhere at 4:00AM I awoke like lighting and sat straight up it bed and I had what appeared to be tongues of fire flowing out of my mouth for minutes straight! It was absolutely unbelievable. Just like in the book of Acts, I had experienced tongues of fire.

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Acts 2:1-4.

The next six months were absolutely incredible. For the first time in my life I was able to completely walk away from so many things that continued to torment me and hold me in bondage as a believer. I never went back. This activated many new moments in my life as a believer. I started having revelation when I read the Word of God. I began speaking into the lives of others and began leading spiritually in different areas. This was truly the key to the Christian walk. The power button had been turned on. The stories in the bible became real and relevant. I began to live the life we read in God’s word. In 2009 I witnessed my wife committing her lift to the Lord. She began to experience God’s grace in her life. Then a few years back I also saw her receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with tongues as a prayer language. She radically transformed, found healing from past hurts, and the Lord also began to do a work of deep revelation within her. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the catalyst for life change in a believers life. As we go back to the book of Mark it is sign of a believer. Over the last decade, my wife and I have seen many come to Jesus Christ for salvation. We have also prayed over so many for that same activation in their life. We have seen the powerful change become evident as as well. I believe in a supernatural God that still breathes his Holy Spirit in us and allows us to walk in that power that the early believers walked in. We just have to know we have access too it. Some will tell you that the gifts stopped after Paul and Apostles. The word of God has never changed. People just stopped believing his word and the supernatural things the western world just can’t quite comprehend. All good gifts come by faith not our own understanding. Trust in the Lord with your whole heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Jesus himself says in John 14:12; “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Christ himself gave the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:11-16

My challenge to any believer out there is believe the Word of God. The Word is living and active, and when you take it for what it says and keep it simple, you will begin to walk a supernatural life. Jesus is the Living Word! God will begin to shine in you and it will become evident as others come to know Jesus Christ as well. I invite you to become and believe like a child–dare to dream for the supernatural and you too, will begin to walk with the fullness of power of the gospel of Jesus Christ! I believe we are walking into the greatest days the world has ever seen. I believe revival is at our doorstep. Believe in Jesus, believe in His Word and take it at face value! Become like a little child again. "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3