Take Your Place
Hello, my precious Beloved Family!
I find myself floating down from a place of honor and glory at the opportunity to have my pastors, Rich and Dorothy Van Winkle of The Shepherd’s House Church in Lewisville, TX, stay with Kay and me. These last few days have been filled with excited talk of the coming revival and Great Awakening that our nation is poised for. Also, just sitting and listening to the deep and Godly wisdom that they are filled with from 40+ years of successful ministry. To top it all off, we were humbled to share their love and grace with YOU, our Beloved Family! Do you see my reasoning for not wanting those times to end?
I find myself pressing in harder today more than I ever have in believing and expecting for this solemn day. I deeply know that this nation and world are about to experience a soon-coming move of the Spirit of biblical proportion. We, as the Church of the Lord Jesus, have slowly lost our way under the pressures and indoctrination of the world and their dark culture. Still, there has always been a remnant of believers that will “never bow their knee.” I have had the glorious honor of pastoring a local church filled with those types of believers… AND… I have watched it grow beyond it’s borders over these last six months. The reverential trembling that I do on the inside at the reality of seeing this happen before my eyes is something new for me to experience in ministry. We are now entering into a time that the TRUE Church, the Bride of our Lord, is rising to Her rightful place of preeminence, power, and authority over this world.
Revelation 19:6-8
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
There is no ambiguity about the broken and fallen condition of the world, and the lives just outside our kitchen window. It almost breaks my heart to know that we carry the light of truth and the abundance of life, freely willing to serve and sacrifice for them to receive and appropriate it, but they ever distance themselves from the warmth of our Father’s loving heart. Yet this is the time for us to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory! Because…
Isaiah 60:1-3
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
We live in GLORIOUS times, Beloved! We have the immense opportunity to disciple our neighbors and our nation into this almost-too-good-to-be-true News of the Gospel that we have been allowing to saturate our hearts, weekly. This is why I am so passionate and fervent about our vision here… our Grace Groups here… reminding folks to watch/listen and re-watch/listen to the messages here… compelling folks to ministry here… training the youth and children here… and SEEING YOUR beautiful faces and hearts here! Now you see, transparently, why it may seem to you that I am maybe a little over-the-top… my confession is that I AM!
When we embrace messages like our Apostolic leader Pastor Rich released Sunday, on the holiness of God manifesting in our lives, we will BE the change our world longs for. When we allow our thinking to be transformed by renewing our minds to the heavenly desires our Father has for our planet, we will be driven by a power and grace that few generations before have tasted. When we embrace the complete Finished Work of the Cross in our health, finances, and soul, we will become the very hands and feet of our Savior and Lord. It is all about Jesus being exalted in us and allowing the world to see His brilliance in our eyes, hearts, and hands.
This is why I am “chomping at the bit” to get into our next series: King and Kingdom. We will be launching it this Sunday! I anticipate that this will be our greatest time of growth and development yet!
As I have said before, so say I again… I CANNOT wait to see y’all again soon!
In Great Love,
Steve
