1500 @ Your Door!

What do you do with 1500 people at your front door? 

"As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was". (Mark 1:29-34 NIV)

"The whole town gathered at the door." This sentence might sound like a figure of speech, but it's actually a fact. First we need to think about what happened in town before they got to the house and we need to ask ourselves what was the town like. In 2000 I was in that ancient town of Capernaum and it is right off the shore of the sea and now it's a tourist site of ruins. Back then however,  it was a small fishing village and estimates say it has a population of about 1500 people. 

     In our county in Florida there is a small town between county lines in the middle of nowhere as some folks say. It's rural, depressed in economy and  It has a store and a gas station and not a whole lot more then that. However it has about 1700 residents that call it home. When something happens in a small town of 1500 -1700 news of it travels fast. So when Mark's gospel says the whole town gathered at the door that must have been some sight to see.  

     When I was in a small African village this past Feb 2013 in Senegal West Africa I saw a small village show up for an outdoor movie.  What started off as maybe 50 people ended up well over 300 people. In just a few short hours news of something different or unexpected must have traveled fast. We had been digging a well all day and then news traveled that we were going to show a film that night.   

   There are several things about this historic encounter I enjoy about Jesus and his followers. First is they went to the Synagogue. This implies they had their priorities in line with God's concept of a day of rest and worship. The miracles did not start flowing in this village until the Sabbath day and and that evening after worship. This speaks to my spirit that we need a day of rest with God's people and when we rest and worship and listen to God's Word our faith to receive God's grace is quickened.  It was after the teaching of Jesus with His Authority of Scripture that we see one miracle after another.   The miracles went from Church to home and home to village. I presume the 1500 people were not in the synagogue on the Sabbath evening service. When I was in those ruins I would estimate enough room for maybe 200 maximum. 

      The fishing village of Capernaum had a kairos Day. The kingdom of God was at hand in the worship service, then the anointing of the moment flowed to the home of Simon and Andrew and by the time the rest of the town of 1500 heard about what happened at church they found our Savior and his disciples at home probably trying to have a nice relaxing meal.    

In this story I see how Jesus did not tell them to go away because he didn't eat dinner yet, but rather he began to minister grace, hope and mercy from the Father into as many lives as he could possible touch. And this 1500 at the door happened after sunset in the dark with maybe some good moonlight.   In this encounter I don't see the disciples praying and healing people with Jesus, but I envision them watching Jesus , observing and possibly being the crowd control folks as they (like the entire town)  were probably as bewildered with Jesus and the constant flow of miracles as anyone. So if 1500 people showed up with diseases and demons after dark for help I can only imagine it was a long night. The crowd eventually disappeared and Jesus seems to have gotten a little sleep. However, scripture tells us before Sunrise he slipped away alone to pray.  

What a day in Capernaum!! It stated in the outflow from the day of rest and worship and attracted the whole town to one door. 

After Jesus left that town I wonder how many were in synagogue the next Sabbath seeking God with a renewed appreciation of grace.  The greatest lesson I believe was likely for those disciples who witnessed something they later were to do themselves in years to come.  

The lesson for me is to go with the flow when God shows up. In summary I see an evening of worship on the beginning of a Friday night sabbath ( where a few unexpected things happened ) followed by a relaxed dinner in a home before some sleep. However, when arriving at the home for dinner someone is sick and grace flows again. Followed by a nice meal and fellowship before an unexpected knock at the door comes. After ministry at the door starts it just seems it never ended until maybe 4 or 5 hours later when the crowd drifts off to get some rest and Jesus finally crashes for maybe 3 or 4 hours.  Are we willing to let God redirect our plans like God redirected theirs? 1500 at the door is certainly a kairos moment of kingdom encounter that still speaks to hearts today including mine. 

   

Submit!

Get Real

Get Aligned 

Get Going 

Our vision statement is simple, but it's packed with purpose, scripture and challenge. 6 words and  3 assignments! Starting with a spiritual encounter and ending with a sense of continuing commission.  Along the way to fulfilling any vision statement is what every truly born again believer will face and it's called resistance. Sometimes the resistance is within and other times the resistance is external, but indeed resistance. The book of James is filled with lessons on how to overcome those urges and walls of resistance that attempt to shut down the grace of God desiring to keep flowing through us to others. 

So let's unpack this short scripture to bring light to our daily lives.  "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7 NIV).  The prior verses mention the desires, urges and challenges that can come up in our daily lives, but eventually James brings us to this verses of how to be an overcomer. The first word is key to the entire Word of God. Submit !!!!   Submission to God is always a formula for success. When Jonah resisted submission he ended up getting thrown overboard. When Saul resisted God's mighty move in the book of acts he was eventually struck down on the road to Damascus. Resisting God is not a good formula, but submitting to God is excellent advice. 

          When people are hooked on any addiction they are submitting to it and resisting God. When folks know what they ought to do and do it not, the scriptures reveal that to them it is sin. So the key to success always is submitting to God first and "with His power" then they are able to resist the devil and he will flee from us. Sometimes we get it backwards even though with good intent and then we still find we are powerless to overcome. If we resist first before submitting to God we may not be able to overcome, but the promise here today is submit and resist and then comes the fleeing of the devil. 

Keep submitted and you shall succeed. 

BlessinGet Real

Get Aligned 

Get Going 

Our vision statement is simple, but it's packed with purpose, scripture and challenge. 6 words and  3 assignments! Starting with a spiritual encounter and ending with a sense of continuing commission.  Along the way to fulfilling any vision statement is what every truly born again believer will face and it's called resistance. Sometimes the resistance is within and other times the resistance is external, but indeed resistance. The book of James is filled with lessons on how to overcome those urges and walls of resistance that attempt to shut down the grace of God desiring to flow through us to others. 

So let's unpack this short scripture to bring light to our daily lives.  "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7 NIV).  The prior verses mention the desires, urges and challenges that can come up in our daily lives, but eventually James brings us to this verses of how to be an overcomer. The first word is key to the entire Word of God. Submit !!!!   Submission to God is always a formula for success. When Jonah resisted submission he ended up getting thrown overboard. When Saul resisted God's mighty move in the book of acts he was eventually struck down on the road to Damascus. Resisting God is not a good formula, but submitting to God is excellent advice. 

          When people are hooked on any addiction they resist God. When folks know what they ought to do and do it not, the scriptures reveal that to them it is sin. So the key to success always is submitting to God first and "with His power" then made available we can resist the devil and he will flee from us. Sometimes we get it backwards even though with good intent and then we still find we are powerless to overcome. If we resist first before submitting to God we may not be able to overcome, but the promise here today is submit and resist and then comes the fleeing of the devil. 

Keep submitted and you shall succeed. 

Blessings to you! Lgs to you! 

BURDENED

Burdened 



I am a pastor and have been my entire married life in one role or another. 

I started in 1989 and now it is 2013. I started as a youth pastor in FL and now 

I am a senior Pastor in Florida. Things have changed. When
I started Christians attended church services and functions as their regular routine
to be with other believers, now if it fits into their agenda they will try to
make it. When I started if there was a missionary, special guest or revival services
people showed up excited, expecting , now you have to convince people why they
should change their schedule for something beyond the regular services. When I
started people wanted to pray and enjoyed praying; now very few will pray with
others and hardly any tears are ever shed. 

   When I started drug addicts were those who purchased them illegally from the drug dealers, now drug addicts are those hooked from their doctor’s prescriptions. When I started teenagers played outside, liked to go do stuff with the youth group and now if they have nothing better to do they might attend a youth function. When I started out

children and teens came with their parents, now grandparents try to bring their
grandchildren if their parents will let them. When I started destroying your secular
rock and roll records and cassettes was a sign of coming out of the world, not following
the latest secular groups is considered the cool thing to do in the world. 



      When I started people brought their bibles to church, now they leave them home. 

When I started people enjoyed small groups, now many avoid them. When I started 

accountability meant letting someone know why you would not be at church, now accountabilty is none of your business. When I started sex outside of marriage was sin, now living with anyone is acceptable. When I started homosexuality was a shameful way to live, not it’s just another way to live. The culture has shifted, the church in American has 

declined but the Hope of Good News remains the same, but I am burdened.




I hope you identify more with how it was then how it is. If so, Praise the Lord, if not, then I'm burdened for you. I am burdened for our country, our culture and our churches.

I am burdened for our children, young parents and our communities. We need each
other, we need to pray, we need we to repent and we need revival.
"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will healtheir land." 2 Chronicles 7:14 

A True Biblical Evangelist In Modern America

I was reading in my devotions one morning  when I came across this passage in  Luke 10:2-4 NIV. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.  Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.  Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

    A few weeks ago I meet brother Lawrence. I will spare you the details on how we meet, but we did and I have since  spent some time with him in the neighborhoods.  Money never come into play at all. Brother Lawrence calls himself a street preacher. I've yet to see him preach on the streets, but I've heard about it and I am amazed. He has told me many stories of him and Jesus in the streets as well. The actual preaching on the street aspect however is not the part that I see as the worker working in the harvest, but rather everything leading up to it.

      The first thing is that nobody is a stranger and he knows how to engage people quickly and as well seems to determine even faster if they are ripe for the harvest or not. He invites, inquires, challenges and connects. He is always looking for a person of peace that will welcome him and guide him to the local harvest field. He greets people for who he sees they will be in Christ and not how they are without Him.

    The second thing is that brother Lawrence knows where to find the harvest in a community or how to inquire where to find the harvest in a community. He does not look for the wealthy or the well to do, yet God can easily put them in his path as well. Brother Lawrence looks for the least of these in the area.

This evangelist has wisdom and is Spirit Led. Where he goes,  he is led by the  Lord as the Spirit works before him. After 20 plus years of ministry I've seen my fill of the typical self made evangelist who comes to preach to the church crowd , gets paid and moves on to the next church crowd. This evangelist is different and he actually  works in the fields with the church pastor or people and He trust His Father above to meet his needs as he travels along . Now  I know what a true biblical evangelist looks  like. He has no demands or expectations and is targeting lost people in a community verses those already professing Christ ( as weak as they might be).  I discovered  how few biblical evangelist there actual are out there in the highways and bushes of our communities.


       I see now that a traveling evangelist and a traveling revivalist are two completely different calls. What we really see today if at all are revivalist who travel to preach to the saints with occasional conversions of those who are mixed in with the saints.

   Lord grant us more brother Lawrence's in our days who go into the areas of our communities where most people have abandoned. Evangelist who preach the truth without a pulpit or microphone.

The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

Thanks be to God for the biblical evangelist.