Archive for December 2012
Joseph Prince, false-grace and two key threats to revival
Listen to the final two threats to revival in my teaching series, Ten Threats to Revival. There’s a false-grace message that’s promoted by people like Joseph Prince that is threatening a move of God.
First, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Our gift to you? A completed series on revival that you can listen to and share with your friends right now! Listen to this teaching here: http://media.johnburton.net/6014999
The final two threats to revival that I address are:
- Seeking an enhanced life
- The lack of an immediate response
I’ll post the notes below so you can follow along, but I also wanted to share a couple portions from my book Covens in the Church.
Someone asked me about the call for an immediate response. What if we don’t feel that God is calling us to respond? Here’s my reply:
That’s a great question!
Here’s my response that includes what I wrote in my book that addresses this directly:
Most of the time, our response can’t be attached to our feelings. Basically, we’ll have to move contrary to feeling quite a bit.
We see in the Gideon story that God did release those who were feeling afraid… but, then, they disqualified themselves from participating in the mission.
The key story is Joshua. Under Moses, people didn’t respond to their authority rightly, so they didn’t enter the Promised Land and most of them died in the desert.
Under Joshua, there was precision and immediate response. Nobody stayed back. The call was troublesome and inconvenient, yet everybody was immediately responsive.
The most important first step is to answer the question of whether you are under the person’s authority or not. If someone regionally makes a call and I am legitimately not under their authority, then I can go to prayer and respond how God leads.
But, if I am under their authority, there’s no prayer necessary. I simply respond.
Here’s two sections from my book that deal directly with this:
As the leader of Revolution House of Prayer I have people who God has appointed as my authority. We call them overseers and they
are leaders of ministries and people with a mature walk with the Lord. Like the centurion, I am a man under authority.
Let’s say, for example, I, along with the leadership of Revolution, decide to hold a conference. We go through the tedious process of
securing guest speakers and figuring out how to administrate the event.
We spend thousands of dollars promoting the conference on TV, radio and in print. I am a key part of the process as well as the actual event.
I’ll be teaching in several of the workshops and facilitating the week of activities. A week before the conference I receive a phone call from
one of my overseers. He tells me he needs me to fly to Alabama to help a church work through a transition from one pastor to another. Their previous pastor just repented of indiscretion and resigned suddenly.
The problem? It’s during the same week as my conference. I would have a dilemma. Honestly, I don’t want to go to Alabama. In addition to the upcoming conference I have a wedding to officiate among other important tasks. My integrity and reputation, along with my own personal comfort would be at stake. What’s the correct approach to take?
- Refuse to mention my disagreement with my overseer with anybody–including my wife. There is power of life and death in the tongue. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. I’d have to allow God to break me and cause me to have a pure heart in this matter.
- Put to death any of my own desires and prepare to surrender to the wishes of my overseer however inconvenient they may be.
- Meet with my overseer and honestly share all of the concerns and issues at stake. Inform him that I’d prefer not to go and if he could find someone else, I’d really appreciate it.
- Submit. After a healthy conversation, my overseer states that he appreciates my concerns but he still needs me to go. So, I go.
I don’t have to pray about my decision. I don’t have to talk with anybody else. I have no option according to God’s established government in my life. I fly to Alabama with a smile on my face. God’s authority has spoken.
The enemy has caused many to believe that we can’t experience freedom while being submitted. This is simply not true.
Freedom from authority is rebellion.
Freedom in the absence of authority is anarchy.
Freedom under authority is liberty.
The process of response to my leader described above not only must take place between a pastor and his overseers, but also between a youth pastor and his pastor. Also, between the ministers in the pews and their leaders. We’ll eventually see the city Church established once again and pastors will be submitting to apostles in their city. It’s a process that is quite foreign to most.
The 100% Church and the Call to Corporate Mission Advance
This issue of pastors becoming salesmen has forced the rapid growth of para-church ministries. Leaders of para-church ministries have a greater ability to call those people who have partnered with them on their mission field into a position of readiness and response.
The success of the mission is at a lesser risk as all hands are on deck and ready to go. Pastors don’t always have it as easy.
For example, a pastor may hear God tell him to gather his flock together and fast from all food for 3 days. In God’s government, there would be no resistance, complaining or negativity. 100% of the participants in the church, who had already made up their mind to be unified and ready to press ahead as warriors for God, would immediately embrace this God given mandate. All would fast. If someone had a concern with the directive, that’s OK. A good servant won’t simply ignore the plan of action, but will rather make the effort to talk to the leader. A good leader will certainly listen to their concerns with compassion.
Much dialogue can occur. However, at the end of the discussion, the two would be ‘agreed’–moving in the same direction. The events of 1988 in Baton Rouge changed that considerably.
Now, the process that poor pastor must go through when the need to call the troops to action is enough to cause him to resign!
- He studies endlessly in the Word so he can ‘cover all of his bases’. He is already preparing his heart for resistance–the resistance that was perpetuated back in 1988.
- Due to this certain impending resistance, he prays long and hard for God to help him cast vision and sell this strategy to the church by giving him ‘the words to say’.
- He shares his impression that God wants this three-day fast with his leadership team, hoping to gain support. He knows he’ll need it.
- He looks at the schedule to make sure he doesn’t offend anybody by scheduling the fast during a time when someone else has already planned his or her own event.
- He prays again asking God for more insight as to the purpose of the fast. He wants to make sure he has enough info so as to effectively sell this idea to the people.
- He stresses out when God doesn’t give further insight.
- He starts to guess how many will actually respond so he can devise a plan to effectively make sure those who don’t respond don’t feel alienated. After all, an affirmed and happy family is very important.
- He then shares how he ‘feels led’ that God ‘would like’ the church to fast. Those who also ‘feel led’ should sign up in the back as they leave.
- The same five or six people who show up for everything sign up and the rest of the sheet is left blank. It’s a monument of a failed mission.
- The next time God says something, the pastor will be even less zealous in sharing the dream.
Here are my notes from last night’s teaching:
- Threat 9. Seeking an Enhanced Life
1. People generally want God to make their current lives better. They want an enhancement, an upgrade.
2. However, the demands of revival include the willingness to embrace a fire that won’t warm your flesh—it will consume your flesh.
3. I wonder if the church would listen to “prophetic words for 2013” if they included extreme surrender & death to self instead of benefits.
1. We should certainly understand that the great and terrible day of the Lord is at near! We are living as in the days of Noah.
2. “I Thess. 5:2,3 …the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them…”
1. “Just as false prophets of old fraudulently forecast a bright future, in spite of the imminence of God's judgment (Jer.6:14, 8:11,14:13-14; Lam.2:14; Ezek. 13:10,16; Mic. 3:5) so they will again in future days just before the final Day of the Lord destruction.”
2. Ezekiel 13:15-16 (ESV) 15 Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it, 16 the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord GOD.
3. Matthew 24:36-39 (ESV) 36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
3. I was chatting with a pastor from Quebec… he said people call him the ‘death pastor’… because he is unrelenting in his call to die to self.
1. What??!
2. Somehow it’s a derogatory thing to call people to lay down their lives?
3. Messages of personal benefit are rampant. Joseph Prince is teaching a very dangerous message.
1. No confession, no repentance, no way to lose salvation.
4. Evan Roberts called for people to gather—but not all people—only those who were willing to make a total surrender.
1. Revival doesn’t enhance lives, it crushes them. If we attempt to advance with a semi-surrendered people, the fire simply will not fall.
2. It’s not that blessing won’t come…but there are a lot of people who are looking for an enhancement to lives that are actually on agenda to be broken, not built up.
3. We don’t want life as we know it to become better! We have to lay that life on the altar and trade it for the cross!
1. It’s the same thing that was happening when the money changers were in the temple.
1. They wanted a better life.
2. It’s the same thing that happened at the triumphal entry.
3. Matthew 21:8-9 (ESV) 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
1. Hosanna literally means: Save us now!
2. They wanted an enhanced life!
3. Jesus decided to answer their cry, but when they realized it wasn’t what they wanted, they turned on him!
4. That spirit is in the church everywhere!
5. Matthew 27:20-23 (ESV) 20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” 22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” 23 And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
5. Since I’ve been in Detroit I’ve heard a lot about revival. It seems the whole region is crying out for it. However, this is where the root of the disturbance in my spirit exists.
1. Most every time revival is mentioned, the intent of that desire is to experience some sort of breakthrough, blessing or restitution.
2. It’s time we STOP crying out for God to revive the economy, for resolved issues, for racial tensions to subside, for a fixed city… and START crying out for God and God alone!
3. God is jealous and he won’t allow Detroit to be satisfied by money, security or anything else until we are satisfied in Him and no one or nothing else!
4. Jesus’ own disciples fell into the trap too… they focused on the enhancement instead of the mission!
1. Acts 1:6-11 (ESV) 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
6. DO NOT expect revival until we return to our first love and lay down our lives daily. It WILL NOT COME! In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if the situation in this region got dramatically worse. The choice is ours, however.
7. It’s absolutely shocking to me that so much emphasis is placed on the pursuit of breakthrough yet the call to breakthrough into a pursuit of God falls on deaf ears.
8. Will we only gather and pray if we have a hope of personal blessing?
1. Where are all of the hungry people in Detroit? The stadiums should be filled with zealous, praying people every night of the week! Have the cares of life and entertainment so bewitched us that we have become convinced that being with God is not worth it?
9. I propose starting a movement of encounter which only has one goal—to be fully satisfied in enjoying and responding to the Lover of our souls. Nothing else matters. If we all have to live in a cardboard box on the streets of Detroit to encounter God, so be it! Our goal is not financial! It’s not selfish! It’s to be with God! That is all!
- Threat 10. A Lack of Immediate Response
1. We must develop a ‘drop everything ‘culture. An ‘all hands on deck’ culture.
1. There will be regular calls to prayer, calls to action… monthly, weekly, that will require a ‘drop everything’ culture.
2. My intercessors know this… if I send them an issue, depending on the severity, they drop everything… they get on a conference call… they pray.
3. If we have fallen into the trap of seeking an enhanced life, we won’t respond to the inconvenient call!
1. This is a major danger in the church today!
2. We’ll say, I don’t see how my life will be enhanced by participating, so I will hold back.
3. This is why we teach people in theLab to be alert… to always be on time… we don’t break for holidays… we don’t excuse people for vacations… it’s a drop everything culture of consecration.
4. This model isn’t just for theLab!!!! This is the life of the Believer!!!!!
5. Christmas morning at IHOP is just like any other day of the week! They stay on the wall… they don’t relax the mandate.
6. Let me set you free from a Christian cop out.
1. When called to action, don’t ever say, “I’ll pray about it”… unless you are truly going to invest some hard core prayer and then report back exactly what God said!
2. To say that we’ll pray about it… and then do what we want to do instead of exactly what God said to do whether we pray or not… is taking the Lord’s name in vain!
1. If we tell people that God said that we aren’t to do something when God never said that at all is taking his name in vain!
2. Most things don’t require praying about… and we’re a praying church!
3. In a drop everything culture where the prophetic calls are constant, if everybody just stopped everything to pray about whether they should respond or not nothing would ever be accomplished.
4. Check out a couple passages in Joel:
2. Joel 1:14 Consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
3. And in Joel 2:
1. Joel 2:15-17 (ESV) 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; 16 gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. 17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
1. The people are saying “Where is their God!!!!!!!!”
2. Connecticut! Where was God!!!! Church!!!! Are we so asleep that we don’t see this?
3. We have to gather!!!!! Be together!!! Be instant!!! Pray!!!! Always!!!!!!
4. At 5pm every Sunday, be in the prayer room!!! Cry out to the Lord!!!
2. We live in a day where there's Twitter, email, Facebook, video and more… in every house in the city!!! We have phones that are many times smarter than the computer that took a rocket to the moon!
3. There is no excuse to not hear and respond to the prophetic decrees moment by moment!
4. We must be alert and ready! Alarms are being sounded, yet are any hearing?
5. The call a couple of years ago was for every church to gather at Fire in February. Few responded. The same thing with The Call. Few responded. The prophets are calling the church of Detroit to respond, and immediately!
4. This is one reason why church schedules must be flexible.
5. It’s also a reason why daily meetings are critical.
6. When prophetic instruction is received, the entire region must know about it right away, and the people must respond.
1. The Manitou way of doing things… continual data, continual response.
2. Luke 9:59-62 (ESV) 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
3. We have to learn to do two things:
1. Embrace key prophets in the region
2. Stay tuned in, stay in your email, stay ready for an urgent message that just may require you respond in hours time!
7. In Joshua 3, the instructions were clear, and everybody responded in unison.
1. Consecrate yourselves today…for tomorrow!!!!
8. There’s no way to fulfill this mighty mission if we are only together one day a week (actually 2 hours a week!).
1. There’s way too much work to be done!
2. As an example, Mike Bickle recently called an urgent meeting. Most of the departments at IHOP in Kansas City were immediately closed and the people all gathered together to receive an urgent prophetic message.
3. In Detroit, we must promote extreme alertness and flexibility so we can respond moment by moment to the demands of regional revival.
4. If we are mostly focused on our local, personal ventures, we’ll stay disconnected from the greater, regional mission. The response won’t be what is necessary and revival will most likely never come.
James Dobson & Judgment: Our country is in complete disarray
The church in America is like the frog in the kettle. We don’t understand how far we have fallen.
James Dobson:
Our country really does seem in complete disarray. I'm not talking politically, I'm not talking about the result of the November sixth election; I am saying that something has gone wrong in America and that we have turned our back on God.
I mean millions of people have decided that God doesn't exist, or he's irrelevant to me and we have killed fifty-four million babies and the institution of marriage is right on the verge of a complete redefinition. Believe me, that is going to have consequences too.
And a lot of these things are happening around us, and somebody is going to get mad at me for saying what I am about to say right now, but I am going to give you my honest opinion: I think we have turned our back on the Scripture and on God Almighty and I think he has allowed judgment to fall upon us. I think that's what's going on.
James is right—we have no clue how far we have fallen from righteousness and morality. There are entire unbiblical theologies that are skyrocketing in popularity right now that communicate a minimal impact of sin on us personally and corporately.
I actually heard someone say last night, “In the New Covenant God doesn’t convict of sin. As Christians we cannot sin.” What?!
In a must read article, Steve Hill says:
One spiritual leaders said the other day: “You guys are old-fashioned ‘holiness,' we are modern day ‘grace.' You live in bondage while we can do anything we want.
The false-grace message is truly wiping out masses of people who have been lulled into a state of false-comfort and false-peace. In the end there will be a great falling away, and we are in the beginnings of those troubles.
We must repent with brokenness and tears. We must stop calling good evil and evil good. We can no longer do what is right in our own eyes. The Bible says there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. That death is all around us.
I’d strongly encourage you to watch a Sid Roth episode on counterfeit grace. He and his guest Tony Kemp feel strongly that multiple messages about this dangerous movement must be broadcast. Watch it here: http://www.sidroth.org/site/News2?abbr=tv_&page=NewsArticle&id=12311
I personally don’t believe there is an option to become comfy and casual in regard to our salvation. There are end time false theologies that truly put many Christians at great risk of falling away.
ENTERTAINED BY THE SIN THAT RESULTED IN THE DEATH OF JESUS
“That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:12)
Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils” (1 Corinthians 10:21)
I believe an “old time religion” style holiness movement must visit the church immediately.
It’s shocking to me, and I know this sounds old fashioned and legalistic, how many Christians allow themselves to be entertained by the very things that required the torture and brutal murder of the One we love!
Allow the Holy Spirit to bring wonderful conviction!
Allow the deadly numbness to dissipate!
We as Christians should be cut to the heart when light hearted jokes about sinful lifestyles are heard. When foul language is heard. When the private and God given gift of sexuality becomes pubic.
How is it that this has become rare to hear? Just a generation ago television wouldn’t even depict married couples laying in the same bed together!
Do we not know that we as Christians cannot lust? We can’t even think those thoughts, much less hear impure discussion or see it played out on the screen.
Steve Hill also says:
Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers must be willing to drop spiritual bombs, fire anti-heresy missiles, and even drive into the danger zones armed with explosive truth to confront this potential avalanche. The generals of this generation must leave the war room and put their years of experience on the front lines.
We are truly deceived if we believe we will participate in any measure of revival if we take holiness lightly, are entertained by sin and are apathetic in the call to take up our cross?
We cannot reform a culture we are so invested in.
GREAT FALLING AWAY
If you haven’t heard the epic and heart wrenching clip from David Wilkerson titled A Call to Anguish, you must take seven minutes of your day and listen. You will be ripped to the core. Watch and listen here: http://youtu.be/lGMG_PVaJoI
In 1995 David Wilkerson wrote:
The apostle Paul speaks of two frightful things that will strike the church just prior to Jesus' return. Indeed, the Lord will not come back until these two awful things happen. And I want to show you that both things are taking place right now – before our very eyes!
First, Paul tells us that in the last days there will be a great falling away. And second, he warns that an evil spirit of antichrist will overtake many believers who are turning aside!
The antichrist spirit is invading the hearts of many apostate Christians even now. They are being absolutely possessed of evil. “But how?” you ask. “Why would certain apostate Christians ever turn to the Antichrist?”
It is because they are like-minded with him! John writes:
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world….
“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (1 John 2:15-18).
John is warning us that those who still love the things of this world have opened themselves to the spirit of antichrist. He's saying, “You know these are the last days – because so many are full of the covetous antichrist spirit!”
Beloved, if you are serving Jesus only 50 percent – or even 90 percent – then you are denying His full salvation. You aren't serving Him with all your heart, mind, soul and body. And you have opened up an inroad for the antichrist spirit to come in!
I agree with David. Many in the church will be shocked one day to find themselves in Hell. Is that offensive? It should be! It must be!
David Wilkerson writes further:
I am totally convinced that the antichrist spirit's most effective means of preparing hearts are cable TV and filthy movies. He knows that the eye is the gateway to the heart. And he marches straight through the corrupted, jaded eye of a Christian and takes over the throne of his heart!
This is why the antichrist spirit has taken control of the secular media – TV networks, movie production, Broadway theater, the press. Who but the antichrist spirit could so bias the media that abortion is now considered a right rather than a sin? Who but this spirit could justify euthanasia, the killing off of the elderly or infirm?
Who but the spirit of antichrist could mock everything that is sacred and holy, through wicked movies and vile TV programs? I believe the antichrist spirit is actually producing the programs on MTV and the Fox Network. From what I read of their shows, it's all absolute filth. Who but the antichrist spirit could be responsible for it?
The spirit of lawlessness is growing bolder and bolder, and our society is on the brink of becoming a raging hell. The antichrist spirit now pervades our schools, our courts, our streets, our businesses, even our homes. And, sadly, this evil is rapidly moving into the church.
I believe the spirit of antichrist is establishing churches all over the United States. This spirit is the motivating force behind “outsider friendly” churches. Who but the antichrist spirit would call for the ungodly to set the spiritual agenda – sending church founders door to door, surveying people: “What would you prefer church to be like? We want to tailor it so that you'll come.”
These megachurches are being built on skits and dramas, because people don't want to hear reproof. They want no conviction – so they hear a gospel that is almost totally devoid of repentance, judgment, the Cross. They are told all about God's grace and mercy, how to cope with problems – but nothing of God's judgment and hell. They're being lulled to sleep in their sinful lifestyle.
“But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils” (1 Corinthians 10:20-21).
NOBODY IS IMMUNE TO FALLING AWAY
We must humbly admit that we are at risk of being the frog in the kettle. We can be desensitized. We can slowly move from being horrified by sin to entertained by sin. We can go from being consecrated to being defiled.
The defense that I hear all too often is, “There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus! Talking about sin invites condemnation!”
Let me say it very plainly: That defense is ridiculous!
- First, if we are in Christ Jesus, we will invite his deep and continual inspection into our hearts so that any sin can be eradicated! We won’t resist that process! We won’t want to harbor any sin whatsoever!
- Second, we are often too casual and quick to presume that we are in Christ Jesus! If teaching on sin and holiness results in resistance in our spirits, we have to wonder if we are actually in Christ Jesus! Are we saved? Have we bought into a false teaching that’s not biblically sound? If we are not in Christ Jesus, any condemnation we may be feeling is accurate! We will die in our sins and will go to Hell.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
I know that’s hard to swallow, but truth is often wonderfully troubling. We have to deal with this now before it’s to late at the end of our lives.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24)
It’s time for a prayer-fueled movement of repentance and holiness in the church. Many will resist this message, but we have to be OK with that. Eternity is a very long time.
Listen now to Ten Threats to Revival #8: Unbelief
A spirit of entitlement is false-faith. God is calling us to move ahead boldly as people of great faith!
You can follow along with my notes here:
- Threat 8. Unbelief
1. You can do this! You are called to live a ridiculously supernatural life!!!!!
1. You must believe! Go after the impossible! Be like Noah and live in such a way that causes people to mock!!!! You are called to live a miraculous life!
2. Understand that most people will not believe. In order to be in the mix of the end-time revival, you must believe!!!!! The more we pray, the more we believe!!! The more we hear his word, the more faith! Faith comes by hearing!!!
1. Luke 18:7-8 (ESV) 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
2. Frank Bartleman wrote Evan Roberts and asked him how to launch revival.
1. So, Frank did it and Azusa exploded and changed the face of Christianity!
2. Mike Bickle prophecy: “I will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in the earth in one generation.”
3. So what is Evan Robert’s prescription?
1. “Congregate the people who are willing to make a total surrender. Pray and wait. Believe God’s promises. Hold daily meetings. ”Evan Roberts
2. Reading this simple yet non-negotiable prescription for revival reveals that the church of this nation is far from ready!
3. Evan Roberts reveals one of the elements of revival is simply to believe God’s promises.
1. In Detroit there’s false belief over this region: Entitlement
1. When people don’t get what they presume they are entitled to, rage ensues.
2. The right to work legislation resulted in violence in Lansing.
4. It’s stunning how little the church believes in the supernatural. Healing, freedom, power and abundant life are tragically rare.
1. 1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world- our faith.
1. The call of revival is the call to overcome the spirit of this age.
1. It’s a HUGE, HUGE mission, and if we struggle in our belief, we just won’t get it done.
2. We must be Believers, not hopers.
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3. Matthew 13:57-58 (ESV) 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.
1. I experienced this when I was traveling to Detroit… faith was high!
2. Now, who comes with raging, burning expectation of fire every Sunday?
3. If we expect to only have another service, that is what we will get—fire requires fervent, active faith that won’t relent!!!!
1. Most people think faith results in waiting… waiting for God to do something.
2. Not true!!!!! Faith is simply belief that something is to be done!!!
3. We go after it!!!
4. Faith is an action word-when we have it, based on a revelation of who we are in Christ, we rock the world, we work with passion, we burn continually!
1. Start a Tribe!
2. Pray continually!
3. Move! Advance! Do! Go!
1. Mark 9:17-24 (ESV) 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
2. Jesus doesn’t take kindly to lack of faith!
3. Now, get this… the kid was going to die if the father didn’t have faith!!!! This is why he said ‘help my unbelief’… it wasn’t casual!! There was a point of crisis… he had to believe to save his son!!!!
2. Matt 9:20-22 (NIV) 20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
22Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.
1. Faith is an action word! After the revelation comes the action… it takes both to receive what is rightfully ours.
2. It wasn’t only a hope and a prayer… it was a revelation and response.
3. Mark 4:23-25 (ESV) 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
3. 1 Tim 6:12 (NKJV) 12Fight the good fight of faith
1. We don’t wait for things to happen, we cause things to happen!
2. Matt 21:21-22 (NKJV) 21 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done. 22“And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
3. DO what was DONE to the fig tree. Faith is an action word!
4. Hebrews 6:11-12 (ESV) 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
5. Action!
2. Oh God, I really want a great job in the ministry- I know you’ll come through for me… it will happen as you have divinely designed.
1. Well, have you submitted a resume?
2. Have you studied to show yourself approved?
3. Have you done the work?
5. I believe one of the most critical areas of both crisis and opportunity has to do with identity.
1. A spirit of insignificance- listen to it!
2. Wrong identity absolutely annihilates faith and ministry.
1. It has people hiding from their enemies in caves.
2. It results in taking a casual approach to ministry.
3. It keeps people at home or relaxing when their comrades are on the wall in the church.
1. Check out this report:
1. We had revival (I mean, full-tilt, make Brownsville Toronto and Lakeland look tame) … we were about to ramp it up… and suddenly most of the people who make it all “work” had “other things to do” —I wept.
2. If we believe, we will advance, work and expect… we won’t pull back or be casual.
3. If there’s someone who’s casual in their pursuit, you can know they are having a faith crisis.
2. If we have a wrong understanding of our identity, we tend to participate in the church or in mission so it can make our life better instead of walking in the power of an accurate identity using our lives to make the church better.
3. George Barna- Americans consider survival in the present to be much more significant than eternal security and spiritual possibilities.
6. Faith is what others will see as evidence that God is who we believe he is.
1. Heb 11:1 (NKJV) 1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
1. It’s when we tithe before we see the money to pay our bills.
2. It’s when we step into the impossible.
3. It’s when we pray for the sick.
4. It’s when we obey the Word!
2. Action
1. Heb 11:4 (NKJV) 4By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice
2. Heb 11:8 (NKJV) 8By faith Abraham obeyed
3. Heb 11:27 (NKJV) 27By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
4. Heb 11:29 (NKJV) 29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land
5. Heb 11:30 (NKJV) 30By faith the walls of Jericho fell down
6. Heb 11:32-34 (NKJV) 32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
1. Action!!!
3. A barometer of our position in Christ has to be whether we can hear or not!
1. John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
2. This is the only way we can believe!
3. Rom 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
4. The only way to be united with Christ in the pursuit of revival is to hear and believe!
5. Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
6. We can't just wait around in doubt, it's time to move!
7. We MUST believe!
1. Mark 16:14-18 (ESV) 14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 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.”
Urgent message from RHOP founder John Burton
Thank you for taking the time to read through this important message. I and Miles Anderson, the Director of Revolution House of Prayer in Manitou Springs, Colorado, appreciates it.
I currently lead Revival Church in the Detroit area, but my heart is deeply moved by the vision God gave us in the late 1990’s for Manitou Springs. I believed then, and I still believe today that the entire city of Manitou Springs is to be a mission base of fervent and continual prayer—prayer that literally initiates and helps sustain revival in the Pikes Peak region and well beyond.
RHOP is, for the first time since I passed the local leadership to Miles and his team, in a severe financial crisis. They are at risk of closing their doors for good this month.
Sounding the Alarm
The purpose of this message is NOT to simply fund raise, though finances must come in both immediately and continually.
The primary reason I’m sending this is to help sound the alarm—if strategic, catalytic prayer ceases in Manitou Springs, a very real enemy, a regional principality, will become emboldened. This we cannot afford.
I am saddened that prayer movements all across the nation and around the world are struggling and closing their doors. As a revivalist, I can admit that it enrages me that a sleeping church refuses to awaken to the blast of warning sirens. The church is to be a house of prayer for all nations, and we are to be fiery intercessors who are ravaged by the love of God. The house of prayer must grow, not cease.
Right here in Detroit, a key and powerful house of prayer that was in existence for over ten years, and raised up countless passionate lovers of God, closed for good this year. I can’t stand by and watch the same thing happen in Manitou Springs. No way.
A key issue is this: Few people consider a house of prayer to be a church (ironic, I know). Therefore, houses of prayer don’t tend to receive the tithe.
Nobody at RHOP is paid a salary (though they should be). The finances needed go primarily towards rent.
We cannot let the need for a few thousand dollars a month stop this powerful, consistent, twelve year prayer vigil!
So, what is needed?
· First, it should be easy for a fresh 100 people who are consecrated to God in the pursuit of revival to join ranks with RHOP each week. Go and pray. Serve with passion.
· Pastors, we need you to champion the call to prayer and lead the charge into the house of prayer in Manitou Springs.
· If you don’t attend church elsewhere, become a zealous tither and giver to RHOP. If you do attend elsewhere, pray about committing to special monthly offerings for this critical prayer movement.
· Setup a recurring donation, or give a special one time gift here: http://www.rhop.com/donate/index.html
I’m asking Miles and his team to unapologetically forward this to everybody in their sphere of influence—and beyond.
I will be doing the same.
Please contact me if you have any questions whatsoever.
Thank you very, very much.
John Burton
Fear: This may be the most important series I’ve ever taught
Listen to the latest in what may be the most important series I’ve ever taught: Threat to Revival #7—Fear
FIRST: You DON’T want to miss our fourth annual Revival Church Christmas Dinner & White Elephant Gift Exchange!!!
Join us this Thursday, December 13th at 7pm for a night of Christmas family fun. Bring a main course and either a side OR dessert to share. Also, bring a wrapped gift valued under $10, one for each member in your family, for the white elephant gift exchange. It all happens at Revival Church, which meets at CENTRAL CHURCH, 1529 E. 12 Mile Rd, Madison Heights, MI 48071. Invite all of your friends and family!
TEN THREATS TO REVIVAL: THREAT #7, FEAR
You can listen to last night’s incredibly freeing message on the spirit of fear here: http://media.johnburton.net/5753783
Follow along with the notes here:
Threat 7. Fear of Loss
1. The greater our fear of God which comes through intimacy with him, the less our fear that’s initiated by the enemy will be.
1. We won’t fear loss… we will understand that loss is a part of the process. Don’t protect what God may want to touch in your life.
2. Isaiah 8:11-13 (ESV) 11 For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
3. The catch is this: If we fear God, the result is boldness and intimacy and power and confidence.
4. If we have a spirit of fear, the result is timidity, reclusion, weakness and insecurity.
1. Proverbs 19:23 (ESV) 23 The fear of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.
1. You could call the spirit of fear, slave fear and the fear of the Lord, son fear.
2. The fear of a slave is to cower; slaves want to run away from their masters. But “son fear” is something different; it motivates us to seek and please God.
3. “Slave fear” that drives us away from God is wrong; “son fear” that drives us toward God is right and proper.
2. In this next passage, God is saying not to have slave fear.
3. Exodus 20:18-20 (ESV) 18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.”
2. Revelation 1:17-18 (ESV) 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
3. Nenien C. McPherson, Jr., says that the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises are the only fears that are natural to us. There are only two, he says, and all the rest are learned.
1. Satan coaches us into every other fear! He’s our fear coach. He’s our fear leader!
2. In generations past the fear for the Christian was the loss of life, today the fear is a loss of comfort.
4. Fear haunts people and hijacks their zeal and their focus on mission.
1. When we fear loss, our natural reaction is to shut everything else out and go into protect mode.
2. Fear is a disqualifier. It sends people home… their focus is on how to survive their own lives at home instead of being in the midst of the mission… the very reason they were born!
3. Judges 7:2-3 (ESV) 2 The LORD said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ 3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
1. When the call to run with a vision is presented, don’t be surprised when people turn their focus to their own survival.
2. The song goes, I surrender all!!! If all is surrendered, we can’t be gripped by fear of loss!
1. Our family is surrendered, our money is surrendered, our comfort is surrendered, our physical life is surrendered!
3. Manitou Springs-I was disturbed at the number of Christians that were afraid to even drive past that city! I was mad!
4. I needed the warriors to show up, to be bold, to lock arms with us and take a city—and they didn’t even begin in the battle! Fear kept them away, and the flow to Hell kept streaming.
1. As a visionary, one issue that I constantly wrestle with is the job of selling the vision.
2. So much energy is used attempting to convince the church of the region that it’s a good move to invest in revival. It’s a benefit to them to participate. There’s blessing if they run the race with us.
3. Come on! Where are the people who have matured beyond this? Where are those who need no reason to invest in revival other than the fact that people are going to Hell?
4. Where are those who fear not? Who simply show up to fight against the Kingdom of darkness? No fear of loss at all! People with fire in their eyes who know why they were born!
1. We cannot expect to win if we forfeit.
2. The church isn’t primarily plagued with defeat, it’s plagued with FORFEIT!
3. The Hebrews forfeited the Promised Land!!!! Fear!!!
4. Numbers 13:25-28 (ESV) 25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large.
5. Then what happens is that the true visionaries reject fear and call everybody to go, and there’s division in the camp! The mission ends!
6. Numbers 13:30-33 (ESV) 30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
7. They wanted to stone those who were responding to God’s call to advance!
8. Numbers 14:23-24 (ESV) 23 … And none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.
5. The issue of fear is a HUGE one!
1. If we don’t deal with fear now, when the threat to our lives increases, we will run home!
2. Mark 14:61-65 (ESV) 61 But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63 And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? 64 You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death. 65 And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.
3. Mark 14:66-72 (ESV) 66 And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. 69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” 71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
4. There’s been so much emphasis in the church on blessing and gain, that the spirit of fear has been able to settle into position, ready to pounce when the possibility of personal loss presents itself.
1. Attempting to minimize risk is not the answer!!!!
6. The church must again be a place of power that calls people to the edge as it plunders the kingdom of darkness!!!
1. A key reason pastors don’t advance their churches into the experiential realm of encounter with God is that the risk of losing people, money and their reputation is high.
2. It’s clear that a instituting a marginalized church culture is a much less risky option to develop a growing church in America. However, it’s also clear that such a culture is void of power and miracles.
1. Revival will only come through a Biblical church that is costly, raging hot on fire and radically uncomfortable to our flesh.
3. The world isn’t looking for another man-made system to join. In fact, the world does a much better job of building humanistic kingdoms than the church does.
4. We’ll only see revival when we have the guts to call people into the wilderness of extreme encounter where the Fire and the Cloud leads them into a supercharged adventure.
1. Fear of loss must be replaced by an expectation of loss!
2. I surrender all! It's not, “I hope I don't have to surrender all!”
3. I die daily! It's not, “I hope I can avoid the death part of the program!”
4. I take up my cross! It's not, “I take up my blessing!”
7. The comforter
1. We were robbed
1. The enemy will actually cause blessing at times!
2. Promise of new computers
3. Story of getting robbed
4. Fear
5. At IHOP
6. The enemy wants to masquerade as the Holy Spirit… he’s a false comforter.
7. He wants us to use him, to use fear as a means of protection.
8. This revelation was so powerful.
9. We were initially terrified to stay in the house, but that night I let God comfort me like never before… and I slept with overwhelming peace.
Get freedom from fear tonight at Revival Church!
Tonight I’ll be teaching on how to be free from fear…one of the key threats to revival.
FIRST: Bring everybody you know to Revival Church’s fourth annual Christmas Dinner & White Elephant Gift Exchange! Bring a main course and either a side OR a dessert (two total items) to share! Wrap a real or gag gift valued no more than $10 for as many people as there are in your family. It all begins THIS THURSDAY, December 13th at 7pm!
This series has been powerful! Listen to all of the prior teachings in the series, Ten Threats to Revival, at http://media.johnburton.net.
TONIGHT I’ll deal with one of the most powerful threats, a true enemy to every Believer… FEAR.
Revival Church meets at CENTRAL CHURCH, 1529 E. 12 Mile Rd, Madison Heights, MI 48071.
Here are some additional announcements:
Revival Tribe & theLab Info & Leadership Meeting
After service, Sunday, December 16, 2012 Current Tribe leaders and those wanting info about our church planting strategy will meet for about one hour after the service. This is a required meeting for current Tribe leaders and those already registered for theLab. If you not a leader and would like to attend, please RSVP by emailing [email protected].
4th Annual Christmas Party / White Elephant Gift Exchange
Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 7 pm in the Fellowship Hall Bring TWO items: a main dish AND a side or dessert to share. For each member of the family (including any children who wish to participate), bring a wrapped gift valued between $5 and $10. This can be a nice gift, a re-gift, a gag gift. Feel free to get creative! Friends and family are welcome!
Revival Church Christmas Community Outreach
Saturday, December 15, 2012, 10 am to 2 pm in the Fellowship Hall Join us for a great opportunity to minister to the underprivileged in our community! On Saturday, December 15, low-income families will visit our fellowship hall to pick up gifts and Christmas baskets. We want to minister to both their physical needs and their spiritual needs. We will offer prayer as well as material blessings!
We need your help! In just one week, we have already agreed to sponsor 33 children, and many more will sign up in the weeks to come.
What can you do?
· Buy Gifts – Stop by the mini Christmas tree in the lobby and pick up a tag, detailing the age and gender of the child you are sponsoring. Return gifts (valued between $15 and $20) by Sunday, December 9.
· Wrap Presents – We will meet at 10 am on Saturday, December 15, to wrap presents and put together baskets. We need all the help we can get. Families will begin arriving at noon.
· Make phone calls – All sponsored families will receive a reminder phone call the week before the event.
· Offer Prayer – We need people at the event to pray with our sponsored families.
· Volunteer – We need help at the event handing out gifts and directing people.
Please contact Amy Burton if you can help. [email protected]
theLab School of Fire
THURSDAY, JANUARY 10th 2013 Tuition: $75 (plus $25 application fee) Join with a team of burning men & women on a journey into the fire of God’s presence. We believe there is a significant yet hidden company of Believers that God is gathering together to be trained, healed and infused with fire. These mighty people will carry and release the burning of the Holy Spirit into the revival-ready Detroit region…and beyond to the cities of the Earth.
Revival Tribes
REVIVAL CHURCH’S CHURCH PLANTING INITIATIVE! 50 CHURCHES PLANTED IN DETROIT AND BEYOND! If you would like to apply to launch a home church please review the info at www.revivaltribe.com and contact us!
Be sure to subscribe to our email news updates at www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/subscribe!
Articles, videos, teachings, news and info about upcoming events will keep you up to speed on everything at Revival Church!
Is your high school student ready to BURN? theLab begins soon!
An emerging burning army of young people will usher in revival…theLab is a training ground for this raging remnant!
FIRST: Tomorrow (Sunday) at Revival Church, I’ll be teaching on the next threat to revival: FEAR. Get ready to have fear broken off of your life!
Revival Church meets Sundays at 6pm at CENTRAL CHURCH, 1529 E. 12 Mile Rd, Madison Heights, MI 48071.
SECOND: Don’t forget to apply for membership to Revival Church! This is an exciting time to lock in with a family of revivalists in Detroit whether you are local, or participate online! www.johnburton.net/membership
THELAB: MOTHERS AND FATHERS, SONS AND DAUGHTERS
Some churches have youth groups. We have a School of Fire.
For the very first time, theLab School of Fire is open to everybody in high school and on up. Only $100!
LEARN MORE AND APPLY TODAY! The next session begins January 20th!
God is marking the young generation with fire, and he’s awakening them into a prayer-fueled life of wonders.
theLab is a fiery and focused movement of revival that refuses to allow anyone, young or old, to live below their call and destiny.
CARRIERS OF FIRE
Elizabeth was barren and old—yet she carried a burning prophet who would prepare the world for the coming of the King.
Luke 1:15-17 (ESV) 15 …and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.
Mary was a virgin and young—yet she carried the King of glory.
Luke 1:34-37 (ESV) 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
The two generations converged, the baby leaped, the Holy Spirit arrived and the world was shocked into freedom!
Luke 1:39-42 (ESV) 39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
theLab School of Fire is an extreme and unapologetic movement of revival, and our mandate is to raise up carriers of fire who shock the world with the prophetic, burning word of the Lord.
TIME IS SHORT! Applications must be received no later than December 20th, 2012.
LEARN MORE AND APPLY TODAY!
Become a Revival Church member: Local OR online
Become a member of Revival Church today—either locally OR online!
I very regularly hear from people who want to connect more closely with the ministry of Revival Church—both locally, and also quite a bit in other states and nations.
Now it’s EASY!
You can APPLY TODAY to become a member of a white hot, passionate and strategic revival movement!
God rocked us tonight at Revival Church… listen to the teaching now.
The atmosphere was charged as God rocked us with a call to discover the spirit of prayer.
Listen NOW to tonight’s message, Ten Threats to Revival #6: A Lack of Intercession. media.johnburton.net/5614333
I’ll include my personal notes below so you can follow along.
Threat 6. A Lack of Intercession
1. It’s time to work!!!! It’s time to establish a foundation that will support revival!
1. Satisfaction with the present is fatal to the future!
2. God told me in Colorado that our ministry was going to be a model of revival for the nations.
1. I hesitated sharing that for quite some time.
2. One day God pressed the issue… and I agreed to cast that vision. I wrote it on the white board… and that very day I met someone who drove down from Denver to see me.
3. He said God spoke to him about our ministry… that it was to be a model of revival for the nations!
4. In San Diego I irritated a group of young leaders in the youth group… I was unrelenting in my focus on prayer… one day one of them came to me… he said, I don’t like the way you do things, but I had to tell you… I can’t deny that it works.
5. Prayer!!!!!!!!! If nothing else… prayer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6. We must be with God, hear God and declare his Word!
7. Isaiah 58:1-3 (ESV) 1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.”
8. Amos 3:6-8 (ESV) 6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it? 7 “For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. 8 The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?”
1. These secrets only come through crazy levels of deep prayer!
2. God has secrets he wants to share with you, but he doesn't shout his secrets. Get closer. ~Leonard Ravenhill to Steve Hill
3. Evan Roberts declared that revival hinges on our obedience to pray and wait.
1. These two primary disciplines are so hard for Christians, but they should not be!!
2. Christians are prayer-sick… it’s shocking!!!
1. “I'm soliciting your thoughts about how one's heart begins to engage with God. It seems so few people claim they have experience a deep encounter with The Lord on an ongoing basis. Is it taught, or caught? Is it initiated by God or man? How is it sustained?”
1. There is a HUGE price to pay if you want to encounter God on an ongoing basis!!!! MASSIVE!!!
4. Undrai Fizer-
The Things that your spirit believes in will get you in trouble, and I want to know– “Are you alright with that?” Believing in, as well as becoming and being transformed into an expression of the Kingdom, will definitely produce “words against you.” Are you alright with that?
Are you alright with being put on the spot, wondered about, and misunderstood? Are you cool with the fact that you no longer are being empowered to please men, nor their opinions, and to suffer ridicule for being one with God? Are you ready to become friends with seeming “loneliness” in order to be one with God and His beliefs?
Are you ready to believe and become a thing that the world cannot label, neither can religion control? Are you ready to live with that type of fearlessness and power? Are you ready to eat Words of God that produce this kind of dominion? Are you ready to become best friends “with a sword” that will bring division between beliefs of the Kingdom, and beliefs of religion and the mundane?
5. Are we going to boldly and sometimes violently advance against a lukewarm society, against the spirit of Jezebel, against Absalom and take what God has called us to possess? If so, there is a price to pay- and we must pay it!
1. I keep hearing stories about how hard it is in various cities to gather a remnant who's devoted to prayer & warfare. This has to change!
2. Steve Gray- “God is looking for a people who do not have anything better to do than be in His presence.”
2. A pastor of a large church installed as a part of his counseling process a simple instruction:
1. Pray two hours a day for the next week and then call to setup your counseling appointment.
2. 75% of the people never set an appointment.
2. The first two elements in my book, 20 Elements of Revival, are to be agreed in the house of prayer, and to contend together.
3. Acts 2:46 (ESV) 46 And day by day, attending the temple together…
4. Today it’s nearly impossible for prophetic voices and apostolic leaders to sound alarms and gather people together… the upper room concept… 10 days in constant prayer… would be impossible in today’s church!
1. People have lives to live… kids to take care of… games to play!
2. Steve Gray- “The problem is that we have tasted of the good things of God and decided we want something else.”
3. Joel 2:15-16 (NKJV) 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; 16 Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room.
1. Bring the kids! Gather the children! Gather the babies! Everybody gather at the sound of the alarm!
2. We as leaders are to blame. We have set up churches that are devoid of prayer… churches that people can be involved in even if they don’t have a vibrant connection with God! We must repent!
3. The church is a Believers ministry! It’s not for the lost! It’s to be a place of burning, raging intercession!
1. Acts 5:12-16 (ESV) 12 Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
4. When we gather together and pray, the power will come to heal the sick in the streets!
5. Dutch Sheets said, “I know this is going to bother some of you, and some of you may leave our church…but the truth remains that the church is not a house of teaching, a house of evangelism, or a house of anything else… it is a house of prayer for all nations.
1. The true church could not have become the “institution” it has, if the watchmen had not been rendered impotent (John Martin).
2. The reason the prayer rooms are nearly empty is because prayer is not the main thing!
3. It’s secondary! It’s non-essential! It can be skipped! What??!!!
1. While other religious are praying 5 times a day and signing up for martyrdom, Christians can't put the wine glass down! ~Steve Hill
2. Steve said there’s a movement of ‘freedom seekers’ that are focused on their own condition rather than repentance, holiness and the call to impact the world!
3. I've have it up to here with drinking Christians! There's a philosophy of ‘freedom' that's on the rise in the church. ~Steve Hill
4. The unapologetic call to prayer as the primary purpose of every Christian will result in backlash!
5. I saw it with Mike Bickle. I’ve seen it in the Colorado Springs prayer movement I helped lead. Check out what Jesus dealt with!
1. Mark 11:15-18 (ESV) 15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
2. There is a rising remnant that is looking for a place where they can go deep in zealous, fervent prayer, but they can’t find that place!!! Other activities are getting priority!
1. Life Application Commentary: Obviously Jesus’ actions stunned the many people crowded into the Temple area. Jesus quoted from Isaiah 56:7 and explained God’s purpose for the Temple: a place of prayer for all nations. These were important words in light of Jesus’ concern for the Gentiles who had come to worship, and considering the Gentile audience to whom Mark was writing. God welcomed the Gentiles into his Temple to worship, but they were unable to do so because of the animals bellowing and merchants haggling. Not only that, but all these merchants were no more honest than thieves who had turned the Temple into their den. This was a horrible desecration. No wonder Jesus was so angry.
2. So many are rising up against the call to prayer because it threatens what they are trying to get out of the church!
3. I’ve never, in my life, ever seen a group of people who were more on fire, more devoted and more in love with Jesus… more serious and sober about their mission on earth, then the people at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City.
1. Yet, people continually denounce that ministry. What??!
2. Their love of God is extreme and deep… well beyond any other group I’ve ever seen… and people assault them for that?
3. IHOP is called a cult because of their singular devotion!!!!
4. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.
3. The call in Detroit is for 1000 intercessors to gather and release fire and cover this great mission. If we don’t respond, we probably don’t want the consuming fire of revival to come. We won’t be prepared for such a fearful burning.
6. The Tribes are being formed in response to this mandate.
1. We need YOU to start a Tribe!!!!
2. After the 2 Chron 7 fire that hit the temple, we have the famous passage in 2 Chron 7:11-14:
1. 2 Chron 7:11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. 12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
3. We must pray!
Invite John Burton to minister in the spirit of revival at your church or conference
John Burton carries and releases the tangible fire of God. ~Matt Sorger
Experience our brand new website and learn more about the urgent yet joyful mandate for revival that John carries.
John Burton is available to minister in your church or at your conference or event. John has been developing and leading ministries for over 20 years and is a sought out teacher, prophetic messenger and revivalist. John has authored six books, has appeared on Christian television and radio and directed one of the primary internships at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City.
Additionally, he planted two churches, has initiated two city prayer movements and is currently directing a prayer and revival focused ministry school in Detroit called theLab.
In addition to his thrill ride as the senior leader at Revival Church in the Detroit region, an equally thrilling mission of his is to bring a message of revival and unity to churches around the world.
We would have a lot of fun and your local mission would experience a serious surge of strength and life as John ministers messages including:
- Covens in the Church (Serving with leadership with joy and passion)
- Carry Like Mary (A message of awakening)
- Becoming Unoffendable (John’s most popular teaching)
- A Spirit of Insignificance (Freedom from rejection and insignificance)
- And more!
John also has a web and graphic design business and is continually developing new and exciting ventures. He and his beautiful wife Amy have four children and currently live in the Detroit region.
- Connect with John and book an event today!
- Listen to John’s teachings
- Watch short video messages
- Read articles by John
RECOMMENDATIONS
I want to recommend to you the ministry of John Burton. John carries a real passion and anointing for revival, breakthrough and transformation. He carries and releases the tangible fire of God and brings people into encounters with God's presence. He is a strong equipper in the areas of prayer and evangelism and mobilizes people to carry God's word and presence outside the four walls of the church building. John is also a great preacher of the word. He has had many years of ministry experience both as a pastor and evangelist. His understanding of local church ministry makes his ministry well rounded and unique. He pastors, oversees a school of ministry and travels releasing the fire of God and igniting hearts with a passion for Jesus. I believe he would be a great blessing to your church.
Matt Sorger
“John is dangerously prophetic, provoking passion in those in pursuit of revival. In just a few short years, I have witnessed the impact of his obedience to Christ in a region bound by division & religion. His mandate is one of radical devotion, raising up burning ones and releasing them into new levels in their kingdom assignment.”
Marcellis Smith, Lead Pastor
Jubilee City
Detroit, MI
“John Burton is a modern day revivalist that sees and wants the heart of God rise up in this present generation! I highly recommend him for any ministry you may be considering. In my opinion, he is like a modern day John the Baptist going ahead preparing people for the Lord! We had him in our church and we were not disappointed and neither will you!”
Pastor Tim Martin
“John Burton is a man who has continued to allow himself to be thrust into the middle of what God is doing. He not only hears from Heaven, but is willing to boldly shout it from the rooftops. If John is stirred about something, I would recommend that you listen.”
J.D. King, International Director World Revival Network of Ministries
John Burton is a man with unquenchable passion for God. His life is a living Epistle of the truth that the Kingdom of God is not just in word, but in power. He lights fires wherever he goes leaving behind the unmistakable fragrance of the life of Christ. I highly recommend his ministry to you.
Glenn Bleakney
I highly recommend John’s ministry! Can’t wait to do some meetings together with him!
Pastor Brian Simmons
“If you are in a room with John Burton for more than 10 minutes and you don’t have a fire in your belly, I would check your pulse. This man is a fire starter and it’s catchy! John is a revivalist who burns with a passion to see cities and nations set ablaze with love for Jesus! He is a gifted writer, preacher and prophetic minister. He has clear vision and strategy for city wide breakthrough of revival. I highly encourage you to invite his team at TheLab to your church if you are in need of corporate breakthrough!”
Julia Palermo