Posts Tagged ‘generation’
Tonight at Revival Church : Pics from theLab University Graduation
Powerful worship, intercession and a teaching on the resurrection that will cause you to come alive—tonight at Revival Church!
But first, theLab students have graduated! A new generation of carriers of fire is emerging!
Last night was simply amazing as theLab University students graduated! I’ll share some pics below.
THELAB UNIVERSITY ONLINE
Have you checked out theLab University Online? Do so now! www.thelabuniversity.com/online
Our NEW twelve week online university launches on July 18, 2013 with an INTRODUCTORY TUITION PRICE of $100!
Now anybody in any part of the world can get equipped as an end-time intercessor, prophetic messenger and revivalist.
TONIGHT AT REVIVAL CHURCH
As a house of prayer our primary mandate is to contend in intercession—and we will do that in the Prep Room at 5:15pm. Join us in the sanctuary as we pray for Detroit and the nations!
At 6pm the prayer rolls right into a powerful night of worship and teaching.
I’ll be starting a series titled Four Fires. It’s one of the original, and most important teachings I brought when I first started traveling to Detroit. And, yes, part one includes a powerful resurrection message!
Revival Church meets at CENTRAL CHURCH, 1529 E. 12 Mile Rd, Madison Heights, MI 48071.
PICS FROM THELAB UNIVERSITY GRADUATION
Audio and notes : Naming the Next Generation
Listen to a teaching on the power of our lifestyle—it can literally imprison our children—or mark them for greatness
What if we were required to name our children based on our own identities? On our own choices?
Imagine if we had to raise sweet little Bitterness or cute and adorable baby Apathy? How about tiny newborn Secret Sin?
On the contrary, we have the option to impart freedom and raise children with the names of Passion, Joy, Holiness and Fire!
Hundreds of years from now our great-great-great grandchildren will find themselves in prison with struggles that you and I passed down to them, OR they will find themselves marked with a fiery heritage of freedom. Our response to Jesus now will impact people we’ll never meet!
Listen to this teaching titled “Naming the Next Generation” at www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/teaching and follow along with the notes below!
Naming the Next Generation
I. The response to a mighty call
a. The way we respond now to God’s call on our lives will result in extreme impact.
i. It’s going to leave a mark
ii. Proverbs 10:7 (ESV) 7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
iii. Deuteronomy 5:9-10 (ESV) 9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
1. Our lives will impact many!
2. People not yet born… people who will live a few hundred years from now… will struggle greatly in life because of what we do on an average day in our mundane lives right now!
3. They won’t know why they can’t shake the curse of addiction… it’s all because of great grandpa or grandma from the early 2000’s.
b. We live in an age where morality is judged based not on absolutes but conditionally.
i. The homosexual agenda’s cry is that it hurts no one and that it’s rooted in love.
ii. Many are crying out for the legalization of marijuana—it hurts no one.
c. However, we see this same frame of mind in the church too.
i. The number of Christians involved in porn is staggering.
ii. Pre-marital sexual activity is common.
iii. A 1996 Promise Keepers survey at one of their stadium events revealed that over 50% of the men in attendance were involved with pornography within one week of attending the event.
d. Our sin, whether secret or public, impacts so many people that we’d shudder if we knew how many.
i. Can you imagine if Billy Graham decided to secretly embezzle money?
ii. How many up and coming Billy Graham’s have been moved to the bench, because of God’s mercy, due to their secret sin? Who is now out of reach of God’s love because they are benched?
iii. Your lack of response to God will impact many just like a life devoted to prayer and love… a life full of the anointing and fire of God… will impact many.
iv. Todd Bentley’s anointing impacted many, his sin impacted many.
II. We are naming our descendants
a. Our lives, our lifestyles, our decisions and our response to God’s call is resulting in the name for our children and their children. We are naming our descendants.
b. In Hosea, this prophet embodies this reality… he goes to ridiculous lengths to communicate God’s message.
i. Israel is prosperous, yet fallen.
ii. Talk about an object lesson… check this out:
iii. Hosea 1:2-3 (ESV) 2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
iv. Hosea was instructed to take a wife from Israel… to participate as Israel was participating so they would be without excuse.
1. It’s the same concept as your pastor walking into an explicit R rated movie… as you yourself and your family is sitting in the same theater.
v. Adam Clarke—Go join thyself in marriage to one of those who have committed fornication against me, and raise up children who, by the power of example, will themselves swerve to idolatry. And thus show them that they are radically depraved.
c. The prophetic act continues
i. Hosea 1:4-5 (ESV) 4 And the LORD said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
ii. Now, check this out… this is the ESV version:
iii. Hosea 1:6 (ESV) 6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.
1. Today we sometimes name our children based on hope or a prophetic word or a declaration.
a. Grace, Joy, Love
2. Here, a baby was named No Mercy.
a. What a tragedy!
b. Israel’s lifestyle resulted in the naming of one of their own, the daughter of a prostitute who was delivered to a prophet of God… No Mercy.
c. Read on…
iv. Hosea 1:7-9 (ESV) 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.” 8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the LORD said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
1. Wow.
2. What are we naming our children?
3. Anger? Hatred? Apathy? Lust? Secret sin? Hypocrite? Rebellion? Witchcraft? Thief?
III. Restoration
a. This great prophetic act, in obedience to God, in response to love, will result in a great harvest.
i. Hosea 1:10-11 (ESV) 10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
b. Some believe the end times destruction of Israel’s enemies at Armageddon was God’s focus here.
i. God called a prophet in the mid 700’s BC to deal with an identity crisis that would be felt over 2700 years later!
IV. God is serious about identity
a. Isaiah 62:1-7 (ESV) 1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. 2 The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. 3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. 4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. 5 For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. 6 On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, 7 and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.
b. Revelation 3:11-12 (ESV) 11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
Prophetic Mandate
First—I thought you’d enjoy notes from our Revival Church staff meeting. I charted Elements 1-10 from my book 20 Elements of Revival. You can see the PDF here: www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/files/20ElementsofRevivalChart1-10.pdf
Yesterday’s teaching on the Prophetic Mandate is ready to listen to at www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/teaching.
If we are looking to lead a generation of fire-breathers, we simply have to go deeper, burn hotter and give more then the wild radicals that are multiplying on the face of the Earth.
Here’s the notes:
1. Introduction
a. We’ve been given a clear mandate at Revival Church to help introduce revival to Detroit.
i. This means the way things are now must morph into something very different.
ii. The most successful way to ensure the coming outpouring remains for decades is to introduce reformation before it arrives.
iii. It’s the upper room strategy—respond to an extreme lifestyle call and carry it out forever.
iv. Do you ever get frustrated when a new road is under construction forever?
1. This situation is just like a road under construction—hundreds of thousands will benefit from it. But, it’s still being built. We are not those who are frustrated, we are the ones with the hard hats and gloves on. We are the workers!
2. The fact that it’s a long term project doesn’t frustrate us because we understand the scope of the project. We know it takes a long time to pull together a work force, to survey the area, to bring in the bull dozers, to dig, to lay asphalt… for it to harden, and on and on.
3. We need the work force to simply show up for work every day.
4. Greek: technites- an architect, one who plans, calculates and constructs a building
5. Have you ever gotten frustrated watching construction workers just standing there by the side of the road doing nothing while you are backed up in traffic?
b. Hebrews 11:8-10 (ESV) 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
1. The process of building is critical
2. This passage is true for individuals, and it’s also true for mission driven churches.
3. Luke 6:46-49 (ESV) 46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
4. Now, the enemy understands what a unified group of people who are determined to build can do.
5. In fact, he borrowed this Godly strategy himself and was on pace to do great things for his kingdom.
6. Just as the Holy Spirit is calling us together to build, an unholy spirit was orchestrating things behind the scenes here.
c. Genesis 11:1-8 (ESV) 1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
1. We are seeing the enemy do to the church what God did to his mission—people are being scattered.
2. So, our goal, and God’s goal is for us to put on the hard hats, pick up the shovels and have one language.
- Rom 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
i. If we agree, if we align ourselves together in the purpose of God for Detroit- who can stop us? Who can be against us?
ii. Every noble work is at first impossible. Thomas Carlyle
1. On the contrary, if we are not aligned, we cannot win- we need each other, in a place of agreement, in a place of health and maturity and fully devoted to taking city for Jesus!
2. I challenge you—take inventory of your alliances. Who and what you are aligned with will determine your destiny.
3. Agreement is a powerful force.
ii. Matthew 18:18-20 (ESV) 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
1. This is usually used when talking about prayer—but this is really talking about mission.
2. Do you see the focus is on being together and warring against the enemy and moving ahead in agreement?
iii. You know the old saying, "United We Stand, Divided We Fall." This saying is applicable within the church too. In the battle for Stalingrad during World War II the Russian commanders ordered their soldiers not to give up any more ground. Any soldier who fled from the Germans was shot on the spot. The Russian commanders knew that if even a couple of soldiers fled their post the Germans would have an opening through which they could pour into the city. Likewise, when the church is divided, Satan finds it so much easier to attack and to conquer.
1. We have to know that we are aligned, agreed, together and committed as builders, workers and warriors.
iv. Tonto and the Lone Ranger were riding through a canyon together when all of a sudden both sides were filled with Native American warriors on horses, dressed for battle. The Lone Ranger turned to Tonto and asked, "What are we going to do?" Tonto replied, "What you mean ‘we,' Whiteman?"
v. 1 Cor 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
1. In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demanded that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn't. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus. "These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they're nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold." "Which channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can't you guys get organized like that?"
2. So, what must we be agreed on?
2. The Terror of Hell
a. Intimacy
b. Salvation
a. Many in the church will be surprised one day, just as you were surprised in the dream, to find themselves under the control of demons as they are taken to hell.
a. Proverbs 14:11-14 (ESV) 11 The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. 12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. 13 Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief. 14 The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.
b. Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV) 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
b. This message is probably the number one mandate from God for me.
a. It’s all about two things:
i. Intimacy- seeking, knocking and finding Jesus, hunger, desire
ii. Lawlessness- in control of ones own life, not surrendered, not responsive, following Jesus on one’s own terms like the Rich Young Ruler.
1. There’s an anti-authority, anti-submission, scattering spirit in the church today, and it’s exceedingly dangerous!
2. 2 Peter 2:9-10 (ESV) 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
iii.
c. House of prayer movement
a. The house of prayer is not a splinter movement, it is a call to calibration for the entire church.
b. Luann Zettle- "..a house of Prayer for all Nations..yep, totally agree with you John. Biblically this is so clear. And there are SO many I know that do see it that way. But, I think the biggest problem is that we don't know how to get there from here. The current church structure just seems to throw prayer in as an "add-on" or an additional ministry/program or that 10 minute exercise we do in the morning as opposed to the driving furnace of the Church, through which all other church Life flows. And i agree. IHOP,KC looks a lot more like Church than most anything else I've seen. "
3. Reformation in the Church
a. 20 Elements of Revival
b. Ancient and emerging
c. Dangerous scattering in the church
d. Cares of life
e. Misunderstanding of the purpose of the church
i. A wrong understanding of why we go to church will immediately result in a faulty understanding of how to participate.
ii. Many are saying that they don’t need the church anymore, or they only need the church a few times a month. This is an indicator of a wrong understanding of what the church is.
iii. Have we ever considered whether the church needs us?
iv. Can you imagine the USA military being strong if the soldiers only reported one day a week? No way! America would have been defeated and held captive long ago—and this is what has happened to the church.
v. Old paradigm- God first, family second, ministry third
vi. New paradign- all of it happening in the same places at the same time
1. We’ve come to believe that our families are healthier as we sit in front of the TV together instead of in the prayer room.
2. We might have a measure of personal health as we participate at a low level, but it comes at the expense of the church.
f. Some are saying that the Kingdom must advance out of the four walls of the church and into society. I agree! But, this can only happen if we are strategy minded and mission oriented in a place of burning prayer within the four walls of the upper room.
4. Encountering God
a. Making it easy for people to thoroughly enjoy God
b. We want people to know God, not just know about God.
c. 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 (ESV) 1 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s house. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
5. Prophetic Atmosphere
a. A command center for the region.
b. Manitou Springs—a revival command center for the nations.