Posts Tagged ‘springs’
Halloween True Story: Witchcraft killed my baby girl.
A suffocating spirit was out for destruction as we were contending for revival.
I’ve waited fifteen years to write this article. I implore you to read every word.
As young church planters in one of America’s darkest regions, Amy and I along with our two oldest boys, who were little guys back in 2001, launched Revolution Church. The vision was intense and our passion was for revival that would launch in that strategic city and impact the nations.
Manitou Springs, Colorado is famous for its dark history and present liberal leanings. Rumor has it that Anton Levey wrote at least some of the Satanic Bible from his home there. It’s a quirky town at the base of Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs. We started the church there in a 700 square foot office space and then quickly grew to a core of 25 people. We moved to our second of four ultimate locations, a 2000 square foot storefront right downtown Manitou Springs. It’s there where we met Janet (name changed for the sake of this article).
I’ll never forget the Sunday morning service as the sun shined brightly through the large plate glass windows in our small meeting place at the Arcade in Manitou Springs. Janet was a first-time guest, and she seemed to be attempting to engage during the service. Understand, at the time, Christians in Manitou Springs were few and far between, so it was not common to see Spirit-filled people visiting, unless they drove from Colorado Springs. In fact, I was invited to preach at a Manitou Springs festival the first year we were there. The organizer had no idea what he had done! In the middle of my fiery message, a bold declaration of the power and necessity of the blood of Jesus, a tall man in flowing garments stormed to the front and demanded equal time. This alternate religious, New Age leader was agitated by the anointing. It was uncommon in Manitou Springs and his turf was certainly being threatened.
At the end of the service I invited people to come forward to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Janet sprung from her seat and kneeled at the altar. I quickly realized she was not even saved.
After spending time with her, introducing Jesus to her and ministering to her, she boldly asked a question, “Do you ever pray for people in their homes?”
We agreed to meet at her townhouse that week to pray and encourage her. We had no idea what we were about to get ourselves into.
JANET’S HOUSE
We arrived one evening, sat on the couch and prayed for Janet and her baby. It was an unusual moment for us as I felt little to no anointing. Something was hindering our prayers. Janet confided in us that she had dabbled in witchcraft and was ready to move on from it. I applauded her courage to break away from what I know is a very strong, seductive spirit. She repented of her involvement and we prayed some more. The breakthrough remained elusive. I asked her if she owned anything inappropriate that she should get rid of. She reluctantly admitted she did and disappeared upstairs to retrieve some items.
She emerged down the stairs with a T-shirt with some occult symbolism on it. She also held the witch’s handbook.
She surrendered these two pieces of occult paraphernalia to us, and we again prayed. I thought it would be easier to pray now that she had removed them from her life. I was wrong. Amy and I didn’t understand why it felt so dead in her home, but we had done all we knew to do. We encouraged her again and prepared to leave. She then asked us, “I’ve heard of anointing homes in oil. Do you do that?” I told her to find some Crisco.
We anointed doorways, windows and anywhere else we could dab some oil. After we finished anointing and praying downstairs, I led the way up the staircase. At the top of the stairs I saw a guest room and a bathroom. I also saw Janet’s room. I was not prepared for what happened next.
I stepped into her room and immediately could not breathe. It felt like I stepped into a swimming pool sideways. I was engulfed with a suffocating, heavy, evil presence. I stepped back outside her room. Relief.
I didn’t share my experience with Amy or Janet, but instead prayed through the guest room and bathroom. I then stepped back into Janet’s room. Crushing suffocation.
I attempted to pray in tongues, but there was absolutely no way I could. Every prayer fell dead to the ground.
I urgently asked Janet if there might be any additional items she should throw in the trash. She slowly, casually looked in her closet and pulled out a couple things and placed them on her bed. That didn’t work. I was gasping for air, but not only air, for the breath of the Holy Spirit! We needed God to move in that place, and quick!
I was very direct with her. I said, “Janet! I will not pray for you and you will not find freedom if you don’t immediately eliminate every single thing from your life that is impure!”
I was standing between her bed and the wall, next to her night stand. She placed several more items on her bed, but it was not helping. One final time, as I was ready to get out of there, I said, “There is something you are holding on to that is much more evil than anything you’ve surrendered so far. What is it? No more delay!”
She reluctantly glanced over to the night stand, inches from where I was, and pointed at something I had not noticed. She said, “Well, that’s where I perform my sacrifices.” I looked at a small altar with ashes all over it. Yes, that was it.
She ran down and grabbed a large, plastic trash bag. We renounced what was happening at that altar and threw it away. Immediately I could pray in the Spirit. The wind of the Spirit was refreshing beyond description. The fire in my prayer was a stark contrast to how debilitated I was previously.
Amy then began to pray with Janet and talk with her. I was praying in tongues and doing my best to hear what God was saying. God instructed me to ask Janet about demons visiting her room. God had given me incredibly precise revelation. I revealed to her that those demons require written documentation about her interactions with them. Her jaw dropped and her eyes spread open. She had never been more stunned at something someone said. I read her mail.
She went to the closet and pulled out a stack of at least 20 spiral notebooks. She said she had much more stored on her computer. She confessed that demons visit her every night and terrorize her. She is forced to write about their visits. That is why she invited us to her home. She wanted the demons to leave.
She put the notebooks and many additional things on her bed. Six trash bags of occult and witchcraft materials were taken to the dumpster.
JANET’S STRUGGLE CONTINUES
After that experience in Janet’s tiny townhouse, you’d imagine she would have gone on toward radical deliverance. Sadly, that didn’t happen, at least as far as we know. She disappeared. We aggressively searched for her and finally, after several weeks, did track her down. She would attend church occasionally, but would manifest demonically at times. She aggressively confronted my wife once and then ultimately vanished again. That was the last time we ever saw Janet, well, sort of. Janet was about to visit some people in their dreams.
HALLOWEEN SEASON IN MANITOU SPRINGS
October in Manitou Springs is always extremely volatile. Witchcraft is rampant and the atmosphere in that town is heavy. Creepy. Threatening. Also, it was my favorite time of the year. We knew we were called to contend against the darkness as we we were advancing toward revival.
Each year in Manitou Springs we’d prayer walk the city as we witnessed small fires in the foothills of the mountains ignite. The flames would dance as thought the mountains were alive. Witches were having their meetings, and we were having ours. We’d never consider hosting a harvest party or other event like that on Halloween. It was all out war, a spiritual war, and we had no option but to be alert, armed in the Spirit and on assignment. It was time for prayer.
The attack during October each year was intense. Three years in a row, precisely on October 31st, our oldest son was admitted to the hospital with a severe asthma attack. The suffocating spirit was assaulting him every October, until God gave us some revelation on how the enemy was assaulting us. We responded and the Halloween attacks on him then ceased.
In 2003, two years after we had planted Revolution Church, and quite some time since we’d seen Janet, Amy was pregnant with our third child. One night, in the middle of October, Amy shot up in bed, frantic, and woke me up.
She was shaking. She said she just had a horrifying, vivid dream of Janet wielding a large knife. She drove it into my wife’s stomach and killed our baby.
After praying we went back to sleep, shaken but confident that God was in control. The next morning we awoke and prepared for a scheduled church staff meeting at our home. At the beginning of the meeting, I asked our staff for prayer and started to mention Amy’s dream. I was interrupted by one of our staff members. She said, “Amy, I had a dream about you too last night. It was disturbing. I saw Janet with a knife. She stabbed you in your stomach and killed the baby.”
We were speechless. Another staff member was beside herself. She said, “I didn’t have a dream, but I had an vision about the exact scenario you both described!”
Later that day, a friend of Amy’s who had never met Janet or known anything about her called. She was upset. She didn’t want to scare Amy, but she had to share about a dream she had. “Amy, there was this girl (she went on to describe Janet’s unique appearance precisely), and I saw a large knife in her hand. She attacked you, stabbed you in the stomach and killed the baby!”
Amy and I proceeded to do literally everything we could. We prayed, of course. We stood in our authority. We had a powerful deliverance minister and his team conduct a spiritual house cleaning in our home. They reported it was the cleanest house they had ever been in.
A CHRISTMAS EVE TO FORGET
A couple of months passed, and we had shaken off the disturbances that October visited on our family. In fact, we were excited about a special doctor’s appointment on Christmas Eve. We were going to hopefully discover the sex of our baby!
I will never, for the rest of my life, forget what happened in the waiting room. Amy, our two sons and Amy’s parents were there as we waited our turn to meet with the sonographer. Our appointment was the last of the day and doctors, nurses and receptionists were scurrying around, closing up shop and preparing to head out to various holiday festivities. Joy was in the house!
Suddenly, I felt an extremely heavy, holy blanket of grace descend upon me. My emotional strength suddenly tripled at least. I was spiritually tuned in, sensitive, wondering why God had decided to strengthen me in that manner. I was about to find out.
“Amy Burton,” called the nurse. It was our turn.
Amy and her mom joined me in the ultrasound room. Amy laid back as we were all excited about seeing our wonderful, new baby. The sonographer placed the instrument on Amy’s belly, and instantly removed it.
She said, “Wait here. I need to see if I can find a doctor before they all leave for the day.”
The next two minutes were spent in silence. Joy and gladness gave way to nerves.
The doctor finally arrived, took a quick look, and said, “I’m so sorry, your baby has died.”
WITCHCRAFT KILLED OUR CHILD
Wails, cries and tears emerged out of my wife. The strength I received minutes prior was now being put to use.
The next day was Christmas morning. We did all we could to make sure it was a wonderful one for our boys. We unwrapped gifts as we sat around the tree. Literally every single present I got for Amy was either maternity clothing or a gift for the baby. She carefully unwrapped each as her turn came and placed them in a pile to return to the store.
The following day we were in a hospital room, waiting for Amy to deliver Elizabeth Hope Burton.
As the labor inducement was quite a ways from taking effect, Amy said I could go to a late-night prayer meeting a few blocks away. My phone was kept on and I remained ready to rush back to the hospital at any moment. At that prayer meeting, God again strengthened me. Shortly after returning to the hospital at around midnight, we both met Elizabeth.
The doctor was shocked at the cause of death. It was a cord accident. Cord accidents aren’t unusual, but this particular one was. He said he’d never seen a cord wrapped five times around a baby’s neck. Elizabeth was suffocated to death. Witchcraft killed Elizabeth.
WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD
Amy and I bless Janet. We pray for her, wherever she may be. We don’t hold her accountable in any way. She was a hurting, lost young lady. She didn’t kill Elizabeth. Extremely vile, destructive, evil entities did. At the time, we did all we knew to do to help Janet. We also did all we knew to do to cancel the curse and to wage war against hateful, murderous evil spirits. We failed. We learned.
We lost six more babies after we lost Elizabeth, but we are so blessed to have three wonderful boys and two precious girls in the Burton family.
Amy has been a champion. She has ministered to those who have lost babies to stillbirth or miscarriage. She has cried with them, grieved with them, prayed with them and stood with them.
While our faith was hit, it was not shattered. We have learned over the years to war, to wrestle with the enemy and to contend with faith and passion. Life isn’t about some set of rules that Satan has to obey. He cheats. He hates. He does all he can to rip us to shreds, and he wastes no time finding just the best way to do that.
I know many of you who are reading this are already thinking about theological issues with my story. You might think Christians can’t be touched by witchcraft. You’d be wrong.
The slightest open door or lazy approach to intercession, or pride or even ignorance can give the enemy access. He doesn’t fight fair. He knows our weaknesses. In fact, some of you may be considering Job. He was upright, yet struck.
Understand, the blood of Jesus doesn’t grant us immunity. It grants us authority. We need to enroll in the school of the Spirit and learn how to battle. If we don’t fight, the fight will come to us. If we don’t engage, we will be hit.
I held off for fifteen years in writing this article because it’s not a happy story. But, I realized that so much of today’s church has become inauthentic by only highlighting that which makes us happy.
In order to win battles, and ultimately the war, we have to learn from struggles. We must understand the ferocity of the enemy. We need to be in the Word, in prayer and free from even the slightest sin or compromise.
The lesson we learned was not that we were steeped in sin. We weren’t. We were living holy lives as young though immature Jesus lovers. The lesson is that we must clearly understand that the enemy is ready to pounce, and that we must be ready.
HALLOWEEN IS EVIL—AND NO CHRISTIAN SHOULD PARTICIPATE AT ANY LEVEL
Witchcraft is permeating the atmosphere this and every October. It’s time to war, not party. Pastors, call solemn assemblies instead of holding harvest parties. This is an all hands on deck season.
I’ll leave you with some short bullet points that I posted to Facebook earlier today about Halloween. If you didn’t understand before why I so vehemently renounce this unholy day, you now should.
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. Joel 1:14
Eleven reasons Christians celebrate Halloween
- They don't believe witchcraft is a big deal.
- They wrongly think the way they celebrate doesn't involve witchcraft.
- They incorrectly assume Christians are immune to curses and the power of witchcraft.
- They can't imagine the thought of their kids missing out.
- They celebrated Halloween as children and conclude it didn't have any negative impact on them.
- They wrongly equate it with Christmas, which “also has pagan roots” yet is universally embraced by Christians.
- They believe it can be sanitized and Christianized.
- They believe it's a great opportunity to evangelize, but without exposing the darkness or revealing how wicked the holiday is.
- They have fallen for false-grace deception that allows them to be free and have fun no matter what.
- They haven't experienced the wonder and terror of the spirit realm.
- They lack discernment.
RELATED ARTICLE:
Colorado Springs conference! Catherine Mullins & theLab U This Thursday through Saturday
Register TODAY! Catherine Mullins and theLab University team will be in Manitou Springs Thursday through Saturday!
Evening sessions are FREE, but registration is REQUIRED!
On opening night, Catherine Mullins will be leading in intimate worship and I’ll be bringing a prophetic message: God 2.0
REGISTER HERE: www.thelabuniversity.com/manitousprings
- Learn more about Catherine Mullins here: www.catherinemullins.com
- Learn more about theLab University here: www.thelabuniversity.com
WATCH A BRAND NEW VIDEO!
A SIX MONTH SCHOOL OF FIRE
theLab University is coming to the Colorado Springs region this summer!
Experience six months of fire, encounter and equipping in the spiritually strategic city of Manitou Springs, Colorado.
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED even for the free evening sessions.
The events will be held at RHOP, 12 Old Man’s Trail, Manitou Springs, CO 80829.
THE COMING CHURCH
The theme: Equipping end-time prophetic messengers to prepare the way for revolution in the church.
There is a coming burning church that will reveal to us the shock and awe of the glory of God. The call to participate in this last days movement of revival is a weighty call indeed. Discover your key role in The Coming Church and how you can prepare to carry the life, love and fire of God into a desperately wicked culture.
WHAT TO EXPECT
thLab University is a powerful and unusual ministry experience that will result in freedom and equipping. Each monthly three-day event will include morning and afternoon workshops, personal prophetic ministry and training in prophetic warfare and intercession in the streets of Manitou Springs.
The evening public worship and training is designed for maximum impact as we encounter God in a deep place of intimacy and embrace the urgent and sober call as forerunners.
THE COST
- theLab University full six month session: $100
- Individual weekends (all sessions in any given month): $30
MAY 16-18 SCHEDULE
- Thursday 6pm: Prep Room (prophetic intercession)
- Thursday 7pm: Worship with Catherine Mullins + Teaching (FREE) (The Coming Church)
- Friday 10am: Workshop (positioning ourselves to receive revelation)
- Friday 2pm: Prophetic Impartation & Activation (personal ministry & spiritual adventure in Manitou Springs)
- Friday 6pm: Prep Room (prophetic intercession)
- Friday 7pm: Worship with Catherine Mullins + Teaching (FREE) (Revelation Driven Prayer)
- Saturday 10am: Workshop (the urgency of the hour)
- Saturday 2pm: Prophetic Impartation & Activation (personal ministry & spiritual adventure in Manitou Springs)
- Saturday 6pm: Prep Room (prophetic intercession)
- Saturday 7pm: Worship + Teaching (FREE) (Carrying the Fire)
Next Week! Catherine Mullins: theLab University Colorado Springs/Manitou Springs
A SIX MONTH SCHOOL OF FIRE
FIRST: Have you applied for theLab School of Fire ONLINE? You can do so here: www.thelabuniversity.com/online
Hi!
I wanted to connect to make you aware of a very exciting and strategic series of events that’s coming to the Colorado Springs region.
God has been dramatically dealing with several people from Detroit and Kansas City to come as carriers of fire to Colorado six times in 2013.
Folks are taking off work and paying their own way to come, and serve the Pikes Peak region.
Since we are not local, we will need quite a bit of help spreading the word, gathering the intercessors, connecting with pastors and preparing for our first event in May.
Can you help? Evening sessions are FREE and we are also encouraging people to register for the entire weekend which will include prayer and workshops.
- Pastors: Can you gather people from your church and sphere of influence and register as a group?
- Intercessors: Start praying for these six weekend events and spread the word across the region.
- Everybody: Use social media and any other method to get the word out.
Please contact me if you have any questions. I can’t wait to arrive in Colorado next week!
John Burton: [email protected] • 719.231.6000
Catherine Mullins: theLab University Colorado Springs/Manitou Springs
A SIX MONTH SCHOOL OF FIRE
theLab University is coming to the Colorado Springs region this summer!
Experience six months of fire, encounter and equipping in the spiritually strategic city of Manitou Springs, Colorado.
THE COMING CHURCH
The theme: Equipping end-time prophetic messengers to prepare the way for revolution in the church.
There is a coming burning church that will reveal to us the shock and awe of the glory of God. The call to participate in this last days movement of revival is a weighty call indeed. Discover your key role in The Coming Church and how you can prepare to carry the life, love and fire of God into a desperately wicked culture.
WHAT TO EXPECT
thLab University is a powerful and unusual ministry experience that will result in freedom and equipping. Each monthly three-day event will include morning and afternoon workshops, personal prophetic ministry and training in prophetic warfare and intercession in the streets of Manitou 
Springs.
The evening public worship and training is designed for maximum impact as we encounter God in a deep place of intimacy and embrace the urgent and sober call as forerunners.
THE COST
- theLab University full six month session: $100
- Individual weekends (all sessions in any given month): $30
MAY 16-18 SCHEDULE
- Thursday 6pm: Prep Room (prophetic intercession)
- Thursday 7pm: Worship with Catherine Mullins + Teaching (FREE) (The Coming Church)
- Friday 10am: Workshop (positioning ourselves to receive revelation)
- Friday 2pm: Prophetic Impartation & Activation (personal ministry & spiritual adventure in Manitou Springs)
- Friday 6pm: Prep Room (prophetic intercession)
- Friday 7pm: Worship with Catherine Mullins + Teaching (FREE) (Revelation Driven Prayer)
- Saturday 10am: Workshop (the urgency of the hour)
- Saturday 2pm: Prophetic Impartation & Activation (personal ministry & spiritual adventure in Manitou Springs)
- Saturday 6pm: Prep Room (prophetic intercession)
- Saturday 7pm: Worship + Teaching (FREE) (Carrying the Fire)
THELAB COLORADO 2013 SESSION
- May: Thu 5.16.13 – Sat 5.18.13
- June: Thu 6.13.13 – Sat 6.15.13
- July: Thu 7.18.13 – Sat 7.20.13
- August: Thu 8.15.13 – Sat 8.17.13
- September: Thu 9.19.13 – Sat 9.21.13
- October: Thu 10.17.13 – Sat 10.19.13
Is there unbelief regarding revival? Listen to this unusual Revival Church event.
Are you part of the cross-bearing company of fire-breathing awakeners that God is raising up? Listen to this heavily anointed event and respond!
The past week in Manitou Springs, Colorado resulted in a shaking and weighty awakening for every person on our team. Listen as I share the encounters here: media.johnburton.net/6936545
Trust me, you WANT to listen to this…the last half of the audio includes an other-worldly prophetic session where the calling for revival was revealed AND clips from each of the three services, including our attack against witchcraft and the drunkenness I was rocked with. High entertainment value for sure!
We are gathering an army of carriers of fire who will travel with us to the cities of the Earth. The team that we took to Manitou flowed in such extreme authority and power that everybody was hit dramatically. We dealt with heavy witchcraft and strategic demonic attack at a high level, and watched as God then flooded that place. Humbled.
The three nights revealed a very clear strategy for all of us:
- Night One: Personal breakthrough. We battled and experienced fire and joy and breakthrough on a personal level.
- Night Two: Holy Spirit arrival. I was drunk most of the night as the Holy Spirit poured out. Many want to camp here, but we cannot.
- Night Three: Militant attack. Full of the Holy Spirit, we experience an extreme level of witchcraft in the room, and we went after it with authority and power.
This is a pattern of advance for all of us. I break it down and share sound clips: media.johnburton.net/6936545
CARRIERS OF FIRE
Are you ready to invite our team to your city for an event that will bring deliverance, shock and awe? We are broken and humble people, emboldened by the fire of God and ready to serve you.
Visit www.johnburton.net/booking for more info. I’d love to talk with you directly.
You will have the opportunity to listen to four of our team members in the audio from last night here: media.johnburton.net/6936545
HOUSE OF PRAYER
The house of prayer must be launched NOW! NOW! NOW!
Julia Palermo prophesied with trembling urgency regarding the house of prayer in the Detroit region. It must be launched now!
Are you ready to help build a night and day center of strategic, revelation driven prayer? Contact us!
We need to add fresh intercessors, musicians and others. We need to raise at least $44,000 more. You can donate here: www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/donate
YOUR IMPENDING ADVENTURE
I also want to invite you to listen to a message that will provoke you to fulfill your ministry. It’s titled Your Impending Adventure. It’s a NOW word and will help you take very clear steps toward a completed calling. I’ll include the notes below.
Listen here: media.johnburton.net/6936482
AUDIT THELAB CLASS “BECOMING UNOFFENDABLE” THIS THURSDAY
Offense will cause many to fall away and go to Hell. It’s a big deal.
This is my most requested teaching, and you can audit the class THIS THURSDAY at 7pm!
Simply show up at 7pm this Thursday and pay $25 at the door.
Revival Church meets at CENTRAL CHURCH, 1529 E. 12 Mile Rd, Madison Heights, MI 48071.
Here’s the notes for Your Impending Adventure
Your Impending Adventure
I. Adventure
a. Nobody was called into an average life.
i. Certainly not now! At the end of the age!
ii. Adventure
1. An undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature.
2. a risky undertaking of unknown outcome
3. An undertaking of a questionable nature, especially one involving intervention in another state's affairs.
4. “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered” [G.K. Chesterton All Things Considered]
iii. British Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) placed this advertisement in London newspapers in 1900 in preparation for the National Antarctic Expedition (which subsequently failed to reach the South Pole).“Men Wanted For Hazardous Journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”Shackleton later said that “it seemed as though all the men in Great Britain were determined to accompany me, the response was so overwhelming.”
1. Yes! The adventure is there for you!
b. All you have to do is sign up and pay the fee!
i. It costs your dreams, plans, comfort and safety!
ii. Your adventure will impact many!
II. Isaiah
a. Step one: Isaiah sees God (These steps come from Ungers Handbook)
i. Isaiah 6:1-4 (ESV) 1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
1. Most people don’t get to this point!
2. Your adventure begins by laying down everything so you can see God!
3. Go after him! Burn! Pray! Devote your every breath to knowing him deeply!
ii. Step two: Isaiah sees himself
1. Isaiah 6:5 (ESV) 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
2. You cannot see God without having a revelation of your own wretched condition!
3. Jeremiah 17:9-10 (ESV) 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
4. Hebrews 3:12-13 (ESV) 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
5. 1 John 1:6-7 (ESV) 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
6. The closer the look on our own condition, the greater the revelation of our fruit.
a. Matthew 7:17-20 (ESV) 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
b. We must repent, confess, let God search our hearts continually.
i. It’s in the Lord’s Prayer
ii. Matthew 6:12 (ESV) 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
iii. Believes must live a life of confession and repentance.
iv. Matthew 3:6 (ESV) 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
c. Acts 19:18-20 (ESV) 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
d. Luke 17:3-4 (ESV) 3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
e. Let God search your heart continually in the place of fervent prayer.
i. 1 Chronicles 28:9 (ESV) 9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.
ii. Jeremiah 17:10 (ESV) 10 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
f. Torrey's Prescription For Revival “I can give a prescription that will bring a revival to any church or community or any city on earth. “First, let a few Christians (they need not be many) get thoroughly right with God themselves. This is the prime essential. If this is not done, the rest that I am to say will come to nothing. “Second, let them bind themselves together in a prayer group to pray for a revival until God opens the heavens and comes down. “Third, let them put themselves at the disposal of God for Him to use as He sees fit in winning others to Christ. That is all! “This is sure to bring a revival to any church or community. I have given this prescription around the world. It has been taken by many churches and many communities, and in no instance has it ever failed; and it cannot fail!”
i. This is huge!
ii. We must get thoroughly right with God! Let God search us! Is there any impure thought? Do we ever lie? Do we ever gossip? Do we ever disobey God?
iii. Torrey said: This is the prime essential. If this is not done, the rest that I am to say will come to nothing.
iv. You may have heard a theology out there that says Jesus forgave our sins past, present and future. That’s incomplete, and it leads people away from confession and repentance and dying daily.
1. Jesus did what he needed to do, but, unrepentant sin, ignored sin, cannot go unresolved! You can sin in the future and have it not be covered!
2. Spend hours in the prayer room and you will discover issue after issue… and it’s glorious!
3. If we cover unrepentant sin with sugar and honey, it’s still diseased on the inside. You can dip rotting meat that’s full of maggots into chocolate, and attempt to hide the corruption… but the realty remains, the inside is spoiled.
4. I shared the following on Facebook: The false belief that we are exempt from penalties of future sins with no confession or repentance is dangerous beyond measure.
5. Someone responded: Who believes that way?
6. I said: Millions of Christians. It's a huge false movement.
7. He said: Guess I'd have to go to a church that preaches a false word to know…praise God for the Baptists.
iii. Step three: Isaiah is cleansed
1. It’s good to let God reveal wickedness in us so we can be cleansed by fire!
2. Isaiah 6:6-7 (ESV) 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
3. 1 John 1:9 (ESV) 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
4. Hebrews 12:1 (ESV) 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
5. Psalm 51:10-12 (ESV) 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
a. The reason it’s so good to let God search out the corruption in our hearts, is because we can be freed from it!
b. Amazing!
iv. Step four: Isaiah is commissioned
1. Prophetic messengers will have the boldness to proclaim the word of the Lord regardless of its tone!
2. Wiersbe Outlines: Now God can call Isaiah and use him to preach His Word. The prophet is no longer wrapped up in his own needs; he wants to do the will of God. He is no longer burdened by sin; he has been cleansed. He is no longer discouraged; he knows that God is on the throne. Now he is ready to go to work.
3. Isaiah 6:8-10 (ESV) 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
4. This is God’s cry! Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?
a. Matthew 9:35-38 (ESV) 35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
v. Step five: Isaiah is given the outcome of the commission
1. Isaiah 6:11-13 (ESV) 11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, 12 and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13 And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.
a. We see in Mt 13 that Jesus spoke in parables because of this very judgment!
b. Matthew 13:10-14 (ESV) 10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “‘“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
c. And also in John:
i. John 12:37-41 (ESV) 37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
d. And in Acts:
i. Acts 28:23-26 (ESV) 23 When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. 24 And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. 25 And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: 26 “‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
e. This is why we need prophetic messengers with a bold spirit of awakening on them!!!!!
2. Ungers: How long would this spiritual deterioration go on? To the complete blotting out of Israel's testimony to the one true God? No, came the divine answer. Only until the complete devastation of the land and the removal of its inhabitants to Babylon were accomplished. Thence a remnant would return to Palestine. Even this tenth part would be further reduced, yet a holy posterity would survive in whom the ultimate hope of Israel would rest and in whom the covenants and promises would be realized.
b. You have an impending adventure if you simply sign up! Be available!
i. Sometimes God will draw you into adventure to cause you to become addicted to adventure!
ii. Wildman story
1. Fearful situation
c. God is looking for a people who are ready to give up the tired, old dreams of man for an adventure that will change societies!
d. Go after it! Don’t fear the risk! Don’t fear failure!
e. A study made a number of years ago said the more education a man has, the less likely he is to be an inventor. Now the reason for that is quite simple. From the time the boy, or girl, starts in school he is examined three or four times a year and, of course, it is a very disastrous thing if he fails. An inventor fails all the time and it is a triumph if he succeeds once. Consequently, if education is an inhibition to invention, it is due entirely to the form by which we rate things and not because of any intellectual differential. —Charles Kettering