Team Gray!

We just had a powerful conference at our church. I don’t know whether ‘conference’ is the right word. Perhaps a set of meetings is more appropriate.

Our Pastor is Joel A. Brooks, and his Pastor is Bishop Joseph Garlington, of Pittsburg. Bishop Garlington has a group of Pastors he mentors, including Pastor Brooks, called Reconcilliation. This group also does mission work. They meet twice a year, and this year had their June meeting in Kalamazoo.

We were blessed by so much prophecy, worship, and powerful messages. I’ll try to put some of it here, but I don’t know how I’ll do it justice.

Monday night, we heard Bishop Greg Parish. He has come to CLC a few times on a Sunday, and is usually good. He did not disappoint.

A recurring theme was fruitfulness. First he prophesied about the families of the church. He said that the men would turn completely to God, that the women would be happy because of the way the men are taking care of them, and that the children would be in order. He said that the next thing coming would be more children.

He said that the women would be so happy that they wouldn’t need a big name famous woman to come and throw conferences–just turn us loose!

I was very excited about all this, considering I am pregnant, and I had gone into the meeting feeling the weight of discouragement with being pregnant in my church. I get so many odd comments about ‘better you than me,’ and ‘is that the last one?’ or, ‘what is that, your 5th?’ hahaha–they haven’t been paying attention. So, anyway, that, along with the joyful announcement that the speaker’s wife was due to deliver twins any minute set my spirits soaring.

Then, Bishop Parish went on to talk about the city. He quoted Proverbs 11:10-11: When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices and when the wicked perish, there is rejoicing. By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

The city needs us to prosper. Righteous people use our prosperity for the good of those around us. God blesses us and our allies for our sake. Allies of the righteous.

Then he gave five indicators of a prosperous church.
1. Courage. When a church has courage, the city prospers. He cited the prayer of Jabez; it takes courage to ask for a big blessing. It also takes courage to deal with your own evil.

2. The Church needs to be void of pride. Pride is forgetting where your power comes from. Church should be bowed down and broken—not professional. If we’re going to be prosperous, we have to learn humility—submitted to God—worshipping warriors—who will fight because God says fight. Professional fighters will only fight until that battle is done—warriors fight until it’s over.

3. Loyalty in the church. You may be on your job 15 minutes early—faithful—but if you talk about somebody in authority because of disapproval, etc., you’re not loyal. Our city needs for us to not be so polished that we know ‘the right words to say’ but to back a brother or sister up! Be loyal to your assignment and your anointing. Let me see how you’re gonna act when things don’t go your way. Prove yourself faithful.

4. The Church should be known for forgiveness, not avoidance. Professional Christians know how to manipulate mercy and forgiveness, etc. The world needs to see us forgive. Parish had a man take some of his members in ’97 or ’98—he struggled with bitterness. God got a hold of him—he wrote a letter to the other guy, and wrote him a check for $1000 to help him out. Parish had forgiven him—but God tested his forgiveness. A banker came to town, and was looking for a church home. He asked Parish what did he think of the other guy’s church, and Parish told him it was a good church. The guy chose the other church! God sent Parish 10 others just like the banker!

5. The Church should go after wisdom and knowledge. Proverbs 1.32: and the waywardness of the naïve will destroy them.
Proverbs 1:.22: How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?
The Church should desire to be educated and get something in its head. Be filled with wisdom—even the unrighteous will come to church for life matters. A big white Lincoln with blacked out windows would come by Parish’s church every two weeks—it was a mafia guy. Eventually he got saved.

One other point I want to bring up is the 4 responses to the hearing a Word from God. These are from the Parable of the Sower:

1. Reject the word. Birds came and stole the seed. The redemptive, redeeming thing about birds stealing your seed is that birds can steal and eat your seed, but they can’t digest it–they gotta give it up. If you reject the WORD, you can’t get what God has for you. Get indignant if you hear a WORD prophesied to someone else, and you want it, too.

2. Resist the WORD, by telling God you don’t understand this. Zacharias is an example. The angel told him his prayers were answered–the prayer of wanting a son. Zacharias said, “how do I know that you’re telling the truth?” The angel shut him up for 9 months. If you resist the WORD, it will complicate your life. Another example: Himmet California is the ‘speed’ capital of the world–ie., they make the drug speed there. A pastor was sent there, an ambitious pastor, hoping to make it just one little stop on his way to significance. God asked him if he’d spend the rest of his life there. At first he resisted, but then he said yes. A prophet came, and said, “Behold, sayeth the LORD, you’re not my 1st choice, or my 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th choice–but the one who said yes. Because you said yes, I’ll give you the city. His ministry is international now.

3. Instead of rejecting it or resisting it, we reduce it to manageable proportions. Listen, if it’s not impossible, it’s not a God assignment. God is saying, “Let Me stretch you–let Me do it through you.” No Limits! No Boundaries! I see increase all around me! Jabez was heard. Get a dream you can’t manage–something you can’t produce. Take the city if He’s giving it to you–share it! Don’t stand in the river of your own prosperity. David said, “Now that I know it’s You, You go, God!” It do make a difference who your daddy is. He’s God!

4. Receive it. The same angel that went to Zacharias also went to Mary. She said, “Be it unto me according to the raima you just spoke to me.” Own it, rejoice in it, thank God for it. Before you ever hear from God, just say yes–ready to get the yes outta the way.

(Ed. note: I had Yanni start writing the story of KSA to put it on the blog. She had started with the following, but then lost it. I just found it today: 6/20/06, and I at least want to reproduce it here. Compare this with The story of KSA–chapter 1, and see which one you prefer.)

“There they are!” whispered the agents. “Hush—they’ll hear you!” whispered another voice. The agents turned to see their instructor, called. H.S. The agents lowered their eyes and fell silent. H. S. said quietly, “Just go—you don’t want to be too late.” The agents nodded and slipped out into the open.

The three of them inched their way through a large crowd of people. Their targets were about 10 feet away now. A boy and a girl were standing in line to ride the Ferris wheel. the boy had on a lime green shirt and black shorts. The girl was wearing a white shirt and pink capris. The county fair wasn’t this crowded every year, but then again, it hasn’t been this hot every year, either, and the new water slide this year brought more guests. It was a good thing for the agents, because they stood out even in this crowd. They were wearing all black with white belts and golden bands on their heads that glittered brightly, even when a cloud went over the sun.

They managed to get in line behind the boy and girl, who were talking to each other. “so are you sure you’re not afraid?” the boy asked the girl. “Yes, I’m sure,” said the girl, although as she looked up at the giant wheel, she looked almost the opposite.

The agents quickly looked around and saw they were yet undiscovered. They kept their heads down as they boarded the Ferris wheel right behind the two targets.

The agents waited with baited breath. H.S. had told them to wait for a signal before they carried out the rest of their mission, but he hadn’t specified what the signal would be. This was not unusual for H.S.—he usually did this to test the agents’ loyalty to the King. He wouldn’t tell them what to do until the last second.

The minutes that passed seemed like hours. Suddenly, one of the agents stood up. Her face shone and she said, “Now is the time.” The other two stood beside her, also now glowing. They, as If in a trance, leapt out of the side of the Ferris Wheel, seeming to fall in slow motion. The girl agent turned and looked up at the girl and boy still on the Ferris Wheel, and she swiftly pulled out a contraption with two hooks on it. she pulled a trigger, and one hook shot out and grappled a tree. The other dug into the side o the Ferris Wheel. Her teammates, (two boy agents), back flipped and landed on their feet on the ground below her.

Eyes flashing, the agent grabbed the wire attached to the hook that she had shot out first, and climbed up to the Ferris Wheel where the two targets were staring, amazed.

She climbed inside their basket and said, “you both must come with me.” The girl grew even more pale than she had already been, and adjusted her glasses. “W. . . why?” she stuttered. “What’s going on?” The agent looked at her and the boy and said, “There is no time! We must go now!” The Ferris Wheel basket rocked, and suddenly the other two agents appeared, and came inside. The basket wasn’t very big, so all five of them didn’t fit inside well. All this time, the boy hadn’t said a word. His mouth stood open as he struggled to find something to say. Finally, he turned to the girl and said, “I think we should go with them. WE don’t have to be home until later. . . “ The girl looked with big eyes at the three agents and their glowing faces.

She adjusted her glasses again. “I. . . I’m afraid to!” She whispered. One of the agents reached over and touched her shoulder gently. “Trust us. Please. We need you to come with us now.” There was a sincerity in his soft words.

The girl looked down and said, “oh, Ok. . . “ As soon as she said this, the girl agent snapped her fingers, and two small hover crafts floated over. she jumped on one, and beckoned the girl to sit with her. The other two agents jumped on the other one, and the boy followed. The girl remained on the Ferris Wheel. The girl agent grabbed her hand and whispered, “you must hurry! There is no time!” The girl closed her eyes and jumped on the hover craft. The small discs zoomed off into the distance.

Xay has discovered a new series of books by Gary Paulsen, author of The Hatchet. He is writing a newspaper front page as his book review of each book in the Tucket series.

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