Holy, Holy, Holy is all I can say. Thank you Jesus for your touch this week, best way I have ever spent a vacation is down here in Tampa getting fired up and pressing into Gods reverence for his people and their souls. Nebraska here I come for your Great Awakening comes Monday.
Carlene B.
So wonderful to see the fire of God moves so mightily in the meetings watching from Fargo North Dakota. Believing for an awesome service tomorrow Susie Craft Oh my how I wish every Christian would catch on to this Holy Ghost and Fire message!!!!!! Bro Rodney I just finished writing a comment to a face book friend who stated he believed the “laughter revival” was a judgment of God upon the church just to make us look like a bunch of fools.It gave me great JOY to testify why I know this is not true..loll! ACTS 2!!!!
So, since Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you, arm yourselves with the same thought and purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God], 2 So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites and desires, but [he lives] for what God wills. 3 For the time that is past already suffices for doing what the Gentiles like to do—living [as you have done] in shameless, insolent wantonness, in lustful desires, drunkenness, reveling, drinking bouts and abominable, lawless idolatries. 4 They are astonished and think it very queer that you do not now run hand in hand with them in the same excesses of dissipation, and they abuse [you]. 5 But they will have to give an account to Him Who is ready to judge and pass sentence on the living and the dead. 1 Peter 4:1-5 AMP
Verse 1: So, since Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you, arm yourselves with the same thought and purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God],
The sufferings of Christ make the strongest and best arguments against sin. Jesus Christ suffered in His flesh all for you and me—He died to destroy sin and its power over us. He cheerfully submitted to the worst sufferings, but never once did He yield to the least bit of sin. It was this suffering and bloodshed that purchased our freedom from sin. Since we know that He suffered so greatly in His quest to save you and me from our sins, should we not also strive with all our might to walk free from sin and walk in His ways from now on? Should we not also cease pleasing ourselves and our carnal nature and strive to rather please God?
Verse 2: So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites and desires, but [he lives] for what God wills.
If man was not already corrupt, temptations would not prevail. James 1:13-15 ERV says, “Whenever you feel tempted to do something bad, you should not say, “God is tempting me.” Evil cannot tempt God, and God himself does not tempt anyone. 14 You are tempted by the evil things you want. Your own desire leads you away and traps you. 15 Your desire grows inside you until it results in sin. Then the sin grows bigger and bigger and finally ends in death.” True Christians make God’s will the rule for their lives and their actions—not their own lust or desires. When someone is truly born-again there is a wonderful, corresponding change that takes place in their heart and behavior! This change is seen in their attitude, their judgment, their conversation and their choices. The truly converted person is grieved over their past sin. He or she does not look back on his or her past life with any pride, joy or longing. As far as they are concerned, that was the old man who is now dead and their new man is now following hard after God alone.
Verse 3&4: For the time that is past already suffices for doing what the Gentiles like to do—living [as you have done] in shameless, insolent wantonness, in lustful desires, drunkenness, reveling, drinking bouts and abominable, lawless idolatries. They are astonished and think it very queer that you do not now run hand in hand with them in the same excesses of dissipation, and they abuse [you].
Before you gave your life to Jesus, you lived a certain way—you lived an ungodly life. You may have thought of yourself as a basically “good” person, who just did a few small things wrong or you may truthfully acknowledge that you and your friends embraced sin fully and went all out to “enjoy” yourself and accommodate your flesh. Either way, you were all still sinners. Some of us have friends who also give their lives to the Lord around the time we do. Perhaps they find Jesus first and tell us the good news; sometimes we are the ones who lead them to the Lord. Many times though, you receive Jesus, but your friends think you are crazy. They think it’s weird that you don’t still hang out with them and do the things you do. They might tease you or mock you or even get angry with you and abuse you verbally or even physically.
You need to realize that they really don’t understand what has happened to you—their eyes have not yet been opened to the grace of God like yours have. You need to work to keep your heart right. Don’t be angry or offended at them and don’t allow the peer pressure to suck you back into your old, ungodly life-style. Just allow the love of God to rise up in you and know that you will come through this. If you don’t fight back and you show them love and forgiveness, you have a chance to win them for Jesus Christ.
Verse 5: But they will have to give an account to Him Who is ready to judge and pass sentence on the living and the dead.
Always keep in mind that every person will need to give an account to Jesus Christ on the Day of Judgment. Do not try to fight your own battles. Trust the Lord to protect and vindicate you. If you do it God’s way and walk in the love of God, He will take care of your friends. Pray for them and trust the Holy Spirit to work a work in their hearts and lives!
What an awesome week in the presence of the Lord. This conference was more than I’ve expected. God touched me in a way like never before. Clarity was given to me by the grace of God. No limits, no boundaries have increased my look out on life. It gave me new hope and just made me realize that God has no limits when it comes to blessing His children.
I am a first year bible school student, and God just placed a fire for nations in my heart, and once your heart has caught that fire there is no turning back. If we are good stewards of what we have now, God will entrust us with even more! I’ve learned that we have to be faithful with what we’ve got, so that we can be blessed with even more.
If we place everything at God’s feet and just surrender all, we will get to the place where God wants us and where He can fulfil His plan for our lives. God revealed to me that He has a plan for my life, I just need to trust him with ALL I’ve got and everything I have to offer Him. God can’t go back on His Word, that’s why all those promises are ours. We need to check our heart daily and be sure that we stand pure and yielded to His presence. Let Him mould you, let Him work through you and most of all, let Him guide you.
Ministers Conference 2010 was amazing for me and for all the people that God brought to Tampa, Florida. Every day you come expecting the Lord to do great things and He does. The Lord brought in great speakers from around the world that have forever changed my thinking and the way that I live by bringing me to deeper realization of God’s goodness. It is a week of dedication to press in and receive all that God has for you.
I personally enjoyed the praise and worship this conference. I enjoyed getting into God’s presence and worshipping Him because “God inhabits the praises of His people.” (Psalms 22:3) I also spent a couple of services serving in the call center taking phone calls of people needing prayer. I heard the cries of God’s people and know that when I pray and give them the encouragement from the word of God it uplift their spirit. To bring joy through the love of God has blessed me. When serving you realize that you are doing it unto God and your whole heart is in bringing Him glory.
This conference we were blessed to have been ministered not only by our pastors, Pastor Rodney and Adonica Howard-Browne, but also by Phil Smithers, Andre Ruebert, and Guilermo Maldonado. When sitting and hearing the amazing sermons and testimonies of these great men and women of God, you can’t help but to be forever changed. I encourage all to come and attend and let the presence of God change your life.
When I began internship I was slightly worried at where I would fit in and how I would adapt to everything. I’m glad to say, being an intern is an honor and a privilege and I take it very seriously. My first week I did a lot of administration work which was good. I probably filed hundreds of papers, and there was still a pile left! I enjoyed working in the River Bible Institute office.
The second week I was given an assignment to get some perks for all the students coming in, for example student discounts and deals. That turned out to be awesome, and there was much fruit from it. Just finishing the project yesterday, I can say it was very successful and I’m excited to get more discounts for our students through out the year. As an intern you are required to be on the offering schedule. I had no idea what this meant until a couple weeks into the internship.
There are multiple services throughout the week so everyone takes a shift. After the offering message is given, we collect the offerings and count them. This may seem like a small unimportant task to many but I saw it as a great honor. I feel very honored to be a part of counting the Lord’s money. It is not something small, it is a great responsibility. I have found myself counting offering almost every time since. I fully enjoy serving the Lord and counting carefully the money that has been given to Him. I’m learning that the Lord doesn’t really look when everyone is looking, but He pays close attention to the times when no ones is around, when you’re by yourself working at your own level of integrity.
