Youth Are Leaving Churches That Do This

Pentecostal Giant George O. Wood: Youth Are Leaving Churches That Do This

 5/21/2015 JESSILYN JUSTICE  charisma news

George O. Wood, right, made some bold declarations at Empowered21. (Empowered21/Facebook)

It's not that young adults are leaving churches, it's that they're abandoning denominations that are forsaking the authority of God's Word, George O. Wood says. 

"We (AG USA) have 3.1 million young people in the USA and 34 percent of them are under the age of 25," The Assemblies of God overseer said at Empowered 21. "... The young people that are moving away from traditional religious structures in the U.S. typically belong to churches which have abandoned a belief in the authority of Scripture and the uniqueness and centrality, and exclusiveness of Jesus Christ."

His comments reflect the same research that says the Presbyterian Church USA is dying on the vine after coming out in full support of gay marriage. 

According to Barna research, a quarter of 18-to-29-year-olds are practicing Christians. 

The migration of young adults away from the church is only a glimmer into how Christianity is on the decline nationally. 

However, young adults are seeking authenticity in their churches, and those that produce it reap the fruits. 

"I think churches thriving are those who say they want to take a more proactive role," says Barna's Vice President of Research Clint Jenkin. "Creative churches (can) establish themselves in their community, reach people because they are able to find certain ways to transcend disagreements. If churches are in position of arguing, then you're missing big piece of how you're going to build relationships with people."

Barna research shows that in order to engage young people in congregations, one must be totally transparent.

"More than one-third say their negative perceptions are a result of moral failures in church leadership (35 percent)," according to a Barna report. "And substantial majorities of millennials who don't go to church say they see Christians as judgmental (87 percent), hypocritical (85 percent), anti-homosexual (91 percent) and insensitive to others (70 percent)."

For Wood, though, it's about showing young adults that church is place where they can experience God, and showing them their value and roles within the church.

Construction Begins: DC Museum to Bring Bible Alive - CBN News

Museum of the Bible sketch

Construction Begins: DC Museum to Bring Bible Alive

By Paul Strand

CBN News Washington Sr. Correspondent

Friday, February 13, 2015

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WASHINGTON -- Washington, D.C. Is famous for its museums.  Some are dedicated to art, some to history, and a couple to air and spacecraft.  But soon the Bible will have its very own museum right in the heart of the nation’s capital.
 
Construction of the world’s largest Bible museum  began this week with an act of destruction, as a huge construction claw began ripping away at a building in the way of the future 430,000-square-foot structure.

The seven-story, $400,000,000 museum will tell the impact, history and narrative of the the holy book that Bible museum President Cary Summers called “the most read, most debated, most banned book in history."
 
CBN News recently spoke to Steve Green, the museum’s founder.

Steve Green - Museum of the Bible Founder

“Our idea and our desire is to tell the Bible story in such an engaging way that people will want to spend hours in the museum,” Green said.

Green’s family not only runs the mega-business Hobby Lobby, but also owns one of the largest collection of Bible artifacts in the world.  Most will find a home in the new museum, along with many hi-tech, innovative displays to bring God’s Word to life.  
 
“When we think of the word ‘museum,’ sometimes you think of old and dusty,” Green said.  “But what we will be doing is making this technologically advanced, where that it is very engaging and interactive, where that somebody could have a customized tour if they wanted to.”

The museum is set to open in 2017, just a few hundred yards from the National Mall and the most famous Smithsonian attractions, like the popular National Air and Space Museum.  

Looking for answers? Don't understand?

Jeremiah 29:11

New American Standard Bible

"For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

Franklin Graham: Praying for the Next Great Awakening

 6/24/2014 FRANKLIN GRAHAM  CHARISMA NEWS

Franklin Graham (ABC News)

Hardly a day passes that I don't hear someone say, "We are losing our country; we are losing our churches."

While doomsday appears to be knocking at our door, let me take you back to the early 1800s. Many think of it as "the good old days," but history tells us that society, even then, was as bad as it could get at that time. John Marshall, chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, wrote to President James Madison and said, "The church is too far gone ever to be redeemed." When we examine why, we find that preachers had stopped preaching the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the people were not hearing God's Word.

What changed? Christians began to diligently pray for revival—and the result was the Second Great Awakening. When people's prayers stormed the heavens, and when the Bible was opened in the pulpits and the Word of God proclaimed by passionate preachers, the church was awakened from slumber by the Holy Spirit, who moved in hearts, spreading revival throughout the heartland of America.

There have been several Great Awakenings in our nation's history. When I read about them, I always go back to the Old Testament, to a time in which Israel had once again turned its back on God. When its people came to their senses, they gathered and asked Ezra the scribe to bring the Word of the Lord to them. The Bible tells us that Ezra stood upon a pulpit of wood, and he opened the book in the sight of all the people (see Nehemiah 8).

Our hope and desire—and our prayer—here at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is to stir up followers of Jesus Christ to pray and ask for a great awakening of the church. Through the My Hope America outreach, we have already seen the results of what happens when God's truth is proclaimed. Just last year, multiplied thousands of souls were won to Jesus Christ, and Christians across the country have asked us to continue providing more My Hope evangelistic programming and resources.

This year, as part of My Hope 2014, we are preparing a brand-new film, including a never-before-released message from my father. While he is no longer able to stand in the pulpit to proclaim the Word of God, we have captured on video God's Word that burns in his heart. Last summer as he was taping his message on The Cross, which was released on his 95th birthday in November, he also shared his thoughts on Heaven, and we are excited about bringing it to you this fall. We had no idea at that time how God would direct us to use this message on Heaven, but it is now being developed into a powerful new program that also includes compelling testimonies of changed lives. Please pray with us that the Holy Spirit will use it to transform the hearts and lives of countless people who will realize the hope of eternity in Heaven.

The new 30-minute film will be made available, at no charge, to churches for use across the country as we did last year. Please encourage your church to get involved in praying and planning so that this message can be used effectively in your community. The program will also be televised as well as available for download via the Internet.

We plan to do a new evangelistic My Hope film every year for the next several years and make it available for churches and individuals to use to win souls.

Prayer is the key to reaching lost people for Christ, and I hope you will begin praying now for neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior. Make a point to pray for your church and other churches in your community, asking God to stir up an ever-increasing urgency for evangelism.

---

This article originally appeared on Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Kent Simpson: Jesus Our Mentor - And How His Angels Minister For Us

Kent Simpson:

Jesus Our Mentor - 

And How His Angels Minister For Us

The Elijah List

Jesus, Our Mentor And Teacher

Jesus is not only our Savior and Lord but also our Mentor and Teacher through His Holy Spirit. He is our King and our example. Even so, when Jesus came to earth, it took Him three and a half years to show His disciples how to walk in the supernatural with evidence through signs and wonders. While here, He was able to receive the encounter of miraculous interventions. Jesus did many healings and many miracles, in many different ways.

Sometimes Jesus would spit in the dirt, make mud, and place it on a blind man's eyes. Other times He would put His tongue upon them. It is written that He would even spit directly on the blind eyes. You do not see these same types of ministries today because it is not socially acceptable.

How did He know what to do in order for miracles to manifest? Jesus has shown us how. First, He prayed to the Father and whatever the Father told Him to do, Jesus did it. And it always worked, 100% of the time.

You Are Gifted, Whether You Are Aware Of It Or Not

Today we want to see 100% accuracy in the gifts of the Holy Spirit moving in the Body of Christ. The world needs to see the evidence that Jesus is alive and working through His Body, the Church. We are each members of the Body of Christ, and each of us has a function and purpose.

We all have a gifting whether we are aware of it or not. The gift is there, even though it may lay dormant for a long time.

We need to be aware of how Jesus moved and walked: The things Jesus did were done according to the will of the Father. He said, "I do nothing of My own authority. I speak what I hear the Father say" (John 8:28). This is the true Christian way. His works while on earth were demonstrations of what we are to do. We may even perform greater works than He, according to John 14:12.

(Photo via artbible.net)

Many times Jesus would pray to find out what the Father had to say, and when Jesus prayed there were angels ascending and descending upon Him, giving Him instructions from Heaven above. Jesus prayed, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven" (Matthew 6:10).

That means we need to find out first from Heaven what needs to be done. When we find out what it is that we are to do, nothing can stop us because the authority of His Word is working through us.

How The Authority Of God's Word Works Through Us: Angels Of Our Lord

When Jesus was born in a manger, there was an army raised up to find him. Every child two years old or under was to be slaughtered, because King Herod heard that a king was born, and Herod feared losing his position.

An angel appeared unto Joseph and Mary and warned them to leave the city, for King Herod sought the life of their newborn Son. They left the city and stayed away for a number of years. Then an angel appeared to them again and let them know that it was safe to return, for King Herod was dead.

This was just the beginning of many encounters with angelic hosts in the ministry of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus stood before those who were to judge him, Pontius Pilate said to him, "Do You not know that I hold Your life in my hands? I can give You life or I can take it" (see John 19). Jesus replied that Pilate did not know what he was talking about. He knew He had thousands of angels at His disposal. Upon His word, the angels could have destroyed everything.

When Jesus walked into a city, people came from everywhere to seek Him. Jesus did not have to advertise His presence. People just showed up in the middle of nowhere because the angels of the Lord gathered them. Many times Jesus could not find a place to be alone so that He could seek the will of the Father.

These encounters are important to us because they are examples of how our lives should be. We are not to worship or pray to angels, but they are there as ministering spirits for us.

Angels, His Ministering Spirits

Ministering spirits are angels sent to minister, not to us but for us. When you came into the Kingdom of God, an angel was appointed unto you. When you gave your life to Jesus Christ, it is recorded in the Gospels that an angel went before the face of God and reported your name to Him so that it could be written into the Lamb's Book of Life. These ministering spirits are waiting for you to yield unto the will of Jesus Christ, that He may dispatch them on your behalf to minister for you.

To each and every one of us there is at least one angel appointed as a guardian to watch over us. But there are more angels that are to be dispatched by the word of God. Jesus had thousands of angels at His disposal, and they ministered for Him. And He says, "Greater works you will do," in John 14:12.

If you have more than one angel, you may find something is working in your life that you truly could not have done on your own. You do not have the intellect to comprehend what God will do through you as He appoints an angel to minister for you. There are testimonials of people who knew they were supposed to die years ago. Their lives were spared for a purpose, by angels who were watching over them until their appointed time to be with the Lord.

How do we obtain these angels? How do we receive the appointment of these angels? If we do not pray to them or worship them, how do we get their assistance as promised to us in Hebrews 1:14 NKJV: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?"

It all begins with the impartation of a spiritual gift of the Holy Spirit.

When you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, there was a gift appointed unto you. That gift is still there with you. If you look back and recall when you received the baptism of Jesus, not only of the water but the Spirit, according to Acts 1, then you will see that there was a spiritual gift given unto you.

Maybe shortly after you received the Holy Spirit you prayed for somebody and they were healed. Maybe you had a dream and it came to pass. Maybe you had a vision or a word burning in you for somebody and you could find no relief until you were able to deliver that word.

(Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

Take a moment and think back. What area of spiritual encounter did your ministering spirit perform through you?

Angels are appointed by the Holy Spirit to minister in accordance with the spiritual gifts that have been imparted into you. For, you see, the angels are the ones who are doing the ministering for you. It is not your own willfulness or power that overcomes the natural so that you can walk in the supernatural. No! It is the angel of the Lord who was sent to do the work for you.

Your Appointed Angel Seeks To Do His Word

When Peter was in prison, the congregation was praying for his safe return. An angel went to the prison and kicked Peter to wake him up. The angel told him to get his things and then led him out of prison. Peter came to the house where they were praying for him and knocked on the door. A girl peeped out and saw Peter but did not let him in; instead she went to tell the others. But they replied that it could not be Peter at the door but it must be his angel. Why would they say such a thing?

It should be an effortless deed to walk in the supernatural. An angel is going about seeing to it that the word of God is fulfilled in your life. There are so many references in the Bible about angels. If you were to look up all of the encounters, you would surely be blessed to know that angels are still here ministering for us. An encounter with an angel will set you free.

When will your next encounter be?

Kent Simpson, Prophetic Pastor
Prophetic Ministries Today

Email: PMT@propheticministries.org

Website: propheticministries.org

Kent Simpson is a prophetic pastor and is the founder and senior pastor of Prophetic Ministries Tabernacle – a gathering place for the prophetic people of God to unite for the sole purpose of being used as vessels for the Holy Spirit to speak through. Prophetic Ministries Today is devoted to the truth that Jesus is not dead but alive and He speaks if you have an ear to hear the Spirit. His website is filled with prophetic teachings which will help you understand the process of "hearing" God for yourself as well as others. The Lord wants you to pray, hear, and obey Him because the Holy Spirit is the only One who can truthfully lead you into the abundant life Jesus promised us.

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"Pressing On With Encouragement for the Long Haul” - Ahava Love Letter (Steve Martin)

                 

               "Pressing On – Encouragement for the Long Haul”

“My times are in Your hands…” (Psalm 31:15 NAS)

Dear family of friends,

As I sat in my prayer chair that Saturday morn, having already read the Lord’s Word which I keep beside me on the lamp stand, and now accompanied with a fresh cup of java my good wife had brought me, I pondered on what the new year would bring. Weariness had taken a bit of a toll on my body, my mind and even my spirit. I looked forward to the road ahead, but as many of us do, we wonder what is on that road. Is it good? Will we make it? Will our faith be strong enough? And so I asked Him for more strength and hope.

In a brief message I had written to one of my five sisters that week, who was anxious about an upcoming job situation, I encouraged her to daily pray His words, one of many given to us in His Book of Promises. He simply says for us to believe, “My times are in Your hands.” 

I found myself praying that same prayer again – for her, others on my prayer list, and for myself. As Derek Prince once said about receiving Scripture, it is like taking daily medicine. Here is an excerpt from a devotional he wrote.

Daily Devotional by Derek Prince.

God’s Medicine Bottle

Proverbs 4:20–22
“My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.” KJV

For many years I have known those three verses from the fourth chapter of Proverbs as “God’s medicine bottle.” God declares that if we will rightly receive His words and His sayings, they will be life to us and health to all our flesh. The marginal translation for the word that is translated “health” is “medicine.” That’s why I say it’s “God’s medicine bottle.”

And God says His medicine will provide us with health in all our flesh. In every area of our physical body it will provide health, but remember, the directions are on the bottle. The medicine only works if you take it according to the directions. There are four directions.

First, attend to God’s word.
Second, incline or bow down your ear and listen to His sayings.
Third, let them not depart from your eyes, keep them before your eyes continually.
And fourth, let them settle and abide in the midst of your heart.

If you take the Word of God according to those fourfold directions, you will find, as I did many years ago, that God’s medicine bottle produces just the results that He claims. It brings life and health to all our flesh. I found that after a year on end in a hospital when doctors couldn’t heal me, God’s medicine did the job.

Whitaker House Publishers, 1996

Personally I can’t comprehend how people who do not know the Lord God of Israel, Yeshua (Jesus), make it through their day to day life. It astounds me how many keep trusting in their own abilities or someone else’s, which will ultimately fail, when they too could be having an ongoing faith in their Creator, and Knower of the road ahead for them. I am so thankful we can know His will, walk in His ways, and gain daily encouragement through His Holy Spirit.

For the long haul, for the marathon we run, we must keep pressing on in our faith and hope in Him. Our Good Lord will see us through. He will provide daily strength for the journey, to the end of time. His reward will be great.

Keep your eyes fixed on Him, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Keep pressing on to the mark He has set before us. His promises are sure. We can count on Him. Thank you Lord.

Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder, Love For His People

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA organization. Fed. ID#27-1633858.

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I hope you read my first two books The Promise (CreateSpace/Amazon 2013) and Ahava Love Letters (Xulon Press, 2013). Both available through Amazon.com Xulon Press.com, plus other website book stores.

You can also order both books, The Promise (on Amazon.com for $7.19 plus $3.95 S/H) and Ahava Love Letters Xulon Press for$14.90, plus $3.80) or you can get both from our office for $29. Send check to the address above. I will autograph all copies ordered through our office. (Hey, and please include a contribution for Israel too!)

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Ahava Love Letter #96   “Pressing On”   Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2013 (12.28.13 Saturday at 8:00 am in Charlotte, NC).

All previous editions of Ahava Love Letter can be found on this Blog, and our newest website: Ahava Love Letters

The Word

"The Promise - One Man's Journey To See God's Word Revealed" - Now on Amazon.com.

Promise: One Man's Journey to See God's Word Revealed [Kindle Edition]

Book Description

Publication Date:
September 6, 2013

Throughout our lives, God keeps His hand on our shoulders and nudges us on to more than what we could ever realize. I am excited to share how He did this with me, and am confident it will be a story you’ll be able to relate to. 

As I unveil my story, think back to those times when you knew there was some thing more but you just couldn’t put your finger on it. You knew deep down that life wasn’t what the TV sitcoms portrayed it to be. In our souls there is the hope, the cry for more, that someday questions will be answered and promises fulfilled if we just kept plugging away at what we know to do.

In The Promise I share my 40 year journey with you, and show you that dreams do come true. Though Peter Pan isn’t real, the Lord, the One Who created us, certainly is, and He has a plan in place for each one of us. When you are done reading this story, my prayer is that you too will know more of that good plan and His purpose for you.

Click here to buy now:

The Promise on Amazon.com

(Both paperback & Kindle versions)

Product Details File Size: 381 KB Print Length: 203 pages Publisher: Martin Lighthouse Publishing  (September 6, 2013) Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc. Language: English ASIN: B00F1JL4XW Text-to-Speech: Enabled  X-Ray: Not Enabled  Lending: Not Enabled

To Purchase Kindle Edition 
Now for $0.99 - Click Here:

The Promise - 
Kindle Edition on Amazon

Note: You don't have to have a Kindle, smartphone or tablet to download the e-book edition. I downloaded the free app below onto both my PC laptop and desktop computers. 

(Steve Martin)

  

Anybody can read Kindle books—even without a Kindle device—with the FREE Kindle app for smartphones and tablets.

“Have your delight in the Lord,

and He will give you

the desires of your heart. 

Trust also in Him,

and He will do it.” 

Psalm 37:3,4

Dedication

To all those who have a desire and a dream that is yet to be fulfilled, but continue to hang onto the promise the Lord has given you – I dedicate this book.

In agreement with the Bible verse that I have printed on a note card standing upright on my home computer desk, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:0, NIV), I declare that He will do it.

As surely as the Lord God of Israel lives, He will bring it to pass!!!

We’ve Only Just Begun…

                                              

Back in the ‘70’s, when music was still decent, and you could really understand the words, a brother and a sister, the Carpenters, came out with a popular song,  We’ve Only Just Begun.  For those of us around at that time, songs like this gave us some hope, as we made our way through grade school or high school.  Deep in our souls, whether we realized it back then or not, something, or Someone, was calling after us, and songs on the radio helped draw us on.

Not sure which way to go at times, we knew something was still possible, even as our parents sought after the “Almighty Dollar”, and the Sunday service was at least a place the family, which still looked like one, went to on Sundays.  Friday night football games, followed by the sock-hop (finally realized that we had to wear socks, not our shoes, because of the gym wooden floor), gave us potential stability, after coming out of the ‘60’s and before the ‘80’s hit.

Through it all, Someone kept His hand on our shoulders, and nudged us on to more than what we would ever realize, before now.  And then…boom! The answer comes in an unexpected way.

As I unveil this story, think back to those times that you knew there was something more, but you just couldn’t put your hand on it.  You knew, deep down, that life wasn’t just what Walter Cronkite said it was every night on the CBS news, or that the faith and love shown by John Boy to Grandpa, Jim Bob, and the other twenty Waltons wasn’t just for their family.  Deep down in our souls, the hope, the cry for more, would someday be answered and fulfilled, if we just kept plugging away at what we did know.

I want you to share my journey with me, as I look back over the last forty years, and you see that dreams do come true, and that though Peter Pan isn’t real, the Lord, the One Who created us, is, and He has a plan in place for each one of us.  And when you are done reading this story, you too will know that…we’ve only just begun.

  

Book Chapters

Going To Africa

Father Thomas Purtell

Columbus High School

“I am a Christian”

Laura Jean

The Dream

Hasselbring-Clark

Bonnie, Derek & Mahesh

Heritage USA

The Barn

Worship The Lord God of Israel

The Beginning of the End

Jerusalem & The Western Wall

This Season Completed

The Incredible Journey

New Beginnings

Steve Martin & The Raiders

“Carry My Bags” – The Great Wall

A Season of the Soul

I Thought It Was Over

Roll Call of Honor

Editor's Note:

It was very exciting to know that my book came out during Rosh Hashanah, the new year of 5774, on Sept.4-6. This is a new beginning in the Lord's purposes and fulfillment of promises given to Laurie and I.  I hope you read my book!  Steve Martin

Steve & Laurie 2013

You can purchase The Promise now: E-Book Version