What is God Most Interested In?

To find out what God is most interested in regarding our lives and situations is a huge key in accomplishing our mission.

In the past year, I have had two very strong prophetic experiences where seasoned prophets who knew nothing about me spoke directly from the heart of God to me... they read my mail!  One was from India and gave me the prophetic prayer in Malaysia and the other was from Holland and gave me the prophetic prayer in the Philippines.

As I have been contemplating what God has spoken to me through these experiences and through other direct and indirect communications He has been sending me, the one thing that hit me this morning is not what was in the messages, but what was not.

The Lord has literally been ignoring some of my questions.  In the case of the Dutch guy who prophesied over me just last Monday, I had been asking God very specific questions during the worship service and about 75% of them were answered in the prophecy.  It went something like this.  "You have been asking ___________ and the Lord is saying ______________."  It was very specific.  But yet 25% of what I asked was ignored.  On purpose  :-)

So what has been missing?  What questions are being ignored by the Lord?  He has told me very little about the ministries and the Church that I oversee.  That is, He is not giving me any new information at the moment even though I am asking Him.

Instead, He has been focusing on me, personally.  Telling me to keep developing, keep growing, keep going, look at the big picture, don't get stuck, stay light on my feet and so much more.

To me, that seems weird.  I would assume that the Lord would be much more interested in the ministries that I oversee than me personally.  After all, the well being of many people is at stake!  But that is where my human mind-set is wrong.  God is always more interested in the minister than in the ministry.  In the person and His personal relationship with them than He is in what they do, even if what they do is for Him.  The ministries are His responsibility and He really is in control.

He wants me to focus on growing my character, my capacity, my intimacy with Him!  If I will continue to work on my relationship with the Lord, the natural out-flow of that will be that I am more able to help others!

Is God concerned about the Church I Pastor?  The other ministries?  Absolutely!  But it would be a mistake for me to think that I am irreplaceable and it would be a mistake to work on the Church more than to work on me.

What is God Most Interested In?  Every single person individually.  Every single one is precious to Him and He doesn't look at them primarily grouped in Fellowships.  He reaches each one.  Does He use a ministry to reach an individual?  Yes!  But the point always will be to reach the individual.  Not just to grow a group.

Now I do want to clarify.  There are times that God does speak to me about the specific ministries. Our whole mission and all of our goals are based exclusively on having heard from Him.  But those issues are not as important and the communication about them is not as regular as about my personal relationship with Him.  They are not as important as God's individual plan and communication for each person.

My final thought that I hope to drive home is this.  Could it be that what is getting in the way of many people moving forward in God, an over emphasis or too high of a priority on ministry rather than on relationship?  I believe so!

We need Funding.. Would you Partner with Us?

Hi everyone!  Sometimes I feel like the guy shipwrecked on the deserted island, throwing the message in a bottle out into the vast ocean, hoping that someday, someone will read it.  Or actually, even more so, I feel like the Apostle Paul, out on a missionary journey, writing yet another letter, marveling at the fact that God has been faithful but at the same time explaining that I have learned how to be content during the miracle moments of high provision and the other times when I have to do very normal types of things to survive like writing fund raising letters.  It's hard to imagine the Apostle Paul, one of the greatest men to ever live, having to make tents or make appeals for funds, but he did...

This has been an amazing year!  The ministries are doing very well, the church is thriving, organizing, uniting, maturing, growing!  The outreach efforts in their various forms are doing very well.  Every week, dozens of people are touched and impacted with the love of Jesus in homes, offices and public areas!

Personally, I haven't been so happy and content since I was a kid.  My marriage to Amy has been wonderful!  She brings so much peace and stability into our home and has become a partner in every area of life both to me and also to Ethan who is now 14.  We will celebrate our one year anniversary on March 07.  Thank you for your kind love and show of support.  I cannot explain to you how much it means to receive the messages of kind words from you which are like anti-oxidants to my soul!  Though the numbers of negative jabs we receive have been many, your kindness far over-powers the attempts by the enemy to discourage.  God is great!

The challenge that we have is that the fuel light is blinking red on our dash.  We are about out of gas.  I look on the horizon and I don't see a filling station anywhere in sight, but God sent a message to me from a trusted prophetic lady minister from Bangalore (India) saying, "I have instructed my people to give, once again, to the ministry that I have entrusted to you.  Raise the banner.  Send out the message.  They will give."  So, I trust the Lord.  Here goes!

As missionaries, our support comes from the Lord through His faithful people who give offerings.  Sometimes that comes when I guest speak and other people just send funds as they are led, either monthly or occasionally or one time.

Many of our previous supporters have dropped off in the last couple of years.  Some are now with the Lord, others are now under-employed or their businesses are not doing well.  Things are pretty tough everywhere including in the States.  We are left with 2 consistent supporters.  One Church in Tacoma, Washington which faithfully sends $230 a month and one couple who sends $50 bi-monthly.  That's $330 per month. 

Our budget isn't large.  We could really use $1,200 a month or as close to it as we can get.  That covers most everything.  Housing, food, fuel & transportation, electricity, utilities, school expenses for Ethan and incidentals.  It of course doesn't cover things like emergencies or medical, but we have a private Physician named Jesus! 

Calculate with me and you will see that what I'm looking for is $870 per month in support.

Would you be so kind as to consider the possibility of doing something?  A one-time gift?  A monthly amount?  Something large?  Something small?  It doesn't matter how much you can do, God takes small things and makes them big!  If all you can do is $20, please don't feel bad about that.  $20 pays for gasoline for an entire week!  That's a tremendous help that propels us to the places God sends us!  But if you can do more, that would be greatly appreciated as well!

Thanks for your kind consideration!

The best way to send funds to us from America is through our good church friends in Tacoma, Washington.  They issue all the donors a tax deductible receipt and they get the funds to us within a week.  For those in other countries who don't require a USA tax deduction, there are faster and more direct ways to send to us including Xoom, Western Union, Bank Transfer and more.  Please contact me directly to coordinate at pastorstevemckinney@gmail.com.

Abundant Life Fellowship

5917 South Thompson Ave

Tacoma, WA 98408

USA

- Make checks payable to "Abundant Life Fellowship"

- Include a note and write in the memo section, "Steve McKinney"

Check them out at www.alfellowship.org or call Pastor Rick at (253) 472-3600

Place Everything in God's Hands

I recently preached for a week-end at an amazing church in Singapore, Eternal Life Assembly.  The fantastic Lead Pastor is Bob Lum who also serves as the Assistant General Superintendent of the the Singapore Assemblies of God.  This is the Sunday morning service.  Eternal Life Assembly is celebrating it's 49th year which means they are completing 7 cycles of 7 years.  We call this a "Sabbath's Sabbath!"  And so this year for them has to do with Sabbath Rest and this sermon describes true rest not as sleeping or relaxing, but as placing everything in the hands of God.  The first 45 minutes are the sermon and the rest of the video is a time of response and worship.  The intro is by Pastor Bob and the worship at the end is with the mightily anointed Worship Pastor Daphne Lau on keyboards.  

In addition to the main text of  Hebrews 4, I also tie in the stories of Jericho and of the Loaves and Fish as examples of resting in Jesus.  Enjoy!