A Season of Cleansing and Growth

Yesterday evening was amazing! We baptized two precious people at a Life Group in a community swimming pool! Awesome! The Life Group is a new one held every Thursday night in the Valley Verde area of Pasig, Metro Manila. Please let me know if you are interested in joining. The group runs just over 10 people, mostly consisting of people who know nothing about the Bible. They come from a tradition where they attended a service but were not trained to read or think for themselves. It is very basic and powerful. Most of our other Life Groups held throughout the week get deeper because the attendees are seasoned Christians. Whatever your need, we can place you in just the right environment. Contact me directly at pastorstevemckinney@gmail.com or on Facebook using the same Email address to look me up.

We have also been cleaning out closets as a Church, burning relics and idols and all kinds of related activities. The past month has consisted of messages and prayer times focused on making our lives as pure and pleasing to God as possible, which includes getting rid of all the physical things and the attitudes that hinder us.

It is amazing what God is doing and I would encourage all of my readers to do the same thing. There is a song entitled "Pleasing to You" by Jared Anderson which has been instrumental in this process for us as a Church which I would like to share with you. Click on the link below to view it on YouTube with the words.

Paul's Encourager

2 Corinthians is loaded with scriptures which point to Titus as one who greatly encouraged Paul. Of course we know that Paul appointed him as a Pastor, sent him on journey's, considered him a Brother as well as a Spiritual Son and wrote a letter to him which is now an important Pastoral Epistle. One of these scriptures recently hit me square between the eyes.

2 Corinthians 2:12-13 (NIV)
"12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13 I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia."

It is obvious that Paul was in need of encouragement and he intended to receive it from Titus. It seems he was expecting to find Titus in Troas. I don't know what was going in in Paul's life that he would be this desperate for encouragement from a specific guy, but I do know that I can relate. There have been times that I needed to seek out a particular individual that I knew was "the one" to encourage me. I have even taken a flight to get to a specific person in my time of need. Paul needed, as the scripture reveals, "peace of mind."

He then gives us an incredible insight. Even though God had opened a door for powerful and effective, needed ministry for him in Troas, he said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia. Amazing! Paul left a place where God had opened a door. Now we could split hairs about the difference between an "open door" and being "called" to a place, but let us remember that there are no accidents in God. Paul showed up in Troas because God led him there. Maybe he was able to accomplish his task quickly and was released to move on, but the bottom line is that he moved on for the purpose of finding Titus so that he could gain "peace of mind" through Titus's ministry of encouragement to him.

What an amazing example that Paul set's for us that when we need to be refreshed, that we had better do whatever it takes to get to a refresher. And what an awesome example of an encourager that Titus is to us. I wish I could get with him now! He must have been an amazing man of God!

I could teach a 12 part series here but I won't. If this topic grabs your attention, get your concordance out and go for it. Look for the name Titus. You will be amazed at the wealth of insight about what it means to be an great encourager you will find as Paul describes his relationship with Titus in the scriptures.

But I do want to say one thing which will be my main and ending point. Believers all have the same Spirit inside of us and we are all anointed of the Lord. The potential is there for us to be amazing encourager's one to another. But very few really are.

You could be so empowered by God, so filled with His word to the brim that your face literally glows and miracles flow from your hands. But if you enter a room with a frown on your face or with your spirit in a bad place (you could say with a wrong attitude), you WILL drag everyone in that room down into your pit with you. You must choose to overcome your emotions, circumstances and difficulties. You must choose to rise up and encourage someone else in spite of the way you feel. You must choose to smile, touch, be excited and faith filled. But it has to be genuine. You must lay your burdens at the feet of Jesus before you can encourage someone else. But if you will get your attitude right and will work with the Holy Spirit who the Bible declares works mightily within you, maybe you will become the kind of encourager Titus was to Paul. Just maybe, we don't have many like Paul today because we don't have many like Titus today.?.? Let's change that starting with ourselves!

Not a beggar but a Barber

I saw on the streets of Manila, something that is an unusual site, even for the Philippines. A man was cutting hair on the sidewalk. He only had a stool, comb, scissors and towel but he had a line of 3 people waiting. The cardboard sign attached to the stool advertised 20 pesos. That's under 50 cents in US currency. A haircut in a mall runs about 4 dollars and in a street side shop, maybe a dollar plus. But I love the attitude of this man. No job, no shop, no capital, but he found a way to work and not to beg. Maybe some of his customers are beggars? Could be! But I love it! May more people develop a "can do" attitude like his!

I'm reminded that God does not respond to prayerful begging either. God responds to faith. I was given a prophetic word many years ago in which God told me that "...because you haven't begged, because you have stood firm in faith, I will release blessing in your life and ministry." It started to happen the very next day.

I'll break one of my own rules here and use this Cliche: If you want to be on the "cutting edge" of what God is doing, then don't beg. Instead, do something with what God has placed in your hands.

don't be Half Cooked

Psalm 66:10-12 explains that God allows us to be tested as silver and that among other things, we are brought through fire and water. This is a similar thought to the instructions that God gave the Israelites in Numbers 31. After they had returned from battle, they were to pass everything that could be passed through fire, literally through fire in order to purify it. Everything else which could not withstand fire had to be passed through water in order to be purified. Even the returning soldiers clothes had to be washed before they could re-join the camp. Passing something either through fire or water in ceremonial terms is a purification process which in life terms as the Psalmist explained is akin to passing through challenges and tribulations.

We want our hearts purified and we want to become like pure gold with the dross (impurities) drawn to the surface and removed, but there is a process and the process must be completed. The key word is "through" and the implication is all the way through.

The first time I saw an oven with a conveyor belt, I believe was at a Burger King. They put the raw burger on the belt at the front of the oven and it came off the back perfectly cooked every time. Nobody sticks a spatula in there to remove one before it's done, er, unless something breaks. I have seen similar ovens for pizza and many other kinds of food. In essence, the item being cooked is being passed through the fire.

Back before conveyor belt ovens or ovens with heat on both top and bottom, the only way to fully cook an item was to flip it, to turn it. In our homes, we use pans. In more primitive times, hot rocks were often used.

Hosea 7:8 (NIV) remarks of a rebellious Ephraim (tribe of Israel), “Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over."

Verse 11 of the same chapter says that Ephraim is like a senseless dove that is easily deceived. How many could it be said of in the Church today that because they mix with outside influences, because they have not been adequately purified, because they are like Ephraim, half cooked, are so easily deceived? I don't know the stats but I know it is many. I know it has been me on many an occasion.

How often I have run away from the process, the purifying, avoided the storm rather than going through it? Too many times to count! There is comes again! The same test that I didn't take the last time. And I want to advance? There is no advancement until this levels exams have been passed. Verse 9 states that Ephraim's hair is turning gray but he doesn't even realize it. Nobody enjoys being the oldest in the class!

Jesus wants us to become like him. He is Bread for the hungry and Water for the thirsty. When non believers come into contact with us, we should be as refreshing for them as a meal of pancakes and milk would be in the morning for a weary traveler who has arrived at their destination in the morning. But if we are not turned, only half cooked, then that non believer will be put off at best. They will leave our table muttering something about hypocrites because we claim to be something wonderful, a Christian, but in reality we are as inedible as a pancake not turned.

I was anticipating a dinner of b-b-q ribs several years back. When it was almost time for dinner, a large platter of ribs lathered in rich sauce was brought in from the patio and the house was filled with the wonderful aroma! "I want my baby back baby back baby back..." (if you don't get that part, don't worry about it) My mouth was exploding... I hadn't eaten and I was HUNGRY. I grabbed a rib and took a bite but I stopped mid bite. My mouth filled with blood and the temperature nearer to the bone was cold. Um... It wasn't sushi and it was pork... Not good!

I was severely disappointed because even though the cook tried to rectify the situation, it just didn't turn out the way it should have. I ate a hot dog instead and even went through a McDonalds drive through later.

I had been deceived by the reputation, the look and the smell. I had been offered a half cooked helping of ribs. Upon investigation, I found that the ribs had been put on the grill almost straight from the freezer. The cook had been running late..

As Christians, we need to make sure we have gone through God's purifying processes, eliminated the foreign elements in our lives by allowing them to be burned out. No longer avoiding conflicts, trials and challenges, but rather, willingly going through them with God's help. In America, we often hear it said, "don't jump from the frying pan into the fire." In other words, no matter how hot it gets, trust that the Lord your Great Cook will not allow you to over cook but that you will always come out just right. Tried in the fire and purified like Gold.

This is where I ask myself and hopefully you also ask yourself what areas in your life may be half cooked. In what ways are we no different than non believers? What are the flaws that we have failed to submit to the Lord to transform from weaknesses into strengths?

Pray with me? Father, may your Holy Spirit search us now and may we be open to see and hear about and improve in every area that we fall short. Cook me to perfection in the fires of this life so that I may enter into eternal glory with you and bring many with me who taste and see that You are good through my life devoted to You. Amen!

An Amazing High School Camp!

I spoke for two evening sessions of the Tabernacle of Faith Christian Academy high school camp this past week. Though the school is a ministry of Tabernacle of Faith International which is a Charismatic/Pentecostal group of Churches, the school caters to families from dozens of Church groups, many of which are more traditional Evangelical. And so we avoid teachings and experiences that not everyone agrees with and focus on what everyone does agree with.

With that in mind, let me report to you that we had an AMAZING camp! It was not what I am used to as a frequent camp speaker used to emphasis on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, but awesome! The camp was marked with a spirit of prayer that fell on the students in a supernatural and completely spontaneous way. Not surprising, I noticed that the spark occurred in both services in a part of the crowd where a majority of Korean students were standing. They know how to pray! A few became like spiritual furnaces and the fire of prayer spread rapidly. Some were on their faces, others were standing with their faces set towards heaven, several were on the ground like mops (not just Koreans but Filipino's too), completely consumed and focused, unaware of anything else going on around them, wet with tears and sweat as they cried out.

Repentance, reconciliation, personal revival, fresh awareness of God, renewed commitment to God's Word... The list would go to 100+ things that God was doing. No man could take any credit at all. The line of those who would testify on the final night was long and the testimonies were incredible. And yes, even though we did not emphasize the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, we did conduct Prophetic Actions which accomplished big things, and yes, there were those who received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, spoke in unknown tongues and prophesied. God is amazing!!

Let me leave you, particularly my Pentecostal friends with a thought. It is amazing how much God can accomplish when we don't "push it"... when we let His Spirit take control. I think that we must admit to ourselves that sometimes for the sake of a perceived good meeting, we push it. Not only is it not necessary, but it robs us of the true move of God that He uniquely plans for every gathering. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we should not move in boldness, power and faith. But I am saying that our model is that Jesus said He only does what He sees the Father doing and that is also what we should do. Nothing more, nothing less.

I Don't Know WHAT to Believe

Unfortunately, most of life's dealings seem to be based on "he said, she said" rather then on facts, figures and concrete evidence. And even when there are offerings of evidence in any given argument, it seems that the documentation which in theory should be without bias has often been tampered, falsified or given in a way as to skew the results. The bottom line? I hardly ever, if ever, know WHAT to believe. I don't trust government, I don't trust the media, I don't trust educators, I don't trust accounting firms, lawyers, business people pushing their own agenda's... I don't even trust the barber talking about the headlines anymore. It's not necessarily that I don't trust him personally, but I don't trust his source of information. Goodness! I don't trust hardly anyone's source of information anymore. Whenever anyone tells me that they have received information from a "reliable source," that sets off sirens and red flags for me. What is a reliable source? To most people, it means it comes from a friend and this reliability they are speaking of is based in friendship. Can I just say that listening to someone with complete acceptance of whatever it is they are saying simply because they are your friend does not make their information reliable? Is that alright if we just establish that right now?

Do I trust the Word of God, the Bible? Absolutely! Do I trust every person teaching from it? Absolutely not! The Word of God must be delivered in proper context and with proper motives on the part of the teacher in order for the point of the message being delivered to be trusted. Even the Apostle's and the Prophet's in the Bible did not expect their listeners and readers to blindly accept their messages without confirming them through the proper study and confirmation through the Word.

But now let's talk about sensational situations in the Church. The kind of things that make ears tingle. I have been in ministry long enough to have much experience seeing, hearing about and even being on the receiving end of whatever you want to call it... speculation, banter, gossip, rumor, etc. My Father has not been a Pastor since the 60's but he has been involved in Christian education for decades. The rumors and lies that have been told about him would make you wince. My Father in Law has probably been "rumored" and lied about more than almost anyone else I know and what he has been through makes what I have been through seem small. The things that have been said about me are awful! I have even had people admit to me at later times that they had been paid to give false accusation against me. That is how it is in this day and age. Even in the Church. So very sad.

And so what is the result? Usually, you find out in any given escalated situation that a small group of people will not "listen" to the gossip or believe the falsified reports. There will be another small group who will flat out come against you either by promoting those things or by believing them (usually because of friendship). Then there will be the rest of the people. The remaining majority. These are the ones the Do Not Know WHAT to Believe and will "wait and see." And really, what choice do the majority of people have when faced with a dilemma of an argument of "he says, she says" or when the "evidence" has obviously been embelished or falsified. Like I said, I personally find myself in this group the majority of the time.

From one of the ones who has been bashed and bruised in the ministry spot-light from time to time, and by the way, I'm sure more is coming in the future because this is one of satan's modern day fields of expertise, let me offer some personal words. It isn't the slanderers, the ones operating with a demonic spirit of destruction who ultimately hurt me. It is the ones who believe them who hurt me. You know, the ones that remove you as a friend from Facebook, who don't ever again reply to an E-mail or a Text or a Voice Mail, they stop greeting you on your Birthday... You get the point. And all you can figure is that they believed a well placed lie or a partial lie. They never even bothered to talk to you personally before making a quiet judgment.

The Bible explains that we are to "touch not God's anointed" and "do His prophet's no harm." (1 Chronicles 16 and Psalm 105) I have stood back, sat back and kicked back and watched the people who have touched and harmed me, my Dad, my Father-in-Law and all the other ministers of God who I know. I have watched them become ineffective in ministry, sail the Churches they lead into luke-warm waters, meet tragedies, struggle with strokes, sickness and disease. Some have disappeared and others have died prematurely. Many years ago, there was a Pastor who mocked me publicly after some Bible School services became too Pentecostal/Charismatic for his taste. He even falsely accused me of some foolishness. I went to his death bed a year later at his request. He was dying for no explainable medical reason. I saw him, a sack of bones, barely able to breath. He said, "forgive me and release me. I'm sorry." I did, and a month later he was back to health with a miraculous recovery. It is fascinating how God's Word is always accurate and true!

One more point before making a recommendation. Even when I have received a prophetic word for a man or woman of God which somehow corrects or rebukes them and then they end up in some kind of public hot water. I am still very aware that even though I may have been privy to a weakness in their life, I still do not understand their situation and I am in no position to judge. I remain in the ranks of those who either continue to actively support that person or just decide that I don't know what to believe and will simply pray for them from a neutral position.

Now for my recommendation. Let me put the touching not God's anointed and doing God's prophets no harm in a modern term. I simply will not EVER talk about a man or a woman of God in a negative way. I recommend that you don't either. Because God is listening and He makes sure His Word is true.

As for all of those bloggers and watch dogs who maintain critic ministries in order to publicly chastise the "big name" ministers which you can find on the internet these days, don't get caught up in that hell. Let God judge. You yourself watch what you are being taught and from whom you are being taught, don't receive anything that does not bear witness with God's Word and His Spirit, but don't judge.

The good news is this. Even though you will seldom if ever know What to believe, you will always know Who to believe and to believe in. His name is Jesus Christ. He is God! He never fails, He never lies and He never stops believing in people and giving them chances. He is perfect. Never put your complete trust in any man but put your trust in the One who uses imperfect men!

On a final note, I absolutely love what I have seen Rick Joyner do with the restoration of Todd Bentley. Rick Joyner is a Man of God! Check it out at

www.morningstarministries.org/Articles/1000045589/MorningStar_Ministries/Media/Special_Bulletins/2009/Special_Bulletin_17.aspx

Now did I say I agree with everything Joyner or Bentley teach and do? I didn't say that. But I do know that they are among God's prophetic anointed servants. Be careful what you say.

Bring Your Lips to the Altar

I spoke for three sessions this week at the Fire Revolution, an annual event at a friends Church in Sta Rosa, Laguna, Philippines. Other speakers including Pastor Ray Llarena and the Pastor of the Church, Tom Molina. It was AWESOME! Every session was amazing!

On the final night, Pastor Tom asked me to speak with him in a tag-team. He would start and I would end.

He spoke from Jeremiah 20:9 (NIV) "But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot."

I followed with Isaiah 6 with emphasis on verses 5-8 (NIV)

"⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Earlier in the day, I was asking the Lord what he wanted to do in the final session and He spoke to my heart saying, "tell the people to bring their lips to the altar" and then I was impressed with this very familiar passage.

I'm not going to print the sermons (Tom's and mine) here, but a brief synopsis is that in order for fire to spread, we have got to be touched by the Lord to speak His Word and go forth on His behalf. What we wanted was not normal fire from earthly altars, but we wanted fire from that altar in heaven that the angel took the coal from. We wanted our lips to be touched with fire from heaven so that we would be prepared to be asked by the Lord and then to respond to Him that we will go spread the fire!

I have not experienced an altar ministry time in this manner before. I would lightly touch the lips of many of the hundreds who flooded the altar and they were completely set ablaze by the Spirit most with their bodies completely reacting to the fire on their lips. The room was filled with sounds of crying out and wailing in the presence of God. Many were baptized with the Holy Spirit and many began to prophesy in loud voices.

I am personally changed by the ministry of the Holy Spirit last night. I will never be the same. I have fresh fire shut up in my bones that must be released and my mouth is on fire to proclaim the Word of the Lord.

But this is only possible because I have soaked myself in the Word of God and because I am open to the the Spirit of God. Just as those hungry people who attended the Fire Revolution are. Not everyone has fire shut up in their bones and it doesn't come simply by laying on of hands. It comes through the discipline of feasting on God's Word day and night, becoming one with God in purpose and learning to love what He loves and hate what He hates (Hebrews 1:9).

Friends, let me encourage you to become like Jeremiah and to submit yourself to God like Isaiah did. Purposefully get full of the Word of God and then bring your lips to the altar of God and allow Him to set you ablaze for Him!