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95th International Assembly General Overseer's Annual Address By General Overseer R. E. Howard
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Awake! Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money. For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed. Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God (Isaiah 52:1–10).
Awake
The command rings out, “Put on your strength!” With the force of the Word of God, the very announcement carries with it the power of fulfillment, and the eye of faith at once sees Zion rising strong, bold, confident, and courageous once more. The command rings out again, “Put on your beautiful garments!” Once more, the Word comes with power to accomplish; and by faith, the mind pictures the glory and splendor of Jerusalem fully restored as in the days of Solomon or David or even Hezekiah. Faith rises through the words of the prophet. Grace surges at the stated intention of the Father. Heavenly hosts take their place for the realization of God’s deliverance. The captive daughter can rise. The dust and filth can be shaken off for good. The bands of bondage around the neck can be broken. The seat in the dust can be traded for the restored seat of favor and authority. The uncircumcised influences can be crushed, releasing Zion from their unclean curses. The ragged dress of mourning in captivity can be exchanged for the glorious robes of royalty. The frail weakness of starvation and deprivation can be replaced with strength of eternal dimensions. Yes, faith rises, and a song comes to the lips—the song of Isaiah: “Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away” (Isaiah 51:11). The song continues from Isaiah: “Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (52:9, 10). An Awakening from heaven is always a joyous sight, though it often comes through great tears and heavy burdens. In this Assembly, we declare that the sound of the voice of God is, once again, bringing a declaration to His blood-bought people of the earth. God’s voice is thundering, “Awake, awake, church of the Living God!” Yes, we confess that the church in the West has been pushed out of the center of culture. Her salt has been cast out of the courts, stamped out of the universities, thrown out of the media, evicted from the government halls, and scorned under the feet of the social elite and the politically correct. The Beloved Lady has become the only institution in society that it is culturally acceptable to offend without fear of reprisal. She has been for years the target of hatred and bias from those who want to be free from her calls to righteousness and godly standards. And she has not been without guilt through the years. Her legalism cost her the title of servant of love; her isolation cost her the power of compassionate influence; and her complacency cost her the key to changing the world. Nevertheless, God’s voice can be heard with growing intensity: “Awake, awake, church of the Living God!” His time has come. He will have a Gospel-preaching church. He will have a bold, faith-filled church. He will have a church that is anointed “to preach good tidings unto the meek; to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; a church that raises up trees of righteousness. . . . He will have a church where he is glorified in every corner of the earth.” God’s command is ringing out for those who have ears to hear: “Put on your strength O church of the Lamb of God!”
The
Strength of the Church Is Prayer, the Ministry of Intercession.
The Strength of the Church Is the Gospel.
The strength of the church is her praise. As the church praises her Savior and Lord, the saints are raptured into His presence, [The Lord inhabits the praises of His People.] As the church praises her King the enemy’s weapons fall powerless, [Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered.] As the church praises her Worthy Lamb, flesh is conformed to His image. [Let the people praise thee oh God, let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase and God even our own God shall bless us. God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear.”
The Strength of the Church Is His Grace, “and great grace was upon
them. . . .” God’s command is ringing out for those who have ears to hear: “Put on your strength O church of the Lamb of God!” His voice again resounds, shaking the hearts that are prepared to hear: “Put on your beautiful garments O church of Him who is holy and righteous!”
The Beautiful Garment of the Church Is Purity.
The Beautiful Garment of the Church Is Love.
The Beautiful Garment of the Church Is Unity.
In the awakening cry, God is calling, “Put on your beautiful garments O church of Him who is holy and righteous!” Yet in reality, at the deepest level, what is the strength of Zion, and what is the beauty of the Bride? The Word of God testifies faithfully that Christ is our strength, and Christ is our beauty. He is the Head of the body. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth… all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell” (Colossians 1:16–19). “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9- 11). “For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corin 4:5). “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. . . . I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Revelation 1:8, 18). Even in Isaiah’s writing, this awakening call of Isaiah 51 and 52 is actually a prelude to the greatest messianic chapter of the Old Testament—chapter 53. Isaiah’s call to awake literally points us to the Christ so graphically described with Isaiah’s next words. Isaiah understood that Messiah is our strength. Christ is our beauty. “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:1–5).
Church, the call of this hour is to awake
to Christ.rist.
Awake to the New Day!
History shows the following:wing:
Isaiah is prophetically calling for an awakening to a brand-new day that will be ushered in with the coming of Christ. This will change everything and bring grace and power to accomplish all that the former day hoped for and anticipated. The awakening call of God today is also signaling a change, a new day in God’s scheme for eternity. His last days are upon us. The world is reeling as a majority of end time prophecies are now being enacted in the world today. The Holy Spirit is being poured out all over the world. The gospel is spreading at a consistent and sustained pace never known before. Unity is growing. The temperature of urgency is rising toward a boiling point. The church age is on the threshold of our promised land—Christ’s return. The call to awake today is not just another revival cry. It is more than merely the great need for the church to rise up out of slumber one more time. This is not simply one more surge of gospel victory to be recorded in the history of great revivals. There is something more urgent today. “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24). “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2) “But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob” (Micah 4). “This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Timothy 3). Each of these are being completed as we watch right now today. This is God’s time on the calendar of eternity. Yes, for this nation once called Christian, the time is urgent. Yes, for this church and for many, even most others the moment is critical. Yes, for Christianity as we have known it in the West, the hour is slipping past. But above and beyond all these alarms, heaven’s clock is moving toward midnight and the dawn of a new day. The King is coming! Isaiah said we should awake to our Messiah. But we should say Awake to our coming, conquering King! Awake to the day of harvest, reaping, and Gospel power. Awake to the unity of the saints demonstrating that Jesus is Lord. Awake to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit over all the nations. Awake to miraculous signs and wonders punctuating the Gospel and Lordship of Christ. Awake to grace and truth revealed in the face of Christ through His body. Awake, church, to the coming King; this is our finest hour. Isaiah said, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee” (Isaiah 60:1–5).
Arise, Shine, Church.
Awake to Harvest
“On May 24, we had the Pro-Life concert, which was dedicated to June
1, International Children's Day. We did it together with four
different churches in Minsk. It was a really great time. As we
planned, there came more then 500 people. The music band from our
church, True Word, and my daughters took a part in this concert.
They sang the songs, from the names of all non-born children, who
want to live! It was so great. Many hearts of people were touched.
“When you see the results, you want to go on with much more effort. We are planning next the evangelization service on June 15, which is dedicated to the Pentecostal Day. Please join us in prayer that the new people who will come will accept Christ at this service. “Two weeks ago, I went to preach to one of our churches in Volozhin Town, where Sergey Stasilevich is pastor. I want to share with you their good news. Not so long ago, one man came to their church. His name is Nikolai. He was an alcoholic for many years, and he was very sick with sugar diabetes. When Nikolai came to Christ, God delivered him from alcoholism. And after he was water-baptized, God absolutely healed him! All doctors are shocked and say that it is impossible. So it is a great testimony now for all who knew this man. We know that our God is alive, and He heals and sets free! Pastor Sergey asks prayer for their plans. They want to do evangelizations in the neighbor villages, which are dedicated to the Pentecostal Day and for children’s camp. “Pastor Michael, from our church in Smorgon Town, shared with us a very good testimony of one family from his church. The man used heavy drugs for 14 years, his wife for a little less. They had a baby; but because they were drug users, the doctors took their baby and put him in the orphanage house. In a few years, this couple came to Pastor Michael’s church and received Christ. They had a rehabilitation period in church center for alcoholics and drug-users, and God completely delivered them from drugs. Now, they have two children and are expecting another. They tried to get back their first child, which is in an orphanage house now and is seven years old. The authorities are still concerned about them and are not giving back the child. But this couple is trying their best; we hope that soon they'll get the child back. This couple has a special program for youth in public schools, and schools of their town are open for them. They go to school and tell youth about drugs and alcohol—how bad they are for people, and then they tell their own testimony. “Pastor Michael asks us to pray for some their needs: They need to get the permission from the authorities to rebuild their church building. Also, they are planning a children's camp for 30 children for 15 days. In the end of June, they will baptize seven people!” The reason I wanted to share this is to illustrate a leader and a national ministry that is so consumed with harvest that everything they do aims to win the lost in some way. They use special days of the secular society. They celebrate social events—always with a Gospel twist. They take drug-users, rehabilitate them (which usually means they are delivered), and send them back out into schools to witness and tell their testimony. The harvest is everything, and all they do makes reaching lost people the goal. They are awake to the harvest. In the June 2008 issue of Rev magazine, Bill Easum stated, “If you are leading a church with less than 500 attending worship, the most important thing that you can do to grow that church is to practice personal, one-on-one evangelism. In a church this size, you can grow the church all by yourself—if you bring in 50 to 75 new members, everything changes. You are the solution. To grow the membership of a small church, you need to spend most of your time making new connections—meeting people, knocking on doors, doing whatever is necessary to come into contact with people that don’t go to church or who aren’t Christians. Even if your worship service isn’t the best, if you lead people to Christ, they’ll worship with you no matter what.” To me, Bill Easum seems to be describing the same thing, basically, as I hear in Bishop Gena’s newsletter. Passion for the lost will cause all you do to aim at touching and then winning new souls.
Birthing Is Life
It may be the genius in God’s scheme of design that the heart of life for culture is also the heart of life for the family of God. Evangelism is the means of procreation for God’s Kingdom when one soul is born into eternal life. In the Bible, Rachel illustrates this as she wept, saying, “Give me children, or I perish” (Genesis 30:1). The future of the Kingdom and its force on earth depends on each distinct act of bringing new souls into the family of God. Agrarian cultures knew this fact well, so they prioritized childbirth. With each new child, the strength of the family increased. The ability to farm and produce grew as children were born and came of age. Modern thought might see this as primitive, yet massive abortions over the decades demonstrated how the void of birth can shrink a nation’s productivity, drain its economy, undermine its service sector, and threaten its posterity. Birth remains the heart of life. Perhaps, it is past time for the church of the West to wake up to the vital importance of bringing new souls to life. As church attendance declines, moral values wane, evil advances, and Christianity is pushed further from the core of culture, the body of Christ must recognize they have failed to birth. The test of success for a church is not how large the building or budget may be, or even how many people come to the services. All of this can be achieved without our key ingredient. The test of success for any body of believers must be how many souls are being birthed from darkness to light. May all believing families of faith return to the simple yet profoundly transforming vision of the family/couple described here. Out of love, they conceived new life. Surely this is the greatest motivation for evangelism, love for God, and love for fellowman. Their excitement prioritized extensive preparations. What could be a higher priority for the church in any day? The delivery brought fulfillment and lasting purpose to that home—raising a child. Yes, birthing new souls is the fulfillment that the body of Christ yearns for today. And raising those converts to fruitfulness is the great call that must be restored. The loving couple multiplied their love into the generations to come. May evangelism be our heart of life for the church today! Awake to Harvest—Church-Planting
•It is a fact that the most
effective means of evangelization is through church-planting. It is a fact that where the Church of God of Prophecy is planting new churches, we are growing. It is a fact that churches that mother new churches are growing themselves. It is a fact that where new churches are born, the finances of the church and region grow. The Church of God of Prophecy has been a church-planting movement since our inception. Missiologists now have a name for what we have been doing all along. They call it “saturation church-planting.” This simply means that a church or region finds a new town or village and plants a church. They repeat this while, at the same time, those churches planted begin to plant others as well. Addition becomes multiplication, and this becomes saturation of outreach for the Gospel until this momentum even spreads to other areas.
Indonesia
Awake to Harvest—Ethnic Church-Planting There is also the story of a wonderful, new surge of potential harvest in Spain with Bishop José Antonio. Spain is one of the hardest harvest fields in the world, but, recently, immigration began to see many individuals from the Hispanic Caribbean arrive. These individuals are bringing their faith with them. Perhaps, God is going to use them to make an impact in Spain’s difficult fields. Our work in Spain is on the doorstep of the best growth we have seen there in years as we welcome and work with these new ethnicministries. Another testimony was submitted that states, “Ourchurch in Everett, Washington, is really having an inflow right now. We starteda Friday night prayer meeting, and our Ukraine family invited some Russian people. Some started coming, and God so blessed that they told friends, and they told friends, etc. They liked the spirit here, and now we don’t have enough seats in our small building for all that come. Isn't that exciting? We have great relationships, and it is such an interesting experience with all these new friendly and godly people.” 0 At one point in New Testament history, Paul saw the opportunity for Gospel advancement by using immigrants. He knew that native Romans knew little of this new faith. However, he also knew that there was a Diaspora of Jews spread all around the empire. His strategy has become legendaryas he began his evangelism in every new town by preaching the Gospel to the more knowledgeable Jews. And with a foothold among the Jews, he was able to reach outto Roman Gentiles as well. History records his great impact and the success of his strategy. Could it be that God is speaking through Paul’s ministry and these testimonies? Could He be saying, “If we will reach those whom God is dealing with now, He will expand our reach to those most difficult in time”? Whether we are speaking of Spain or Everett, Washington, the theme of working where God is working continues to surface in the Kingdom and around this Church. To Awake to the Harvest might mean looking at the potential to touch Haitians in Florida or Koreans in California. Many people realize that we have another Diaspora of God flowing in the world. Believers from Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe are carrying their faith with them as they land and live in new cultures. Most movements are coming to grips with this reality and opportunity. In talking to Larry Lewis, former President of the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board, he shared that the SBC would not have registered growth in the U.S. during the last ten years if it had not been for their ethnic growth. So I encourage our overseers and pastors to move with God and this ethnic wave rolling through the land. In many places, we could increase ministry potential rapidly and dramatically by using church buildings for different language or cultural church services. Seek God as Bishop Larry Dotson did, and then be ready to follow God’s lead no matter the ethnic flavor.
Awake
to the Young Harvest This call to reach out to the young harvest is an urgent call to awake to reality for our leaders and pastors. We have always known the proven fact that it is ten times easier to reach someone younger than20 than to reach someone older. With trends away from faith and moral values accelerating over the land, it will be many times more significant to focus on the young harvest before they cross this bleak threshold. In many places, including America and much of the West, Christianity must wake up to the reality that reaching the young harvest is our only chance to win the future and to project growth and influence for the Christian voice into coming generations. Christianity is aging in many places. Yet even an aging church can do simple things to minister to children. Secular parents can be attracted to events for children and bring their children to participate. Actually, the door of opportunity that children provide to reach secular, materialistic, pleasure-driven, and life-consumed parents is a real bright spot for outreach. We must give priority to taking advantage of this strategy now. The first-century church was surrounded with secular and amoral thinking, which scorned their values and discipline of life. However, it was that church that took their outcast babies to raise, and valued the neglected youth of that degenerate culture. We know how their influence grew in this way. The International Offices wants to help cheer on this call to the young harvest. Both Youth and Children’s Ministry will be focusing on training your leaders in ministering to this young harvest. We believe our most effective strategy is to train your leaders so that they can do this ministry with excellence and outreach impact, and so they can help train others in a multiplying fashion. Though funds are limited at the International Offices this year, we have raised the budgets of Youth and Children’s Ministry somewhat. More is needed, but we want to invest in this critical harvest call and in training leaders who will mobilize ministry toward this goal. So I call to regional overseers and pastors. The next decade will demonstrate the value of this call. We will target the young harvest and make the greatest impact possible, or we will continue to minister as we have done to date. I believe God is pressing upon many individuals the reality that the time is now, the need is critical, and the opportunity is still open to seize this moment. Pastors and leaders, please pray, and let the Spirit stir you as my heart has been stirred. If there is one place we could invest for the harvest and see great dividends in the decade to come, it would be reaching the young harvest. I am praying that the Spirit will burn this call into your hearts as you reflect on it in the days ahead.
Harvest Conclusion I was walking across a parking lot with a pastor when he told me that a lady who had been coming to church for so long had shared that her family situation had been healed. Then this pastor pointed to a young man and shared his outreach story; then a man drove up on a motorcycle and another testimony surfaced. I thought, This is what our ministry is all about. No title will ever compare with the satisfaction of testimonies—harvest testimonies about lives changed by the grace of God. Church, we are about reaching people—one life transformation at a time. I challenge the Church of God of Prophecy today. The national data says that two-thirds of all churches did not win and baptize one convert last year. I don’t believe this would be true of the Church of God of Prophecy. I challenge every church in our network to join with me in a new commitment in which winning the lost is our number-one priority, and we will give it our time, effort, and talent so that at the next Assembly, pastors and overseers all over the hall in Greensboro will be talking about lives touched by grace, people baptized, new converts classes filled, and discipleship training for all the believers. If we do nothing else, let’s win the lost at any cost. What do you say, Church? Harvest is our calling and our passion.
Leadership
Development Our aim is to build on the ministry tracks we have with two areas of greater focus. From the International Offices, we want to be passionate in our pursuit to support pastors and help them lead and minister as effectively as possible. It has always been our conviction that the most important place of ministry in the Church of God of Prophecy is the local church where people are saved, baptized, cleansed, healed, delivered, filled with God’s Spirit, and developed as a participant in the growth of the family of God. That conviction is supported by the belief that the pastor plays the most significantrole in the success of the local church. Therefore we want to double our commitment to encourage our pastors in every way possible. As a second focus, we want to improve our service as we work with regional overseers to develop leaders. As these overseers lead in their regions, we want to help them. Their goal is to give pastors all the tools they need to succeed, so our goal is to bring those tools to help. In Leadership Development, we want to be consumed with the desire to help pastors and to serve our overseers. In so doing, we feel we can contribute to better prepare pastors, who will lead more effective ministry in local churches, which will result in greater community and Harvest impact. As we move forward in Leadership Development, these two motivations will drive all that we do. Leadership Development naturally contributes to these as they have always sought to bless pastors through their efforts. Tomlinson Center also contributes to these by providing equipping courses for pastors, emerging leaders, and laity at all levels.
Leadership
Development – Emerging Leaders Today, I would like to issue a challenge to overseers and pastors throughout our network. The criteria for success in ministry has been well-known and common: winning the lost, bringing them into the local church body, and growing in numbers, nickels, and noses,” as one person put it. But as I visited recently with Dr. Dennis McGuire, General Overseer of the Church of God, he told this story about great success. He said his father had pastored all of his life for the Church of God. He never was a pastor of a large, well-known church with great attendance. To some, he may not have stacked up to the success criteria of numbers, nickels, and noses. Yet Dr. McGuire shared that his father had mentored and sent out 19 pastors who are on the field today. As we as leaders think about this today, we all would agree that one of the great criteria of leadership and success directly seen from the pages of the New Testament would be developing emerging leaders. I have heard that some overseers are involved in emerging-minister meetings, training, and conferences. I have heard of mentoring projects. I commend all of these and encourage more. And adding to those, I would issue the challenge to all of us as leaders and pastors. Who do you have your eye on? Who are you putting your hand on? Who are you pouring extra time into because you sense the hand of God is already working in that life for ministry? One generation ago, I believe this was a vital part of the work of any pastor. Most of us would have one or two people that we could testify have poured into our hearts and made an impact for ministry. It seemed that this generation of leaders saw clearly that this is one of the criteria of success, and they pursued young men and women to influence them for God. We will have our emerging leaders conferences and mentoring strategies, but it is my conviction that our most effective approach is to return to the heart of many of those former leaders, who were always looking for that one individual showing the marks of God’s call. They took them along with them, so they would experience firsthand, and the work of ministry would rub off on them. After all, isn’t this the model of Christ? I want to challenge all of us as leaders. Who have we spotted? Who are we pouring into? Who are we taking with us? Or, in the neat language of today, who is our emerging leader? May the Spirit spur many of us to go from this place and find one or two or three to prepare for the work of ministry and God’s call.
Awake to Holiness One great Christian anthem says the following: “Called unto holiness,” Church of our God, Purchase of Jesus, redeemed by His blood; Called from the world and its idols toffee, Called from the bondage of sin to be free. “Holiness unto the Lord,” is our watchword and song. . . . Sing it, shout it, loud and long, “Holiness unto the Lord,” now and forever. It is interesting to note that this song was written in the year 1900 by Leila N. Morris. At that time, the Holiness Church at Camp Creek was going strong and flowing in the inspiration of the Holiness Camp Meeting age here in the United States. In only three years, A. J. Tomlinson would enter the scene, and the Movement we know as the Church of God would begin. Obviously, the holiness fervor of the late 1800s and early 1900s was the seedbed for our beginnings and foundations. Many individuals in the Church of God of Prophecy may not know that we were of the Holiness Movement several years before we were initiated into the Pentecostal Movement. This was a stirring time of revival in the nation at the turn of the century. One account of the period notes as many as a dozen Movements with their beginnings coming during this season of Holiness revivals. It was a time of dissatisfaction over nominalism, religion without reality, and churches more interested in community influence than life transformation. Thousands of believers began to hunger for a holiness that was genuine and demonstrable— visible if you will. Of cours,e we know that when God begins to stir up hunger in the hearts of people, then revival, renewal, and awakening are on the way. These hungry hearts were drawn to the fields in one of the early and large ecumenical works in this nation. Regardless of denominational ties, the Holiness camp meetings were attended by all types of people who wanted more of God and His delivering, liberating victory over sin. The Holiness Church at Camp Creek was one such church swept along in this stream of God. Today, the message of Holiness is needed as much or more than ever before. People are struggling over life-threatening issues, such as addictions, deep, personal calamities, family dissolutions, mental, emotional, moral trauma, and even more. God’s promise of liberation and deliverance through His gracious work at Calvary can bring hope to the masses living without hope today. They are desperate for a faith that can bring transformation to their lives, often miraculously. Holiness for today is about deliverance from sin’s oppression and release from the tentacles of evil influence. The world needs a church that preaches holiness that brings victory, not compromise, toleration, or accommodation. People are bound and need to be set free. Inside the church, the time is now for a new application of holiness perfection, which does not lead to legalism, outward standards, and rules for behavior. No, the holiness needed today can be seen in the Bible as LOVE! Let the church be so baptized in love that she rises pure in heart, and that will soon reflect in purity of life. May a fresh dose of the love of God transform believers everywhere and bring the church into white-hot passion—yes, white-hot passion for God, for one another, and for the lost world. May the same consuming desire for God that our founders felt be kindled again within us. It will motivate us to return to our foundations, loving God, seeking His presence, uniting with His children, zealous for His Gospel, hating evil, and living like Him. With such a powerful foundation stone in our heritage, may we all be stirred to join that passionate song: “‘Holiness unto the Lord,’ is our watchword and song. . . . Sing it, shout it, loud and long, ‘Holiness unto the Lord,’ now and forever.”
Awake
to Marriage Church, now is the time to preach marriage as the divine institution created by God that is intended to hold the fiber of nations and cultures together. The history of the world reveals that there has been no lasting empire when the foundation of marriage was destroyed. God created man with the fundamental block of culture being the home. As marriage comes under fire all over the world, now is the time for the people of God to stand and declare with conviction that we support marriages, we work to mend marriages, we affirm marriage, and we work to build strong marriages. Yes, thank God, we recognize that the miraculous power of God’s grace can work even when marriages are destroyed. But we must always take the high road, waving the banner in support of strong marriages, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, and sons and daughters all bound together in the protected environment of a home, sealed by commitment, devotion, dedication, sacrifice, and love. Church, we believers are the ones who can take the Word of God and advertise to the world that we have a manual for marriage. We can advertise that we are a marriage-affirming institution. We can advertise that damaged marriages are welcome because we have the cure, the healing, restoring grace of God. We can advertise that we have marriage mentors that know the manual, know the author, and walk with the author in their own marriages. If anyone in this world is pro-marriage, it should be the people of God. If anyone today is working to rescue marriages, it should be the people of God. One time my wife, Bess, was talking to a single-parent mother, who had live-in boyfriends, who were doing drugs and had gangs hanging around their apartment. This lady asked Bess about our church since Bess was bringing the girls to our home every week. She asked, “Yourchurch doesn’t believe in divorce, does it?” I think Bess got an inspiration from heaven as she answered, saying, “What do you want? Do you want me to teach your daughters that they should get a divorce? Do you want me to teach them they should leave their husbands?” Naturally, the mother did not want her girls to be taught how to weaken their future marriages; instead, she wanted the best for her girls even though she had not had the best for her life. Yes, we have seen a shift in our view of marriage, acknowledging the mystery of grace that goes beyond our understanding of all the rules. But now, above all other times, it is the time for us to teach and preach God’s best for marriage and the cure for many cultural ills today. We don’t teach dogmatically. No, we teach by stating that we will help, and that we can help; we will provide loving support— support and help that points us all toward God's ideal and society’s best, strong, lasting marriages where love and dedication unite a home by the grace of God.
Awake
to the Holy Spirit Baptism My seminary professor and the founder of the Church of God Theological Seminary once asked the following question in doctrine class: “Is a denomination Pentecostal when less than 50 percent of its adherents have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit?” Twenty years later, his question has more relevance than ever before. While the Spirit is falling over all the earth, the Western world seems to be slipping away from our Pentecostal faith. I will not take the time to quote the New York Times article titled “Houses of Fire,” nor the Harvard professor, Harvey Cox’s book, Fire From Heaven, nor the Report given to the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations on Pentecostals, and so on. All of these come under the phrase from First Things Journal that stated that the Pentecostal Movement is the darling of the Christian world today. The Holy Spirit is, indeed, falling overall the earth today, and it has been astonishing to observe. I have to confess I was a seeker before seeker-sensitive was cool. No, I was a seeker for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I may have been slow or dull, but for ten years, I sought for the Holy Spirit. At nearly every revival, every youth camp, and most conventions and Bible Training Institutes, I would find myself in the altar praying and seeking for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. After ten years, that got more than a little tiring, so no one was more happy than me when I finally received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I do not recommend that route for everyone; but for a few, it may be God’s way. I say it may be God’s way because today, some 40years later, I see God’s work through those ten years. I see a prayer life developing from years of seeking. I see an intimacy in prayer forming. I see a patient determination when one prayer doesn’t do. And so God had His own agenda while He had me seeking for the Baptism through those years. Pastors, where is that young teenager going to receive the Holy Spirit in your service schedule? Where is he or she going to hear a call for seeking and have an opportunity for tarrying? Could it be possible that if I were that teenager seeking today, I may not find a place or a time to tarry until I was Baptized in the Holy Spirit? When Bishop Clayton Endecott was visiting in the States some years ago, he went to a large, Pentecostal church. The music was excellent, the programming was professional, the sermon was high quality, and, to his excitement, a call was given for people to be healed, to receive the Spirit, to be saved, or to receive prayer for needs. In a well-planned fashion, those who came forward were prayerfully taken to the former sanctuary where a worship team sang and prayer ministers prayed with people, and lives we retouched. I applaud the willingness to make plans so that, ina service aimed at excellence, there would be a strategy for ministry—Pentecostal ministry. Some churches may not have a place to take seekers, but many churches may not need to isolate or insulate the tarrying from the regular attendees. Certainly, we are not bound to routines from the past, and new methods can meet the needs of new days. For example, what about a night service each month (perhaps Saturday) for seeking God, and in which all needs are welcome with inspired prayer ministers available? And, certainly, I appreciate the church that feels that seeking is good for the entire congregation to see and, hopefully, experience often. At times, we call that revival. Pastors, please give some thought to my basic question here. “Where is that young teenager going to receive the Holy Spirit inyour service schedule?”
Awake
to the Dream Joseph’s life was marked by dreams—his own dreams, the butler and baker’s dreams, and Pharaoh’s dreams. Each one seemed to hold guiding influence over his life in the hand of God. Daniel’s life was similarly marked by dreams, as well as several prophets of the Old Testament. And were call Peter’s words announcing the role of dreams as he said your young men shall see visions and “your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:17paraphrased). In the book To Dream Again, Robert Dale describes how most organizations are launched by a dream that captures the heart of the founders and spreads as the Movement grows. The force of the dream causes the new entity to rise and increase rapidly in its early years, even decades. Dale goes on to detail how organizations add structure to cope with the needs of growth. And at some point, often imperceptible to anyone, the dream begins to fade as the momentum of the organization begins to take on a driving force of its own. Unfortunately, this force cannot match the energizing power of the initial dream and organizations, and, sooner or later, it begins to plateau and then later decline. This is the natural cycle of nearly all organizations. But Dale’s book offers a solution, and that is to dream the dream again in relevant terms for a new day. We as churches often act like other organizations even though we have been born of God. This body was born in a dream. It is not that we are unique among others because they have their calling dreams. Church, it is important that we know that we have been called by heaven with purpose even from the early days in those Appalachian mountains. We were born with adream—a God given dream—of how we would fulfill our role in God’s greater creation-saving dream. Through the years, the dream can fade. And in our case the dream has been misunderstood or misapplied at times. While we have come through corrections by the grace of God, our dream has faded for some. I am stirred today to issue the challenge to all that will respond. Today is the day to dream our dream again by the grace of God and to pursue our destiny. The Holy Spirit will not release me from remember ingthat this work began with a dream of divine, guiding influence, and it is God’s intention that the call and power of our dream will, once again, mobilizeus.
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God gave us a dream to be a Christ centered community, passionately
devoted to God’s Word, soliscriptura, soli Someone said, “I have a dream.” This statement was moving. I am sorry for any pastor or leader who does not have a dream. God has given us as a Movement a great dream.
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Daniel had a dream—he would not be defiled in a captive and strange
land. I say it is time to awake to the dream. Awake to the genuine God-breathed dream of God’s purpose for us. Old dream, young see visions—either is fine; this is for all! “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion” (Isaiah 52:1, 2).
Put on your strength—Prayer, Gospel, Praise, Grace, Holy Spirit,
Word.
Awake to the New Day. |
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cogopeg@cogopeg.com |
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