We don't need Revival... WHAT?????

Good Morning!

I try really hard to just mind my own business and let people have their own opinions, and in the times we live in that is not always easy, now I am not talking about things that are obviously sinful, there is no room for opinion there right is right and wrong is wrong period end of discussion. The issue at hand for me is the issue of REVIVAL everyday I hear some one say "the only answer for the Church is revival, we need to get back to some old fashioned, Holy Ghost revival in the church" and then all the people listening to them will shout and yell and run and then next Sunday they come back to church and hear the same thing and they shout over the same thing and nothing ever changes.

As a man who has been around the ministry all of my life (my mother went into labor with me while she was preaching) in the active ministry for 20 years and a full time pastor for 12 years this December. I have seen some very powerful moves of God, I have seen meetings that lasted 6, 8 or even 12 weeks, I have seen scores of miracles, blind eyes opened, deaf ears opened, people getting out of wheelchairs was a regular occurrence there was one period of time when I was a assistant pastor where we saw two verified cases of cancer healed and other undeniable miracles that I could go on and on about. These things were great and in the midst of all these physical miracles was the greats miracle of all people were being saved in every service, people were being filled with the Holy Spirit in every service it was an amazing atmosphere. It was not too long after this that I attended two major revivals Florida and Missouri, in both of these places the presence of God noticeably present and I left both feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, but here is my point I did not feel that was unusual it is what should happen when we are in church.

What many are seeking and calling revival the Bible calls normal operating procedure for the church. People will go to a church where the gifts of the Spirit are in operation and the power of God is flowing and they will leave and say "That church is in revival" no that church is operating as a New Testament church should in a New Testament church there should be healings and miracles, tongues and interpretation of tongues, prophecy, word of wisdom etc. These things should be normal in the church, they are the status quo according to the Word. No where in the New Testament are we told that these things are a sign of a new move of God, we are told these things should be going on in our churches on a regular basis not every six months or every other year.

If we as pastors would take as much time getting the plan of God for our churches as we do seeking after a supposed revival we would not only be father along than we are, we would see far more moving of the Holy Spirit than we do. It is not tears and shaking and people screaming that denotes revival, yet that is what many point to in order to prove that they are in revival and unfortunately if you go back to that church in 6 months those people who were shaking and screaming are placid and reserved if they are there at all because once the emotion wears off there is nothing left, and after six months the pastor will again be saying "we need a revival like the days of old" the proble with that is they never had to be revived... they never died.

Building Faith
Pastor Steele

The Last Days

Every time something bad happens, or there is a political downturn you will begin to hear ministers say "We ll we are living in the las days". Well I could not agree more, we are living in the last days and we have been for over 2000 years. Very often we mistake what is going on as proof that we are living in the last days, and more often than not this leads to what I like to call "Last days hysteria" which produces more fear than faith, it seems that every president that we conservative Christians do not agree with is a sign that we are in the last days. In my life time alone I have heard the following; "Henry Kissenger is the antichrist". "Joseph Liberman could be the antichrist". "Bill Clinton will usher in the one world government" and now "Barack Obama will usher in the tribulation"

Now I am not making fun of anyone or their views, but I think we should go to the Word and see what the Word says would be the most important sign of the last days.

Joel 2:28-29

"And it shall come to pass afterward
that I will pour out of My spirit upon all flesh
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, your young shall see
visions.
And also on my menservants and on my maid servants
I will pour out my spirit in those days.


Acts 2:17

"And it shall come to pass in the last days says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.

It is clear from the Word of God that the most important sign of the last days is the out pouring of the Spirit of God on the earth. I am not one of these pastors who is constantly talking about how weak and impotent the church is, the church has never been weak and impotent and powerless, yes there is a religous element of Christianity that has no power and is basically a meeting place for people who want no move of God in their lives, but the REAL church has never been powerless. Right now all over the world there is an unparalleled move of God, estimates are that in China 20,000 people a month are coming to God. God is moving as never before in Central and South America, God is making Himself known in the Islamic nations the world over, even here in America there is a constant state of revival for those who want it.

Very often we look to CNN and other news organizations to tell us what is happening in the world. Well I suggest the following . Turn off the worlds viewpoint and look to Gods viewpoint, we are in the last days there is no doubt, but wickedness is not the most prominent sign that we are in the last days, the world is no more wicked now that it has been in the past (I know gasp you cannot believe I am saying this) the pagan Roman and Greek cultures in the past were just ass wicked if not more than the society we live in, yes we have legalized abortion that is horrific and ungodly, yes homosexuality is running rampant and being shoved in our faces, but any student of history will tell you that these things have always been in society from it's earliest days, they are sinful and disgusting and the people that do such things and ok them will be judged, but the point is this, these things do not mean we are in the last days. The outpouring of Gods Spirit is the ultimate sign that we are living at the end of time. Dont be a destruction monger, hoping for bad things so that you can prove to someone that we are in the last days. Remember Jesus said in Matthew 24 "When they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction".

Lets look for victory, not defeat.

Building faith,

Pastor Steele

Health Care Reform

Never in the history of our country have we heard the phrase "health care reform" More than in the past year. It seems to be the hot button issue of the day. Now I am not generally a real political pastor I have my views and will share them on occasion, but I feel that yesterday something very elementary to our way of life was taken from us part of our freedom was taken with this vote yesterday. Depending upon which source you listen to anywhere from 47% to 57% of Americans disapproved of this bill they wanted nothing to do with government regulated health care. But despite the overwhelming numbers of citizens who did not want this bill passed into law, our lawmakers took it upon themselves to go against the will of the people and make this piece of legislation law regardless of how the people they are supposed to be "serving" felt. At his point it is almost like they are saying "you do not know what you need we do". I totally and whole heartedly DISAGREE! We the taxpayers pay their salaries, they work for us, if the overwhelming majority of "we the people" were against this legislation it should have never progressed to this point. The problem is not Democrat or Republican which is what many would lead you to believe, it is that on both sides of the aisle there is a fundamental disconnect from the American people, they either do not know what we want or they do not care, and for those who will shout "but it is free health care" I will remind you that nothing is free all of this "free" health care will cost somebody and that somebody is you and I the American taxpayer, this is really nothing more than socialistic redistribution, trying to put everyone on the same plain and my friends that is just a physical impossibility, there will always be the rich and there will always be the poor, there will always be the more fortunate and the less fortunate this is an unavoidable fact of life. But in the land of the "free" we are supposed to be able to make our own decisions concerning the things that affect our lives, and when that ability begins to be encroached upon our most basic liberties are at risk. I pray that our nation remains "...a government by the people and for the people"

Resting in Jesus,
Pastor Steele

I Pastor Joseph Prince say one time "God is not interested in behavior modification He wants life transformation".

This is a very true statement God wants more than your behavior to change He wants your life to change. Over the past ten years or so I have dealt with people who are desiring to be free from the sick cycle of addiction, I have seen many successes and naturally I have seen some failures as well but one thing that I have noticed that is very consistent is this; the men and women that only want to change their behavior rarely do, they desire to be free from the pain of addiction but they do not want to change their lives they only wan to quit drinking, shooting, snorting whatever it is that they are addicted to. The problem with this of course is that without a life change it is very difficult to maintain freedom. In many recovery arenas they teach that abstinence is recovery but that is incorrect, abstinence does not mean recovery, it merely means that the person involved has not had access to their substance of choice or they are trying to quit on their own, and both of these are liable to fail. When a person experiences a life transformation they become a new person, the Bible says "a new creature" in other words what they were they are not any more they are brand new. This is the way to battle addiction help people see that when they were born again they were created new they are no longer an addict they are a son or daughter of God. This is life transformation.

Pastor Steele

Don't throw rocks

I am a information junkie. I love to learn new things so consequently I spend quite a bit of time reading books, listening to tapes (yes I said tapes I have several hundred of them, my wife and I are tape worms) as well as CD'S.

As i surf the web it seems inevitably I will run across several sites that are put up by some minister who has decided that they are the judge and jury of every other minister on the web. Now most of the time I have never heard of these men, and quiet probably they have never heard of me; in any case, these men have no problem calling other ministers false prophets, wolves in sheep's clothing, pimp preachers etc. These are terms that should never come out of the mouth of a minister of the gospel, and certainly they should never be used to describe a brother in Christ. The Apostle Paul stated in Romans 14:4 "Who are you that judges another mans servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth..." the context here is simple. Men and women in ministry are servants of God they are accountable to Him and Him alone in regards to their ministry. Now the comment I hear is "well somebody has to tell the truth" my question is this; does truth involve making degrading statements about people that in most cases they do not even know? Where in the Word is there a justification to use terms like "false prophet, pimp preacher" and others that are not worth repeating? There is none, when they fall into the degrading trap of name calling they are "sitting in the seat of the scornful" they are being unjust if for no other reason than they give the person they are running down no opportunity to defend them selves. In most cases they are taking these mens comments vastly out of context (apparently they cannot listen to an entire message) and another disturbing trend I see among these that will so quickly call other men of God such disturbing names is this; they usually have no covering from a pastor or spiritual father, they are usually a lone ranger out running other people down. There is plenty of negativity in the world towards the church without those who are in the body destroying each other from the inside. I have all I can do to take care of me, I have no time to judge another mans servant.

Pastor Steele

Who you are

This has been an amazing day, not because anything extraordinary has happened, but because I realize who I am and what I am capable of. You know very often in religous circles we are taught that we are nothing and that we should be thankful that God had mercy on a no good little worm like us. While it is true that before we were saved there was nothing good in or about us when we were born again that all changed. First John 3:2 states "Beloved now are we the sons of God..." well God does not have any no good sons who are nothing, does He? No He doesn't and He never will too often we confuse who we were and who we are, we "were" sinners, we "were' strangers and aliens, we "were" without God and having no hope, but "now" in Christ we are free.

When you were born again a metamorphosis occurred, you were a sinner and you "morphed" into a saint, a child of God, a overcomer, a winner a individual to whom nothing is impossible, a man or woman of God who cannot be defeated and who will not quit. Today walk like the champion God made you to be and know that in the words of one of my heroes in the faith Dr. Oral Roberts "Something good is going to happen to you!"

Be blessed,

Pastor Steele

Discipline

Good morning!
It is a beautiful here in Mid-America it is around 35 degrees which is really nice right now so far this has been the coldest winter I can remember in my last fifteen years living here (this is an inconvenient truth for some people) but true none the less. This morning started like every other morning up at 4:00 a.m. let the dogs out, come back in grab my bible head to the place I like to pray and read in the morning and start the day off soaking in the Word, around 5:00 a.m. or a little after head to the gym with my wife, workout and head back home around 6:30 a.m. eat breakfast, get Angela off to school cleanup and head to the office all of these things in about three hours time impressive huh? I like many people have to attempt to get a lot done every day in what seems to be an increasingly shrinking amount of time, the key word here is "seemingly" it seems as if time is shrinking, it seems as if time is flying by, when in reality for the most part it is because many times we are not disciplined to stay focused on the task at hand. Have you ever walked in a room and thought; "how did this room get so cluttered?" Or have you ever stood on a scale and though "how did I get this heavy?" If you have you are certainly not alone I have said those very thing myself on a number of occasions. The problem is this. Too often we say "how" and "why" and that is all that ever comes of it we never take any action to correct the problem and the root of this inaction is a lack of discipline, there I said it, a lack of discipline. The word discipline in the dictionary means "the practice of training people to obey rule or a code... the controlled behavior resulting from such training" many time we do not control the behavior in our lives because we do not discipline our selves. As I was getting ready for the office I heard in my spirit "This is the year for you to discipline yourself and stay focused" this shocked me somewhat seeing as how I am very diligent scheduled person, but then I saw it I am where I should be on time every day, but am I disciplined to accomplish the task at hand whatever that may be? Many times ashamedly the answer is a resounding no. How about you will you join me this year in making this the year of discipline and focus? C'mon I'll help you... here we go!

Life and death

As I write this I have just returned from Nashville and Greenville Tennessee. This is the area my wife and her family are from and Nashville is where I met and married Michelle. The reason we went was not the one we desired, Michelle's brother Eddie passed away at the young age of 43 and Michelle was asked to perform the service.

Eddie was a quiet unassuming young man who lived alone in Greenville in the house his grand father had been born in and that his great grand mother lived in until she passed away. Eddie was a young man of genius level intelligence, at times if your were not on your toes it could be difficult to hold a conversation, I am thankful that in the conversations we had sports were the main topic and I could hold my own. Eddie spent much of his time online with people from around the world discussing politics and happenings in the world, he also enjoyed discussing the various ways the universe could end with his father Gene "four biscuits" Cogburn. In short Eddie was a young man who had a very simple approach to life and to the best of my knowledge lived his life to the fullest extent he desired.

There was a bit of apprehension on my part as we approached Greenville Michelle's father was going to be present whom I had never met before, as we entered the house where we were to meet the family at, a quiet unassuming man stood and faced us and I heard Michelle say "Hi Daddy" they hugged each other and I heard him say "I love you" it was my turn I did not know rather to high five, shake hands or say "whats up?" before I could do anything he simply opened his arms and hugged me and said "Hi Philip, I love you" Need less to say over the next two days I got to know my father in law Gene Cogburn a lot better and I can say with no hesitation I love this man. It's funny we went there because our brother had died and in the end life was the result, the life of new relationships and the rekindling of old ones. Eddie you will be sorely missed, and I will try to keep a handle on Gene so I better start brushing up on my philosophy huh? Love you buddy.

You Can

You Can.

When I was in the fifth grade I attended school in Fort Myers Florida at the Bible Baptist Christian School. It was a medium size school that still holds great memories for me, I played soccer, flag football, and was the lead character in the schools yearly theatrical production, good times, good times.

Along with the extracurricular activities I had going on, I of course had to apply myself to academics which was not my favorite thing to do, but the first day I knew this was going to be a different learning experience than I had ever had before, as I was seated for my first day of school I was introduced to my new teacher, Mr. Callan. From the very first minute I met Mr. Callan I liked him he was the first teacher that I felt like saw potential in me, he was very proper a complete gentleman at all times and had a love and compassion for his students that was rare then and even more rare today. Mr. Callan insisted on the proper use of grammar, you were never allowed to use contractions, if you were to say; aint, cant, dont, wont he would not answer you he insisted that you say; am not, can not, do not, will not etc. He also insisted that when asking if we could do something that we ask in the proper manner, if we were to say "can I go to the restroom" he would reply "you can" inferring that we were able but had ask the question in the wrong manner. If the question was asked in the correct manner "may I go to the restroom" his reply was "yes you may".

My point in relaying this to you is simple, when you wonder if you "can" over come, or if you "can" be successful, or if you can prosper this year, with apologies to my favorite teacher Mr. Callan YES YOU CAN!

New Man

The old man is dead.
When my wife and I began in ministry we wanted to have a ministry that touched those who were and had been addicts of one form or another, rather is was alcohol, drugs, sex, etc. We wanted to have a ministry that made a difference in the lives of these people.

I have been teaching bible study and substance abuse class in the county adult detention center for 10 years now, around 2004 I encountered a man whose first name was Steve. When I met Steve his life was in a mess he had lost everything a man could lose including his marriage and family, no one trusted him any more he had burnt every bridge there was to burn he was hopeless and helpless to turn it around. One day he prayed with the chaplain and asked Jesus into his life, the change in his heart was immediate. Steve began coming to bible study every Thursday he would sit on the front row and weep over what God had done for him I would tell him "Steve your gonna have to sit in the back, you are tearing me up" with every class he grew became stronger.

The time came for Steve to leave county and serve a stretch in state prison, before he left he told me as soon as he was released the first place he was coming was to faithbuilders, I smiled and said "I will see you then" thinking inwardly I probably would never see him again, you see I hear this all the time and maybe 5 percent of the guys who say this follow up. Well a few months later I was sitting in my office when there was a knock on my door I got up and there stood Steve I hardly recognized him, but after a moment I knew who he was, he said "I told you I would come here first" that was over five years ago today Steve is our assistant head usher, runs our overcomers group, travels and ministers in our prison outreach, has graduated the first year of bible collegeand is as faithful as they come, everytime we see each other the question we ask is this "Aren't you glad we didn't get what we deserve?" Steve is truly a new man!

Spiritual Inheritance

Hello!
Early this morning around three in the morning I woke up for a moment and I had Colossians 1:12 running over in my spirit, it simply says this "giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light" I really did not think any more of it until I got our of bed and was getting into the Word I turned to this scripture and read it over a few times to let it soak into my spirit.

As I was doing this I asked the Lord "What is our inheritance" now many people may say well duh Pastor our inheritance is salvation, and to that I say salvation is certainly part of our inheritance but it is not all of it, our inheritance is all that God has promised us as believers. One part of our inheritance that really struck me this morning was the wisdom that has been given to us as believers. In Ephesians 1 Paul prayed that we would be filled with all the fullness of God and His wisdom and as I thought on this I heard this in my spirit, "wisdom is part of your inheritance" so I stopped right there and said out loud I receive my inheritance of wisdom right now in Jesus' name, there is no reason to not know what to do when we have the wisdom of God in our lives as part of our inheritance.

Determine today that you will walk in the inheritance Jesus left for you do not sell yourself short take it all, walk in it all it is yours!

Pastor Steele