HEAR US ROAR! Since when have we believed that it is godly
to be quiet and non-committal and invisible?
These are the days when the world needs to hear us and see us – pointing
the way to Christ! Gone are the days
when it is acceptable to scream and yell and shout our cheers and applause for
our favorite sports teams and our musical artists and bands – but not for our
God and Father, the Lord of lords and King of kings. Well, maybe those days are not gone … but
they need to be! These are the days when
the children of God need to rise up and make themselves heard on the stage of
the world – or in whatever tiny, remote place that He gives us a venue and a
microphone. People around us need to
hear the Name of Jesus spoken from our lips … and not birthed out of a curse. “Jesus … Jesus … Jesus” needs to be spoken in
adoration and boldness and declaration.
His message, His love, and His redemption needs to flow from our hearts
and be spoken into the lives of whoever God brings in front of us – every
single day. We dare not shy away and
think that we will just leave that to someone else who is more gifted, more
flamboyant, more impassioned. It is our
calling, dear people of God, to live and breathe and share our love for Christ! And
when we do, we must make sure that our voices lead people to hear His
voice. We don’t want our volume to be
just empty, powerless noise. We want our
words to be energized and anointed in supernatural ways. God promises that His words will not return
to Him void. In all essence that means that
when we speak His message and His Name, things will happen. There will be results. What comes back to God will have merit,
meaning, and multiplication to it. God’s
words returned to Him will come back with eternal decisions, with transformed
lives, with ever-increasing throngs of people added to the Kingdom of God. Those voices added to ours are going to begin
sounding like a mighty roar as God’s army arises to slay the complacency that
has so long been in the Church. To slay
the giants of fear and bondage and inferiority that have taped our mouths shut
up until now. To slay the giants of
holding back and not stepping out in what feels like risky, dangerous
faith. To slay the giants of deceit that
keep us from living with God as the highest priority in every arena of our
lives. To slay the giants that tell us
we are second best and cannot compete with the world’s power and wealth. To slay the giants of the million and one
things that seek to keep us from our knees before the Living God and crying out
for revival in our souls. When these and
a hundred more giants are slain, our mighty roar will cause the devil to
shudder and shake in the wake of our newly empowered roles. Nothing can stop us when we begin to live as
the powerful sons and daughters of God that we are! We will begin speaking with a boldness we
didn’t know we had. We will hear
ourselves sharing words that we recognize as coming from the Spirit of
God. We will move forward in a power
that we realize is not our own – and hesitancy will be replaced with an
impassioned excitement. Soon we will
operate through the leading of the Holy Spirit in a mightier way than ever
before as we listen for the Voice that sets itself apart from all others,
including ours. In these days, I see a
Church, a blood-bought Church, a Bride of Christ that issues forth a call to
righteousness, holiness, and purity as she looks forward to the arrival of her
Bridegroom. I see a Church whose voices
will unite in true worship – rising to a volume that will be heard around the
world. You see, the devil doesn’t have a
corner on roaring like a lion. The
difference is that in his roar, people are devoured. In our roar, people are rescued, redeemed,
and renewed to reflect the Lord God of Israel!
Let’s make our voices count, dear people … we are the Church! Let’s be the victorious, overcoming church
God planned for us to be! Time is short
… what we speak boldly now - will last for Eternity!
IN A NUTSHELL . . .
A SPECIAL WELCOME to Celso & Marcella and family who
worshipped with us for the first time this past Sunday! May God bless you! We were also blessed to have several of our
family and friends who came to worship with us from out-of-state these past few
weeks … what an encouragement your presence with us was!
THIS SUNDAY, JULY 28:
10:00 A.M. - PRAISE & WORSHIP
10:30 A.M. - KIDZONE CHURCH
SATURDAY, AUG 03:
7:00 A.M. - 12:00 NOON - Farmer's Market table in Central Park
Plan to pray and help with homemade or homegrown items that we can fill our table with for the purpose of raising additional funds to help us continue expanding our various church ministries for the glory of God! See Wayne, Verla, or Tina for more details! And plan to help out at the table and fellowship with others in your church family!
NEXT SUN, AUG 04:
10:00 A.M. - PRAISE & WORSHIP
10:30 A.M. - KIDZONE CHURCH
ELEVATION NORTH SPOTLIGHT!
REMEMBER . .
. “Jesus approached and, breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on
earth has been given to Me. Go then and
make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the Name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …”. Matthew 28:18-19
Serving Christ Joyfully . . .
Pastor Doug and Debbie
