REVIVAL IS HERE!

Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. ~ Psalm 19:4-5

It’s really quite something to draw near enough to that thing you were born to do, that you can actually see it. You imagine in your head that the prophet who foretold these things to you and more, forty-seven years ago, will be there. Why wouldn’t he be? All the failures…all the heartaches…all the disappointments and losses. But always that voice, “Keep going.” I heard this great quote on Bards the other day, “God will put you back together…right in front of those who broke you.” In fact, I highly recommend you listen to Scott’s interview from Thursday night with Joe Allen. Here’s a man who has studied the enemy for the past twenty plus years. And from my morning MAX a few days back, “Failure is simply a price we pay to achieve success.” And yet the fear of failure has stopped more than a few good men…even Christian men, of all men, who should know the victory is already won. What Christian man doesn’t want to see himself in Teddy Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena mirror…and why? Fear…

We had an amazing call with an amazing brother in Christ, Lt Col Pete “Doc” Chambers last week on the situation we are ALL facing as Americans, believers and unbelievers alike. The call presentation was “Decisively Engaged” for 16 Christian men who are effectively engaged as leaders in their respective areas of our Northeast. Decisively engaged, as Doc shared, is when things go hot which few of us, myself included, have ever experienced. I have no idea how I will handle it, no one does. But I can tell you this from my own experience. God does not give us anything we cannot handle when we are faithful to Him. In fact, I have learned from my own walk that He chose me long before I fully accepted Him, and I am now able to see how He prepared me for all of what is about to happen by subjecting me to test after test over the years, incrementally building from small to bigger, harder, and more intense (1 Sam. 17:34-36).

Which brings us to OUR revival. God is proving us (Judges 3:1-4). He anointed CLOTH to the task of preparing the ground in January, and He appointed the committee to choose the time and place, and to select and vet the speakers and performers. Seven and a half months of His blessing us with spiritual, financial, and human resources. All united in a John 17:21 Spirit of mission and purpose…until the ides of August, when a different spirit crept in, effectively calling for the removal of the decisively engaged Joshua’s and Caleb’s from our lineup! God does not give us anything we cannot handle when we are faithful to Him, and our committee never flinched, never waivered under fire, and remained faithful to Him. We were tested, proven, and as a result our Hudson Valley will be favored with revival at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie on Sunday September 24^th from 11-5pm, not for our righteousness, but for their wickedness (Deut. 9:4). To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet unto the way of peace (St. Luke 1:79).

Brothers and Sisters, Revival is not the end but the beginning of a very long hard road to the third R in Pastor Steve’s R trilogy from his message last Sunday; Restoration. Are we ready? I know a certain committee that is! Restoration will never come to those who wait for God to do that which He provided them the full Ephesians armor to do for themselves. Woe to the poor souls who failed the first test, and never humbled or repented…only to wake up chained to the wrong spirit at the final exam. As Doc would say, “Suck it up buttercup!” There are no more safe shortcuts, no more cozy comfort in the shade…that’s the fool’s path to the wide gate. We are bound for glory, brothers and sisters, on this long hard road to the narrow gate. Amen?

Long Hard Road ~ Junior Sisk

But Mama kept our Bible read, while Daddy kept our family fed, and somewhere in between I must have grown. And someday I was dreaming that a song that I was singing takes me down this road to where I wanna go…and now I know, it’s a long hard road.

Oh yes, our good shepherd adds a P word for good measure…

The “perilous times” of these “last days” (see 2 Timothy 3) are already upon us, and what’s ahead of us, according to God’s Word, will try our faith as never before!  As God’s people, however, let us be reminded of His sanctifying, purpose through suffering and the testing of our faith, as Peter said, “That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ….” (1 Peter 1:7ff).  The testing of our faith, therefore, clearly serves to purify and to perfect the faith in which we already stand!  Please also read First Peter 4:12-19, where the apostle speaks about our being “partakers of Christ’s sufferings” as the Apostle Paul also speaks of “the fellowship of His sufferings”, according to Philippians 3:10!  Testing from our God, or permitted by Him, therefore, is not designed to defeat us, but instead to perfect us, and to develop “patience” (spiritual “endurance”) in our lives and witness for Christ (see Romans 5:1-5 & James 1:2-4), that we may become more complete and mature in Him!  Then, as with Daniel in Babylon, for example, along with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, their severe testing only served to prove who and what they truly were, regardless of what they faced – faithful to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob!  What will the days ahead prove about us?  Not that we are anything in ourselves apart from our God and His grace and mercy, but that our faith in Him is solid and secure for His glory, “whether it be by life, or by death” (Philippians 1:20)!  Will we cave in under the pressure, the threats, or under the ill treatment of the enemy and his followers?  Did Peter and John collapse before the Sanhedrin (see Acts 4)?  Who will we choose to obey?  Or, perhaps better asked, “Who have we already decided to obey and to follow”?  the story is told of a fireman who risked his very life to rescue a child from a burning building!  A bystander then exclaimed that the firefighter “had become a hero”!  Someone else then quickly responded, saying, “Oh no!  He was already a hero”!  The fire only proved that he was a hero at heart!  By God’s grace, what will the days ahead prove us to be?  Fearful, or faithful?  

Always in the love of Jesus,

Pastor Steve Offringa 

(2 Timothy 1:7ff)!