Identity Theft
Genesis 28: 16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” 18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel… (NIV) Last week I began my new season in the Lord for the first time with a personal retreat. For a portion of three days, I spent my time with the Lord in a building appropriately named “Bethel”. God opened my eyes to some wonderful things He was doing in my life. And though this was a great experience where I truly met with the Lord, I find that too many people tend to be like Jacob. They may be having an actual experience of God moving in their lives but yet they are unable to identify that it truly is the Lord. How sad it is to observe those from whom Satan has stolen their ability to identify where God is actually at work in their lives. And this is precisely why this evening we will have a discussion on Chapter 6 of the book “Experiencing God” entitled God is at Work Around You. Jacob’s experience was the beginning of an identity change which was completed in Genesis Chapter 32. And if we cannot identify where God is at work in our lives, then we will never attain the true identity of who we are in...
read moreExperiencing GOD – chapter 6
GOD Is At Work Around You Stop, Look and Listen! Recently a friend told me that after they moved to the suburbs, their children complained that they could not sleep because of the noise. Each night they were hearing the sound of crickets and other nocturnal creatures. In their previous home the children were used to hearing the sound of the inner city; cars, buses and music blaring. The crickets were probably there too, but could not be heard over the other noise. Similarly as a teen I used to marvel at how much I could see in the night sky over Martha’s Vineyard. There were thousands of stars and shooting stars in every glance. Those same stars were over my home in New York too, but I could not see them because of the visual noise created by the city lights. Unfortunately, we often can not see GOD at work around us because our own activity makes too much noise. If we would take time to be still and sit quietly before Him, we would see Him at work and would hear His invitation to join him. Next time that you are at school, work, in your community or with your family pause for a moment so you can see where GOD is at work. Then listen for His invitation and join...
read moreYou are a Profit of God!
1 Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: (NKJV) Every Labor Day Holiday, one of my favorite things to do is to watch some of the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament held in Queens, New York. And if you are familiar with the scoring procedures in the sport of tennis, you have to win by two points in order to win a game. If both players reach the score of 40, then the score keeper no longer uses numbers to inform the spectators as to who is winning the game. The score keeper uses the word “advantage” and attaches that word to the person who is winning the game. Chapter 6 of the book Experiencing God is a discussion on how God is at Work around You. It focuses on the pattern regarding how God uses His chosen vessels: God gave an assignment to a person. The Holy Spirit was given to that person to equip him or her for the assignment. The proof of the Spirit’s presence was that the person was able to complete the assignment effectively through the supernatural enabling of the Holy Spirit. And the final result? The result God is looking for is that the entire Body of Christ, or at the very least, the local church, would benefit and profit from the Holy Spirit’s manifesting Himself through that person’s life. The Greek definition of the word profit in this Scripture means to the “advantage of; benefit of; making one the favorite”. God gave us His Holy Spirit and the gifts which the Spirit uses through us, so that the Church universal as well as your local church could get an advantage and be favored to win every battle. Thus, wherever you are (job, school, home, shopping, dorm, apartment, vacation, etc.), God’s Church and Kingdom should be profiting from the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life in that place God has assigned to use you. Yes, you are God’s profit today. You are His advantage point right where you’re located. Just believe...
read moreBack To School Sunday
2011 On Sunday, September 18th at 11:00 AM Pentecostal Tabernacle held its annual “Back to School Sunday” Service at First Baptist Church, located on 5 Magazine Street in Central Square. Educators and students of all ages heard an encouraging sermon and received prayer. 2010 http://www.ptspice.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Back-To-School-Sunday-2010-Display.m4v On Sunday, September 19th at 11:00 AM Pentecostal Tabernacle held its annual “Back to School Sunday” Service at First Baptist Church. Educators and students of all ages heard an encouraging sermon and received prayer and socialized at the...
read moreHospitality Ministry Needs Help with Back To School Sunday
The Hospitality Ministry needs your help! We are looking for volunteers to assist with Pentecostal Tabernacle’s Back to School Service on Sunday, September 18th in the areas of servers and set-up/clean-up crews. Please stop by the Connection Center to sign up.
read moreHelp Needed for Back To School Sunday
Help will be needed preparing hundreds of first-time gift packs as well as bulletins for Back to School Sunday. Please reply to mail@ptspice.org.
read moreThis Week’s Prayer Focus (9/4 – 9/10)
LORD, draw students and educators of every ethnicity and creed from all the area schools to Back to School Sunday.
read moreExperiencing GOD – chapter 5
Seven Realities of Experiencing GOD GOD Keeps His Partners Informed Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. – Amos 3:7 NKJV The LORD desires to form a partnership with us to accomplish His plan and establish His kingdom. In doing so, GOD does not regard human stature or rankings. He often calls ordinary men and women to partner with Him. The only prerequisite is that you hear His voice and obey. He makes known to these people; what is hidden to others. Amos was a shepherd and a farmer. The LORD called him to speak to Israel and Judah concerning their sin. Rather than offer GOD excuses, Amos responded with obedience. He could have said, “I am not a priest nor a prophet. Therefore, they will not listen to me.” Instead he demonstrated his faith by being compliant to the LORD’s instruction. Consequently, the LORD showed Amos the pending judgement of the nations and His promise of restoration. When GOD has a plan, he chooses a person or a group to bring it to pass. He tells them what He is about to do and their role in the plan. Henry Blackaby makes three observations about the men and women that GOD involves in His work: When GOD spoke, they knew it was GOD. They knew what He was saying. They knew what they were to do in response. Jesus called himself The Good Shepherd (John 10:4,14,27). He said, “the sheep follow him, for they know his voice”. If you are like me, the issue is hardly ever LORD is that you speaking or I am not sure what you are saying. More often than not, my pretense of uncertainty is a stall tactic. The true cause of my hesitance is that I do not understand how God is going to do what He said (a crisis of faith) or I do not like the plan nor my role (disobedience). What has GOD revealed to you? Are you thinking but I am only a ____? What is your response? What is holding you back? Remember GOD does not seek our understanding; only our...
read moreExperiencing GOD
During the month of August we began reading as a congregation the book, Experiencing GOD. We are reading one chapter per week. Join us on this journey as we seek to deepen our relationship with GOD and live our lives like Jesus Christ. Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. – John 4:34 NASB Experiencing GOD reveals seven ways of relating to GOD: knowing, loving, hearing, joining, believing, obeying and experiencing. This book’s inspiring and straightforward approach will teach you how to: Hear when GOD speaks See what GOD is doing in your life Take GOD at His Word Know where GOD is taking you Know how to respond to GOD’s work in your life Experience GOD more intimately then ever...
read more1000 Points of Death
Philippians 2: 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus… 7 … taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men… 8 … He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him… (NKJV) Acts 13: 1 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said,… (NKJV) “I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good. I will go to the people and the programs that are the brighter points of light, and I will ask every member of my government to become involved. The old ideas are new again because they are not old, they are timeless: duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism that finds its expression in taking part and pitching in.” – President George H. W. Bush, 1988. Chapter 4 of the book Experiencing God is entitled Being God’s Servant. As Philippians chapter 2 mentions, becoming a real servant of God involves dying to “self”. Though President Bush’s speech was made almost a quarter of a century ago, for me it still remains the most memorable phrase from a presidential speech. It was here that President Bush put forth the idea of encouraging individual contributions to society. However, these thousand individual contributions cannot occur without a thousand deaths to personal self interests. Through the book Experiencing God, God is calling Pentecostal Tabernacle to go on a mission with Him and fulfill the assignment He’s given to our church. And one of the best ways I can think of to produce death to self is the discipline of ministering to (serving) God with fasting. Therefore, beginning on Sunday, September 11th (911) and ending on Sunday, October 2nd, Pentecostal Tabernacle will be in fasting and consecration unto God. Let’s look forward to seeing Pentecostal Tabernacle being one of those points of light for the Kingdom of God (Matthew...
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