The Anointing is Helping

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” Acts 10:38 If you feel inadequate when it comes to fulfilling the mission of Christ, know that it’s normal to feel that way. We are simply vessels needing His power. That way God gets the glory. Jesus Christ of Nazareth needed the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit to do the will of God on earth. He went about doing good and healing those oppressed by the devil. If we are to also fulfill the will and purpose of God for us, we need the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit, too. Jesus’ commandment to us to preach the gospel to all creation cannot be accomplished by human strength and wisdom. We need to depend on the Holy Spirit as we share the gospel of Jesus. As we journey through life, we will meet people who need to hear the gospel, people who are sick, and those being oppressed by the devil. And as Jesus’ ambassadors, we can be used by God to bring deliverance from the power of Satan through the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit. Whenever you and I feel inadequate, we must remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is there to help and make it happen. We just need to yield to Him! Father, please empower us through the anointing and power of Your Spirit to bring the gospel of Jesus to our world and deliver as many as possible from the power of the devil. Amen. So What… Ask the Holy Spirit for boldness to share the gospel and pray for the sick. Look out for opportunities that God will bring your way and act on them

Learn Prayer. Love Prayer. Live Prayer!

 

The Bay Prays (Saturdays 8:00am – 9:00am)

“And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room… These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication…” (Acts 1:13-14).

VISION:  To host a weekly city-wide prayer gathering at New Hope Baptist Church (892 36th St. , Emeryville-Oakland, CA.)

MISSION: To establish a city-wide prayer network that will transform traditional “prayer meetings” into powerful “prayer gatherings”.

STRATEGY: To inspire and instruct pastors, intercessors and prayer participants to launch and lead prayer and prayer gatherings.

Saturday, June 10th @ 8:00AM

Bishop Sean Teal, Prayer Leader

WIN: To provoke through prayer an uncommon move of God in the Bay Area.

 

http://www.PrayerEverywhere.org

The Bay Area Will Be The Pray Area

The Oakland -San Francisco Bay Area is experiencing some of the most rapid and radical changes in Church and spiritual culture. In the next five years whatever we have known as Church will be over and done. A new day is dawning and we cannot restrain it.

We have been “rowing in religion” instead of sailing in the Spirit! The activity of a church does not reveal the spirituality of the Church. Most churches are doing a lot, but not getting a lot done.

Institutions are killing visions. Reprobates are left to rule religion. People with godly passion and holy enthusiasm are the exception.  Carnality is holding the Church captive.

There are no less than 7 (seven) major shifts in the next five years that will determine the destiny of ministry in Northern California.

• Pastors will have to preach strictly biblical messages. Verse by verse exposition will rule the day. Topical preaching will be disdained.
• The Holy Spirit will have to be emphasized like never before. The need of the Holy Spirit will become the focus of ministry. The “anointing” will be the most coveted and the only essential tool in ministry.
• Millennials will have to be the harvest field for growing churches. Millennials will be empowered to lead ministry and construct 21st century ministry.
• Praise and Worship will have to become a more intense and intimate spiritual experience. People will be healed and filled with the power of God while in His presence.
• Outreach and urban missions will have to be the most effective means of ministry. Prayer, Generosity and Evangelism will again become the agenda and ambition of the Church.
• Multicultural ministry will have to be the only authentic and significant ministry. Churches will no longer be identified by culture or class.
• Prayer will have to be the key ministry that brings people together and on purpose from everywhere and every background into churches that are committed to being a “house of prayer for all people” (Isaiah 56:7).

200 Churches About To Close

We need new wineskins! That’s what Jesus said (Luke 5:36-39). There is a “new wine” being poured out by the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ! We must rethink our structures and systems. What we are using now will not hold what is about be God’s next!

Please pastors and churn leaders – READ!  This article comes from Growing Healthy Churches by Dr. Thomas Rainer. Read and began having conversations with your church leadership on how to make urgent changes.

“Another church closed. This church had unbelievable potential. Indeed, it had its own “glory days,” but only for a season. But, 10 years ago, few would have predicted this church’s closure. Today, it is but another statistic in the ecclesiastical graveyard.

I know. We don’t compromise doctrine. I know. We must never say we will change God’s Word. But many of our congregations must change. They must change or they will die. I call these churches “the urgent church.” Time is of the essence. If changes do not happen soon, very soon, these churches will die. The pace of congregational death is accelerating.

What, then, are some of the key changes churches must make? Allow me to give you a fair warning. None of them are easy. Indeed, they are only possible in God’s power. Here are nine of them:

1. We must stop bemoaning the death of cultural Christianity. Such whining does us no good. Easy growth is simply not a reality for many churches. People no longer come to a church because they believe they must do so to be culturally accepted. The next time a church member says, “They know where we are; they can come here if they want to,” rebuke him. Great Commission Christianity is about going; it’s not “y’all come.”
2. We must cease seeing the church as a place of comfort and stability in the midst of rapid change. Certainly, God’s truth is unchanging. So we do find comfort and stability in that reality. But don’t look to your church not to change methods, approaches, and human-made traditions. Indeed, we must learn to be uncomfortable in the world if we are to make a difference. “We’ve never done it that way before,” is a death declaration.
3. We must abandon the entitlement mentality. Your church is not a country club where you pay dues to get your perks and privileges. It is a gospel outpost where you are to put yourself last. Don’t seek to get your way with the music, temperature, and length of sermons. Here is a simple guideline: Be willing to die for the sake of the gospel. That’s the opposite of the entitlement mentality.
4. We must start doing.  Most of us like the idea of evangelism more than we like doing evangelism. Try a simple prayer and ask God to give you gospel opportunities. You may be surprised how He will use you.
5. We must stop using biblical words in unbiblical ways. “Discipleship” does not mean caretaking. “Fellowship” does not mean entertainment.
6. We must stop focusing on minors. Satan must delight when a church spends six months wrangling over a bylaw change. That’s six months of gospel negligence.
7. We must stop shooting our own. This tragedy is related to the entitlement mentality. If we don’t get our way, we will go after the pastor, the staff member, or the church member who has a different perspective than our own. We will even go after their families. Don’t let bullies and perpetual critics control the church. Don’t shoot our own. It’s not friendly fire.
8. We must stop wasting time in unproductive meetings, committees, and business sessions. Wouldn’t it be nice if every church member could only ask one question or make one comment in a meeting for every time he or she has shared his or her faith the past week?
9. We must become houses of prayer. Stated simply, we are doing too much in our own power. We are really busy, but we are not doing the business of God.

Around 200 churches will close this week, maybe more. The pace will accelerate unless our congregations make some dramatic changes. The need is urgent. Hear me well, church leaders and church members. For many of your churches the choice is simple: change or die. Time is running out. Please, for the sake of the gospel, forsake yourself and make the changes in God’s power.”