"Think About" 

by Pastor Gary Cook

I read an article a while back that provoked me. It was written by a Christian... and it provoked me. It was written by a Christian with a doctorate degree no less..., and it provoked me. I suspect I was provoked somewhat because of jealousy rather than content. “Dr. Christian” was doing what I always dreamed I would one day do. I always envisioned publishing written works of intellectual substance, penned from a mind filled with great thoughts and substantiated through exhilarating life experiences.

 There was only one problem, well several actually. I never earned my doctorate degree.  OK, I never earned my bachelors degree. And then there is the small problem that I didn't have a great deal of intellectual substance. I wasn't what one  could call a great thinker. And as for my life experiences...well mostly I never did much, but think about a lot of things. Yet, most of those things have benefited me in one way or another.

 I think we are on to something here.  Even a former church acquaintance, in response to the Pastor's exhortations, would not say the traditional “Amen”. Rather he was often heard to exclaim “think about it”. Did you notice I got caught up in it myself? I started the paragraph saying 'I think', even before I had a chance to think about it! As my old acquaintance realized, you have to have something to provoke your thought before you can think about it.

 Well now we've finally gotten back to where we needed to be, the beginning, thinking and writing about it. Or was it suppose to be writing then thinking about it? Either way, thought provoking seems to normally be used as a positive expression, most notably by those who critique books and make you wonder what makes them such an expert.

 I don't claim to have a lot of expertise in anything. I have had a few experiences, not all good. And  I may not have a doctorate, bachelors or any other type degree, except maybe a small degree of God given insight. But I have been provoked. I have been provoked to thought. My guess is you are looking to be provoked also or you wouldn't be reading this.

 What was it that provoked me? An article titled “The Properties of Thought: You Become What You Think About.” Sounded like new age philosophy to me. Maybe that's what provoked me. None the less it set me on a journey, upon which I invite you. It will be a journey of exploration, discovery and mainly thoughts.

 The great thinkers of our time should be awakened. You might find that person inside of you, if we can provoke you to thought. Let the thinking begin....   Pastor Gary Cook

KingWay Fellowship Middletown, IN

http://kingswayvoice.com/Contact_Links.html

Civic Center 10 AM every Sunday

Upper Level (elevator to 2nd floor)

529 Locust St.

Middletown, IN

In a meeting dedicating a Spanish speaking church a few years ago the worship leader sang and one of the words he used as "Fuego" meaning Fire! There was power behind those words in worship that night! In fact, this church was in Indianapolis, Indiana and was originally planted by Mariah Woodworth-Etter, who had a powerful healing ministry in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  When the Assemblies of God came on the scene in 1914, there were few questions about where the Fellowship stood on the often divisive subject of signs and wonders. And one who helped keep that subject on a positive note with her dynamic preaching, and remarkable faith was the legendary evangelist Maria B. Woodworth-Etter.

Because of the open-arms acceptance of Assemblies of God congregations and others, Maria would keep preaching right up to her death in 1924. However, before she gave her mantle to another, she established what is now Lakeview Temple in Indianapolis.  Lakeview Church is a multiethnic, multicultural church located on the west side of Indianapolis at 47 Beachway Drive.

We are having too much fun at our School of Ministry!  We love to teach and preach God's word and study past healing revivals. Recently, when meeting one of the students during prayer and worship saw a fire and flame.

Upon further study the following is what she found.

Fire: Can represent positive and/or negative.  It signals new beginnings, symbol of security. Can be a deeply spiritual symbol representing transformation and enlightenment (education).  Its energy (vitality, vigor, get up and go) is a potent symbol of eternal Life or eternal damnation.  Fire can cleanse and purify, as well as destroy.  It can illuminate, but also cause pain.

Flame:  It represents the source of creation, your inner light.   ( It speaks to the soul spark that is above and  below, within and without, that which links us all together originating from the same source of thought consciousness)  To her this means GOD and the HOLY SPIRIT.  His light within us!

She believes the fire, and flame are a representation of what God is doing through Hidden Treasures Ministry this year, and I’m sure other ministries as well.  God is going to use ministries to impart his eternal life into those who need Him.  As we teach and preach God’s word, our hope is that you find Him to be your security and cleansing fire in your life.  May He illuminate and shine through this ministry to you this year!

Ministries and people need new beginnings and change!  They need security in the world of turmoil and uncertainty.  Nothing in our present-day world seems to be secure at this time, but God is, and he knows what we need when we need it.  We need to know who our hope is in.  Is your hope in Jesus Christ as your savior and friend?  If not, pause a minute to say this prayer with me.

Father,

I welcome you and your Holy Spirit in my life.  I believe you died on the cross for our sins and healing.  By your stripes, we are healed.  I believe you arose from the grave three days later, and you sit at right hand of your Father today interceding for us!  I receive you in my heart as Lord of my life!  In Jesus's precious Holy Name!  Amen!

Praise the Lord if you said that prayer with me today!  The angels are rejoicing and so are we!

The fire can bring cleansing to our life, and it does destroy the areas in us that need to be cleansed.  Allow his Holy fire to burn in you today making you better for tomorrow.  He will show you areas of your life that need to be changed to make a better you.  Spend time before him in prayer, listening, and yielding to him the areas that you need to turn over.

May God's fire "Fuego" burn upon your ministry this year bringing healing to your body, mind, and spirit! May we preach salvation, repentance, and God's healing to the nations!

Revelation 3:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Let us not be found to be lukewarm...  Be bold for God and be encouraged!  He loves you and sets you FREE!   

Shelly

Click below:

Excerpts from Miriah Woodworth-Etter book regarding meeting in Anderson, IN. 

Hello Friends,

As the New Year begins I keep seeing many changes taking place.  A friend called me recently and asked me, "What are you going to change"?  I thought for a minute and said, "Well, we are changing some things in the ministry this year."  She felt impressed in prayer that I would be changing some things this year, and she was right!  We all hear in part and it is good for us to come together and reason with God.  

1 Corinthians 13:9-12 (NIV)

⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

God keeps laying on my heart that He is doing a "New Thing". He is bubbling up (naba) new things in our spirit.  He is water the desert.  He refreshes us in the wasteland. 

In the Greek "Naba": to flow, spring, and bubble up.

 

Forming a Community of Prayer

 Forming a Community of Prayer

By Adrienne Holmes

Publication Date: November 2011.

The ministry of a thriving urban congregation in Indianapolis was disrupted on November 8, 2008, when a fire destroyed the church building. "My key pastoral responsibility in this crisis was to ensure that the fire destroyed only the building, not the church," writes Pastor Adrienne Holmes. So she led her people into an intensive ministry of prayer.

Forming a Community of Prayer describes what happened. More importantly, it shows other pastors why they need to develop a vital intercessory prayer ministry in their own congregations. This book explores the meaning of community and prayer, the necessity of prayer and reasons to pray, and methods of prayer, including how to pray, where to pray, when to pray, and what to pray about.

Forming a Community of Prayer challenges pastors to renew their commitment to a ministry "consecrated by the word of God and prayer" (1 Tim 4:5).

Adrienne Holmes, DMin, has been the senior pastor of Bell's Chapel and Abounding Grace both Church of God in Indianapolis, Indiana, since 2001. This book is excerpted from a dissertation she prepared to receive the doctor of ministry degree from the Anderson University School of Theology in May 2011.

Warner Press--

http://www.warnerpress.org/Product/9781593175627/Forming_a_Community_of_Prayer.aspx

Endorsements

Dr. Adrienne Holmes has a true shepherd's heart for all people.  Prayer is central to Bishop Holmes as she leads her congregation through the repercussions of a church fire. A riveting documentation of Bell's Chapel Church survival after a fire destroyed the building, but not the congregation. Keep some Kleenex handy!

Shelly Short

Hidden Treasures Ministries, Inc.

Hidden Treasures and Home Town Missions Updates

No Kingdom Encounters this year. I want to thank all of you who came to fellowship with us! We enjoyed it so much. 

We are changing direction this year. We will offer Hidden Treasures School of Ministry beginning in January. 

Conference in March "Extravagant Kingdom"

October Mark Virkler will be coming!!! Watch our website. I will ask him to speak to us about Dreams and how we hear from God in our dreams. He teaches on How to Hear God (Communion with God) and other subjects.http://www.cwgministries.org/

We also are adding Christian Alliance Ministerial Licensing this year.

Change seems to be going around for many ministries and churches this year. God is up to something good! 

The Holy Spirit is calling the valley of dry bones together (Ezek. 37) in the marketplace to rise up and come to life, to connect and knit together, to align into unity of purpose and order, to prosper and multiply, and to deploy strategically to conquer and occupy territory (spheres of influence and authority) as a vast end time army of the Lord.

Marketplace ministry typically refers to evangelism or other Christian activities that are targeted towards the secular workplace, as opposed to homes, churches, or specialized venues (e.g., crusades). It can also refer to particular para-church organizations that focus on such ministry. The term probably entered circulation in the 1980s, though groups with similar emphases (e.g., the Christian Business Men's Fellowship) have been around much longer.

While the original use of the term is primarily evangelical in nature, transformationalism has appropriated many of the same structures, often under the term marketplace redemption.

The term "Marketplace Ministry" does include 'evangelism' however it is much broader than that. It speaks to the fact that any Christian can fulfill their desire to serve God in the workplace. This can alleviate a lot of guilt in those that want to "go into full-time ministry" as they realize they are already in "full-time" ministry.

Matthew 28: 16-20

The Great Commission

 ¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

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Shelly

Sources: Wikipedia, Elijah List