Prayer for Revival By Byron Foxx
rayer binds our nothingness to God’s almightiness. We as evangelists, pastors, and Christian workers, know full well that we cannot manufacture revival—it is God-sent. “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD” (Jeremiah 17:5). To rely on anything other than God for revival is to actually work contrary to revival. This is why prayer and revival are always linked together in Scripture. Psalm 85:6 and Psalm 119:126 are heart cries to God for revival. The formula for revival in 2 Chronicles 7:14 which include humility, prayer, seeking God’s face, and repentance is impossible apart from a one-on-one meeting with God. It is this reason that we have chosen prayer as the underlying theme for the Conference on Revival and Evangelism, 2018. Dr. John R. Rice was known to say, “Prayer is asking.” James 4:2 states, “…ye have not, because ye ask not.” At CORE, January 3-5, 2018, we are
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going to ask! What might God do if hundreds of evangelists, pastors, and Christian workers were to get on their knees together in a room and ask God for revival? “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:3) In Acts 1, the early believers prayed (120 of them), and in chapter 2, 3,000 were saved, baptized, added to the church, and continued steadfastly in the things of God! In Acts 12, the church prayed and prison doors were miraculously opened for Peter. Paul prayed in the midst of a storm in Acts 27, and God not only delivered them safely but sent revival to barbarous people in chapter 28. Let’s be honest—the task before us is too great for human methodology and ingenuity. Revival and the evangelization of the masses are not going to come because of a method, a man, or a message. It will only come as a result of a mighty God! History reveals that God works when men pray.
As you begin planning for 2018, why not start where God starts? Before all the busyness of a new year begins, why not pull apart for three days and focus on prayer? There will be some times of wonderful fellowship, singing, preaching, and instruction for both men and women. Helpful sessions will again be conducted to encourage, edify, excite, and equip evangelists, pastors, and Christian workers; but our first and foremost sessions will be with God on our knees. Won’t you join us? January 3-5, 2018! Register today for a discounted price and encourage someone else to come with you. Let’s go forward together for revival and evangelism on our knees.
We would love to hear from you! Please write to Editor@GodBlessAmericaCrusade.com
GBA Magazine Digital Expanded Issue features more articles! Go to: GBAmag.com
Byron Foxx
Tom Farrell
John Goetsch
For more information, visit Core2018.com
October 2017 | Vol. 3 | No. 4 Editor: Byron Foxx Managing Editor: Tim Cruse Graphic Design: Cruse Creative
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Praying Always THE ANSWER MAY BE JUST AROUND THE CORNER By Tim Rabon
fter admonishing every believer as Christian soldiers to put on the whole armor of God and identifying each piece of that armor in Ephesians 6:10–17, Paul commands us to be, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Ephesians 6:18). Prayer must be our attitude and action in our battle with Satan, the flesh, and the world. Prayer is the energy that allows us as Christian soldiers to wear the armor and defeat our foes. We must not rely on our own power, abilities, or talents. We must find our strength in Him and we must access His help and intervention through prayer. Prayer is our opportunity to get God’s supply on the front lines of spiritual battle. Satan never feels more threatened than when a believer prays. It is not the weak or strong Christian that he fears,
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nor the inadequate prayer that we make. It is the fact that as children of God we are appealing to our Heavenly Father and Almighty God which alarms Satan. He will do all he can to keep us from praying. The instruction to pray always does not mean to be always saying prayers. Rather, it means to be in constant and consistent communion with the Lord. At any moment, a surprise attack can come against us and we need to be in communication with headquarters. Prayer may be the most pure spiritual exercise in which we can participate. We should pray “in the Spirit” and seek His enablement to gain victory over wicked and worldly thoughts as we pray. He will bring to mind passages of Scripture to claim, and give us assurance that God hears and understands us. As we pray, we must be watchful and persevering as we beseech His intervention in the battle. The word watching means “keeping on the alert.”
Satan loves to lull us into spiritual sleep and stupor. The Lord Jesus exhorted us to “watch and pray” and showed us that this is the key to victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil (Mark 13:33; 14:38). Watching sights the enemy, and praying fights the enemy. Our enemies are seeking to destroy our lives, our homes, and our church, so, we must stay alert. A good definition of perseverance is “to stick to it and not quit.” We may give up, but Satan never quits. Many of us quit praying just before the Lord answers. Let me encourage you to keep on praying until the Holy Spirit stops you or the Father answers you. Let us pray and keep on praying.
TIM RABON is the senior pastor of Beacon Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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UNDERSTANDING YOUR PASTOR By Tim Cruse
astors carry many burdens. That is why Paul said, “Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28). Paul had many difficulties. He had physical handicaps, he had been persecuted severely for the faith, he had been marooned on an island with criminals in the middle of a storm. In short, he bore in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus, yet the care of churches weighed more heavily upon him than his own burdens. Most Christians never think about it, but your burdens are on your pastor’s heart when he is driving down the road, awake in the middle of the night, working at his desk, visiting people, walking down a hospital stairwell, listening to the choir sing, playing with his children, or at any other place at any other time of day. Here are some points to keep in mind when you do not understand why your
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pastor does not do something the way you would do it: • Your pastor must be willing to be misunderstood or misjudged in your eyes because he cannot divulge certain confidences. You see the part; he sees the whole. • The only thing you have to go on is faith in God and in your pastor’s integrity to do the right thing. It is a matter of trust. • Because of providential circumstances, your pastor will not be able to do some things you would expect him to. • Your pastor’s love for your family should not be put on trial because of perceived oversight on his part in a particular matter. • Your pastor’s forbearance of you will outweigh your forbearance of him.
• Your pastor will be the first to forgive and the last to be forgiven. • Your pastor’s family is suffering silently with him in a certain matter while others suffer openly and receive necessary reassurances. • Your pastor will not ask you to sacrifice in a matter that he has not sacrificed in already. “And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you: And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.” 1 Thessalonians 5:12–13
TIM CRUSE is the senior pastor of Shining Light Baptist Church in Monroe, North Carolina.
Franklin Road
Baptist Church
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Knowing God
Growing Together
Showing Others
3148 Franklin Road | Murfreesboro, TN 37128 | 615.890.0820 D r. M i ke N orri s, Pasto r
Behold the Dreamer Cometh By Charles Keen
A Biblical dream is a strong impression, believed to be from God, but with little detail nor Biblical verification. Most of Joseph’s recorded life was the unfolding of his dream. Text: Genesis 37:5-10 “... Joseph dreamed a dream, ... And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: ... Behold I have dreamed a dream more; ...W hat is this dream that thou hast dreamed?” We all know the text and context of the story. God is doing something new and special and in so doing will save the nation of Israel. He communicated His plan through dreams given to Joseph. On his way to fulfillment there was a pit and prisoners but in the end the dream became a reality. God gave me a dream that Bible printing, translation and publication would be a huge part of whatever ministry life I had left. Like Joseph there were, and will be, pits and prisons and like Joseph up to this point, fulfillment has been a long time in coming but as I look back I see every event was a building block in God’s plan for my life. My first dream was to get Bible printing and publication back under the authority of the local church. The dream was fulfilled in the founding of Bearing Precious Seed in 1973. In 1999, we had a second dream,
to start a ministry called First Bible International, with the goal of providing Scriptures for the unreached people groups. On May 22, 2017, that dream was realized when we completed the eight year long project of translating the New Testament into the Mongolian language. My third dream is to found and fund a fundamentalist school that will train Bible translators. This is not only a dream but a necessity and our single greatest need is fundamentalism; if we are to make progress among those in the regions beyond who have no Bible. We must get the Bible into the mother tongue of the host nation so we can plant churches among them. Because of technology, we live in the greatest time in human history to fulfill the great commission with the many forms of communication and transportation available to us in our day. There is a common denominator in closed countries and it is not borders or political systems but the absence of the translated Scriptures in their languages. We cannot look to the world or the new evangelicals to translate languages for us any more than we look to them to train our preachers or staff personnel for churches. Lack of Bible translation and translators has brought the spread of the Gospel to a halt. Now, instead of spreading the Gospel to places it has
never been we are saturating the places it is already. Our dream is to have within fundamentalism a school(s) of Bible Linguistics. We believe in our ranks there are funds, faculty, administration and students enough to bring this dream to a reality. Though our task is Herculean we believe, with all our hearts, that we have, “come to the kingdom for such a time as this.” The writer of Ecclesiastes said in chapter 5,“For a dream cometh through the multitude of business;...” What he is saying is business follows dreams. We can get far without dreams and we cannot get far with only dreams. Our next step is to put feet to our plans or as we used to say as boys put your money where your mouth is. The writer of Ecclesiastes said the fool only talks about his dream but never puts feet to it. I want to go on record and say that I intend to do more than just dream about a translation school or just talk it. I am going to make it my business for the rest of my natural life to get the Bible translated into a multitude of languages by addressing the root of the problem, which is the absence of a credible school to train translators. DR. CHARLES KEEN is the founder of firstBible International in Milford, Ohio.
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TEACH US TO PRAY By Tom Alvis
atthew 5, 6, & 7 are known to us as the Sermon on the Mount—a message delivered by our Lord to His disciples and early followers that addresses the central aspects of Christian Character and Conduct. Beginning with the Beatitudes, He speaks to what we are; then progresses to what we are to be and do for Him. As salt and light, we must be characterized by Christlikeness! In the early verses of chapter six, Christ deals with three spiritual disciplines – giving, praying, and fasting. While confronting Jewish hypocrisy, our Lord emphasizes that the heart behind what we do is of utmost importance; i.e., what we really
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are is more important than what we do. Prayer is that process of communing with God; it involves developing an intimate relationship and depending totally upon God for everything. Within verses 5-15 of Matthew 6, Christ provides us with some governing principles and a practical pattern that should guide our prayer life. Notice His two foundational principles: our motives should be sincere (5-6) and our manner should be simple (7-8). God hates pride and two-facedness. As one preacher wrote, “The greatest danger to religion is that the old self simply becomes religious.” Even in the exercise of spiritual disciplines, we must guard our motives. The wrong audience in prayer is man; our prayers are to be directed to God. Our prayers should not be filled with vain repetitions and babblings; rather they should call out to God is simple, thoughtful requests. Observe also the functional pattern
presented by Christ: prayer must be God-Centered (9-10) and Man-Centered (11-13). The first category of requests concerns God and His Glory—the Exaltation of His Name, the Extension of His Kingdom, and the Execution of His Will. The focus on man and his malady centers around requests for provision, pardon, and protection. Incredible teaching! The problem is that we are too often concerned about our name instead of God’s; we focus more on our kingdom than His; and we are daily consumed with our will rther than God’s. Let’s confess our sin of prayerlessness and unbiblical prayers; let’s commit ourselves to allowing God to teach us to pray.
TOM ALVIS is the senior pastor of Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Powhatan, Virginia.
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MY DEAR LOVED ONES, Our journey of life has taken us down many different paths. However, there is a bond of love in our hearts that keeps us connected through the years. Because I love you so, I want you to know how we can all be together forever when our journey here is complete. The Bible, God’s Holy Word, teaches us that: Love, worth, hope, & purpose are all found in Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Our sin has separated us from God. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Jesus Christ paid sin’s penalty. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Salvation is by faith in Him. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9) Believing that He paid the penalty for your sin by His sacri ce on the cross and resurrection from the dead, call upon the Lord Jesus Christ right now. Ask Him to forgive your sin and give you eternal life. He has promised, “Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37) “I want us to be together in Heaven” Please consider committing to The Hour That Makes The Difference | Bible Reading and Prayer, at least 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week, during the 12 o’clock hour (midday or midnight). “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16)
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GOD BLESS AMERICA
OCTOBER 2017
If you just now asked Jesus to save you, we would love to hear from you. Please write to Editor@GodBlessAmericaCrusade.com
EVANGELISTS DIRECTORY
Jonathan Cooper 10006 E 43rd St. Kansas City, MO 64133 816-812-9685 needforrevival@gmail.com Joshua Engel 427 N Kenosha Ave. Ogelsby, IL 61348 815-993-6931 evangelistengel@gmail.com JoshuaEngel.org Caleb Garraway Remnant Ministries 215 S Marion Ave Washington, IA 52353 917-412-0059 www.remnantministriesonline.com www.silentwitnessliterature.com Dr. Chuck Harding Awake America Ministries 113 2nd St NE Washington, DC 20002 405-760-7677 AwakeAmericaOnline.org Dr. Daniel Hummel 2812 Roosevelt Drive Chambersburg, PA 17201 843-409-0216 dwhummelljr@gmail.com www.btbm.org Dan Knickerbocker 6816 Winifred Drive Fort Worth, TX 76133 817-575-7360 danknick@gmail.com Glen Mathews POB 1283 125 Olde Spring LA Robbins, NC 27325 304-545-8454 glennandfleta@gmail.com
Randy Merrill Merrill Ministries 593 CO RD 17 Enterprise, AL 36330 419-496-3607 randy@merrillministries.com
Kyle England Steadfast Ministries 10940 East 4th St Laurel, DE 19956 908-458-7598 SteadfastMinistries7@gmail.com
Chris Miller 627 Bill Rice Ranch Rd. Murfreesboro, TN 37128 faithforrevival.com 615-392-0779 cmiller@faithforrevival.com
CT Townsend 403 Warner Rd Anderson, SC 29625 864-905-2584 kim.tedford@cttownsend.com
Scott Pauley 1038 N Eisenhower Drive #174 Beckley, WV 25801 865-924-5537 scott@scottpauley.org scottpauley.org John Reynolds 12 Pinehill Ct. Colbert, GA 30628 386-748-5088 pastorvcbc@gmail.com Norman Stevens c/o Emmanuel Baptist Church 102 Canterbury Rd Kings Mountain, NC 8086 813-760-4028 evangelistnormanstevens@live.com www.evangelistnormanstevens.com John Wheeler Second Man Ministries, Baptist Ambassadors to America Missionary Fellowship 939 Dinahs Corner Rd Dover, DE 19904 302-222-4874 johndebwheeler@gmail.com Mike Clark 1610 Lees Gap Rd Fincastle, VA 24090 804-677-7061 mikeclark@inmotion4christ.com www.InMotion4Christ.com
Joshua Lancaster 1200 W Willow Ln Peoria, IL 61614 309-472-7748 Joshua2310@juno.com www.DrawNighToGod.com Bruce Miller PO Box 25 Laurel, DE 19956 631-252-5860 mail@atlanticcoastcol.com Tim Schmidt 3447 Q Street North Highlands, CA 95660 916-817-7457 tschmidteph610@gmail.com Chase Whitten 219 Cranberry Dr Beckley, WV 25801 304-661-6139 victorymxschool@gmail.com scottpauley.org/team Byron Foxx Byron Foxx Evangelistic Association PO Box 1881 Newport News, VA 23601 757-344-9280 byron.foxx@bibletruthmusic.com
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