Compelled By Reality

Taking it to the Streets

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Evangelism

I woke up this morning and walked outside and felt something I had never felt on Sept 1 of any year. Cool air. The temperature dropped to 55 degrees and the day was just beautiful. We had our windows down in the car, our air conditioning off, and it was great.

To add to a great day I just got in from doing some street evangelism and I’m feeling completely exhilarated. I was in a group of 3 walking up and down the sidewalks of the plaza district from 10pm to midnight and it was awesome. The main 4 things that people do at the plaza that late at night are either going or coming to/from clubs, the movies, a restaurant or just walking around the plaza because there is a park there with fountains and its a great place to walk up to people and just start conversations.

And that’s exactly what we did. We talked to people who knew Jesus and people who were far from Him and offended by the name. We talked to Muslims, People in Cults, Catholics, Atheists, Agnostics and even a few drunks. Many people were open to hearing from us and the truth of the gospel was spoken and many seeds were planted. God also gave us specific words for a couple of people and people were really encouraged.

I heard someone once say that “Evangelism fires up intercession, and intercession fires up evangelism. We must not neglect either the prayer or the going.” And its so true. We are here at ihop, which is a prayer ministry, but its not only a prayer ministry although the first calling is to prayer (which should be every believer’s first calling). The prayer movement actually exists to fulfill the great commission.

Dale Anderson (Yes, THE Dale Anderson, Leader extrodinare of Intro to IHOP) said this “We must evangelize! Do it afraid if you must, but do it nonetheless.” We must mix our prayers with action and be active in the great commission while we are living this sermon on the mount lifestyle and pursuing God.

Would you give up 19?

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Evangelism

Deal Reached for the Release of South Koreans

I am so happy for the 19 Korean hostages that will be freed soon. But at what cost? South Korea is the 2nd largest missionary sending country in the world and the government of South Korea has listed Afghanistan, Somolia and Iraq as countries where travel (except for official purposes) is a punishable offense.

If this deal goes through, at what cost will we be getting 19 lives back? Is it at the cost of thousands or tens of thousands of souls? God let your will be done in South Korea and Afghanistan. Look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.

I honor the 2 Koreans already martyred and the life they layed down for the gospel.

Would you give up the 19? What do you think about this crisis and the deal that was made?

Our Response

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, End Times, Evangelism, Intimacy

You are coming back. Soon.

That should spark 2 responses in a follower of Christ.

1. An urgency to get our hearts right, to get to know Him, to prepare our hearts for the coming revival and the coming judgments by having a life of prayer.
2. An urgency to tell others and prepare others. Evangelism that is fueled by the complete Good News of of the Gospel of Christ.

Is your heart driven by this hope?Do you love Him so much that you are longing for His return?

If there is urgency burning within you, is this just something you feel and don’t act on, or do you actively tell people about this good news? And when you tell them about Jesus, do you leave out the part about He’s coming back?  

We must not live unbalanced lives. There is a man who is completely in love with you and is coming back for you. Do we know him? We must make sure that we prepare our hearts, and let God take control and give us the grace to move forward.

We must not neglect this message we have inside of us while we are continually preparing our hearts and interceding for those we want this message to go to. He will give us the strength to follow through. We must make sure that we lean on Him for the strength and not think we can do it on our own. But intentionally walk in weakness so that we have to rely on Him. So much more can be accomplished for His kingdom if we rely on Him more than on ourselves, but we still have to go.  

He will establish it, but we have to commit our works to Him and turn our plans over to Him. 

Throw off EVERYTHING!

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Evangelism

Today I woke up, turned off the alarm clock and went back to bed. I then woke up again and took a shower and rushed off to a meeting that I ended up being 5-10 minutes late. I then went to Bruegger’s Bagels, sitting in the quiet air-conditioned environment and read the Bible and checked my email among other things before rushing off to my next meeting.

I can’t imagine what Son Jong Nam’s day has been like so far. Did he have a quiet morning with much time for prayer? Has he eaten today, or even this week? Was he awoken by guards coming to torture him yet again?

We have so much freedom here in the comfort and safety of our homes and free society. Do we use our freedom wisely? Are we trying to make the most of every minute we have each day or is it being wasted?

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Nicole Perkins on the Kingdom Come Conference

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Evangelism, Prayer

Nicole Perkins is the Children’s Pastor at Abundant Life Fellowship and is on staff with IHOP Tallahassee. She leads prayer and sings regularly on a worship team in the prayer room and is an incredible woman of the word and of prayer and if she had a blog I would have a subscription and be plugging it to you right now.

I asked Nicole to write her thoughts about the conference and what she thought the highlights were so far. She is officially the first guest writer for Compelled By Reality.

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Power on the Gospel

Filed under: Evangelism, Intimacy, Power on the Gospel, Prayer

Acts 2:37 “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart.” As I was reading this verse today I realized that this is what we are really talking about when we say “we want to see power on the gospel.” Peter was speaking to the multitudes that gathered when they all had apparantly heard the sound of something like a powerful wind. Then they were cut to the heart and 3,000 souls were added to the kingdom that day.

Where did this come from? How did Peter get this boldness and confidence before God? Was it the power that they recieved from an instantaneous moment when the spirit came on them in the upper room? Was it something more? I’d like to share my thoughts on this and am interested in what you have to say as well.

I do not believe that the power that was on the gospel at that gathering was due ONLY to the instantaneous enduing of power from on high that occured in Acts 2. I believe that was only part of it.

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On Campus and Conference Prep…

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Evangelism, IHOP

This week has been a preperation week for the conference this weekend as well as my first week back on campus. Don’t have a lot of time lately to post b/c of balancing time and find that I am wanting to increase my effectiveness in managing my time. I think its time to kick it up a level.

On Campus
Wednesday was exciting. I got there a little late so I had to get a table that was right in front of the DJ. It was ok though b/c for some reason the music wasn’t as loud as it usually is. But the music didn’t start until 12pm anyway. I was able to talk with quite a few people, all students, and almost everyone I talked to had never heard of IHOP. I did however find one person who’s sister was actually currently at IHOP KC doing an internship or something and her brother-in-law will be going up there soon, yet she still didn’t know that there was an IHOP in Tallahassee.

Another thing I noticed is that people are really hungering for something more. They want something bigger than themselves. They are searching and we must now more than ever be diving into the knowledge of God, into the heart of God, day in and day out so that we have something to offer. But it was really amazing to see the hunger of these students just in the way they spoke as well as that everyone I talked to and asked if there was anything I could pray with them about… everyone said yes and wanted prayer, so I was able to pray with lots of people. I know that God is going to use this to open doors and plant seeds.

Prophetic Conference starts tonight!
Corey Russell is coming in today and we will be getting the building setup for tonight. We are expecting 100-120 people tonight so we are really excited. We had to move the location from the IHOP building to Every Nation to accomodate the move. Kari’s team will be headlining tonight at 7pm and I’m really excited to hear Evan leading 2 songs. He is really stepping out and I think its great. Our team will be leading intercession tonight and worship tomorrow morning and I’m excited.

The Primary Issue…

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Evangelism, Knowledge of God

I’ve talked to several people this past week about the overwhelming goal of the western church for “getting people saved!” and “evangelism” as being the PRIMARY purpose of the church (aside from loving/knowing God of course which is sort of a “given” everyone should do that, you don’t really have to mention it).

I have nothing against evangelism of course, and I believe that it is EXTREMELY important in God’s plan and purpose, right up there at #2 in the count down (Love God, Love Your Neighbor). But I want to talk about the motivations that we have and that God has behind it.

So I really wanted to dive into this and get my hands dirty with it and see what I come up with. So here it goes. Feel free to disagree, agree, comment or what have you.

Let’s Gettem Saved!
God’s ultimate purpose does not end with salvation. But I see that as the primary communication of the western church, “let’s just gettem saved.” Yet the ultimacy of God’s purpose in our lives is fullness; the fullness of the dream in His heart for who He wants us to be, individually and corporately as a bride.

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