July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Ready for revival
Letters to the Editor
To the editor:
Recently a pastor friend told me his feeling about our efforts to see a revival in Jay County. He said that, as far as he was concerned, the days of revival were over.
No man lives beyond his vision. Do you have a vision for your church? Is there somebody in Jay County that believes we can experience a mighty move of God upon us all? If the Pastors don't want revival, then that's where we need to start praying. Pray for the pulpit. If we do God's work in God's way at God's time with God's power, we shall have God's blessing.
Mere preachers may help anybody and hurt nobody; but prophets will stir everybody and madden somebody. The preacher may go with the crowd but the prophet goes against it. A man freed, fired and filled with God will be unpatriotic because he speaks against his nation's sins; unkind because his tongue is a two-edged sword; unbalanced because the weight of preaching opinion is against him. The preacher will be heralded; the prophet hounded.
John the Baptist did well to evade prison for six months. He and Elijah would not last six weeks in the streets of Portland. They would be cast into prison or a mental home for judging sin and not muting their message.
When is the last time your pastor came into the pulpit fired up with a hot message from the throne? When is the last time your pastor knelt down at the altar or at his pulpit chair in prayer prior to preaching behind the sacred desk? When is the last time your pastor preached with tears about the lost in this county? When is the last time your pastor gave an altar call and invited people to pray? And when was the last time you actually prayed for your pastor and his wife? When was the last pay raise from the church board? They need encouraged too.
I want my people and friends praying for my family and me. I am far from perfect. My desire is to be more compassionate, more loving, more anointed, more caring. I believe revival is possible. It could start with me. It could start with you. It could start between the two churches that recently split. It could start in the 12 Methodist churches in Jay County or the Quaker Church.
Most of us know what the average preacher will say next. We pass out our church bulletins and call it "church." I recently told my daughter that what we are going through is not what church really is supposed to be. This is mere religion - a form of Godliness, without any power. However, we know the days of revival are not over. They may be for you, Pastor, if you have lost your vision. It won't be long until your little church will die. The thing you do that you call "church" is far from God's idea of church.
To see so many ministers in the Catholic Church admit their sin should cause us all to realize that even preachers are human. It's time for Protestant ministers to confess their sins, too, and really come clean with God. Revival is possible. Preachers repent. Turn from your wicked ways. Then your members will do the same.
Remember this: The greatest miracle of Pentecost was the transformation wrought in those waiting disciples. Their fire-baptism transformed them. The sign of Christianity is not a cross around the neck or high atop your church steeple, but holy fire in the hearts of sanctified preachers and believers.
Oh God, revive us again. Fill our hearts with love. May our souls be re-kindled with fire from above. Hallelujah. Thine the Glory. Let's have a revival!
Sincerely,
Pastor Phill Jellison
Gospel Lighthouse
Church, Portland[[In-content Ad]]
Recently a pastor friend told me his feeling about our efforts to see a revival in Jay County. He said that, as far as he was concerned, the days of revival were over.
No man lives beyond his vision. Do you have a vision for your church? Is there somebody in Jay County that believes we can experience a mighty move of God upon us all? If the Pastors don't want revival, then that's where we need to start praying. Pray for the pulpit. If we do God's work in God's way at God's time with God's power, we shall have God's blessing.
Mere preachers may help anybody and hurt nobody; but prophets will stir everybody and madden somebody. The preacher may go with the crowd but the prophet goes against it. A man freed, fired and filled with God will be unpatriotic because he speaks against his nation's sins; unkind because his tongue is a two-edged sword; unbalanced because the weight of preaching opinion is against him. The preacher will be heralded; the prophet hounded.
John the Baptist did well to evade prison for six months. He and Elijah would not last six weeks in the streets of Portland. They would be cast into prison or a mental home for judging sin and not muting their message.
When is the last time your pastor came into the pulpit fired up with a hot message from the throne? When is the last time your pastor knelt down at the altar or at his pulpit chair in prayer prior to preaching behind the sacred desk? When is the last time your pastor preached with tears about the lost in this county? When is the last time your pastor gave an altar call and invited people to pray? And when was the last time you actually prayed for your pastor and his wife? When was the last pay raise from the church board? They need encouraged too.
I want my people and friends praying for my family and me. I am far from perfect. My desire is to be more compassionate, more loving, more anointed, more caring. I believe revival is possible. It could start with me. It could start with you. It could start between the two churches that recently split. It could start in the 12 Methodist churches in Jay County or the Quaker Church.
Most of us know what the average preacher will say next. We pass out our church bulletins and call it "church." I recently told my daughter that what we are going through is not what church really is supposed to be. This is mere religion - a form of Godliness, without any power. However, we know the days of revival are not over. They may be for you, Pastor, if you have lost your vision. It won't be long until your little church will die. The thing you do that you call "church" is far from God's idea of church.
To see so many ministers in the Catholic Church admit their sin should cause us all to realize that even preachers are human. It's time for Protestant ministers to confess their sins, too, and really come clean with God. Revival is possible. Preachers repent. Turn from your wicked ways. Then your members will do the same.
Remember this: The greatest miracle of Pentecost was the transformation wrought in those waiting disciples. Their fire-baptism transformed them. The sign of Christianity is not a cross around the neck or high atop your church steeple, but holy fire in the hearts of sanctified preachers and believers.
Oh God, revive us again. Fill our hearts with love. May our souls be re-kindled with fire from above. Hallelujah. Thine the Glory. Let's have a revival!
Sincerely,
Pastor Phill Jellison
Gospel Lighthouse
Church, Portland[[In-content Ad]]
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