I am not sure if you have heard all the going's on in Lakeland, FL. where there is an apparent move of God with thousands of people flocking to experience it. I cannot believe how polarized people have become regarding this happening, some strongly supporting it as an authentic move of God, while others are strongly denouncing it, saying it is not only a mixture, it is actually demonic. People on both sides of the fence whom I greatly admire and respect. So what are we to do? Well I think Paul Johansson did a profound job this past weekend in Massena addressing the Florida spectacle without actually addressing it by name. He masterfully laid out that the purpose of God is always for our Restoration, which invariably necesitates a Visitation from Him, but the Visitation is not the purpose, it is to lead us to Restoration through our response of Obedience to His voice during the Visitation. The Visitation softens our heart in order to respond to God's Spirit, but short of Obedience to His voice, we will only have an experience (as good as that may be) but there will be no lasting change or 'fruit', as Jesus puts it, in our lives.
I would like to share with you on Friday night at least two thoughts Paul Johansson shared with some of the core leaders this past Saturday in light of the present 'stir' in Florida. The first is based on "What holds you up also holds you down," and the second is in regards to how professional sailors are able to catch even contrary winds and utilize them (called tacking) to help propel them in the direction they were already headed.
So, why do I say all that....I say all that because I am sure part of our discussion will be around how are we to recognize an authentic move of God, and how can we discern a false one, since the Bible is so clear that in the last days there will be many "lieing signs and wonders" whose author is not God, but actually Satan himself. Scarey thought, but very real.
After this discussion, I would like to lay out some objectives for our YA Group, and where we are headed.
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3 comments:
I can't wait! The two points that you'll be talking about (especially "What holds you up also holds you down")sounds SO interesting!
..I think that I can make it ;-)
sounds very interesting. i have to talk to greg to see if he can or already did change the time of our small group meeting. i hope i can be there.
Ok, ya'll are making me wish I were a "Young" Adult again. :p What a great topic. My parents are living in Sarasota, FL right now and not five minutes before reading this post, we were talking about her visiting the Lakeland church soon. I sent her a link to read what you had to say about this topic.
Very interesting discussion! God bless you all as you find more in Him. Shel:)
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