Just to give you a scope of the impact we were able to have with the pastor’s seminar, one of the 200+ pastors represented at the seminar pastors a church of 5,000, another 8,000. I met one pastor who has 5 large churches, 2 orphanages and a hospital in a remote area of Haiti. I’m not sure how many churches and people were represented on that Pastors seminar, but if they grasp the message of the Kingdom and their responsibility to equip their people in power, then Haiti will be rocked with the Gospel!
Teaching at the Pastor's Seminar
MONDAY
The following day (Monday) we would finish our Pastors seminar and minister at an 8,000 member church later that afternoon, at least, that was the “plan”. In Haiti, everything planned was a suggestion, everything suggested was quickly forgotten.
We spoke again to the pastors out of Ephesians 4 and encouraged them that they were given to the Body of Christ to equip the SAINTS for the work of Ministry. The Saints were to do the work of ministry and the work of ministry was supernatural! This was revolutionary to them. I honestly don’t think they grasped the meat of the message until we compared their job as leaders to being a coach of a soccer team and the members of their congregation to players on the team! The coach has experience, the coach understands the fundamentals, but the team scores the goals! They had only heard of the one man show, God’s man of faith and power for the hour type thing, another unfortunate export from the church in the West.
We then showed them how Jesus equipped His disciples to do what He did in Luke 9-11 (Thanks Steve!). The disciples were sent out to do the stuff, did it and came back revealing their humanity and sinfulness. The Lord’s response? He sends out 70 others to do the stuff, make Satan fall like lightning and shake the nation. It wasn’t until the next Chapter in Luke 11 that they asked Jesus how to pray. The point? You have 82 people out there doing the works of ministry with little character and no prayer life. Their shortcomings in character weren’t truly revealed until they were used in ministry! The Lord’s emphasis was on setting others free, not perfecting the saints before they can be used of God. This isn’t to devalue personal holiness (by which no man will see the Lord!) or character, but rather to emphasize how the Lord trained His disciples.
This totally blew them away. Bringing it back to the example of a soccer team and their coach I told them that the way to make a player improve was to put him in the game! After playing a bit, then bring him to the sidelines and correct the errors in his game, sending him back out, pruned and corrected to bear more fruit! You could tell. They got it. No longer were they the one man show. They were now commissioned and equipped to equip their churches to get out there in there communities and bring the Kingdom.
Look out devil!
A Lone Man Sitting in the Wreckage
More Devastation
DIVINE APPOINTMENT
We were then whisked off to do a church service at an 8,000 member church. This church’s building was severely damaged during the quake and had been renting a large tent in the yard of a nearby church. Apparently the last couple of days before we had come, the power of God was falling in their meetings. The church they were renting the tent from did not like this and canceled the arrangement. They notified the pastor just before we arrived that they were no longer able to hold services in the tent. They even sent the police to make sure we didn’t meet there. So we had a service time, willing people, but no where to meet!
The pastor was apologetic, but it was out of his hands. He asked us if we would come and pray for a young lady that was living in his church. She was totally demon possessed and literally shaking with the power of the devil. Again, her possession and torment was the result of a witch doctor’s curse. I believe it was her father who was the Voodoo priest. He had cursed her and for several days she had been totally possessed and unable to sleep. She believed in the Lord but Pastor Paul said she wasn’t really walking with the Lord. We can pretend and put up pretenses with our neighbors and friends/family, but the demons know who walks with God and who doesn’t.
The Pastor’s request was simple “Come and cast out the demon.”
You bet.
We had her call on the name of the Lord and ask Jesus to deliver her. We bound the devil and began to pray. We rebuked the demon and commanded it to come out of her. After several minutes of absolutely nothing happening, the Holy Spirit reminded me of this passage:
“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn…” Isaiah 61:1-2
Ministering Freedom to the Bound
The Word says that we are to proclaim freedom for those who are bound. As far as I was concerned, our job was done. We had prayed, we had bound and we had cast out… it was done! So I asked the translator standing there “How do you say, you are free?” he replied, “U Liberte”. I grabbed her chin, made her look me in the eyes and simply said, “U Liberte!” A huge grin broke across her face and she began to weep. She looked to Heaven and began to thank the Lord. She started jumping up and down. We prayed for the Holy Spirit to fill her and she now began to tremble violently under the presence of God! She could no longer stand under the weight of God’s presence, so we set her gently on a sofa behind her. She was happy, she was joyful and she was free!
Pastor Paul looked at me and said, “This is why we came tonight. Who knows what impact this young lady will have now that she is delivered?”
The next day was the start of the crusade. Thousands were expected. This was going to be awesome!
To be continued…
Teaching at the Pastor's SeminarMONDAY
The following day (Monday) we would finish our Pastors seminar and minister at an 8,000 member church later that afternoon, at least, that was the “plan”. In Haiti, everything planned was a suggestion, everything suggested was quickly forgotten.
We spoke again to the pastors out of Ephesians 4 and encouraged them that they were given to the Body of Christ to equip the SAINTS for the work of Ministry. The Saints were to do the work of ministry and the work of ministry was supernatural! This was revolutionary to them. I honestly don’t think they grasped the meat of the message until we compared their job as leaders to being a coach of a soccer team and the members of their congregation to players on the team! The coach has experience, the coach understands the fundamentals, but the team scores the goals! They had only heard of the one man show, God’s man of faith and power for the hour type thing, another unfortunate export from the church in the West.
We then showed them how Jesus equipped His disciples to do what He did in Luke 9-11 (Thanks Steve!). The disciples were sent out to do the stuff, did it and came back revealing their humanity and sinfulness. The Lord’s response? He sends out 70 others to do the stuff, make Satan fall like lightning and shake the nation. It wasn’t until the next Chapter in Luke 11 that they asked Jesus how to pray. The point? You have 82 people out there doing the works of ministry with little character and no prayer life. Their shortcomings in character weren’t truly revealed until they were used in ministry! The Lord’s emphasis was on setting others free, not perfecting the saints before they can be used of God. This isn’t to devalue personal holiness (by which no man will see the Lord!) or character, but rather to emphasize how the Lord trained His disciples.
This totally blew them away. Bringing it back to the example of a soccer team and their coach I told them that the way to make a player improve was to put him in the game! After playing a bit, then bring him to the sidelines and correct the errors in his game, sending him back out, pruned and corrected to bear more fruit! You could tell. They got it. No longer were they the one man show. They were now commissioned and equipped to equip their churches to get out there in there communities and bring the Kingdom.
Look out devil!
A Lone Man Sitting in the Wreckage
More DevastationDIVINE APPOINTMENT
We were then whisked off to do a church service at an 8,000 member church. This church’s building was severely damaged during the quake and had been renting a large tent in the yard of a nearby church. Apparently the last couple of days before we had come, the power of God was falling in their meetings. The church they were renting the tent from did not like this and canceled the arrangement. They notified the pastor just before we arrived that they were no longer able to hold services in the tent. They even sent the police to make sure we didn’t meet there. So we had a service time, willing people, but no where to meet!
The pastor was apologetic, but it was out of his hands. He asked us if we would come and pray for a young lady that was living in his church. She was totally demon possessed and literally shaking with the power of the devil. Again, her possession and torment was the result of a witch doctor’s curse. I believe it was her father who was the Voodoo priest. He had cursed her and for several days she had been totally possessed and unable to sleep. She believed in the Lord but Pastor Paul said she wasn’t really walking with the Lord. We can pretend and put up pretenses with our neighbors and friends/family, but the demons know who walks with God and who doesn’t.
The Pastor’s request was simple “Come and cast out the demon.”
You bet.
We had her call on the name of the Lord and ask Jesus to deliver her. We bound the devil and began to pray. We rebuked the demon and commanded it to come out of her. After several minutes of absolutely nothing happening, the Holy Spirit reminded me of this passage:
“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn…” Isaiah 61:1-2
Ministering Freedom to the BoundThe Word says that we are to proclaim freedom for those who are bound. As far as I was concerned, our job was done. We had prayed, we had bound and we had cast out… it was done! So I asked the translator standing there “How do you say, you are free?” he replied, “U Liberte”. I grabbed her chin, made her look me in the eyes and simply said, “U Liberte!” A huge grin broke across her face and she began to weep. She looked to Heaven and began to thank the Lord. She started jumping up and down. We prayed for the Holy Spirit to fill her and she now began to tremble violently under the presence of God! She could no longer stand under the weight of God’s presence, so we set her gently on a sofa behind her. She was happy, she was joyful and she was free!
Pastor Paul looked at me and said, “This is why we came tonight. Who knows what impact this young lady will have now that she is delivered?”
The next day was the start of the crusade. Thousands were expected. This was going to be awesome!
To be continued…
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