Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts one, eight. Hey, welcome to episode 96. I wanna take a moment and dedicate some time to laying out some thoughts about the Asbury Revival at this university. I just think it's remarkable. I haven't been there personally, but I've read a lot about it and I've watched a lot of videos and I've, I'd like to go, I just don't know, um, how they're deciding to kind of navigate the future days of this thing. So, uh, it'll be neat to see what they do and I'll stay tuned with that. But kind of getting into this here, I'll get into Act one eight in a, in a few moments, but I just wanna lay out some thoughts that I've been having.
Speaker 0 00:00:42 You know, I, as a younger guy, I've been around the kingdom, um, church culture for 30 some years now, a leader in that culture. So I've seen a few things, learned a lot of things, and, uh, I'm not one to chase these types of things down. I think it's awesome when God pours out and it's just refreshing. And I think that what marks this more than anything is humility, humble people, kindness. Uh, James Gal had said on Facebook today that he, he, God had promised him 30 years ago, he, he actually went there. I, I read a, a post he made about it. And he, he went there and said, uh, God promised him that he would see in his life a revival of kindness. And he just talked about the leaders and how kind they were. And just a remarkable move of what God's doing there.
Speaker 0 00:01:34 The, they're hungry. It's marked. This is a movement marked by hunger, you know, and I, I feel like that's the key. I mean, this can happen anywhere. It's, it's where two or three of us are gathered. It's, it's, and I love how this, it interrupts the busyness of our lives. It interrupts the business of our culture. I think on Valentine's Day, one of the guys, younger guys at, at Asbury was up there speaking and he was like, I'm so, I was supposed to spend a date with my girlfriend tonight, <laugh>, but, but here I am. And, and you know, they just broke into this 24 hour expression. And I'm really connected to the IHOP culture in Kansas City as well. And, you know, obviously that's a 24 hour nonstop, just devotion to the Lord for 22 years now, I believe. And, uh, it's that, that place really has a powerful impact on my life for many, many years.
Speaker 0 00:02:25 I go to Kansas City, two, three, sometimes four times in a year just to sit in the prayer room and, uh, have, uh, some good barbecue, get some good workouts in, sleep in, you know, enjoy a good cigar if that's, uh, on the agenda or whatever. But, uh, you know, I just want to share a little bit here. So, Asbury, the history is 1950. This happened, there was an outpouring. 1970, this happened. And then 2023, just really remarkable. So for 12 days now, this has been going on. Uh, you know, like I said, said, it's marked by humility. It's marked by hunger, the, the phrase ordinary people where has been used a lot. And, you know, I've watched some videos of like demonic activity as far as like people being delivered. I've seen just powerful testimonies, repentance, and just all around a lot of hunger for the things of God. And it is remarkable. A lot of people are traveling there. And I do get a little nervous about that sometimes, cuz I'm not saying God's not in it, or if you travel there, it doesn't mean it's less God or more God. It's just
Speaker 0 00:03:41 Be devoted where you are in your own backyards. Like how hungry are we in our own communities, in our own church gatherings? And I, I we need to challenge ourselves a little bit more there than just being so quick to, to head here or there. And I, and believe me, I'm, I want to go down there too, not just cuz I don't, I don't feel like it's a hyped up thing. I just want to go and just experience it, like, you know, everybody else that's going there. So I'm not criticizing, I just, let's just be as diligent in our own backyards to be humble, to be repentant,
Speaker 0 00:04:14 To be confessing, to be open and passionate about going after the heart of God in our own backyards. So why, why I love this whole thing is because I feel like, you know, when you study World War II in the, in the forties, thirties, forties, and you study, um, you, and you may not like that I'm bringing this up, but there was, uh, this thing called Hitler's youth. And Hitler had really, was kind of a genius at brainwashing the next generation. And I feel as a kingdom minded leader for the last 30 years watching America. Not that I'm perfect, not that I've arrived anywhere on this journey with you as well. So I understand the struggles and I understand the temptations of this culture, but I just look at the political massacre that's happening to a generation political correctness, these agendas out there with, uh, iron teeth that are literally destroying the lives of young people.
Speaker 0 00:05:25 Gender confusion and, and the pressure on our culture that, you know, one of the main movements out there claims it's a movement of love and tolerance, but it, it, it will not tolerate you if you disagree with it. So how can it claim tolerance? And that's the thing that I fear we've lost, and I'm probably not sharing anything new on this episode, but just we, we, we've just lost the ability to disagree with things and it, it, in a lot of ways, it feels like can become, it can become hopeless, right? Like you're up against, you know, the brainwashing of a generation. It's happening in our school districts. It's, it's happening all around us and it's very, um, it's very hard to battle. It's hard to change the tides. There are ways to do it. Um, we, we have to vote these politicians out. We have to get engaged in our school boards and vote these people out. So yeah, that's, uh, there's a lot for us to actually engage and do. But anyway, let me get right to the point here. So Hitler's youth, compared to our current war on our youth and the propaganda that goes against our culture, I just think it is so cool. It actually brought me to tears the other day. I think it's so cool that God, it's like a kiss on this generation that he chose Asbury College and now it's on multiple college campuses, just this hungry move of God.
Speaker 0 00:07:06 He chose youth to lead it. I thought I, you know, I wrote an article and I'm not saying there's anything bad, I don't even know the names. I mean, they were, they were so, they guarded everybody involved, but they were just saying that some um, well-known church leaders had reached out to them, people, you know, famous people or whatever. They're well known and said, we would lend our services to you. And their response was, you can come to the revival and hopefully get a good seat and enjoy what God's doing. But this thing in Asbury would be led by a group of teen or a, a group of young college students. And I just thought that was, uh, was pretty awesome. Just let it be led by ordinary people. Not that if you're famous, you're bad. Cuz God puts that on people, then that's okay too, as long as you know, they're all doing it the right reasons.
Speaker 0 00:07:55 That's between them and God. But nonetheless, the youth were leading this and are leading this. I saw countless young men standing for the things of God. It was so encouraging to see the strength and the beauty and the humility, and even the power and their preaching, bringing a very humble, powerful gospel of like, let's get this whole thing reentered on Christ, recentered on the cross, recentered on humility and actually transforming our lives. That's what I've seen in the post and the videos I've watched, and I've tuned in for many hours during their live stream. So there it is. I am, I am so blessed to see what God's doing. It want makes me want more of God in my own life, family in my own backyard, for the grace ops culture as it launches across this country. That we be marked by the same humble, kind, hunger for the things of God, to honor the Lord, to be men of affection,
Speaker 0 00:09:12 Walking in his liberty, engaging the spiritual disciplines of war and being men of valor in our daily lives. And I was so encouraged to see that on different social media feeds and the live stream and just all the young men, young women. But I saw these young men leading and it was such a great blessing. And that brought me to Acts one, eight, that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you'll for what? The, the, the sign that you actually have received, the power of the Holy Spirit that you've been filled with the Holy Spirit is that you're actually a witness. You're a bold witness of resurrection. You know, Jerusalem, your backyard, Judea, your region, right? And Samaria, your, your nation, you know, and then to the ends of the earth, all the way up to the globe, no matter where you go, that we'd be filled with the, the fire and the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can be bold witnesses.
Speaker 0 00:10:16 And I see that in Asbury. I saw that this is, that, that strong marking of hunger and that strong marking of being bold, fiery witnesses. I just loved it. It was just this, it was like burning torches, burning hearts, burning for the things of God. It was so powerful, is so powerful. And it's only going to continue. Come on. It's only going to continue. God is going to do powerful things. One of my friends, he posted on Facebook, one of these memes and he said, it said, uh, Satan held his worship service on the Grammys and it lasted. You know, people worship Satan for five minutes and then God's like, I'll show you <laugh>, I'll show, you know, God made his move and now it's 12 days nonstop. And I thought that was a cool view of it. But in the backdrop of Propag propaganda and the backdrop of the struggle, the war on our youth, and here it is, and the backdrop of ungodliness. Uh, and I'm not blaming the culture outside of the church for the way they are. That's just the way the world is. But boy, the church is in need of great revival and redemption and renewal.
Speaker 0 00:11:29 And may the remnant church continue to increase in advance in these days and hours. That's what grace Ops is doing. Or engaging, encouraging the remnant, helping the remnant men across this nation stand strong. Be encouraged to be a brotherhood of men, trained by grace to actually take action, to build community and to be the solution in this fallen, this fallen world. So it's that simple. Have you received the power of the Holy Spirit today? Are you being a bold witness of resurrection? Until next time, live upright.
