Although it was not intended, the release of this first blog post falls on the anniversary of the date that Kathy and I were installed as co-pastors at Front Street Fellowship. Five years ago today, God completely changed the direction we thought our lives were headed, and set us on this incredible journey.
The Father has continuously blessed us, changed us, transformed us in so many ways. We have also been privileged to watch a dramatic transformation occur in every member of Front Street Fellowship. We frequently comment that we should be taking “before & after” photographs of each member, but there really isn’t any after. The transformation is continuous. We can take no credit for these changes. The work is entirely God’s. But we do repeatedly thank Him for allowing us the privilege of being used in the process.
We have learned so many things over the past five years:
Father has taught us the difference between standing in our authority, and standing in the authority of our call. The first seeks to control people, the second empowers them.
He has taught us the importance of unity, relationship, and love in the Body of Christ. Beyond the knowledge of these concepts the practical application of these essential elements of our walk with God are largely missing in the church today.
The Father has shown us the difference between conducting a worship service, and experiencing a celebration of His presence. To expect His presence in our corporate gathering, but then control or restrict the manifestation of that presence to fit into our traditional structure is a display of our arrogance and pride, not worship.
Many of these topics will undoubtedly become the focus of future blog posts, but the topic of this blog post is “REVELATION”, and it’s importance for every believer to grow and be transformed into the image of Christ.
Front Street Fellowship is a prophetic community, and we encourage and empower all of our members to develop and cultivate the ability to hear God speak to them. He speaks to us in so many ways. We were created to hear His voice. Without the ability to hear God’s voice, we can’t truly walk in daily submission to His will for us, and additionally, we deny ourselves a level of intimacy in our relationship with Him that He clearly desires for us to experience.
One day, I was at the store buying grocery supplies for the church. As I turned into the coffee aisle I saw a sign advertising a brand of coffee with the caption, “A Revelation In Every Cup”. God spoke to me through that sign, and this is what I learned:
Be Blessed,
Pastor Rick
The Father has continuously blessed us, changed us, transformed us in so many ways. We have also been privileged to watch a dramatic transformation occur in every member of Front Street Fellowship. We frequently comment that we should be taking “before & after” photographs of each member, but there really isn’t any after. The transformation is continuous. We can take no credit for these changes. The work is entirely God’s. But we do repeatedly thank Him for allowing us the privilege of being used in the process.
We have learned so many things over the past five years:
Father has taught us the difference between standing in our authority, and standing in the authority of our call. The first seeks to control people, the second empowers them.
He has taught us the importance of unity, relationship, and love in the Body of Christ. Beyond the knowledge of these concepts the practical application of these essential elements of our walk with God are largely missing in the church today.
The Father has shown us the difference between conducting a worship service, and experiencing a celebration of His presence. To expect His presence in our corporate gathering, but then control or restrict the manifestation of that presence to fit into our traditional structure is a display of our arrogance and pride, not worship.
Many of these topics will undoubtedly become the focus of future blog posts, but the topic of this blog post is “REVELATION”, and it’s importance for every believer to grow and be transformed into the image of Christ.
Front Street Fellowship is a prophetic community, and we encourage and empower all of our members to develop and cultivate the ability to hear God speak to them. He speaks to us in so many ways. We were created to hear His voice. Without the ability to hear God’s voice, we can’t truly walk in daily submission to His will for us, and additionally, we deny ourselves a level of intimacy in our relationship with Him that He clearly desires for us to experience.
One day, I was at the store buying grocery supplies for the church. As I turned into the coffee aisle I saw a sign advertising a brand of coffee with the caption, “A Revelation In Every Cup”. God spoke to me through that sign, and this is what I learned:
- Every time God speaks to us it is a revelation. Every revelation is about His nature, His character, His attributes . . . He constantly speaks to us to reveal Himself to us because His objective is to transform us into His image.
- Every revelation from God is something new. It is something we did not know before. If this were not so, it wouldn’t be called a “revelation”, it would be called a “reminder”. God is infinite, and we will never reach a point at which we know all there is to know about Him. So God is in the business of continuously showing us new things. Growth and transformation involve change, and change means something is new.
- All revelation (because it is new) creates conflict with old thoughts, patterns, and traditions (those things we thought we knew). This is what the Pharisees continually faced with the revelatory teachings of Jesus. Can you imagine the conflict that Nicodemus faced (John 3) when Jesus told him he must be born “AGAIN” to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? His culture and traditions taught him that his first birth (physical birth) as a Jew, a son of Abraham, was what gave him an inheritance in God’s Kingdom. The conflict does not necessarily mean that what we knew was wrong. There may simply be another facet to a topic, maybe an expansion of our understanding, or a deeper implication of something we had known before. But look closely, There will be conflict, which brings me to my last point.
- All revelation leads us to an action. More precisely, it leads us to a choice. STEP IN, or STEP OUT. We see this point clearly illustrated in the book of Acts. On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), thousands of people witnessed signs and wonders, and two great questions came forth. The first question was, “What does this mean?” As Peter began to explain, as he began to unfold spiritual truth for them, they received revelation of who God really is. There was conflict. They were pierced in their hearts. Then came the second question, “What must we do?” These are the ones who “stepped in”. Be assured there were those who did not.
Be Blessed,
Pastor Rick
