On Friday, January 3rd and Saturday, January 4th a combined ministry team from the Fort Smith, Arkansas river valley and the International House of Prayer in Kansas City will be ministering in Bowling Green, Missouri.  Morning Star Fellowship will be our host.  We would like to thank Pastor Gary Green for his obvious heart to believers in the entire Bowling Green region continually equipped for more effective ministry.  The gatherings are open for anyone who would like to attend.

Friday night we will start with fiery worship as we, like King David, long to encounter the affections of the Lord, and ask Him to come and establish a dwelling place for His presence in the midst of His people.  As the Lord allows, our team will minister through the bold teaching of Holy Scripture, and using whatever giftings the Lord graces us to use that will strengthen and equip the believers present.  

After a time of ministry, we will then engage in fervent prayer using an intercessory worship structure that the Lord has given us.  During this time of prayer and worship, key intercessors will help lead the entire room in Biblically-based prayers, and invite anyone else who wants to participate to come and join in (either on the microphone, or just from their seats).  We encourage the use of “the Apostolic Prayers”, since they are Holy Spirit inspired prayers for all believers, found directly in scripture.  Who better to be in agreement with as we pray?

As each person prays through their verses, the psalmist singers will sing, echo, and develop the Scriptures being prayed.  This helps engage hearts, minds, and souls, like you may have never experienced before.

That service begins at 6pm.

On Saturday morning at 9am, we will open with a simplified worship time, and then minister in whatever way the Lord has asked us, or the local leadership has requested from us.  When believers come together, it should always be about one (or both) of two things:  equipping people, or ministering to the Lord.  We plan on doing both.

So join us as we start off the New Year.  There’s no better way to get 2009 going… I assure you.

Manifest Blessings!

Aaron & Robin Jackson
http://www.likedaviddid.com

Tuesday, December 16th, anyone wishing to be involved in the leadership team for the Second Saturday gatherings is welcome to come to Heritage Church at 6pm for a leadership meeting.

We will be in the Welcome Center.

This is the third Saturday, so our meeting with be at Heritage Church in Van Buren, Arkansas.

6pm to 9pm

What is the significance of “the spirit and power of Elijah”, and why do many present-day believers feel like it will be released again?  Wasn’t John the Baptist the fulfillment of this prophecy found in Malachi 4?  The angel that visited Zacharias (John’s dad) even quote that exact passage.

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord - and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5-6

“Your prayers have been heard… you will have a son… he will be great in the sight of the Lord… filled with the Holy Spirit… he will go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children’… to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:13-17

First, it is important to note the Holy Spirit inspired words of Malachi, “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”  The phrase, “the day of the Lord,” and especially when it is combined with words like great, terrible, dreadful, and awesome, usually point clearly to the second coming of the Messiah (books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Zephaniah, Acts, 2 Peter, etc). This brings up an important revelation that Lord gave me (that should have been really obvious, but it just recently hit me with its weight): the Jews expectation of a warrior-messiah, coming to overthrow tyranical secular rule and establish His righteous government on the earth was not mistaken.  The Old Testament prophecies clearly describe this coming of the Lord, and so does the book of Revelations.  However, there are a lot of prophecies describing the coming of the Lord that the world has already experienced, when He came as the sacrificial lamb (e.g. Isaiah 53).  They just had “the comings” out of order.

His next coming will be great… and awesome… and terrible… and dreadful.

The Malachi prophecy points to BOTH comings of Jesus.  The methods have not changed.  Their is nothing new under the sun, and there is little need for cultural relevance.  The problems of fatherlessness are the same from generation to generation, and compound over time.

We need Abba Father to send this spirit and this power to the fathers and mothers on the earth today.  We need a generation of John the Baptists… of burning and shining lamps who will remove themselves from secular pursuits and call a region, a nation, a world back to their heavenly Father.

A post entitled “Spirit of Elijah - What?” will be coming soon, to describe what a generation of “Johns” should look like.