A Kingly People

 One of the great titles of Jesus Christ is " King of Kings  and Lord of Lords ".

It doesn't JUST speak about his relationship to the kings and lords of this world but ALSO speaks of his relationship to his sons! You see WE are called a CHOSEN generation! A CHOSEN OFFSPRING!

BELOVED ****NOW**** ARE  WE THE SONS OF GOD!

A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD. This is our DUE! It is what we ARE! Not because of any inherent greatness in us outside of God but rather because LIKE FATHER - LIKE SON! He is our father therefore just by virtue of THAT fact we have become a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD ! LIKE BEGETS LIKE!

 One of the great areas I believe we in the twenty first century need Gods wisdom and development in is in that very area. LORD TEACH US TO BE A KINGLY PEOPLE! TEACH US TO BE A PRIESTLY PEOPLE!

Have you ever noticed when some one from a dirt poor background becomes rich the ludicrous ways they have of demonstrating their riches?

They rush out and begin to get the most guady and gouache  things imagineable! Gold Cadillacs, Gold Toilets, Diamond Heeled Shoes, Just what the GENUINELY rich call "VULGAR DISPLAYS OF WEALTH".

 Those things just scream I AM RICH IN FUNDS BUT STILL A HILLBILLY AT HEART! (I remember the great Minnie Pearl with her hat with the price tag still left on it so everyone could see how much it cost!)

 The person who has new found wealth in the bank but still feels poverty in the heart has this need to buy up all kinds of trinkets to prove he is no longer poor and also has the need to tell everyone the PRICE of each of those trinkets! "See this bathtub here? It  cost me twenty thousand dollars!" ..."This Suit I'm wearing cost 2,700 dollars".... "These shoes are Prada shoes, they cost 3,000." on and on they go all the while demonstrating that they are FAR from being wealthy. (The reality is that TRULY wealthy people are usually seen driving volkswagens and wearing blue jeans and tennis shoes  and NEVER mention their net worth.... they don't HAVE to! )

 Most People if you ask them what it means to be a king would be a little hard pressed to give the true answer!

 "Well it means you get to wear a crown , tell everyone what to do, live in a palace, have lots of servants and eat caviar for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Oh! And have lots and Lots and  LOTS of MONEY!!!!!!"

 But is that REALLY what Kingship is all about ? Crowns , Control, Cash and Caviar?"

REALLY?

I will leave you with that question for a while ! And while I do..... ponder OUR great King who gave us HIS example of TRUE Kingship!  

 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. Luke 9:58

Poder! Maravilloso Poder!!!!!

This is one of my favourite Apostolic Songs of all time in ANY language! The brother who recreated this for youtube did an out of this world job! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2pOli5Yuag

I AM THE VINE ***YOU*** ARE THE BRANCHES

 One of my favourite songs is an old old song called "BLESSED QUIETNESS". It was a song widely sung at the  very beginning of the last centuries Holy Ghost revival. One of the verses says ...

 "LIKE THE RAIN THAT FALLS FROM HEAVEN

LIKE THE SUNSHINE FROM THE SKY

SO THE HOLY GHOST IS GIVEN

COMING ON US FROM ON HIGH!"

To me, that is one of the most beautiful thoughts expressed in song, the FREE outpouring of Gods spirit on anyone who will just open up and receive it! It's GIVEN!

 And yet while salvation is FREE Jesus DOES have a requirement for his people.

  Jesus was very clear as to what God requires  of his children. FRUITFULLNESS. 

A RETURN ON HIS INVESTMENT!

*******SOULS*******

 So many of the issues that we place great importance on oddly enough JESUS never addressed them ....NOT ONCE in the Gospels! BUT WHAT HE DID ADDRESS OVER AND OVER was the RETURN that God expects on his INVESTMENT! Trees that bear no fruit and so are uprooted, Talents that are buried and so taken away, Branches  that bear no grapes and so are pruned off and burned .....over and over he lets us know that the failure to bring him a return on his investment is a transgression he will NOT overlook!

 YIKES

But BUT BUTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!! It doesn't have to be that way!

The Apostles asked Jesus WHAT MUST WE DO THAT WE MAY WORK THE WORKS OF GOD?

He didn't say "Fast three times a week, Pray three hours a day, Give it all in the offerring..." No the SECRET to WORKING THE WORKS OF GOD is simply BELIEVING ON HIM WHO GOD HATH SENT!

JOHN CAPTER 6

 28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do , that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent .

 To bring forth FRUIT to God Jesus tells us all we have to do is simply BELIEVE ON HIM, ABIDE IN HIM, and allow his WORD  to abide in US!

Sometimes I look at my  life as a son of God and think GOOD GRAVY! HOW????!!!!!!  HOW GOD??????????????????

 I CAN'T!

I mean I CAN'T sing, I CAN'T  preach, I CAN'T play the piano guitar or flugel horn,  I'm fat I'm Ugly, I'm bald, I'm losing both my hearing and my sight and MAYBE my mind.....When I went to the Middle East I knew I CAN'T speak Arabic When I went to Germany I knew I CAN'T speak German,  The list of I CAN'TS is MILES LONG believe me! AND YET

and yet........

GOD CAN!!!!!!!!

As I sit here this morning typing this post my mind looks back and I realize LORD look at what you have done through this totally inept last choice for the team guy ! You have taken such a LOSER and  you have brought forth FRUIT on Every Continent inhabitted by man! Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America

Egyptians, Jews, Syrians, Armenians, Rhodesians, Nigerians, Sierra Leonians, Asians, Chaldeans, Kurds, Assyrians, Germans, Bulgarians, Italians, British, Sudanese, Muslims,  Palestinians, Jordanians, Lebanese, Sri Lankans,  Americans, on and on and on God has actually allowed ME to baptize them and pray them through to the Holy Ghost! HOW?????????????????

 I think the answer is simple

GOD HAS CHOSEN THE FOOLISH THINGS OF THIS WORLD TO CONFOUND THE WISE!

 It never ceases to amaze me how the branch that *I* am in the family of God keeps growing in the most incredible ways!

I am sure that NO ONE who saw that hippy kid praying at an old wooden altar back in Fresno , Ca in 1972 even thought he would last a WEEK! But over the YEARS I have followed God over so much of the world AMAZED at the results of just telling people about JESUS! Two years ago God was very good to lead me to a Trinitarian Preacher from Nigeria living in Germany, he was so hungry for a walk with God that pleased him and when he heard the FULL GOSPEL of Repentance Baptism in Jesus Name and the Holy Ghost Baptism he was IMMEDIATE in his response to WALK IN THE LIGHT. Here he is in this picture to the right of our wonderful brother Brian Shell during his last revival there in Germany. His name is Brother Joseph Ayodele.

  Since hearing the FULL GOSPEL Brother Joseph Ayodele has gone FULL STEAM AHEAD for Jesus and the Act's 2:38 Message!

 Here are just a few pictures of his last crusade in Nigeria to bring TRUTH to these precious people! And OH how they are receiving it!

NOW there are ENTIRE CHURCHES just waiting for Brothe Joseph Ayodeles return so that THEY can hear the Jesus Name Message and OBEY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 We have already purchased LAND put up a two bathrooms and are laying a foundation for our first building in Nigeria! We have already sent down Two Vans and a BUS and are raising funds to send yet ANOTHER van for Evangelization in Nigeria.

 MY HOW THE VINE WILL GROW IF YOU WILL JUST LET IT!!!

 The whole POINT of this post is NOT "PRAISE JOE CONROY"  But rather 

PRAISE JESUS OF NAZARETH WHO CAN TAKE NUTHIN' AND USE IT FOR HIS GLORY!  If I can bring forth fruit to God WHAT CAN ****YOU*** DO! I know ME! You're BETTER than me! I am sure of it! No doubt in my mind! I challenge you, young old rich poor fat skinny ugly handsome short tall LET GOD USE YOU TO BEAR WITNESS OF HIS GREAT SALVATION! THE RESULTS WILL

ASTOUND

YOU!

Not An Original Thought In Mah Head!

The other day I was talking with one of the greatest thinkers in the Pentecostal Movement of Today, a great man of God ,one who like myself,  is not the least bit controversial, Bro. Steve Pixler. As per  usual the very CONCEPTS he shared with me have filled me with so many thoughts and ideas and UNDERSTANDINGS that I just have to dumb it all down to MY level and see if I can't share some of them with you.........

 I NEVER WOULD HAVE ANSWERED THIS QUESTION THE RIGHT WAY but here goes........

Q.)  WHAT IS THE FRUIT OF THE APPLE TREE SUPPOSED TO BE?

 Of course *I* being the thickheaded man that I tend to be would have blurted out
" APPLES!" (I mean EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT!!!!)

 But that is NOT the fruit of the apple tree, not REALLY you see the FRUIT of the apple tree was never intended by God to be just APPLES but rather ..... (wait for it...wait for it.......)

 MORE APPLE TREES!!!!!!!!

 (I mean THE CONCEPT JUST BLOWS ME AWAY!)

I have watched again and again as when someone starts to show the potential to be an APPLE TREE rather than just another APPLE IN THE BASKET the tendency of some  is to whip out the "AXE" and do every thing in their power to CHOP IT DOWN! (Which leads me to THIS question.... ARE THEY CRAZY? Shades of Athaliah!)

 I am so incredibly encouraged to see a shift away from focussing on CHURCH GROWTH to CHURCH HEALTH! A shift away from HOW MANY APPLES DO I HAVE IN MY BASKET to HOW MANY APPLE ****TREES**** HAVE I PRODUCED????

  Because the REALITY IS that HEALTHY CHURCHES ARE FRUITFUL CHURCHES!   The Miracle of the Two Fish and Five Loaves of bread was GREAT But I wonder ...... what was better? To eat the Fish and the Bread HOT OFF THE GRILL or to have to dine on the REMNANTS three days later?

 Keep the cold fish and stale bread..... keep the apples slowly rotting in their baskets.... I'm not interested in just  producing apples,  Lord, GIVE ME APPLE TREES!!!!!!!!

Would You Like Fries With That??????????

Life is FILLED with Pleasant Surprises! One of mine came just the night before I left Germany. As per usual I was running around like a chicken with my HAID cut off when from the laundry room downstairs came the MOST UNUSUAL SOUND imagineable from my Washing Machine.

 Now this machine has seen LOTS and LOTS of duty, and it was already on its last leg but WHAT ON EARTH could be wrong with it NOW I thought???????

 For all of a sudden echoing through the entire house came a sound that can ONLY be described as sounding EXACTLY like a MAJOR armload full of frozen french fries dropped INSTANTLY into a vat of boiling oil!  SNAPPING CRACKLING AND ***POPPING!*** I ran down the stairs like a lunatic thinking that ( this shows you how dumb I truly must be) that SOMEHOW the ELECTRICITY flowing into the Machine had made some bizarre contact with the WATER in the machine and was literally CRACKLING away inside of it! I gingerly unplugged it .... nope .... no water on the floor....no electric shock.... well "LET'S PLUG HER IN AND SEE IF THAT *FIXED* IT"

 NOPE IT DID NOT! DEEP FRYER SOUNDS IMMEDIATELY (What CAN that be?????) Needless to say Old Bertha (well I didn't REALLY name my washing machine) is DEAD.

 When I get home I plan to have a proper funeral for her, her epitaph being "SHE SERVED ME WELL" If there are any churches out there that desire their missionaries to have CLEAN clothes... feel free to help me to get another one! Washing Machine that is. NOT a deep fryer!

YEE HAW!

WELL IT'SOFFICIAL!!!! I AM NOW AN HONORARY TEXAN!

 Several weeks ago I found out that in order to get my German Drivers License I would have to spend close to Five Thousand Dollars (!) and several months in driving school UNLESS I HAD A TEXAS LICENSE! All I would have had to do in THAT case was to waltz into the German Drivers Bureau and for Fifty Dollars just EXCHANGE it for a German one! SO Being MUCH smarter than the average bear I hopped on a plane for Big D Little A Double L A S and the very next day switched my California Drivers License for a Texas Drivers License! THE PERMANENT LICENSE CAME IN THE MAIL YESTERDAY!

 What a way to cap the festivities of a Wednesday Night Thanksgiving Dinner at Brother Steve Pixlers house! I mean NOW it is OFFICIAL JOE CONROY IS A TEXAN!  NOW when I say "BOY HOWDY" It's gonna really MEAN somethin'!

 IN HONOUR of my new Texanianship I post this AUDIO ONLY clip of one of my favourite singers and one of my daily prayer requests singing I'M AN OLD COW HAND !

ENJOY! Brother Joseph Conroy
YEEEEEE HAW!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym_Awd9uVsA&feature=related

Who'd A THUNK It??????

 This morning I was looking back over the statistics of this blog. In just the few weeks I have had it up the readership just astounds me. Not just in the VOLUME but in the various nations of the earth that we are drawing readers FROM!

The list of countries includes The US, Canada, Germany, Russia, Mexico, India, Hong Kong, Australia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Spain, France, Austria, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Brazil ,The Netherlands,  South Africa, Sweden, Denmark, Norway,  The UK, Costa Rica, Croatia, Switzerland, The Ukraine, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Jordan, Finland, Indonesia just absolutely AMAZING! And all that without any other promotion than going on Twitter every once and a while with a "Hey! Check out my new Post!"

 Can you IMAGINE the possibilities?

I CAN!!!!!!!!

 This has to be one of the if not THE greatest means of communication since they invented WRITING! To disseminate an idea internationally IMMEDIATELY! Well...as I said before

WHO'D A THUNK IT????!!!!!!