Where are they???????

I have just returned from a weekend trip from NYC, where I had the pleasure and the privaledge to attend Times Square Church and listen to true men of God preach under the unction and direction of the Holy Spirit....its an awesome experience to come away from church feeling as if I have really gone, and recieved a true convicting and repentance filled message, not unlike many others that you will find on this site. But brethren, it grieves me to think that this site contains well over 35+ preachers that have shown to be true vessels for Him...and yet well over 90%(or darn close) have gone home to rest.....BUT WHERE ARE THE SPIRIT FILLED PREACHERS OF THIS GENERATION??? surely there must be more than the living few that I have seen today...but where are they hiding ???? If we know we must share with the others on this site, as well as take the time to encourage and support each and everyone of them to continue in there selfless walks, to preach the Word Of the LOrd the way it was meant to be preached. I for one am vexed to the very bone of my spirit about the outright sick pasty palor that Christianity has taken on today....I am tired of the "Feel Good" messages that are promoted and slobered over today as if it were true mana from heaven. If it was'nt for this site and its resources as well as a minial few others I WOULD STARVE!!!!! I crave the Truth, I have a sincere burden for Gods Truth, and if your anything like me you have come to realize that there is a major spiritual battle going on in the Kingdom today to lead astray as many believers as possible, "THERE IS A LION IN THE STREETS!!!" But please note this, I am not promoting devision in the body, I am not promoting a militant attitude towards anyone....but We Need The Truth!!! so for one I am planning to take my cause to the streets so to speak....I am going to every single church in my community and seeking out those preachers that have a sincere desire for Him, ones that have no private agenda, ones that are willing to suffer for the cause of Christ and I will support them and tooth and nail - and for each one I will start on my knees--and end on my knees before Him, and I encourage you all to do the same....we need to know who these men(and Women ) of God are!!! and we need to know now , to be able to set each and every one before the Throne of Grace....brothers and Sisters there is power in prayer...it is the most dangerous weapon we have against the enemy!!! I implore you to join me in this effort....In Him Scott

One of the most challenging messages of Ravenhill is “Weeping between the Porch and the Altar”, in which he pleads for an awakening among pastors and preachers, in which he provokes hearts to open up for and receive a portion of the agony of the Lord.Preachers are men who must spend time alone with God. Most preachers are lonely men without possibility for deeper fellowship. Time, or rather the absence of time, haunts them – too many obligations put too much pressure. All of them are ordinary men in extraordinary conditions. This is a cry which needs to find an answer in our hearts: “I need to go and see my brothers”. “I need to go, bringing a basket of support”. “I owe them adherence”. Loyalty creates and gives birth to a good man. But a broken spirit dries up the bones.Prayer is loyalty. Prayer creates opportunities. Prayer opens the way for brethren to meet.I am prepared to move along the same path as Brother Scott to look for the pastors, the pastors, the fathers missing in my local environment.Prayer is loyalty.Lars W

I think there are quite a few who feel the way you/we do. This is something to think about- there are ARE men and women across the world and across the USA who are not Pastors/Preachers by vocation but in the spirits and in their beings- God is raising up a people who are so passionate for Him. It is just not the "usual" way of getting the message across (via preacher). The people in the churches are not wanting to hear the truth and the pastors are convinced that to "save" souls they must be "seeker sensative". It is getting to the time in this world when we can honestly look at the Church and say it is lukewarm and people think they are "rich and in need of nothing". And the pastors are not telling them any different. The sheep follow where the shepherd leads. People either need to be directly following THE SHEPHERD or we need to seriously pray for the shepherds who are in this for a vocation- that they will get a tremendous revelation of the truth and seriousness of the times we are living in.I believe that the real preachers of God's truth are not necessarily in the pulpits anymore. I don't know how God will do this but He's planning a way to get His messages out one way or another.Something to think about...In His love, Chanin

moreofHim wrote:I believe that the real preachers of God's truth are not necessarily in the pulpits anymore. I don't know how God will do this but He's planning a way to get His messages out one way or another.Something to think about...I believe that the real preachers of God's truth will be those who truly believe the world of God and demonstrate by every action. I believe this is what Ravenhill meant when he said that "the world is not lookintg for a new definition of Christianity, it's looking for a new demonstration." It's time we decide whether we believe the words of Jesus or not. It's time to decide whether we really love the Lord our God with all our heart or not. Eternity must burn in our hearts so that the world can see that we are truly not of this world. If I was a sinner in the world I would have to conclude that the world must have something better since the church is trying to be so much like the world. We need a greater revalation of God. We must see him as Isaiah did (chapter 6). For when we see God this way we will realize that everything in this world is trivial and we begin to serve him as he intended for us to serve him. So much burning in my heart, so few words to express.PJ

So much burning in my heart, so few words to expressAmen! "Thirty seconds of seeing is worth thirty years of studying and listening to teachers. Five words of revelation are worth more than ten thousand words gathered from flesh-and-blood." --- Chip BrogdenIn Him, Chanin

If I was a sinner in the world I would have to conclude that the world must have something better since the church is trying to be so much like the world. We need a greater revalation of God. We must see him as Isaiah did (chapter 6). For when we see God this way we will realize that everything in this world is trivial and we begin to serve him as he intended for us to serve him. I couldn't agree with this more. I think that is part of the problem today...too many people can NOT tell the difference between a Christian and someone of the world. Just today I talked with a guy who mentioned he was in a church on Sunday...then he proceeded to use profanity in his next few sentences. I talked to a young lady last week who was upset and every other word out of her mouth was foul, she smokes and drinks...yet she is the Jr. High Sunday School teacher at her church. Is it no wonder people aren't drawn to Christianity!!! I want to see everyone one us make a change in how people perceive those who are called Christians. We should proudly proclaim that we ARE Jesus Freaks and are not of this world (without becoming self-righteous.) Just my two cents.

I am going to every single church in my community and seeking out those preachers that have a sincere desire for Him, ones that have no private agenda, ones that are willing to suffer for the cause of Christ and I will support them and tooth and nail - and for each one I will start on my knees--and end on my knees before Him, and I encourage you all to do the same....we need to know who these men(and Women ) of God are!!! and we need to know now , to be able to set each and every one before the Throne of Grace....brothers and Sisters there is power in prayer...it is the most dangerous weapon we have against the enemy!!! I implore you to join me in this effort....In Him Scott Scott,God bless you brother.I hesitated in responding right away. Will I take up this challenge? Will any of us? Is that not the essence of this: I am going to every single church in my community....I will be honest, I don't know if I would be able to go physically to every church in my community.My line of work, family, etc. That may sound like a cop out, but I will commit to the following:1. I will pray for you, for the Lord to give you wisdom, to keep this fire burning, to speak the truth in love and that your heart may shine through as you share it with these pastors. That you may be undaunted and undeterred.2. I will pray for the hearts of these pastors to be open, it may well be that some do have this desire, but are just overwhelemed with the day to day operations of being shepherds.3.I am going to hedge here a bit, I have a few creative ideas about going about this but I know my own tendecies and am frankly tired of making rash promises to God with all these lofty minded intentions and then find weeks later that I have failed to live up to them. So I will at least continue to seek the Lord's leading.Know this much. I will pray.Scott, I applaud your efforts and want to encourage you. I believe you sum up the heart of many of us here. May the Lord kindle this fire in us all.Mike

pray.......

In regards to Wanted: Preachers with Passion & Power by Alan Cairns This is a great message!Alan Cairns quoting Ian Paisely:"Sermonettes breed Christianettes, little sermons , little Christians"

hi HannahI find it strange indeed that a dead subject like ”Original sin” attracts some 900 viewing occasions, but a living work like visiting a brother falls flat as to comments.There may be more of a connection to these threads than is first apparent. In the last hundred years the emphasis on the work of the Spirit has centred more and more on the Spirit's work in powerful demonstration, miracles and the charismatic movement.People like Duncan Campbell, Leonard Ravenhill, Paris Reidhead come from a very different background. They were believers who emphasised the work of the Spirit in the believer to produce holiness of character.To the former 'revival' is expressed in terms of miraculous power, for the latter 'revival' is expressed in terms of miraculous lives. For someone who began in the first camp and transferred to the second, my conviction is that that there can be no revival without the presence of the Spirit and there can be no presence of the Spirit without conviction of Sin. When He is come He will convict the world of Sin....The classic revivals so loved of the readers of these pages have always been times of acute consciousness of sin and a strong crying to a Saviour. In many ways it is simply New Testament christianity made alive by the fresh consciousness of the presence of the Holy Spirit. You will have noticed that the main thing we know about the Spirit is that He is Holy.Even so we pray, Come Holy Spirit.

To expound on this a bit:I find it strange indeed that a dead subject like ”Original sin” attracts some 900 viewing occasions, but a living work like visiting a brother falls flat as to comments.Two things I noticed;Shortly after Hannah's posting these comments, the reply's started coming in.Secondly, after reading Philologo's:There may be more of a connection to these threads than is first apparentIt caused me to scan the main forum board this morning and come to this conclusion.Variety.And I praise God for it.What a community of believers. All walk's of life, layman and scholar.A place to share, learn, be encouarged, challenged.For myself, it boil's down to a heart issue.I believe that was the essence of what Jesus was driving at when He walked this earth, changing hearts back to the way they were originally intended and proving it by giving away His all so that we too could be restored.That heart beats here.

your quote: "Alan Cairns quoting Ian Paisely:"Sermonettes breed Christianettes, little sermons , little Christians"and Iain Paisley was quoting Donald Gray Barnhouse. 1895-1960"Too many ministers have not learned that sermonettes by preacherettes make Christianettes."

Ahh...Thanks for the clarification.The original is better...

First post... had to read through... many questions and many answers. Isn't it clear that Jesus tells us that He alone is the Teacher, Chief, Executor, Guide, and through the Holy Spirit He ministers first to you... then He leads us to be ministered to, and share with others; by ministering to them as He leads us to?He teaches us as we seek Him alone, yet He sends us out among the wolves and there we will be lead to those who have been given Authority by Him to minister and to share... and also being witness to those who are being decieved. I would question anyone who brings me a word and calls it meat and it is not... yet I too will give Thanks to our Lord for sending meat in season... which He has brought through others.Not every man who steps up behind a pulpit is ready to steal your soul and take you down... not all places of worship are the Synogogue of Satan... if we had not a teacher, why listen to what any of the prophets were inspired to write? Those who have been anointed to minister... in many ways do we minister... it is by the Holy Spirit's leading... we will be taught by Jesus, if He is in them... know them by their fruit. productofgrace

sdb wrote:WHERE ARE THE SPIRIT FILLED PREACHERS OF THIS GENERATION???They're so rare and shunned by such a large portion of "Christendom" that not only is it hard to find them, most people don't even know to look for them.I sure didn't.I was definately Christian with an earnest (and essentially selfless) desire to serve God, but I think I was starving for lack of real preaching. The groups I was involved in had sincerity and devotion to Christ, and God used them in teaching me the rudiments of the Christian life and obediance... but He brought me to a point where, if I wanted further discipleship, if I wanted an example of where I needed to grow, I wasn't going to find it in those groups.For example, if I wanted another Brother work with me in handing out tracts, witnessing, or preaching, God would have had to provide someone new or raise one of the current people quite a ways up to consistent, serious evangelism (some of them do attend to their evangelical duty, but they haven't been taught to preach or even witness biblically).This is certainly not to say I had risen above them all or anything like that, but evangelically they just weren't being led. I felt like a new recruit (converted about 2 and a half years ago) just finishing basic training and finding out that, if I wanted the army to enter the battle, I was going to have to lead the charge.Thank God it didn't come to that, I would have made a terrible mess of things.I don't think one of the campus ministries had a truly Spirit-filled preacher, not one.God did have one real Spirit-filled preacher visit campus, though. The place got stirred up whenever he preached. He spoke in one of the central areas of campus, calling sin sin, and confronting people with the Truth. He preached Holiness, and thus the people that got most angry with him were professing "Christians" that were living in sin.I became acquainted with Brother John Duncan over a year ago, and a few months ago he emailed asking me to pray about helping him minister to the campus. I responded almost immediately. God's done a lot through John's ministry. Slowly but surely, the fallow ground is getting turned up by the Truth. Brother John and Sister Ellen have been tremendous encouragements to me, and being in this ministry makes all my previous time (Christian and otherwise) seem boring and unproductive in comparison (God certainly worked during them, though).I've met a number of other men and women of God over the past few months. Brother Matt Bourgault is visiting and preaching with us, and I heard him preach on revival last night. Preach, not just teach. He quoted some of Ravenhill's reasons why revival tarries, and he really let us have it in general. It's not a matter of beating the congregation over the head with exhortation, it's a matter of doing so Biblically :)I only had about a half hour to talk with people while John and them were standing for God at the free-speech area, but I saw two people from the church Matt had preached at the previous night (and it was probably 45 minutes away).If you're looking for Spirit-filled preachers, Holiness Pentacostal churches might be a good place to look, though even that movement is suffering from third-fourth-fifth generation decay.Also, John pointed something out last night: God has never revived a movement that started in revival. As far as I know, this is true. It's almost always one or a few people, not particularly connected with any large religious organization, being used by God.This post is long enough... if you'd like, you can visit John's website at www.gospeljohn.com .God be with you all,-Keith