Pastor Ray shared…
Yesterday we were talking about Evan Roberts and some things that took place with him as far as revival, the glory of God, prayer, crying. And I wanted to follow up maybe this week and go through some different revivals and things that have taken place. This morning, I read some other things about William Seymour, and of course, he was a huge part of the Azuza Street revival. Personally he ministered the baptism of the Holy Ghost for a huge amount of time and he never had it. He didn’t speak in other tongues but he knew that the Word said we could. So he ministered based on the Word, he ministered it to others first before he was baptized.
The following excerpt was taken from Fire That Could Jump the Ocean by Tom Scarrella:
“A revival almost always begins among the laity. The ecclesiastical leaders seldom welcome reformation. History repeats itself. The present leaders are too comfortably situated as a rule to desire innovation that might require sacrifice on their part. And God’s fire only falls on sacrifice. An empty altar receives no fire!” – Frank Bartlemanhe
Kicked Out of Church for the Fire
William Seymour arrived in southern California by train and after being confined to his small traveling quarters for days, the hunger within him was like a caged tiger. He couldn’t wait to shout as loud as he could about the revelations of God’s Word. It was his first meeting as the pastor and he preached from Acts 2:1–4. He boldly preached with fire about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and about some of the manifestations of an infilling, including speaking in tongues. The meeting ended and Seymour left the building, but much to his amazement when he returned to the church the next day the door had been padlocked. Clearly he was not welcomed back. Seymour had just relocated his entire family, life, and ministry across the country and yet his mind and heart were not devastated; after all he was kicked out for the sake of holy fire.
What Seymour experienced that day was not and is not uncommon. Revival history tells us that as far back as Paul the Apostle in the Acts of the early Church, was getting kicked out, stoned, and even banished from town for preaching the truth and fire. And still Paul went on preaching and setting people free with power and the Anointing; not to mention writing two-thirds of the entire New Testament. The great revivalist, Charles Wesley, was kicked out of his own father’s church when he taught about revival. As Wesley exited the church he walked straight out to the graveyard just outside the church building and stood atop his father’s gravestone preaching loudly until all the church people came outside to hear him preach with holy fire.
This may have set Seymour back a bit, but it certainly didn’t stop him. Just as Parham had done during his visit to Zion, Illinois, he took the meetings and the fire into someone’s home. Richard and Ruth Asberry opened their home to Seymour, to the hungry people, and most importantly to the fire. Their home was the famous 214 North Bonnie Brae Street.
In the Asberry home gathered a group of people from many different nationalities. Black, white, Hispanic, it didn’t matter. They all met together there. At that time Seymour had been staying in the home of Mr. Edward Lee and it was Mr. Lee who would be the first to break out aloud speaking in other tongues on the night of April 9, 1906. After Mr. Lee spoke in tongues, it began to happen in a domino effect and one by one they each exploded into other tongues. Once again, a fire that started as a little spark would soon ignite into a blazing inferno.
Soon other strange manifestations of the Spirit began to take place among the group. Some would suddenly fall onto the floor seemingly struck by the power of God. One of his neighbors had joined the meetings; Jennie Evan Moore, who supernaturally began to play the piano, which was something she did not have the ability to do before she experienced the outpouring of the Spirit. As this continuous outflow of the Spirit had occurred, many hundreds of people began to congregate to this unlikely place until there were so many gathered into the streets that Seymour would have to perch himself up on the porch of the Bonnie Brae house to preach about the fire.
It was three days into this incredible outpouring when Seymour’s prayer had been answered and he too was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues for the first time.
Seymour, it seemed had been kicked out of favor with leaders of the church and kicked into favor with almighty God! When they locked him out of the church he was about to be locked into revival history as the man who against all odds, burned with the fire of God.
More Signs and Wonders
There was no lack in the realm of the supernatural at Azusa Street. Men and woman were regularly experiencing supernatural visions and dreams and it wasn’t limited to the members of Apostolic Faith Mission. Visitors who had traveled from all over the world frequently testified of experiencing the same phenomenon. Spiritual dreams and visions were so common that they were happening even among people who were yet unsaved, pointing them in the direction of Christ Jesus. Some would have open visions of Jesus, and others of angels.
“And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with [holy fear, saying, ‘we have seen strange things today” (Luke 5:26).
Trances were often experienced and described as having happened after people had fallen to the floor by the power of the Spirit. They would lay there motionless, sometimes for hours. Some even experienced trances as they stood during the service, in a frozen like state for long durations of time without blinking or appearing to sweat. Trances, dreams, and visions may be strange to you, and they may be uncommon in your church or ministry, but these supernatural happenings were the promise that the prophet Joel prophesied and then took place in Acts 2 when Pentecost had come. Supernatural signs point us to Jesus and to the Kingdom of God while the heavenly wonders make us wonder upon the greatness and vastness of our Heavenly Father that has come to dwell among us, mere men and women.
Susie and I have seen this many, many times in our ministry over the years. Instead of trying to reason out what we don’t understand, like the Pharisees do, we simply believe that if the Bible says we should have it, then we should have it and if we don’t have it we need to get it because it’s good and it’s godly. Many people who’ve attended our meetings have had experiences with supernatural dreams, visions and even trances. Some have been very young children. I remember when an eight year old girl in Southern Texas went into a spiritual trance for over four hours. When she came to herself she couldn’t stop speaking in another tongue. She shared later with her parents and us how she was with Jesus and together they ran through a large and beautiful field of flowers playing “tag-you’re-it.” It makes me weep when I think back on how she described Him, so gentle, so personal, so hers.
One of the most well-known supernatural wonders of the Azusa Street revival were the eyewitness testimonies of the flames of fire coming from the rooftop of the Apostolic Faith Mission church building. In fact that phenomenon happened so regularly that it’s recorded that the Los Angeles fire department was dispatched there 33 times to put out the fire. But each time the firefighters would arrive they found no natural fire burning, not even the odor of smoke.
Pastor Ray commented…
Are we on fire? Do we have the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit working in us in these days? Are we filled to overflowing when we are out, wherever we are? Are we firelighters? We have been made to be, we are created to be lighters of fire for others when we come in contact with them. We should make a difference in other people’s lives. It’s one thing when we are gathered here together. It’s another thing when we are not in the Chapel. That’s one thing I have always felt here at Living Word. Sandy and I have been here for over 30 years. Because of what we did all throughout the years, we had a closer relationship with Pastor Mac and Pastor Lynne than some. The thing that we have always said is they were the same at home. They were the same out ministering somewhere else. They were always lifting up His name and always real about it. That’s how we need to be for sure. Isn’t that right? All the time, 24/7, the same, on fire Holy Ghost people.
It’s not something we can just muster up. It’s not something we can just decide to do or not to do. We understand that it’s your anointing of your precious Holy Spirit here, now in the Chapel, that changes us.
Prayed…
We welcome Your precious presence
We don’t want to stay the same – status quo
Asking for that change You have already sent for us
Opening our hearts to You today
Thank You, Father, for the manifestation of Your Spirit through us
The increase of Your precious Spirit as we yield to You
Turning aside from other ways
Speaking to our spirits to yield more
Holy Spirit, we welcome more of You
Thank You, Lord
Yesterday and today – today is a good day!
All the way, all the way
We cooperate with Your presence
It’s Your presence that goes before us
Thank You, Jesus, that You have made a way
And ways are being made for us individually and corporately
Thank You, Father! thank You, Lord!
In advance, we thank You for changes in this ministry
We have asked by faith and receive by faith for that change
To bring us out and bring us through
Oh, for the new by Your Spirit
Thank You, Father, for new fire and more fire
You set us on fire!
We stir ourselves up knowing that You are filling us up
That Your fire is real
Your fire is for now – we have been baptized in the Holy Ghost and fire!
Supernatural fire, greater fire
More and more and more and more
Adjustments by the Spirit; changes by the Spirit
Moving out away from some other things and moving out into more of Your fire
Thank You, Father, you brought us the fire
Fire, desire, direction, understanding, wisdom from heaven
Those ways, those new steps have already been lined up
Thank you for the direction
For heaven’s mandates, heaven’s ways
Up, up, up we go!
Out we move!
Higher, more out further than ever before
Signs, wonderful happenings
Unheard of things, unseen situations
Not seen up until these days
It is the Spirit of seeing and knowing
So we shake out of those ways
We shake out into the new!
Ha, ha, ha, ha!
Thank You Lord!
We go in and we recover all!
We are already in, we are already in
Just working it out, just walking it out
What about those recoveries? What about those things that needed to be taken back? What about those areas and arenas and places or positions where we’ve been called as part of the body to go in and take it out, to go in and take it back, to go through and receive it, all of it that has already been sent! Oh, my! So we enter in to the greater. We enter into the prosperity.
Pastor Ray sang by the Spirit…
♪ I hear the sound – we hear the new
Oh, we enter in, it’s a sound
It’s a new sound
It’s a new song of victory
And there are openings, new steps
So we go further in
We take hold with a strong grip
We will not let go but we will bring it in
Heaven’s signs, heaven’s ways, heaven’s plans
It’s new – we have not been into this place before
But we are entering in; by faith we are taking our place
We are walking out in God’s pace, in God’s ways
In God’s plans, in these day
For these are new days, new times, new ideas, new restorations
Doors of opportunities opening to the body
So we walk on in
We enter on in, oh we go through
Venture out into uncharted new territories
It’s looking good, it’s looking better
Things are looking up and turning in the right way
Changes have begun to take place
We will not let go but we will continue
Open ourselves up for more of You
We receive of the new
Holding no restrictions
No, no, no we will not hold Your plans back
Calling forth the things You plan
Power that has already been sent
There is recovery – things that have been lost
Some things will be turned upside down
There is a shift
We are staying out ahead, on the attack
Seeing things magnifying right before our eyes
New places and the finances too
Increase upon increase – more and more and more
Hallelujah
Thank You, Lord
For the unknown things, for the things we have not seen yet
For the changes, for the turns
For the days and the weeks and the months to come
For joy of the Lord is our strength
There is strength in You
Thank You Lord, thank You, Lord
As we walk we watch
We are aware of what’s around us
Many things we have not seen yet but we will as we walk
By the power of the Spirit
We overcome by the blood
It was finished when He said “It is finished”
We keep winning as we flow
Over or around or though we go together as the Church ♪
Let’s lift up our voices and pray in the Holy Ghost about the new. I want us to get out just a little further than we thought we could go or the way we go. And just believe God to line up, rearrange, change, bring about the shifts that need to take place when they need to, pray out into the new where the Church has never been there before. Just pray for a little while in tongues.
Continued praying…
We burn with resources
We burn with abundance
This is far beyond what we can ask or think
According to the power that works within us
You work within us! You work within us!
You do the work – we receive!
We apply the blood
The blood that cries out “It’s finished!”
With joy, with peace, with comfort
Taking territory that belongs to us already
Church, rise up; take the territory!
It is yours and it is yours to take!
The deepest conviction of the goodness of God overflows out of the Church!
The Church – Contagious! Contagious!
With love abounding!
It’s the kind of love that we are known for!
The love that takes! The love that takes! The love that takes!
On behalf of the lost – we set the captives free today
Whom the Son sets free is free indeed!
Expanding, increasing, the residual income of love abounding!
The compound interest abounding, abounding!
Increasing territory
The Church abides, abides, abides
Everyplace!
Now! Now! Take it Now! Take it Now!
Pastor Ray shared…
I had the impression that by faith as we move out in time, at some point we will be standing in the prayers that we are praying right now this morning. Individually we will be able to look back and see 2017. Many of the prayers prayed then, you will be standing and walking in then.
The rearranging that needs to be made will be made. That we will stand in a different place obviously than what we stand in today because every day we move from one degree of glory to another degree to another. And many times as we sit, stand, kneel or whatever and pray, we don’t know the things, the bigness, the manifestation that will take place because of the declarations and the prayers that are prayed. Oh, Father, thank You. There is no ending to the things that we pray, and the operations of Your Spirit in us and then through us.
So by faith, we receive these changes. We believe to be where we’ve been praying here in these times and this year. We’ll be standing in the years to come in prayers that were prayed back here in 2017. Hallelujah. Thank You for it.
Continued Praying…
Worthy of all of our praise and honor
Thank You, Lord, for Your beautiful presence
That You didn’t leave us alone but sent Your precious Holy Spirit
Thank You for the presence of Your Spirit in our families
Things that need to be rearranged – where Your peace and Your glory must come
We believe for it
Thank You for Your ministry here in our Church
Our ministry will do what it has been called to do
Pleading the blood of Jesus over our pastors
Thank You for revelation knowledge, insight, understanding about what needs to be done
The steps that need to be taken
As a company of believers we cover all the aspect of it by the blood
Whatever they set their hands unto, it shall prosper
Their eyes are open to see, their ears are open to hear
We are going someplace to happen
Being where we need to be – right on time
Covering every one that calls this their home with the blood of Jesus
Declaring no weapon formed against them will prosper
There is safety here through Your precious holy blood
For overcoming power and authority in that precious blood
We overcome because You overcame
Thank You for it, Lord
That we can actually look back and read over some things that men and women in years past did that enabled them to do what they did in their lives through You
That we might be lifted, encourage to do what You have called us to do
We take our position, our place
We know it’s Your power and grace
And by faith we shall fulfill our part of the race – equipped from heaven
Under the anointing of the precious Holy Spirit
We give You all of the glory, honor and praise in Jesus’ name. Amen
Thank you for coming.
