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Giving of our finances is an act of worship. First, I want to thank all of you who are so faithful in your giving. It truly is amazing how the Lord has provided for Grace House and its vision. Many times, we have had visitors come and ask us how they can give. As you know, we have the offering boxes on the wall by both rear doors with envelopes and we usually pray over the offering in the service. Let's begin to add to the way we receive our offerings.
At least for a while, in addition to the offering boxes at the rear of the worship center, let's place two offering baskets at the front on the altar area. Let's let everyone who would like to do so come anytime during the worship to bring their offering to either the boxes on the wall in the back or to the baskets on the altar at the front. As you give, with a prayer in your heart, give thanks to God and offer back to Him a portion of what He has blessed you with. This, of course, is not to be done in any way to be seen of men, but this may help some of us associate our giving with being an act of worship instead of a commitment we have made. Certainly, both are important, and we need both understandings in our hearts as we give. So do as you feel led. You may also simply continue to do as you have before or begin placing your offering in one of the two places as we worship. I feel this is the time to bring more attention to the importance of giving as an act of worship. The main thing is the posture of our heart before the Lord. Our giving has increased. God is blessing us. I just want to be sensitive to any way we can be more focused on having our hearts positioned toward the Lord. Thank you again for your faithfulness in your giving.
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We had an awesome service last Sunday as well as this past Wednesday night. If you were present, then the picture to the left makes sense to you. Thank you for your willingness to step into the prophetic acts that sometimes come forth when the Holy Spirit gives such directions. It makes a difference. The Lord is reminding us of the power of our unity in Him and the atmosphere of glory that is released when we are in the place of unity before Him willing to obey and move forth to see His Kingdom come and His will be done.
Something powerful happened as we marched in cadence and repeated the following together:
AWAKE, AWAKE, O SLEEPER
HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD AWAKE, AWAKE, O SLEEPER IT'S YOUR TIME TO COME FORTH
ARISE!
ARISE! ARISE!
A DREAM
At the end of the service, a dear lady came forward and shared with me about a dream she had the night before. The dream was about her being called to run in the race for the Lord. She then went into a house. The dream ended with her in a room with people who were asleep who would not wake up. She felt, and I agree, that her dream and the decree we made in the service were a word from the Lord.
BOBBY CONNER WORD Then on Tuesday, I had several people who sent me a word that Bobby Conner had just released through the Elijah List. Here is part of that word: "God could have permitted any generation in history to be alive during these decisive days, however He chose us! We are truly blessed to have the opportunity to be alive. We are on Divine Assignment! Signs of the end times are unfolding about us daily (see Matthew 24). Prepare to behold the intervention of God (Isaiah 64:1-2)! Now is the time to seek the Lord with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:12-13 Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. In our day of secular skepticism, it is sad to see many today asking the same question posed in 2 Kings 3:11: "But Jehoshaphat said, 'Is there no prophet of the Lord here by whom we may inquire of the Lord?' One of the king of Israel's servants answered, 'Elisha son of Shaphat, who served Elijah, is here.'"
"Is there not a prophet in the land that we may inquire of him?" Many are posing the same question today! The answer is a resounding yes! The true prophets of God must arise and take their place. Sounding a true and trusted trumpet call awakening the warriors and calling for the army of God to arise (see Joel 2:1-3)." Again, this word was in line with what we stepped into in last Sunday's service. So I firmly believe, we were a part of helping release something in our region that will begin to awaken people to arise and step into what God is doing. There are many across our region (both believers and unbelievers) who are being held by fear from taking the step into the calling of the Holy Spirit. Let's continue to intercede together for them to awaken. Here is a Facebook post I sent out on Monday about the service last Sunday:
TESTIMONY:
Yesterday (Reference to last Sunday) was WoWsome! During the worship, people came to the altar for ministry and lives were touched. One young lady received an major breakthrough by God's love. We entered into a prophetic moment where the entire congregation marched in place in cadence....left. left. left, right left! as the army of God. Decrees were made over our region. God is stirring so many people right now out of their slumber into a place of rising up into destiny. The musicians entered into this prophetic act, and you could sense something happening as this continued on for some time. The drums and bass grew in intensity; the guitarists began prophesying through their instruments. You could hear a shofar blowing in the room. Then one of our leaders came forth and Mikki and I were called to stand together at the front. The people began to come and give us money. It was so humbling and moving. Over $1800 was given to us as a love offering. What amazing loving people! Before we left, two people came to know Christ in salvation, prophetic words were released, spiritual gifts flowed and healing testimonies were shared and teaching came forth on manifesting the kingdom of God in our lives. Mikki and I came home and spread the money out and prayed over the coins, the dollars, the fives, the tens, the twenties, the hundreds, and the checks....thanking God for each one and asking Him to bless each person who gave and to multiply it over and over again in their lives. We realize that this was another of God's tokens to us in this season. I just want to thank the Lord for such a powerful day and such a great atmosphere of love. He is so awesome! I feel so strongly the Lord calling us to honor Him in all things. To give Him thanks in all things so that our "God awareness" will increase. HE IS!
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KINGDOM PLEASURES: Sermon Series
Tomorrow morning, I plan to continue with Pt. 5 of Kingdom Pleasures (unless led otherwise). We will identify a very powerful core value of the Kingdom. Think of it this way.....if Kingdom living is the gunpowder, then this core value is the match. Come and bring a friend. As we do better at being the Kingdom, then we will experience more seeing the Kingdom.
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I know all of you may not be Facebook users, so I thought I would share some other testimonies I have shared this week. I have been posting testimonies regularly to encourage others to believe. There is in every testimony the seed for you to see the same thing happening in your life. Every week now I am getting private messages from people requesting prayer for healing. This has become another outlet of ministry and healing.
TESTIMONY:
Last night a precious couple who serve as missionaries were sharing with me that they went to the dentist with one of their children. The child was in need of some immediate attention. They asked the dentist what the charges would be. He finally told them that the lady at the desk would let them know. The work was finished and though the cost was $1000.00, the lady at the desk informed
them that there was no charge. Now understand this....they had no insurance, the dentist had never met them and did not know they were missionaries, neither did they ask for any kind of discount. As the couple shared, they expressed their thanks to God for His blessing and a dentist who was moved to cover all the costs. This is a testimony to the sensitivity of a man working as a dentist in our area who obviously felt impressed to do this good deed and to the goodness of God who moved upon his heart. May Father greatly bless this man and his business.
TESTIMONY:
I love the way the Lord confirms his direction in our lives. I recently witnessed a prophetic word being released to a dear lady. It was a word that encouraged and gave some direction for her and it confirmed what she had been sensing from the Lord. The person giving the word, stopped and shared, "I see a big bowl and a big commercial type mixer like you would mix up cake batter with." The lady shared, "I am a baker and I bake cakes all day long everyday." This was so cool, especially since this was the first time the two of them had ever met. It helped the lady know for sure that something supernatural was taking place. It was one of those neat God moments when both people knew the Lord was loving on someone. Yes, there is still prophetic ministry today because Jesus still loves people and desires to communicate with them as much today as when he walked the earth. He moves through his Spirit to edify, comfort, and direct.
TESTIMONY: A businessman approached me and began sharing with me how his life has recently been changed through encountering God and having his destiny awakened. He shared that after a worship service in which God's presence deeply touched him, he went home and was unable to sleep all night due to the Lord dealing with Him and filling him full. He is now sharing the love of God with his employees
and friends and bringing them with him. I stood amazed as I saw his countenance radiating the joy of Christ and hearing his words so filled with passion and love for Christ and others. I was deeply moved by his passion to see others come to know Christ and experience his powerful presence daily in their lives. This man is allowing the Lord to use him to create a business environment saturated with Christ's love. Lord stir all our hearts more deeply to do the same!
TESTIMONY:
Yesterday I witnessed something so cool. There were two brothers in the Lord carrying on a conversation when they were approached by another man who had walked across the street to where they were. The man asked them if they knew where he could find help. He was leaving to go to work. The house he rented was having problems with the electrical panel and the power was off. He needed a night in the motel nearby for his wife and children. He did not have sufficient cash to pay for the room. I saw the Lord give one of the brothers a word of knowledge about pain in a certain part of the man's head and he placed his hand on the exact spot. The man confirmed that it had been hurting him badly for over a week. The brother prayed for him and he was instantly healed. The man who was healed had a shocked look on his face and said. I have taken all kinds of medications and have been to the doctor this past week and the pain never left, but now it is gone. Then the other brother said, "Your wife is having problems with her lower back and hip and the Lord is touching her now too." The man's wife was not even present. The man said, 'You could not have known that. She had a wreck 14 years ago and that is here continuing problem." The two brothers in the Lord told the man they would pay for his motel and talked to him about Jesus. Before the man left he wanted to know about church and church service times because he was bringing his family to the next service. This all took place in about five minutes. As I witnessed this, I thought....This is God's love shared with a hurting person and the Kingdom of God was manifesting in power and love. I remind you that the Kingdom of God is within YOU!
TESTIMONY: Yesterday I received a text from a man in Illinois. It was a picture of the beautiful baby boy that was just born to him and his wife. The text read, "Guess what I'm doing? Holding the boy your wife prophetically declared about 4 years ago." If you know Mikki, she just doesn't do such things lightly, but four years ago while praying with this couple who was unable to conceive, she prophesied that they would indeed be given a son. Afterwards she had one of those "I can't believe I just said that" kind of moment. Now he is here and what joy there is in this family who has waited so long. God is good! TESTIMONY:
A husband and wife shared with us an awesome testimony of healing. He (the husband) had been suffering for several months with an immunity disease. His strength was gone and his body was weak and battling pain. One night about three weeks ago, he had a dream in which he was told to read the Book of James. It was a couple of days later he actually remembered the dream and shared it with his wife. He read the Book of James and when he got to chapter five where it said, "If any among you are sick, let him call for the Elders of the church to pray.....and anoint him with oil......." So he came to a Wednesday night service and asked for our Elders to pray for him. He sensed the presence of the Lord touching him. The next morning, he was hit with pain again very badly. He remembered the dream, the Scripture and the prayer he had received and confessed, "I am healed in Jesus name." The pain left. Sunday they affirmed again that since that moment, he has gained his strength, the pain has gone, and he is revived in the Lord.. And I might add....you can see it upon his countenance as well. Yes.....He heals us from all our diseases. Pay attention to the dreams you receive from the Lord.
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Deadline for SSMA extended until Monday -- Pray about it.
Sign up for the School of Supernatural Ministry has been extended till this Monday. Visit the ARK table on Sunday for more details. What a great opportunity to go deeper in learning about how to be used of the Holy Spirit to release the Kingdom and seeing lives changed. Classes meet on Monday nights.
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Great Conference for Our Children and Parents Hosted by the ARK.
Please check out the OUT OF THE BOX conference for children and parents that is coming up on Oct. 5-6. This will be held in our facilities and hosted by the ARK. There will be worship at the event as well. Visit the ARK table about registration.
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The testimonies keep coming in. You read one of them in the FaceBook testimonies above. God is so good. There were several major tokens which occurred on the 21st day. Now I believe they will continue as we have been responding in gratitude and praise. Remember to bring your coins to the altar area and place them in the big jar. This money will be sown into a worthy cause outside our church family. It is so exciting to see people recognizing the goodness of God in a deeper way. Yeah God!
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Last Wednesday night was so powerful as we all entered into a time of high praise, deep worship, and saw decrees and prophetic words come forth. It was thrilling to hear people come forth who spoke difference languages (Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Thai, etc.) and declare praise to Jesus. The presence of the Lord was powerful. More Lord....
WEDNESDAY WORKERS NEEDED
Our children are also having a wonderful time in Kingdom Station on Wednesday nights. Workers from the ARK have been leading this since our joint services began on Wednesday night. They have asked for some additional workers. These workers do not have to plan the service, just help facilitate the lesson/activities...we need extra numbers of helpers because we have lots of kids in there!
Would some of you please consider joining a rotation on Wednesday nights? You would only need to help once every 5-6 week. See Mikki or Heather Ridinger to volunteer.
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Supernatural Salt House - Friday Nights
Every Friday night at Salt House meets at our GH/ARK facility. The group is led by Daniel Skelton from the ARK and you are invited to attend. You will be blessed by an atmosphere of God's presence where God's Word, Testimonies, Intercession and waves of love are experienced. The meeting usually starts around 8:00 p.m.
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Kyle Searcy - Weds. Sept. 19th
We have invited Kyle Searcy to come and share with all of us on Wednesday night, September 19th in our 6:30 p.m. worship service. Known and gifted as an Apostle, Kyle ministers in a strong Apostolic anointing. He oversees Fresh Anointing House of Worship in Montgomery, AL as well as a network of Fresh Anointing Churches. He also serves as the overseer of the Alabama Apostolic Reformation Council. We will all be blessed. Both Pastor Phillip and I feel that this will be another step forward into what the Lord has for us in our region and our state. Please be praying for God's will to be accomplished in this special service.
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Let's Pray Together for This!
Okay, I normally do not do this sort of thing, but I just feel excitement about it in my spirit. This is not meant to be any kind of manipulation, pressure, or salesmanship. Would you pray with me in earnest for the provision for the portable baptistry shown to the left? This would enable us to more easily, quickly, and regularly baptize people. It can be set up and taken down rather quickly. The water would be heated and it is safe for people to enter and exit. I saw one of these recently in Montgomery in a church and it worked beautifully. Sure, we could just budget it, but I believe God is going to move in response to prayer to see this provided for. So let's see what happens. Please pray.
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Church Wide Picnic in September
Just a quick note to let you know that GRACE HOUSE and The ARK will be having a church wide picnic at 5:30 p.m at McFarland Park on Sunday, September 23th. We have enjoy food, fun, and fellowship. Mark your calendars and plan to be there. Anybody else like to play Bocce ball? PLEASE NOTE THE DATE CHANGE TO THE 23RD.
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Our ushers and greeters do a great job each week making people feel welcome and having everything ready for them when they arrive. If you would like to help in this area, please contact Mark Forthsythe and let him know. Mark does a great job and will let you know how you can help. You can email Mark at mfors90553@aol.com.
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We are having a number of guest each week, so I encourage all of you our Grace House family to reach out to them. Don't assume that someone else has spoken to them or greeted them. We have such a loving atmosphere, we want to be sure everyone is exposed to it in a personal way. If you are unsure if someone is a guest, just approach them and ask, "I am not sure if we have we met, my name is ....." and go from there. I am so grateful for all of you. You are amazing people. You are allowing God to move through you with such love and grace. There is no where I would rather be.
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Know Someone Who Would Like to Receive These Updates?
If you are aware of someone who would enjoy receiving these updates from me, just forward this email to them and let them know just to click the link below and they can sign up and opt in to this email list. This is a great way to stay more up to date on the happenings around Grace House and the ARK. Thanks for helping.
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