Visitation

This past Saturday night I had a dream that had profound spiritual significance.  I shared it with my congregation Sunday morning, but I thought it would be good to blog about it for those who may not have been there. 

In this dream I was with our congregation for weekend services.  I saw many of our current congregants as well as many new faces I had never seen before.  (Hopefully this represents future growth at FLI).  It was also in a different building which gives me hope that one day we will outgrow our current facility. 

As the service progressed, an individual whom I had never met came into the service and began moving one by one to individuals ministering to them.  With each person, this ministering individual was transformed into a dove which obviously represents the Holy Spirit.  The wingspan of the dove stretched outward and the feet of the dove were placed directly on the person He was ministering to.  At the same moment, those being ministered to were transformed into little children with fathers, mothers, grandfathers, etc... laying hands on them and speaking blessing.  This went on for a long time as many individuals were touched in the same way.

Here's what I believe God is saying to you and the congregation of FLI through this dream.  The Holy Spirit is about to visit you and this congregation in a very real, tangible way and the promises and blessings that have been locked up in your life and household for (in some cases) many generations will come to pass.  There are many that have had words of prophecy, and blessings pronounced on them by their spiritual fathers and grandfathers that have not yet been realized and many are losing their confidence in what has been spoken and promised.  The Lord says not to lose heart for He has made these promises to you and even to your children. 

So to quote Bishop T.D. Jakes, "Get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready."  

I pray this is an encouragement to all of you.   

Set in Stone

Last week I began a series a messages at Fountain of Life that I have been preparing for months titled "Extreme Makeover - Home Edition."  I was really disappointed that because of a technical glitch, only the last 6 minutes of the message got recorded.  With that, I thought I would post the sermon transcript in its entirety here on my blog page for those who may have missed the message and want to get the foundational priciples I laid down for this series. Bear in mind a transcript may not flow in perfect wirting style.   Enjoy!

I think the danger in starting an entire 8 week campaign about family life is that as soon as I say the word “family,” people automatically have images that come to their mind of what a family is. You may hate your family or you may be ashamed of them and want to hide them away. The old saying is, "you can pick your friends but you’re stuck with your family." Quite honestly, from my observation, the church has traditionally viewed the subject of family and home life through the highly filtered lens of 1950’s and 1960’s Television.