We just completed our second monthly outreach of Second Saturday Servants.  We had a fantastic day, what a blessing!  Our outreach this month was at Oasis International in south city.   http://www.oasisinternational.info/

The goal of Second Saturday Servants is to fulfill the Lord’s mandate to love our neighbors, to minister to the poor, the widow, the refugee, the orphan.

Oasis ministers primarily to refugees that have come to the St. Louis area from across the globe.  Often they are sent here with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and are given an apartment for three months!  Can you imagine if that was you!

This month, I met new friends from Liberia (Africa), Bosnia, Iraq, and Burma.  What a privilege.  And speaking of privilege, what a blessing it is to be associated with a body of believers in Jesus Christ that is quick to volunteer to help the needy.  Thank you Southgate!

As I listen to all that is being said and done in the name of helping our economy, there is a decided omission in all of the conversations.  No one is saying, "We need to seek the Lord and ask Him for help."  So let it be said here...

 What we need is not another massive bailout.  What we need is to repent of the ways that we have walked away from God, the ways that we have embraced greed and selfishness.

 Father, we ask You for forgiveness in Jesus name.  Please forgive our greed and lust for money.  Please let a wave of repentance sweep across the nation among your children and heal our land!

Kevin

                                                                                                       by Kevin Pratt

07-09-07

“Blow a trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the people…"  (Joel 2:15-16) This is what happened at TheCall in Nashville on 7.7.07. 55,000 to 60,000 people gathered on a hot day, out in the sun, to cry out to the Lord. It was a wonderful thing to behold.

Much of the day was spent in worship, prayer and repentance for specific sins in our land. The worship was wonderful. Many different worship leaders through out the day encouraged us to exalt our God, praise His Name, give our love and adoration unto Him. We had many different seasons of prayer through out the day. Many times the prayers were related to a theme of repentance. In repentance we focused on sins that were related to the Old Testament stories of the worship of Baal.

The main themes of our repentance were sexual perversion (Baal worship involved sexual acts, cult prostitutes, etc) and child sacrifice, which we believe is the same spirit today that is fueling our country's abortion industry. A specific point made is that when believers and leaders in the church are engaging in sexual sin, we are also guilty of promoting this evil spirit of sexual perversion in our land. So we called out to God, we confessed our sin and asked for His forgiveness and His grace to truly repent. Church pastors and leaders were asked to come to the front and bow down in prayer for this important time of repentance. It was powerful.

Many things were said about abortion. It was very touching when a young woman, a pastor’s daughter, shared her story of aborting her child, and the emotional pain that she has suffered since. An African American man shared a similar story that was very moving. But when a woman in tears repented before us of being a doctor that had actually worked for Planned Parenthood and had aborted many children it was an overwhelming moment. As she tearfully expressed her story, there were shouts of forgiveness and grace from the audience. It was a powerful thing to be a part of.

So we prayed. We asked God for forgiveness. We asked God to forgive us for breaking covenant with Him. We called upon the name of the Lord. We were encouraged that if we want to see abortion ended in our land, the Body of Christ must be ready to step up and be prepared to adopt those unwanted children. Moving stories of such adoptions were shared. 

There are too many other things that happened for me to mention now, but here are a couple of brief things that were very impacting to me. This was a nameless, faceless meeting. No speakers (other than Senator Brownback, KS) were formerly introduced. Not a single worship leader was introduced. There were no websites, CD’s or other money related promotions. Lou Engle wanted the focus to be competely on Jesus. I can’t ever think of another meeting like that. It was remarkable. I still don’t know the name of one of the worship teams that impacted me deeply with their lyrics.

And when someone pointed out to me that this very powerful time of worship was being led by Michael W. Smith, I was very moved. He, like everyone else, had no introduction, no promotion. He just led us in worship like it was Brian Sipe. I was very surprised and touched by the fact that a “famous person” like Michael W. Smith would lay down all of the hype and just be a nameless worship leader for our event. I don’t know why it impacted me so, but I could not get over it.

Apart from one love offering the whole event was free. Related to this, There was not one booth, that was allowed to sell merchandise. In fact, there must have been some confusion on this point, because several ministries brought hundreds of books to sell, but were not allowed to sell anything. So… they gave all their books away for free. I couldn't believe it. It was a holy thing.

I was honored to be there. God, please save . Let the name of Jesus be exalted in our land again.

                                                                                                        by Vic Gerson

 07-03-07                                                                                                     

We live in extraordinary times! Biblical prophecies are being fulfilled in our lifetimes. This is not some distant past or remote future but in the here and now. As always it seems to revolve around the Lord’s faithful covenant to His people.

The reformation of the nation of Israel is a constant theme of the scriptures. Isaiah said, "On that day Adonai will raise his hand again, a second time, to reclaim the remnant of his people who remain from Ashur, Egypt, Patros, Ethiopia, ‘Eilam, Shin‘ar, Hamat and the islands in the sea. He will hoist a banner for the Goyim, (gentile nations) assemble the dispersed of Isra’el, and gather the scattered of Y’hudah from the four corners of the earth." (Isa 11:11-12 CJB)

Think about this prophecy; spoken prior to the first gathering from the first exile in Babylon (The first time was with Ezra and Nehemiah about 450 bc). It brings to light a second time of reclaiming His remnant. God promised to re-assemble the dispersed Jewish nation and our history books teach us that He fulfilled that promise. In 70 AD the Jews were dispersed by the Romans and in 1948 the re-gathering took place for the second time.

Jeremiah announces, "For here is what Adonai says: “Sing with joy for Ya‘akov!(Jacob) shout for the chief of the nations! Proclaim your praise, and say: ‘Adonai! You have saved your people, the remnant of Isra’el!’ Look! I am bringing them from the land in the north, gathering them from the far ends of the earth; among them are the blind and lame, women with children, women in labor, all together, a vast throng returning here." (Jer 31:6-7 CJB)

The 1948 re-gathering found Jews returning to Israel from Russia, Germany, Poland and eastern Europe ('from the land in the north') and from points all throughout the world. Our God keeps His word. He is a covenant keeper even for thousands of years. Our hope is in a God who keeps His word. If He keeps His word to His chosen people, the Jews, He will keep His promise to His bride, the Church. 

Jesus said, "For God so  loved the world, that He  gave His only begotten Son, that whoever  believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16 NASU) The promise of eternal life is sure and true for those who believe. Eternal life starts now and He is faithful to give it.