Jude 20 tells us to build ourselves up in our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. Some translations use Holy “Ghost”, meaning “Guest”, indicating the indwelling Spirit of God. Ephesians 6:18 says for us to pray in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. We are to pursue love, desire spiritual gifts, prophesy, and to speak (pray) in tongues (an unknown language) (1 Corinthians 14:1-2, 4). Why are we to pray in tongues? It’s something only you can do for yourself, because it edifies you, and it’s speaking mysteries to God. Out of you will flow rivers of living water when you pray in the Holy Spirit. When you are praying in the Spirit, you can get the interpretation of what you are praying (1 Corinthians 14:13). If you give out a tongue in a group, there must be an interpreter. When you pray in the Holy Spirit (tongues), what you are praying is not coming from your mind but from His Spirit in you. Praying in the Spirit will greatly help you to know how to raise your children, what to say, actually everything you do, because He has prepared things for you. When you pray in tongues, you’re speaking mysteries (1 Corinthians 2:4-13). God had hidden these mysteries from the devil since before the beginning of the world, and He reveals them by His Spirit. Our minds and our emotions are not the Spirit. We receive the Spirit so that we might understand what has been freely given to us by God. God’s Spirit gives us the ability to speak the mysteries, the wisdom of God.
Praying in the Spirit
Praise Is for the Lord
God is everywhere, even in hell, so how were Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:9-10) able to hide from God? There is an essential presence of God, which means that God is everywhere, but there is also an influential presence, such as our fellowshipping with Him, which can be covered up. We prepare God a habitation by our praise. Listening to praise and worship music is not preparing a habitation for God. Praise is aloud and loud. In Psalm 22:2-5, a Messianic psalm, it says that Moses and the Israelite fatherscried to the Lord. Luke 18:38-43 tells about the blind man crying out to Jesus for Him to heal him. He was annoyingly loud to the point that he was rebuked and told to be quiet. What did he do? He became louder! He was so loud that Jesus stood still and healed the man. Then, the other people started to praise Jesus, too. We know Paul and Silas were loud in the prison, because the other prisoners heard them. Worship is for God, not to give you some emotion. Our praise is to Him, because He is holy. He is enthroned in the praises of His people. You don’t naturally want to praise God, and in fact, something in you inhibits your praising. When it says in Psalm 149:5-9, “Let them sing aloud on their beds”, it means that on the bed of sickness and affliction, we are to lift our praises to Him. [Pastor Dale shared the time he rescued a beaten-up missionary in Romania.] Praise binds difficulties, and sometimes that means that you have to praise in spite of heavy oppression. Praise Him until you get a note of victory. Heaven is a noisy place (Revelation 19:1). Salvation, glory, honor, and power belong to the Lord our God. Praise Him!
Dale Armstrong – Women in Church and Ministry
Paul says in Galatians 3:26-28 that we are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus and that there is neither male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. This is a supernatural unity, Greek and Jew, slave and free, male and female. (Pastor Dale shares of how a woman song writer, Janny Grein, impacted his life and how he gave a place for her to preach. That church experienced 16 weeks of revival. During that time, God supernaturally communicated with him when he was in Kiev, and Janny was ministering in his church in Titusville.) Acts 2:16 quotes Joel which says that your sons and daughters shall prophesy and that God’s Spirit would be poured out on your menservants and maidservants. Women do have a place in ministry. The book of First Corinthians was a letter written in response to a letter the church had written to Paul. Paul’s letter refers to what they wrote previously, as seen in 1 Corinthians 7:1. Chapter 11:2-5 and 16 says that the women can pray and prophesy but that there is a flow of authority. Chapter 14:31 says that you can all prophesy. Verses 34 and 35 were not Paul’s comments, but comments he was responding to from the Corinthian church. How do we know? He just said that women may prophesy, and the law doesn’t say that women can’t prophesy anyway. It is in the Jewish commentary, not the law. Paul’s response is in verse 36-40 where he says, “Did you write the word of God?” In Acts 2:4-11 all spoke aloud in tongues. Go back to Acts 1:13-14 and see that those who were part of the 120 people werewomen, Jesus’ disciples, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus’ brothers. Mary and the other women spoke in tongues on the Day of Pentecost.
Prophetic Conference – Developing That Which Is In You
Text: 2 Peter 1:3-10 (8). We were born in the image of God. We need to be changed like never before. God wants the image and life of Jesus Christ to radiate from us and from every church. This takes repentance for everyone. Lay aside what trips you up and put on the new spiritual self. Open up your heart to receive and be a doer of the Word. Our assignment is to have and be abounding in these things that are added to faith: virtue (moral knowledge), knowledge, self-control, perseverance (patient endurance), godliness, brotherly kindness (Christian affection), love. Having these things added to our faith will keep us from being deceived and will bring life, godliness, exceedingly great and precious promises. We are called to reflect Jesus. We don’t have to be given to lust. This is a time when many people are deceived, compromising, lulled to sleep, and thinking they’re doing right, when really they’re doing wrong. We are to pursue God diligently like a man pursuing the woman he wanted for his wife. Make a commitment to be more productive than ever before. What is God convicting you of? Is it self-control or patience or love? Your attitude affects the atmosphere around you, either for the negative or the positive. The challenge for the church is to develop what is in each person. Develop means to cause to grow, mature, advance, set forth, make visible and manifest, and to create or produce by effort over time. God wants to expand His Body in numbers, power, and authority and to equip us with more to overcome our weaknesses.
Prophetic Conference – Greatness by Connection
In 2 Kings 4:8 it is recorded that Elisha the Prophet went to Shunem, where there was a great woman. Why was this woman called great? She was called great because of her connections. First, she was connected with the Lord. Your first connection must be with Him to receive His power. You need to follow Him personally and pray. Secondly, she connected with the prophet of God, Elisha. She insisted that he stay with them, and she stayed connected with him. Thirdly, she was connected with her husband. They were one in the Spirit. Discuss God’s purpose in your life with your spouse. Finally, she connected with her people. She said that she was provided for and didn’t need anything because she dwelt among her people. Similarly Ruth connected and stayed connected with Naomi and then later with Boaz. She was “least” when she came to Naomi’s homeland, but she ended up married to the landowner, because she stayed connected. Ruth was King David’s great grandmother. When you look at people’s beginnings, they may not seem to be that important, but God sees greatness. When there is a connection in the Spirit, there is provision, such as when Elisha prayed for the Shunammite woman to have a baby. When you care for the prophet, you receive a prophet’s reward. When there is a Spirit connection, there is protection, as demonstrated in Elisha’s telling her about the upcoming famine. When there is a Spirit connection, there is restoration. Because of Elisha, the land was restored to the woman when she returned to it.
Prophetic Conference – Living According to His Word
Karen shares her personal testimony of a changed life being lived by faith in the Living Word. As she spoke she gave powerful nuggets for living a life of faith in God. Mary did not question God when the angel told her she would conceive a child by the Holy Spirit. She said, “Let it be according to your word.” Zacharias, however, did not believe what the angel told him and became dumb until he spoke out the name of his son, John, agreeing with the Word of God given by the angel. The Word is God’s language. It’s how we get to know our Father. You must say, “Yes”, for Jesus to move into your life. Get rid of the “ruts” in your brain. You are in a fork in the road. You can choose truth, or you can go the way you’ve been going. Everyone has one of two fathers: the devil or God. The devil wants the Word out of your life, which is the fight of your faith. Do not question God’s Word. Let the Word become alive to you. Give God permission to change you.
Prophetic Conference – Rivers of Living Water
Listen to God and wait for the unction of God. Those who believe in Jesus, out of their hearts will flow rivers of living water (John 7:37-38). There is a pure river of water of life proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb (Revelations 22:1-2), and in the middle of the street was the tree of life. One river flowed into the Garden of Eden and four flowed out. Your heart is the garden of God, and in the center of your heart, is the tree of life. The river flowing in is the New Birth, the Spirit within us, and the rivers flowing out are the baptism of the Holy Spirit. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life. God drove man out of the Garden, and cherubim were placed at the east gate, and a flaming sword turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life, which he should have been eating from (Genesis 3:22-24). Since Adam and Eve sinned, they became spiritually dead, but they could create with their mouths. Although the tree of life was locked up, when we are born-again, He puts His tree of life in us, which is the ability to speak, confess, and create with our words. He opened up what was locked up, because He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). The Word changes our lives. Because of Jesus (the Word), our lives are hid in Christ. We overcome the devil by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11) (There was a time of testimony.) When the veil was torn from the top to the bottom, God was saying that He would not live anymore in a temple built by man, but He would live in a temple made by Him. The prophet’s ministry is a sudden inspiration, light of a sudden revelation at the moment, seems to be fundamental to future events or the mind of the Spirit in general. The prophet of God is preeminently the ministry that reveals the emotion of God to the people. He communicates things to the prophet so he can change them.
Prophetic Conference – Personal Wisdom and Discernment
The end of things is at hand (1 Peter 4:7). There is a convergence of what God has said and what the devil is doing. What have we learned in the last twenty-five years? We’ve learned about the spirit of wisdom (Ephesians 1:17-18) and wisdom (what is needed when a problem comes up, and you don’t have an immediate solution). Jesus became for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). We’ve learned how to be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18). We’ve learned about the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:16). We’ve learned about the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12, 13; Hebrews 2:4). Here the struggle is, are we off the path or are we needing to break through something that the devil is hindering? Can we walk in discernment, personal Christian discernment, which is not the gift of the Spirit, and is resident in each one of us? Especially now, we need personal discernment because of seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. We need alertness and awareness in God to perceive what God is saying. This can save your life. To discern is to recognize or identify as distinct what is of the soul or of the spirit. Be cautious of people who try to give you their dream. Find out the will of God. To discern also means to separate what’s of God, what’s of this church or of this group. Furthermore, it means to distinguish, compare, like weighing things out on a scale, to perceive, to discriminate. If we know the real God and truth, we will be able to discern the false and counterfeit. Have you become dull of hearing (Hebrews 5:11-14)? Are you choking on solid food, or can you discern good and evil? We must become masters of the sword of the Spirit, the Word. Paul’s perception saved lives (Acts 27:10). There are lost, unlearned, and ignorant people. Do you live the Word? Experiences are the lowest level, then come our prayer life, meditation in the Scriptures, and spending time with God, and then being sensitive to God. The Word of God is above His name and is an eternal constant. (Prophet Cohn shared how the Lord reveals things to him that connect and direct him to minister. There were many other Scriptures confirming the teaching.)
Prophetic Conference – Integrity
Integrity is soundness, that your “yes” be “yes”, and your “no” be “no”. Are we worshiping someone other than God? He requires our focus. Sin can be distractions that keep us from worshiping and focusing on God. Sin affects everyone around you. That person who heard what you taught or preached will be affected by you if they see you sinning. Repentance means to turn around. Repentance is continuous. The Word should be what you mutter to yourself. Focusing on Him means communion, prayer, and time spent with Him. The war to be a Christian of integrity is not over until you quit. You need to continuously present yourself to God. Do you want to be used by God and to be changed by Him? The One who created people and even the devil knows you and is for you, so no weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that rises up in judgment against you, you shall condemn. Are you a person of integrity, or are you a hypocrite? Focus on Jesus and be a person of integrity.
Prophetic Conference – Prophecy in the Church
Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1, 7, 11; 1 Corinthians 14. Today’s problem in the church is not a lack of knowledge about the gifts of the Spirit but the absence of the them. The Holy Spirit distributes to each one as He wills. Just because He used you one way one time, don’t limit Him to only using you in that gift. We should desire to prophesy, because prophecy edifies the whole church. All of the gifts should be done, decently and in order. Prophesying is a commandment (14:1). Your brothers and sisters in the body of Christ are your “safety net” for prophesying. They will help teach and affirm you. Just as hearing and hearing the Word is the only way to get faith, prophesying is the only way to edify the church. We are to covet the best gift, which is the gift that you need at the time. When we gather for a church service, we should come in full, so that God can use us. Churches need an interpreter, who is like a moderator. Learn to allow the Holy Spirit to use you, but be humble enough to understand that He may use someone else instead of you. Desire the prophetic anointing.
We Would See Jesus
Text: John 12:20-21. The Greeks were coming to worship at the feast, but they had to stand outside, so they talked to Philip as a connection saying, “We would see Jesus.” We can ask the Holy Spirit to open your loved ones’ eyes that they may see Jesus (Psalm 119:18). The gospel is hidden to the lost (2 Corinthians 4:3-6). Why can’t people receive the gospel? Satan, the god of this age has blinded their eyes, and the gospel is veiled to them. Satan is the god of this worldly system and of those under his rule. Jesus is the ruler of the earth. There are only two groups: the children of light and the children of darkness. Satan has representatives on earth. Jesus never lacked power over the devil. If He would have wiped out the devil, He would also have wiped out all of Satan’s people. Jesus wants the harvest. Let’s turn on the light. People need to be exposed to the light, so that they can make a choice. Saul saw Jesus, and Jesus told him that he was to be a witness to open they eyes of the lost, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God,that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus (Acts 26:13-18). How can you pray for your unsaved loved ones? Pray that they would see and for God to open their eyes. Pray that the devil wouldn’t blind their eyes. We are witnesses to open the eyes of the lost. Satan tries to make people think that God is against them, or that there is not a God. People are already forgiven (2 Corinthians 5:19), but Satan blinds people so they can’t receive. Why don’t people receive their inheritance (verse 18)? Again, it’s because the devil has blinded their eyes. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son (Colossians 1:9-13). You have a purpose in life. God can restore you to His purposes in an instant. He redeems the time.
The Word of God – Renewing Your Mind
Texts: James 1:21; Romans 12:1-2. God wants His Word engrafted in us, so that we become one with the Word for the saving of our soul. We present ourselves to God. We are not to be conformed to the world, but we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. How does this happen? The world forms a framework of how we look at things, but we can change that by becoming Word-minded. You can change your thinking by thinking, responding, seeing, and reacting as God thinks, responds, sees, and reacts by desiring and meditating on the Word (Psalm 1:1-3). If you want change, get into things that will change you. Everyone meditates, either positively or negatively (worrying). How do you see things? What’s your mindset toward reading and memorizing the Bible? You can create your own desires by renewing your mind. How can you create a desire or control your desires? One way you can control your desire is by perceptions (Proverbs 18:1). Before you can desire something, you must know about it. Your perception could be negative or positive. Run to the Bible and find out what will set you free. Secondly, pay attention to your desire and study the positive. Instead of studying about cancer, study the Scriptures about healing. Thirdly, conception takes place when you change your thinking and do not even remember the way you used to think. For example, instead of thinking poverty thoughts, you think according to prosperity. You must delight in the Word (Psalm 1:2).
The Will of God – The Lordship of Jesus
Text: John 7:14-17. God sent Jesus, and Jesus sent you. God wants you to live out your purpose. The issue is man’s willingness to obey God’s will. You will not know God’s will until you are willing to obey, so you must consecrate yourself to do His will first, and then He will reveal His will for you. God waits for your consecration first, and you must obey first. Once you are willing, He will give you His ability. Saul thought he was serving God, but Satan had deceived him by leading him in the opposite direction of God’s will. (Caution: Satan tries to do that to us, too.) When Saul met Jesus in Acts 9:3-5, he recognized Jesus as his Lord, his King, his Ruler. We are God’s slaves, and He is our Lord. God wants people’s eyes to be open to Him and to their purpose in Him (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). You are saved when you confess Jesus is Lord in your life and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. Jesus is alive. Are you willing to obey Him, or are you afraid to step into His plan for you? The issue is that He is Lord. Lordship is salvation.
The Priority of the Word of God
To be wise, obey the Word of God (Matthew 7:24-28). Storms and problems come to everyone, but you can measure your life by your victories. Prepare before the storms by acting on the Word. Search the Scriptures and seek honor from God and not from man (John 5:39-40, 44-47). Put Jesus first in your life. Miracles don’t cause people to repent and have faith (Luke 16:19-31), but hearing the Word does. You need to hear and obey the Word (Romans 10:16-17). Build faith on the priority of the Word. Our experiences should lead people to the Word to get faith. Meditate on the Word day and night (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2-3). Martha was rebellious because she wouldn’t put a priority on the Word. In Matthew 8:6-8 the centurion showed faith when he said, “Speak the Word only.” Jesus said in Mark 5:35-36 to only believe. Don’t add to the Word. Don’t do things because the devil manipulates you based on fear or convinces you that your prayers didn’t work. Guard your heart (Proverbs 4:20-23). Your faith will overcome the world. Praying in unbelief is worse than profanity. Speak the Word only.
New Beginnings
Pastor Gene English, leader of the Men of the Word, preached on new beginnings, connecting the beginning of the world in Genesis with the new beginning through the birth of Jesus Christ. John Tobias shared his testimony, demonstrating the new beginning in a person’s life by salvation through Jesus Christ.
Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind
Text: Philippians 4:6-8. How can the peace of God keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus? God is interested in you, spirit, soul, and body. Your physical body affects your mind and that affects your spirit. Your thought-life has a bearing on your spiritual life. The peace of God comes after you think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. You can filter the thoughts that you are meditating on. What is the priority in your thoughts? Is it going to benefit you? Apply the filter of Philippians 4:6-8 to what you are thinking. What is the pattern in your thought-life? If that pattern is negative, cut it out! Write down what you think about before you go to bed, and then write down what you think about when you wake up. Those are the thoughts you are meditating on. You can wake up with thoughts of peace, joy, holiness, victory, and prosperity. How? Your mouth controls what you think. Think on what is true, honest… In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 we are told to cast down imaginations and to bring into captivity every thought. Your thinking is not your identity; it’s an activity. Your filter is: #1 What is the priority in my thought-life? What is important for me to be thinking on now? The Word should be your importance. What does it say about my thoughts? #2 What is my focus? You can’t stop thinking about something by not thinking about it. You need to replace it with another positive thought- the Word of God. Focus with your mouth by speaking it aloud. #3 See what your patterns of thinking are. How do I interpret what I see? Tear down imaginations and strongholds in your life and think the Word and victory.
Faith – The Word of God is Alive
Texts: Psalm 107:20; John 6:63; Hebrews 4:12, 1, 2. The Spirit gives life, and the words that God speaks to us are life. His Word is living, active, powerful, and sharp. The Word of God gets into the heart of man and divides spirit and soul. You can find out who you are based on the Word of God. If you try to figure out your past, you will not live up to the glory of your future. Speaking the Word to people can change their lives. (Listen as Pastor Dale shares various testimonies of this truth.) You do not want to miss one promise God has for you. The Word has to be mixed with faith. God is sovereign (all-powerful). You can be bold if you know you are right (Philippians 1:20-24), and if you’re wrong, be bold to change. Choose life. Mix faith with what you hear. Choose to live. Choose to prosper. Choose to have a good marriage. Choose not to fear. Mark 4:14-15 tells us that the Word is seed, and the devil comes to steal the Word right after you hear and receive it. Why? He does not want you to get truth, because the Word is your answer. Endure and do not let go of your faith. The Gospel should benefit you.
No Condemnation
Text: Romans 12:1, 2.One time when Pastor Dale was in Russia, he prayed for a woman whose leg was gangrenous. He didn’t know it at the time, but she was going to have it amputated the next day. When he laid hands on her, he didn’t feel anything, but the next day her leg was as normal as the other one. Last night there weren’t many people here, but God healed people. God set us up with intent. Sometimes we need to be away from unbelief. Some things you need to flee, such as sexual sin, and some things you need to resist. Sometimes Jesus cleared a room from unbelief. There is something about corporate faith. You need to realize you are a believer. Present yourself before God. Get rid of the spectator mentality because of condemnation. You are a Christian, a devil-defying participator. We do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Condemnation needs to be dealt with in the minds of people, because it makes people feel that God is against them. If you have a mindset of condemnation, you can’t hear what God is saying. While he was in Russia, a pastor stole his church (in PA) from him. He was convicted by the Spirit’s telling him that no one can steal what you give. Teri confirmed what the Lord told Pastor Dale. When they met with the other pastor, that man became angrier and angrier, and he didn’t even hear Pastor Dale say that he was giving him the church. It wasn’t until his wife told him to shut up and that he was giving the church to him that his countenance changed. Condemnation puts you in a negative view, and you’ll judge everyone else negatively. Second Corinthians 5:19-21 says that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. We are ambassadors for Christ and should be reconciled to God. For He made Jesus to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. God is not imputing our trespasses against us. If you have a negative view, you won’t hear the Word. His grace is sufficient for you. Men died for that grace. A negative attitude toward yourself brings defeat. Get into the Spirit. We do not war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). Don’t try to war by using your flesh. The first stronghold you need to pull down is condemnation. How do you cast down strongholds? You replace the stronghold with a Word thought and then erect the foundations of righteousness.
Faith – Values and Priorities
Hebrews 11:1-6. When you value spiritual things and the Word of God, your priorities will line up. Faith becomes easier when you value the things of God. Faith and understanding are two separate things. Faith is a spiritual process, not an intellectual one like understanding. Believing (faith) is in your heart and probably won’t make sense. The visible has its origins in the invisible. Truth always trumps facts, and what is spiritual overrides the natural. It is impossible to please God without faith, and we must believe that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We believe in His presence even more than His existence. In Mark 5:25-27 the woman with the issue of blood risked her life to go to Jesus for healing, based on what she heard about Him. That’s where her faith came from, and hearing the Word is where our faith comes from, too. It comes from communing with the Living Word. What she heard brought her to action and changed her. IF FAITH DOESN’T BRING YOU TO ACTION, IT IS NOT FAITH AT ALL. The woman had no other options. WHEN YOU PUT VALUE IN THE RIGHT PLACE, IT WILL CHANGE YOUR PRIORITIES, AND THEY WILL LINE UP. Proverbs 2:1-5 tells us to seek and cry out for God. The awe-inspiring presence of God will give you the fear of the Lord. What is the fear of the Lord? It is putting the right value in the things of God above the things of life. Faith is not repeating words but is sitting with Jesus. Don’t let the issue of faith condemn you. Recognize faith in your life. There’s no difference in healing warts and cancer, except our fear. God is not afraid of cancer or any disease. Use the faith that you already have to come to Him, speak to the disease, or to respond to an altar call. FAITH WILL DRAW YOU TO GOD. God does not teach us with bad things. The woman with the issue of blood again risked her life when she fell at Jesus’ feet, telling Him the truth. You can stake your life on the Word of God.
Faith: The Greater One in You
(This was the first Sunday morning service at the Landisville Church.) Texts: 1 John 3:1-4; 4:1-4; 2 Corinthians 4:16). God loves us so much He calls us the children of God. People in the world can’t understand spiritual things until they are born-again. As we move farther away from the world and closer to a supernatural, spiritual life, supernatural things should become the norm. Revelation is a good thing: every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord. When you see Jesus, He changes you. Learn to love people, especially other believers. You can know the Spirit of God, because every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is of God. He has come and does come in human flesh- that means in your flesh. False religions can’t believe that Jesus can come into our human flesh. The inward man is renewed daily. The Greater One lives in you. You are full of God. We don’t look at things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen. Speak the Word boldly.