A New Generation Of Believers

#

#June 26, 2011

Morning Worship

Text: Psalm 24:1-6

Subject: Faith

Title: A New Generation of Believers

Well, I survived another week at youth camp. You know, I am never too concerned about our young people when it comes to camp. They’re young. They’ll recover. Their bodies will heal. They have the rest of the summer before they have to think about getting up early and going to school. I’m just kidding. Camp was great. And there were a lot of great things that happened.

I was lying in bed after the Tuesday night service – which ended about midnight by the way so it was after 1:00 AM by the time we got to bed – but I was praying over the campers, our youth in particular, and I was asking the LORD to touch this generation in a way that has not been seen since Azusa Street. How many of you know I want our children to be even more effective in their Christian witness than any previous generation. I want them to trust God more, I want them to experience God in a more intense way, I want them to have more faith to believe in signs and wonders. And I think that’s what God wants as well. But anyhow, I was praying and here is what the LORD brought to mind; that passage from Isaiah 55,

10As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

And do not return to it

without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

and achieve the purpose for which I sent it…

So I know that as the word continued to go out from the speakers, both morning and evening services, that our youth were having the word of faith sown into their lives. They may not know it yet, they may not understand it yet, and they may not totally experience it in their lives yet, but it was a word of authority and of their ability to speak the power of God into their own lives and the lives of those around them. That never became more evident than it did on Tuesday morning when God showed up and young people all over tabernacle began to lay hands on those with physical needs and people were being healed in the name and authority of Jesus all over the building. When the invitation was given for healing I stood to ask for prayer for my back. But Pastor Brad Riley asked the young people to gather around me and pray that my hearing would be restored. What? Pastor Brad what are you doing? I want my back healed. I’ve got hearing aids to take care of my hearing… Why is it that kids are obedient at a time when you wouldn’t want them to be? But young people began to gather around me and lay hands on me in the authority that God has given them and something happened. I took my hearing aids out and it felt as though there was pressure in my ears that was being released. It was kind of funny because Pastor Brad asked from the platform if anything had happened yet… there were older teens – more mature Christians (mostly boys) who were asking, “Can you here me?” and one was snapping his fingers in my ear… “Can you hear that?” yeah, I can hear it. You would have to be deaf not to hear that… I had to tell them that the real test would be for me to hear a feminine voice. On e of the adult youth workers – Carrie Hoffman from Faith Chapel in O’Fallon, MO prayed over me. I could hear her clearly. Not good enough – she had a strong clear voice. Someone called Kayla D. over to pray and they wanted to know if I heard her, but she is so soft spoken I asked if anyone else had heard her. Nope! That didn’t answer any questions. So, someone had a little girl stand on a chair next to me and she began to speak very softly, calling forth God’s power to heal – it was just a whisper – but I heard every word as she spoke with the authority that Pastor Brad had just preached to them about. God heard her and acted on my behalf. I knew that He had touched me through a little girl who dared to call those things that are not as though they were. And that gets me to where I want to be today. Psalm 24:1-6,

1 The earth is the LORD’S, and everything in it,