Choice Christian Greetings to all our Church Family and Friends, as we are beginning to enjoy this wonderful fall like weather here in the Tri-State region.
It was another Sunday morning, but God had something more in store for us than we could have ever known. I had an experience while feeding our congregation the good grass that grows by the river of living waters. In 42 years of serving Heritage Fellowship, I experienced something I have never had happen before. I had just delivered the sermon for August 18th. One of the major points in the message was something David referred to - I asked the Lord to lay His hand on my head as found in Psalm 139 verse 5.
For several days God was dealing with me about Psalms 139. This is a David Psalm and what is unique about this Psalm is David starts out with how all-knowing God really is. I find in it a key to discipleship, which is largely overlooked. David starts where we should in our journey of faith, he starts out with God seeking us instead of our seeking God. Let me share with you what I see in this chapter.
He writes:
GOD IS OMNISCIENT AND OMNIPRESENT
I think that most individuals, if not all, begin their quest thinking they are the ones seeking God first, but that is not true. Adam and Eve when evicted from the Garden of Eden had what I believe could be called a rude awakening. In surveying what was in front of them, what was behind them was a dreadful regret.
WHAT HAVE WE DONE?
They had become self-conscious the moment they disobeyed God's instruction. It is as though man in his own mind became a self-improvement project from that moment on. However, Psalm 139 begins with God pursuing man and despite what God knows about us, He still pursues us. This is why men and women struggle in their quest for God. They start with their selves seeking God, begging, fighting and struggling in their desire to know God. I heard a friend say something one day and I wrote it in the margin of one of my Bibles. He is the Struggler in my struggles. In other words, Jesus struggles on the cross were for us and in that He was victorious. Our victory is in what He did for us; in that He overcame, we become overcomers. He knows us inside out yet still He loves us. He does not pursue us in anger. He pursues us in love.
Early in the morning, I was fixated on Psalm 139:5. It says, "You laid your hand upon my head."
I asked the Lord to lay His hand upon me and upon those who would be there in worship with us yesterday morning. I had an unusual awareness that He was listening to my prayer and that He would do what I had asked Him. When I was finishing making the final points of the message, "A suddenly" took place right before the congregation,
HE LAID HIS HAND ON MY HEAD.
I could feel what was coming next. I was fully conscious, I was not dizzy, I knew everything that was going on around me, I was praying under my breath, I was aware that I had not dismissed the service.
To best describe what took place, I can say Acts Chapter 2 is in the air. I was as drunk as they were on the Day of Pentecost. I was laughing on the inside as I prayed in my heavenly language. I can honestly say, the only way I can explain what happened is that God apprehended your pastor. He Arrested me, He took me captive, or I can simply say, He took me at my word.
My prayer is that God will lay His hand upon your head today in that the Spirit of Acts 2 is in the air.
Billy Graham was heard to say on one occasion, "I don't care what you call it. Get it!" Today, I hear this ringing in my ears, "Get Him; the 3rd Person of the Godhead."
No one needs to remind me that God sent His Spirit once and for all, to abide in and with His people!
No one needs to waste his or her time trying to inform me that what once was called "the baptism of the Spirit" is now more fittingly expressed by the term "the fullness of the Spirit."
Many of us have discovered this as truth long ago. Use whatever terms you like; express your belief any way you like. I still maintain that our greatest need is another Pentecost; for Pentecost was an experience given to the Church and not something exclusively reserved for a select few gifted man and women. It is for all flesh, and when God says all flesh, God means all flesh.
As self-centered as man is, we are desperately in need of another visitation from God where we are consumed by a passionate passion for the Master. We speak of the Holy Spirit primarily as a comforter, but God said we would be endued with a supernatural power from on high. Then watching a world of scoffers and anti-Christ filled Antagonist will be seen for what they are, and what they have become.
"Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). Someone said, these words should be written in letters of gold!
Yes, my friends once again God laid His hand upon me, and I am a captive to the Captain of the Mighty Host of Heaven.
I believe in you, and I know that Acts Chapter 2 is in the air.
Your pastor,
Cleddie Keith
It was another Sunday morning, but God had something more in store for us than we could have ever known. I had an experience while feeding our congregation the good grass that grows by the river of living waters. In 42 years of serving Heritage Fellowship, I experienced something I have never had happen before. I had just delivered the sermon for August 18th. One of the major points in the message was something David referred to - I asked the Lord to lay His hand on my head as found in Psalm 139 verse 5.
For several days God was dealing with me about Psalms 139. This is a David Psalm and what is unique about this Psalm is David starts out with how all-knowing God really is. I find in it a key to discipleship, which is largely overlooked. David starts where we should in our journey of faith, he starts out with God seeking us instead of our seeking God. Let me share with you what I see in this chapter.
He writes:
- I am an open book to God
- God can see me from a distance
- God is all seeing
- God knows what I am going to say before I say it. ("Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, oh God"
- God knows my past, present and future
- Such thoughts are overwhelming to me
GOD IS OMNISCIENT AND OMNIPRESENT
I think that most individuals, if not all, begin their quest thinking they are the ones seeking God first, but that is not true. Adam and Eve when evicted from the Garden of Eden had what I believe could be called a rude awakening. In surveying what was in front of them, what was behind them was a dreadful regret.
WHAT HAVE WE DONE?
They had become self-conscious the moment they disobeyed God's instruction. It is as though man in his own mind became a self-improvement project from that moment on. However, Psalm 139 begins with God pursuing man and despite what God knows about us, He still pursues us. This is why men and women struggle in their quest for God. They start with their selves seeking God, begging, fighting and struggling in their desire to know God. I heard a friend say something one day and I wrote it in the margin of one of my Bibles. He is the Struggler in my struggles. In other words, Jesus struggles on the cross were for us and in that He was victorious. Our victory is in what He did for us; in that He overcame, we become overcomers. He knows us inside out yet still He loves us. He does not pursue us in anger. He pursues us in love.
Early in the morning, I was fixated on Psalm 139:5. It says, "You laid your hand upon my head."
I asked the Lord to lay His hand upon me and upon those who would be there in worship with us yesterday morning. I had an unusual awareness that He was listening to my prayer and that He would do what I had asked Him. When I was finishing making the final points of the message, "A suddenly" took place right before the congregation,
HE LAID HIS HAND ON MY HEAD.
I could feel what was coming next. I was fully conscious, I was not dizzy, I knew everything that was going on around me, I was praying under my breath, I was aware that I had not dismissed the service.
To best describe what took place, I can say Acts Chapter 2 is in the air. I was as drunk as they were on the Day of Pentecost. I was laughing on the inside as I prayed in my heavenly language. I can honestly say, the only way I can explain what happened is that God apprehended your pastor. He Arrested me, He took me captive, or I can simply say, He took me at my word.
My prayer is that God will lay His hand upon your head today in that the Spirit of Acts 2 is in the air.
Billy Graham was heard to say on one occasion, "I don't care what you call it. Get it!" Today, I hear this ringing in my ears, "Get Him; the 3rd Person of the Godhead."
No one needs to remind me that God sent His Spirit once and for all, to abide in and with His people!
No one needs to waste his or her time trying to inform me that what once was called "the baptism of the Spirit" is now more fittingly expressed by the term "the fullness of the Spirit."
Many of us have discovered this as truth long ago. Use whatever terms you like; express your belief any way you like. I still maintain that our greatest need is another Pentecost; for Pentecost was an experience given to the Church and not something exclusively reserved for a select few gifted man and women. It is for all flesh, and when God says all flesh, God means all flesh.
As self-centered as man is, we are desperately in need of another visitation from God where we are consumed by a passionate passion for the Master. We speak of the Holy Spirit primarily as a comforter, but God said we would be endued with a supernatural power from on high. Then watching a world of scoffers and anti-Christ filled Antagonist will be seen for what they are, and what they have become.
"Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). Someone said, these words should be written in letters of gold!
Yes, my friends once again God laid His hand upon me, and I am a captive to the Captain of the Mighty Host of Heaven.
I believe in you, and I know that Acts Chapter 2 is in the air.
Your pastor,
Cleddie Keith