And Jesus said, "Come!"

Pastor Gary Stebbins, Church on the Rock - Melbourne
May 27, 2010


It is easy in this current season to be fearful and intimidated by any number of situations that we see going on in the world around us. Perhaps you are facing some serious challenges in your own life. I believe Jesus is saying, "Come!"

As we move into the summer months, I do not believe this is a time to drawback out of fear nor to embrace the summer months as the “lazy, crazy days of summer.”

In Mark chapter 8, we see Jesus ministering to over 4000 people in a desolate area. He felt compassion for them because they had been with Him for three days with nothing to eat. Jesus was very interested in the spiritual needs of people, but He also recognized their physical needs.

Jesus felt compassion for those who exerted the effort to go out to the wilderness and be with Him for three days, to sit under His teaching, and to experience His miraculous power. He could not minister to those who were not there. His compassion and ministry was extended to those who pursued Him, those who were present with Him in that desolate place.

In Matthew 14 we have another story where the disciples are in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee. Jesus comes up to the boat walking on the water. One of the twelve disciples cries out to Jesus and says, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." Jesus' response was "Come!" Peter gets out of the boat and walks on water with Jesus. He experienced something the other eleven disciples did not, because he made an effort to cry out to Jesus and was willing to step out in faith.

God always responds to those who make the effort to pursue Him and His presence. Those who did not spend three days with Jesus did not experience His compassion and provision. Those who remained in the boat and did not cry out to Jesus did not walk on water.

As I was praying this past week at early morning prayer , I felt God was saying that this was a “get out of the boat” season of time. I believe this is a season to cry out to God and ask Him to “command” us to “step out of the boat” so that we move into God's purposes for our lives and for the church in this season in which we live.

Are you ready to make every effort you can to pursue the presence of God and experience the fulness of His blessing and provision?

It is time to pray, to cry out to God.

Are you ready to ask God to command you to step out of your boat into His Kingdom purposes for your life?

What Motivates You?

Pastor Larry Booth - Our Father's House, Satellite Beach

May 18, 2010

“And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14)

MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE TIMES MOTIVATES ME TO PRAY AND TO SEEK THE FACE OF THE LORD.

I find myself being drawn toward reading the last several prophetic discourses of Jesus found in Matthew 24 and in Luke 21 on a regular basis. The graphic descriptions of the times in which we live are found in these texts of the Gospels and are motivators for me to pray and seek GOD with passion and intent. How about you???

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO PRAY AND SEEK GOD?

With our American bent on extreme selfishness and self-centered living, most of us seem to need some kind of personal inconvenience or trouble to get motivated to pray and seek GOD. Does this sound familiar? Yes…we could say the circumstances and personal troubles can jump start our prayer life, but I believe a higher motivation should be the Word of GOD.

For more than 30 years now, my daily practice has been to spend time in God’s Word reading from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Over the last few years, the prophetic portions of Scripture have tugged on my heart like never before in my life. I believe this is truly Spirit-led. The Holy Spirit wants us to be ignited and drawn into the season and hour in which prophetic Scriptures are leaping off the page and crying out like a trumpet blast to tell us…now is the time!!!

SO FRIENDS…READ THE PROPHETS!!! READ THE WORDS OF THE GREATEST PROPHET OF ALL TIMES…JESUS OF NAZARETH…MAY YOU BECOME MOTIVATED TO PRAY AND SEEK HIS FACE MORE THAN EVER!!!

Have you taken you position on the wall?

Pastor Gary Stebbins -COTR-Melbourne, May 10, 2010


We are living in a critical time in the history of our nation. Our lives, our society, our nation, will be governed either by the Spirit of God or the spirit of darkness. There is no middle ground. We either serve the Living God or the prince and power of the air, which is Satan. We either allow Christ to rule our lives or the spirit of the antichrist will.

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour (1 Jn 2:18).

An antichrist is anyone who denies God the Father and Jesus the Son.

Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son (1 Jn 2:22).

The antichrist spirit stands in opposition to God and His ways. The battle of the last days will be between the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the antichrist. The church, under the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit, is a force that the powers of darkness will not be able to stand against.

"I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it (Matt 16:18).

One of the disciplines that brings strength to the church is prayer. Personal, private times of prayer are important, but there is strength in numbers. Our efforts are multiplied when we pray together.

On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves; And give Him no rest until He establishes And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isa 62:6-7).

We are called to be watchmen, to stand in the gap for our nation and for all mankind. We are called to intercede for each other, our families, our community, and the world. Nothing God wills to do on earth will happen without prayer. When believers pray together in agreement with each other and with God, nothing will be impossible to them.

“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matt 18:19-20).

There is great power in a church that unites itself together in prayer. God is calling His church to prayer. In Acts 12, Peter has been arrested and thrown into prison by King Herod. Herod’s intent was to kill Peter like he had done to James. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appears to Peter and leads him out of the prison and sets him free.

And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying (Act 12:12).

Peter’s deliverance was the result of people gathering together to pray. Corporate prayer is perhaps our strongest weapon against the spirit of the antichrist. That is why Satan works hard to distract, divide, and destroy unity in the church.

God moves when His people unite themselves together in prayer. Spending time together in prayer will not only move heaven, it will change us. Praying together with others brings us into unity and sets us in place as watchman.

Do you pray?

Have you taken your position on the wall with others?