Im Gonna Keep On Babblin'

Therefore he reasoned in the synagoue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.

-Acts17:17

The Christian’s constant witness may seem as worthless talk to some, but keep talking. Talking about Jesus is the spark that brings revival.

It is impossible to keep silent once you have truly believed the message of the gospel. In this story, you see Paul in Athens beholding all the idolatry and false teaching, and his spirit was grieved within him. He was surrounded by idols and idol worshipers. Once you have truly believed the gospel, all other teachings will cause you to rise up and speak the truth. This world is full of philosophers with followings, speaking empty lies to itching ears.

God had burned the message of the gospel into Paul’s heart, and He has burned it into mine as well. Telling the story is everything to me. A “babbler” is one who might appear to others as simple or ignorant. It is derived from the Greek word, spermologos, (sperm meaning seed, logos meaning to collect.) In the timed of the disciples, it had been used to describe someone who would survive by collecting scraps falling from the wagons and carts going through town. In a similar manner, Paul’s audience in this story most likely looked upon him as a mere babbler—distributing scattered knowledge here and there, but not truly learned about any subject.

Paul was not responsible for the results of the message, only for getting the message out. He was responsible for “babbling.” The hearers of were responsible for the results. Some mocked. Some procrastinated. Some believed and followed. It is like that in any revival.

Like Paul, as long as I have breathing in my body, I am going to keep on babbling. In the true sense of the word, it suggests on is outside of the world’s literary, philosophical realm—and that is just fine with me. I am not here to conform to this world’s philosophies…I have been transformed by the renewing of my mind! -(Steve Hill)

In early August, I will be moving to Orange County, California. We are believing that the Lord is going to pour out historic revival there. We plan to cover every area that the Jesus movement covered in 1970s. We will be preaching the Gospel in the streets, beaches, and everywhere else we can; to everybody that we can. The Lord has said to get a one way ticket, so Im not sure how long ill be there. I will continue to keep you updated on what the Lord is doing. Please pray that the Lord will release Heaven on earth, as He saves, heals, and delivers the masses.

I Don't Want Entertainment, I Want Jesus.

"There is something in the Pentecostal work that is different from anything else in the world. Somehow, in Pentecost you know that God is a reality. Wherever the Holy Spirit has right-of-way, the gifts of the Spirit will be in manifestation. Where these gifts are never in manifestation, I question whether He is present. Pentecostal people are spoiled for anything other than Pentecostal meetings. We want none of the entertainments that other churches are offering. When God comes in, He entertains us Himself. We are entertatined by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! Oh, it is wonderful." -Smith Wigglesworth

Father Of Lights.

I can't wait for this movie to come out:

If you haven't seen them yet, you need to check out Finger of God and Furious Love.

Check them out HERE

My Next Adventure.

This is the next adventure that I will be going on. I leave for Kona, HI on June 19th to help staff this school. For 5 weeks we will go through intense training to ensure that we are fully equipped to preach and demonstrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After the school, I will be helping lead a team to the Los Angeles area to release the love and power of Jesus Christ. I appreciate your continued prayer and support, and I will keep you updated as much as possible. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you for joining this journey with me. Check out the promo video below.

“No family was too poor, no house too filthy, no town too remote, and no people too ignorant to receive the good news that life could be better.”

Promo Video

O' God Stamp Eternity On My Eyeballs.

The Vision.

This is my heart's cry. I will live and die for this way of living because the Lamb is worthy of His suffering. I am His reward and other's have to know that they are. Be challenged. This is your inheritance.

The vision is Jesus - obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus. The vision is an army of young people. You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism. They laugh at 9-5 little prisons. They could eat caviar on Monday and crust on Tuesday. They wouldn't even notice. They are mobile like the wind; they belong to the nations. They need no passport. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence. They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and the dirty and the dying.

What is the Vision? The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure. Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation. It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games.

This is an army that will lay its life for the cause. A million times a day its soldiers choose to lose that they might one day win the great, "Well Done, faithful sons and daughters." Such heroes are as radical on Monday mornings as Sunday night. They don't need frames from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again, "Come on!"

And the army is disciplined. Young people who beat their bodies into submission. Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms. The tattoo on their back boasts, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes. Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them? Can hormones hold them back? Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them? And the generation PRAYS like a dying man with groans beyond talking, with warrior cries, sulfurous tears and with great barrow loads of laughter! Whatever it takes, they will give.

Breaking the rules. Shaking the mediocrity from its cozy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrings, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries. They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive inside. On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like a costume to communicate and celebrate but never to hide. Would they surrender their image or popularity? They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. An electric chair for a throne. With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days, They pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them. Their DNA chooses Jesus. He breathes out, they breathe in. Their subconscious sings. They've had a blood transfusion with Jesus. Their words make demons scream in shopping centers. Don't you hear them coming? Herald the weirdos! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here comes the frightened and forgotten with the fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension.

Their prayers summon thehounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this vision will be:

It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon. How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is His today. My distant hope is His 3D. And my feeble whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking "Amen!" from countless angels, from heroes of the faith, from Christ Himself. And He is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.

Guaranteed.

-Pete Craig

FIRE.

In The Silence.

Tired of telling you, you have me
When I know you really don't
Tired of telling you I'll follow
When I know I reallly won't
Cause I'd rather stand here speechless
With no great words to say
If my silence is more truthful
And my ears can hear how to walk in your way
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/jason_upton/in_the_silence.html ]
In the silence
You are speaking
In the quiet I can feel the fire
And it's burning, burning deeply
Burning all that it is that you desire to be silent, in me

Oh Jesus can you hear me?
My soul is screaming out
And my broken will cries teach me
What your Kingdom's all about
Unite my heart to fear you,
To fear your holy name
Adn create a life of worship
In the spirit and truth of your loving ways

-Jason Upton

Papa Mateos

It never fails, as soon as I walk out of my gate I hear the little voices calling, “Papa Mateos!” My heart stirs with love for each of the lives represented, as I scan the scene to find my little friends. As they come running, I open my arms ready to pick them up for a hug. With smiles on their faces, they ask me how I’m doing in Portuguese, and I respond the best I can. Then with broken English they communicate with me the best they know how, but there is no mistaking love. I have made quite a few buddies since I have been here, and ill have to admit, it’s going to be hard to leave them.

Its plain and simple, we are friends. We enjoy each other’s company, when we see each other we smile, we talk, and we spend time together. There is actually anticipation, in my heart, for the next time we will meet. I am always expecting to see my little friends at every turn, and I know that they are looking for me as well. This reminds me of another relationship that is very important to me: my relationship with the Holy Spirit. Some may think that the Holy Spirit isn’t that personal to us, but I beg to differ. In John 16:7, Jesus prepared the disciples for His ascension into Heaven as He said, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”

In no way would I think that it was a good idea that Jesus left the earth, but according to this Scripture I have to put my faith in Jesus’ advice. According to Jesus, it was and is to our advantage that He is no longer on earth. In John 14:17-18 Jesus prophesied, “But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I WILL NOT leave you orphans; I will come to you.” I declare to you, Jesus is with us, we are not orphans; we have the Spirit of the living God inside of us.

As the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is here to help us, comfort us, teach us, empower us to minister to others, etc. Just like I enjoy spending time with, talking with, and just hanging out with the kids, I am learning to embrace my relationship with the Holy Spirit. The more real this relationship becomes, the more fruit my life will bear. Jesus was clear about this in John 15:5 when He said, “He who abides in Me, and I in him, BEARS MUCH FRUIT; for without Me you can do nothing.” The Holy Spirit is God in us, and this is the way that He has chosen to communicate to us. Unfortunately, He is the one, from the Godhead, that usually gets left out.

Scripture is clear that just like we get feel grief, the Holy Spirit can too. (Ephesians 4:30) What do you think He feels like when He is constantly ignored, mistaken, left out, or quenched? I sure know that I have been very guilty of this in my past and still can be. But as I truly repent, I want to turn away from this mindset and set my mind on cultivating a deep relationship with Him, thus doing the opposite of the previous. Therefore, I want to be led by the Spirit in every aspect of my day and allow His leadership to be what dictates how I lead. This means including Him in every aspect of my life. Expecting, desiring, and waiting on His leadership will drastically change the way we live. When you think about it, this seems very basic. I think its time we get back to the basics and get connected with the power that is going to change the world. Your thoughts?

Thank you for your continued prayer and support. Email me if you need need anything!

The Hungry Ones...

The last 2 weeks, our team has been getting settled in here at the Iris base. Since this is an orphanage, you can imagine that there are a lot of different things that need to be done. Before we came, as we prayed about helping Iris, the Lord highlighted the fact that we were to serve them wholeheartedly while we were here. Desiring to be completely obedient, we have been committed to just that. Now I like the preaching of the Gospel, seeing salvations, healings, miracles, etc, but that isn’t all that goes on here. There are 100’s of little mouths to feed, kids to watch after, food to buy, gardens to plant, classes to teach, etc. On a daily basis, this Iris base feeds over 1000 children and around 400 workers and missionaries. Their staff ranges from women that care for the children to guards that man the gates round the clock, and many others. There are also 20+ full time missionaries that live on or around the base. So much goes into the daily “in’s and out’s” of a full time orphanage.

As a team, we have all decided where we wanted to serve and have been going to those jobs daily. Personally, I decided to go help in the kitchen. I don’t know what it is about kitchens, but I haven’t seemed to be able to get away from them. I think the Lord is really trying to show me how to find joy in the everyday tasks that we do. Brother Lawrence, an old Gregorian monk from the 1600s, is known for having a very intimate relationship with the Lord. A collection of his writings called “Practicing the Presence” tells of how he learned to practice the presence of the Lord in his everyday activities. He writes, “"There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it." I was defiantly inspired by his words and his stories, and have been willing to put them to the test. Each day I have to give the kitchen workers the food to cook, oversee their work, and go buy the supplies for the week. So I have been determined to find Him there.

Bright and early, I meet the workers to get ready for the day. We sing worship songs, pray, and greet each person individually. This is a great time of the day for me. Even though I’m not fluent in their language, we laugh, dance, and really bond during this time. After we pray, I take them into the storage room and give them the supplies to cook for the day. Since you are feeding over 1000 people a day, for lunch and supper, this takes quite a while. It usually takes over 100 pounds of beans, twelve 15lb. bags of rice, and a few other ingredients. After I get them set up for the day, I have to go to town to buy other food for the week. I usually have to go to the market, and other little stores along the way. There really isn’t one store that has it all, which makes it quite an adventure. After town, I usually have to be back on the base to receive our larger orders. The bigger stuff we need, like beans, rice, etc., comes by truck. Some may say, “Sounds like a pretty boring job to get stuck with, why did you go all the way to Africa for that?” My answer to them would be simple. Sometimes the Lord cares so much about you that He will move you all the way across the world to teach you something. It’s hard to learn to be poor in Spirit in the midst of the materialism that is in the western world, or the rest of the world for that matter. It’s easy to say that we don’t love our nice cars, houses, food preferences, etc until they are stripped from you. Jesus declared in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” I don’t know about you, but I want the revelation of Heaven now, so I long to be poor in Spirit. Being poor in Spirit is a frame of mind, and desiring “stuff” easily clutters our ability to grasp this revelation. This self-emptying conviction, that “before God we are void of everything,” lies at the foundation of all spiritual excellence, according to the teaching of Scripture. Without it we are inaccessible to the riches of Christ; with it we are in the right position for receiving all spiritual supplies.

Grasping this TRUTH means that we can have the Kingdom now, and we don’t have to wait. The said in John 17:3, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” I want to know Him, way more than having my stuff. And this experience has made me realize how much comfort I found in some of my stuff. I can honestly say that I’ve never been happier or more fulfilled than now. I would be satisfied with living in a tent for the rest of my life, as long as I had the Holy Spirit and His presence. To clarify, I’m not saying that I have completely arrived to being poor in Spirit, but I’m closer than ever. Its amazing the realm of Heaven that opens up when you only have Him to run to.

The other night, I went outside and looked up at the stars. I don’t know if you have ever experienced it, but the stars in Africa are different. There are no bright lights that are dulling God’s creation, and the picture of the sky that is painted is unbelievable. As I gazed to the sky, I started to cry. I felt the presence of God, and I heard the Spirit whisper, “I love you.” I immediately cried out to Him for more of His love. Although I know that I am closer to God than ever, I am hungrier than ever. This makes you feel like you are so far away from Him. Misty Edwards puts this feeling in to words way better than I could. She sings:

Though I sleep,
My heart is awake
Though it's night, on You I wait

It's been a long night,
And I am weary
It's been a long time,
And I am hungry

So I'll wait in the stillness again
I'll wait in the quiet again

When I heard Your voice
When You said my name
When I heard Your voice
My heart it yearned

In the middle of the night
In the middle of the night
In the middle of the night
My heart it yearns

Though You're far away,
Still I'm here to say
I am Yours, I am Yours
And when You feel so far away,
Still I am here to say:

I am Yours, I am Yours

And I pay my vows,
No turning around
I'll burn the bridges that can't be found

For when I heard Your voice
And You said my name
When I heard Your voice
My heart it yearned…
For You…

I would be willing to bet that most of you are in the same boat. Those that are hungry can be comforted by Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The Lord isn’t at all surprised by this hunger that we have. The reality is that He is the cause of it all. He wants us to seek Him. The hunger that we have for Him is the substance and the evidence of His hunger and love for us, and as we press in we discover more of Him. Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of Kings.” The Lord hides His glory, and the hungry will seek it out. Those that want more will NEVER give up, they refuse to be denied, the hungry ones.

This hunger has been shared by many of those that have sought the Lord. In Psalm 27:8 King David wrote, “"When You said, Seek my face; my heart said to You, Your face, LORD, I WILL seek." The Lord is saying the same thing to you today. Seek my face, and you WILL receive. This invitation is inviting you into the depths of His Kingdom explained above. Mike Bickle explains that Lord is saying, "I’m drawing you, you are restless, you are restless for me. Don't drink from other water! It’s Me you are hungry for; it’s Me you are thirsty for. I created you to thirst for Me! Your thirst was created so you would come for Me! Its the evidence of My desire for you!" So be encouraged! And press in to the Lord; He has a world of things to reveal to you. No one who waits on the Lord will be ashamed, or disappointed. Get what He has for you!