People Get Ready, Jesus is Coming!

This is a sermon outline for the topic, ‘People Get Ready, Jesus is Coming!’ which we had to write last semester in one of my classes. Here is mine.

Introduction
I’m here to today to share with you my conviction from Scripture that we are living in the generation when Jesus will return to the earth to establish His kingdom of righteousness and peace. He is coming to remove Satan and all his influence from the planet forever. Many passages of Scripture, in both the Old and New Testament, point to this time period as the one in which these events will unfold. If it is true that the Bible gives us information about Jesus’ second coming and the events surrounding it, then it is extremely wise and prudent for believers to study it and seek the Holy Spirit for understanding.
I.    Scripture gives recognizable prophetic signs to alert us when the time of Jesus’ second coming is near, and we can see many of these signs coming to pass in our generation.
A.    Matt. 24:14-The completion of world evangelism is within sight for the first time in history.
1.    Call2All is a network of the major missions organizations, evangelistic organizations, prayer movement, etc. who are predicting the task of taking the gospel to every nation, tribe and tongue will probably be completed in the next 10 years.
2. Since Jesus gave the great commission, the gospel has gone out from Jerusalem, seemingly in waves ever westward, and now the Lord has given the Chinese underground church a vision for what they call the Back to Jerusalem movement. They are seeking to take the Gospel from China to Jerusalem, which covers most of the 10/40 window where the majority of Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim unreached people groups live. And since they have suffered so much persecution from their own government for Jesus, they are unafraid to suffer and die in other countries.

B.    There is a global prayer movement, right now.
1. Isaiah 62-give the Lord no rest, you who cry out night and day…-Across the earth, 24/7 houses of prayer are crying out to God, even in Jerusalem, which is a fulfillment of this prophecy.
2. Luke 18- As injustice and wickedness reach their fullness in the earth, God as the righteous Judge will release speedy justice for his elect who cry out to Him night and day. But the challenge many, including believers will face is to not become offended in their hearts when justice is delayed. God delays the release of justice in His desire to have mercy and that unjust (which is everyone) would turn from their sin and be saved.
3. Revelation 8 pictures a time at the end of the age when the bowls of incense (which are the prayers of the saints) will be full.
a. Believers’ prayers are what actually release God’s judgment on the antichrist kingdom, much like Moses prayed and God released the judgments on Pharaoh’s kingdom in Egypt.
C. Israel is in the land again, with control of Jerusalem and more Jews are believing in Jesus than ever before in history.
1. In Romans 11, Paul says a time is coming when all Israel will be saved.

2.  Zechariah 12-14- This is an end-times passage that clearly describes Jesus’ second coming and millennial reign, and it prophecies that God will pour out on the “house of David a spirit of grace and supplication, and then they will look on Me whom they pierced, and they will mourn over Him as one mourns over an only son.” There are many similar passages, when taken at face value, that indicate God has a continuing plan and purpose for the nation of Israel, which is connected to Jesus’ second coming.
II.    The Bible sets Jesus’ second coming in a context of unprecedented trouble and global conflict.
A. Parable of the wheat and the tares-righteousness and wickedness grow up together, indistinguishable until right before the end, when each comes to maturity
B. Zechariah 12-14- This passage describes what those familiar with the New Testament will clearly recognize as Jesus’ second coming. The passage describes the nations of the world coming against Jerusalem with the intention of destroying her, to which Jesus will come and destroy all those armies.
C. Jesus describes the time just before His second coming as the most terrible time in history, ever. He says things such as, ‘Men’s hearts will faint with fear’ and ‘Unless that time had been cut short by God, no flesh would survive. ’ Meaning all human beings would be physically killed if God didn’t limit that time.

III. The church needs to be prepared

A. The church will not be removed from the earth during the tribulation by a pre-Tribulation rapture.
1. The Bible sets the Rapture at the time of the final trumpet, or in Rev. 11, the Seventh Trumpet, which is Jesus’ second coming.
2. God’s pattern of leading His people throughout history has never been to remove them during times of trouble, but to guide and protect them in the midst of it, for instance, Israel in Goshen. They were protected from God’s wrath, but not Pharaoh’s or other Egyptians. Besides, we are not to be afraid of those who can kill the body. If we belong to Jesus, we shouldn’t fear death, because we will never die.
B. Jesus is coming for a bride who is equally yoked with Him, partnering with Him to bring justice to the earth. He wants a bride who is lovesick for Him, longing for Him to come.
C. Only a people who have been trained in meekness and humility through enduring trials are qualified to reign with Jesus.
1. Daniel 12-when the power of the holy people is completely shattered- the tribulation is the means by which all pride and self-reliance are purged from the people of God

IV. The church will come to maturity during the Tribulation, walking in the highest level of love for Jesus, righteousness, signs and wonders and martyrdom.

A. The final and highest revelation of the church is as a bride, spotless and pure, eager for her wedding.
B. The church will walk in the greatest expression of signs and wonders, the prophetic and receive dreams and visions.
1. The Joel 2 outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was a local fulfillment of the prophecy. The outpouring at the end of the age will be a global outpouring on the whole church.
C. The highest honor and form of identification with Jesus is martyrdom, and there will be many martyrs during the tribulation.
1. Many followers of Jesus around the world are already experiencing persecution and martyrdom. It is only in the West where the church is more concerned about its own material prosperity and comfort, rather than proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom, that the church faces relatively few persecutions from the larger culture.
2. The Apostles considered the highest privilege to be counted worthy to suffer for Jesus, because through it they were able to identify with His suffering.
3. Persecution and suffering are a God-ordained furnace designed to produce the invaluable fruits of humility and meekness in believers, which are the currency of the age to come.

V. The focus of all the events of the tribulation, both good and bad, is the second coming of Jesus and the establishment of His kingdom on the earth.

A.    God is seated on the throne in Heaven, in complete control. Revelation 4 and 5 picture God seated on the throne and Jesus opening the seals, releasing the judgments. That means God is the one who is orchestrating the events of the tribulation.

B.    Jesus’ kingdom of righteousness and peace will be established after His second coming.
1. Revelation 20-The saints who were formerly persecuted and oppressed rule with Jesus on the earth.
2. During this time, Jesus will renew the earth, which has been devastated by the combined rage of the antichrist, the rage of man and the judgments of God.

C. Eden will be restored. The ultimate goal of Jesus’ reign on the earth is to restore what was lost in Genesis 3, before which, Adam and Eve walked with God, face to face. Jesus will hand over a renewed and purified earth to the Father, so He can come and dwell with men in perfect relationship forever, just like at the beginning. (Rev. 21; 1 Corinthians 15:23-25)

Conclusion
In light of this great and terrible day that is coming, the people of God must respond accordingly. We must not continue going about our business as usual, naively assuming that tomorrow will always be the same as yesterday. Numerous times, the Bible exhorts us to be wise and sober in the use of our time, that we must be diligent  and work while it is day, because night is surely coming when no man can work. We must give ourselves to studying the Bible, to understand what it actually teaches, rather than relying on our particular church’s teaching about a subject or our own emotional or humanistic idea of what God is like or what He does or does not do. We must give ourselves to prayer, fasting and evangelism so we can be vessels fit for the Lord’s use. This is Christianity 101. And we must begin now, because we do not know how much time remains to us. Even if we have decades before Jesus’ return, it takes years to develop this kind of lifestyle. And above all, we should long to hear from Jesus, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Amen

Why I Will Never Celebrate Halloween Again

1. Because Halloween celebrates and honors Satan and demonic beings, who are real. And they HATE you. When you participate in Halloween, you are celebrating and honoring a being who hates you and desires to steal from you, to kill you and destroy your life completely. He is a real being who has absolutely no mercy or sympathy for human beings. Because Satan and his demons hate God, they hate and desire to destroy everything that God created and everything He loves. As an example, can you imagine the Jewish people participating in a holiday that gave honor in any way to a man like Adolf Hitler? That is essentially what celebrating Halloween is doing. We only see Halloween as mostly innocent and benign because in our Western culture we tend to disbelieve in the existence of the supernatural, and especially the existence of evil supernatural beings who actively influence the lives of human beings in negative ways.

2. Because I love Jesus. If you call yourself a Christian, and say that you love Jesus, by celebrating Halloween, you are giving approval to things that Jesus shed His precious blood to overcome. How can we as Christians give our hearts or minds to ANYTHING that mocks or opposes Jesus, the One who loved us unto death, even the humiliating, excruciating death on the cross? This is question that I feel the Holy Spirit gently asking me in every area of my life where I’m not giving myself fully to Him, or engaged in some sort of compromise. I know I truly have no idea whatsoever how much it really cost Jesus (and God the Father) to bear all the sins and evil of humanity in those three hours. 1 Peter 1:18 tells us that we were not bought back from Satan by Jesus with something perishable like gold or silver, but with His own blood. The blood of Jesus is worth more than all the gold, silver and wealth in the world, because He is the God Man. Can you imagine? He is God who existed with the Father and the Spirit since eternity past in undescribable glory, who, when humanity rebelled and gave away their authority to Satan, set His plan of redemption into motion, which culminated with Him becoming a human being forever. Do we have any idea what kind of humility it took for God to lower Himself and lay aside His glory to put on flesh and live on the earth, subject to all the pain, suffering and vulnerability that people experience? You see, this is all about love. The Bible says For God so LOVED the world… Man had perfect intimacy and fellowship with God in the beginning, and when man broke it, God was utterly determined to get it back, at the greatest possible cost to Himself. The Bible says that we love God because He loved us first. Even when we hated and were offended at Him. He pursued us, He has given (and continues to give) us good things like families, health, jobs, relationships, homes, food, creation to enjoy, all BEFORE we ever acknowledged Him or thanked Him for any of it. It is because of such extravagant love that more and more, I just cannot give myself in any way to anything that spits on that kind of gift. Such radical love begs a radical response on the part of the beloved.

September Update

I’m almost at the end of the 2nd month of school, and I really love it. I love getting to read the Bible and be in the Prayer Room for credit. Though, for the sake of being real and honest, it’s not always exciting, easy or even what I feel like doing. I really want my heart to be alive with love for Jesus and the most enjoyable, exciting thing I can think to do is to be in His presence. Because the God who created everything must be the most fascinating, exciting being in all existence. I think honestly, I’m here in school not because I’m really good at prayer, ministry and loving Jesus, but because I look inside my heart and see that I’m not, but I really want to be. I feel like I am learning a lot, and really being stretched. It is not naturally easy to sit in a prayer room for 4 hours and engage with the Holy Spirit the whole time, even when the music is really good. I realize how easily distracted I am and and how often I’ll try to do anything else other than come face to face with God. I’m learning to engage with Jesus with my heart and that is stretching me, too. I have been used to engaging Him with my mind and intellect. But almost all of our education and homework involve and require engaging our hearts with Jesus, because being a Christian is about knowing a Person, Jesus, not knowing about Him, or knowing about a set of beliefs.
Forerunner Arts
Along with the theological and ministry training I’m getting, I also want to learn how to create art that flows from significant amounts of time in prayer, worship and meditation on scripture. In terms of art, I’m really excited because I wasn’t expecting it, but there is actually a sizable community of artists here, some of whom have gone to art school before coming here. It’s actually a pretty creative community in general, maybe because music is such a big part of what goes on here, and many artists are also musicians and vice versa. Anyway, I’m really excited about being involved with this ministry, called Forerunner Arts.

24/7 Works of Justice
I feel like I’ve come here at a really great time. A week ago, IHOP celebrated 10 years of continual prayer, 24/7. Mike Bickle shared 8 sessions of the history of IHOP. (You can check out the notes from each session or listen to the mp3 here http://www.ihop.org/Group/Group.aspx?ID=1000047932 I also highly recommend checking out the videos, particularly the Harp and Bowl Sing a Long, and the IHOP skit ) The last session was about where IHOP is going from here, which is adding 24/7 acts of justice to the 24/7 cries for justice that have been going up through prayer and worship, so there are many new initiatives beginning.

Adoption, the Prophetic Answer to Abortion
Over the years, IHOP has been vocal about standing against abortion, because it has shed the innocent blood of over 50 million babies since 1973 in America alone. Since the Lord is a righteous Judge He cannot delay releasing judgment indefinitely if a guilty nation doesn’t repent and turn from their sin, because the Bible clearly states that the blood of the innocent cries out to Him from the ground, and because He is righteous and just, He must answer that cry for justice. IHOP has been active in supporting Prolife initiatives and groups and regularly prays for the ending of abortion in the prayer room. I have begun going with a group of students every Saturday morning on what is called a Life Siege. We go to a local abortion clinic, where approximately 15-30 abortions are performed a day, or 6000 a year. We stand on the sidewalk with a piece of red tape over our mouths with the word LIFE written in black. It is a silent prayer meeting, not a protest. We go to stand as a witness to the injustice being done to the unborn and to appeal to the Court of Heaven, repenting of our sin and that of our nation and asking God to release justice by having mercy on those involved in abortions and bringing an end to abortion in America, and sending revival instead. We wear the LIFE tape on our mouths because we are identifying with the unborn, who also do not have a voice to defend themselves. This past week, there were probably about 50 or so students from my school at the clinic for two hours on Saturday morning. www.bound4life.org, www.thecall.com
But we also believe that an adoption movement is the prophetic answer to abortion. Because abortion (among other things) has released a spirit of rejection and murder in this generation, the Biblical answer is the spirit of adoption, which Paul talks about in Romans 8. Spiritually, God has adopted all who give their lives to Jesus into His family, and physically, it is time for the church to stand up and say we will take these children and care for them. In the first century in the Roman world, the exposure of infants was a common and accepted, legal practice. This means that if a family didn’t like their baby, if they were the wrong gender or sickly or deformed, they would basically throw them away on garbage heaps. It was the Christians who would go out and pick up the babies and raise them themselves. The Orphan Justice Center is an organization that is helping families in IHOP who are adopting children from the local DCFS system, children rescued out of human trafficking and babies given up by moms who chose not to abort. I am so excited about getting involved with this ministry. I would be able to be an assistant to a family with adopted kids, being like a big sister, and even possibly teaching art to kids at some point. This is an organization I really want to become a part of, now and into the future, because I love what they’re doing. I feel really strongly about being involved at both ends of this issue. I want to continue participating in the Life Sieges on one side and also be apart of serving children. I’ve been to Life Sieges in Chicago, and as we would stand there men going by on the street would shout nasty things at us. One time, a man going by on a bike shouted ‘how many of you have foster kids or adopted kids?’ basically making the accusation that we had no right to be there if we weren’t helping raise kids who weren’t aborted. While the majority of people there with us were under 30 and unmarried, it still struck me as having a note of truth. We do need to be active on both levels. So that is what I intend to do.

Exodus Cry
Regarding the issue of human trafficking, a group of IHOPers is producing a documentary called Nefarious: Merchant of Souls, documenting human trafficking and sex slavery and how they have spread into cities all over the world. They have a begun an organization called Exodus Cry. www.exoduscry.com The really significant thing about this project and everything that is going on at IHOP, is that all the things we are doing are flowing out of night and day prayer and connection to the heart of Jesus. This is really important because much of social justice-type initiatives that are being done now are rooted in human sentiment and according to what human beings think is right or wrong, without a Biblical understanding of God’s righteousness and holiness, and the sinfulness of man. For instance, much of the secular fight against human trafficking is being conducted by men and women who are opposed to the exploitation of women and children sexually, but at the same time they are producing music and movies that promote a relativistic worldview (there is no objective standard of right or wrong) and they produce movies and music that promote exactly the type of sexual immorality and promiscuity that fuels sex slavery. If millions of women and children are enslaved in sex slavery, that means that many millions more men are demanding that service. It is foolish and impossible to truly oppose sex slavery without also standing for holiness and purity in the rest of culture. In my previous post I shared the notes about what is going on here at IHOP, and there are several new initiatives that have to do with serving women and children rescued out of human trafficking.

From Judson to IHOP to Myanmar
There is also a cool connection for me coming here from Judson University. When the cyclone hit Myanmar, the IHOP community felt the Lord calling them to give. So they raised one million dollars to send to Myanmar. But you need to understand, IHOP is a missions base, and the majority of people who gave are missionaries who raise support to be here. So that is pretty extraordinary that a few thousand people gave so much. One of the leaders’ wife here is Burmese, so she and her husband were able to go into the country, and the government (which is notoriously closed to outside intervention of any kind, and as a Buddhist nation, hostile to Christianity) were so pleased with the relief work she was doing, that they allowed a team from IHOP to go into Myanmar. They set up a base camp in a Christian village, and were able to preach the gospel and see many Burmese saved, including Buddhist monks who had had dreams and supernatural encounters with Jesus when the cyclone hit. Other villagers testified that when they prayed to Jesus instead of the buddhas, rice came to their villages. What’s really cool to me about IHOP having an impact on Myanmar is that Judson University is named after Adoniram Judson, who was the first missionary to Burma.

YWAM and IHOP
What do these two acronyms have to do with each other? Well, for those who don’t know, YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission, one of the largest missions organizations in the world. Over the past few years, YWAM and IHOP have developed a close relationship. IHOP has been partnering with YWAM as the prayer support for their missionaries on the field all over the world. And now, YWAM and IHOP are teaming up for an outreach here in Kansas City where they will be bringing a campaign called the Impact World Tour, which includes culturally relevant presentations of the gospel in stadium-type settings. The campaign will also include evangelizing the whole city, with the goal of every household in the city receiving a witness of the gospel.

So, as you can see, there is a lot going on here, and I’ve only mentioned a couple things… Thanks for reading my update. I would love to hear from you, my friends and family and even to know what I can be praying for you about.

Love,

Erin

IHOP’s 10 Year Anniversary-Where are We Going From Here?

This weekend, IHOP-KC celebrated it’s 10th anniversary. That means, in Kansas City, since September 1999, there has been UNCEASING prayer and worship going on, day and night. Mike Bickle spent hours this weekend sharing the stories of how the house of prayer came to be, and then last night, he shared the plan for where we are going from here. The following are notes that lay out the Justice Initiatives IHOP will be engaging in during the coming days and years. It is truly awesome.

Session 9 IHOP–KC’s New Justice and Outreach Initiatives
I. GOD IS CHANGING THE EXPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY (CAIRO, SEPTEMBER 1982)
A. We are on a journey to discover how to walk out new expressions of Christianity. This includes functioning as a house of prayer or as the Father’s house with the forerunner spirit of Elijah.
5 I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children… (Mal. 4:5-6)

27 Pure and undefiled religion…is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble. (Jas. 1:27)
B. We honor our past outreaches which include: focusing on the poor in India (D. Steadman), feeding the poor (R. Calhoun) and reaching the lost (H. Linhardt). Our current outreaches include: seven weekly evangelistic outreaches plus the St. Patrick’s Day and Halloween annual outreaches, healing rooms, inner city (Lisa Stribling), Lou Engle’s voice to the political arena plus our current involvement in pro-life (orphans, adoptions, human trafficking, etc.) and benevolence ministries (Pamela Stead). In our Myanmar outreach (Levi Lim) IHOP–KC donated 1 million dollars to the needy (Aug. 2008-Jul. 2009) to help build new schools, churches, houses, boats, mini-hydropower plants, fund medical projects, and give Bibles to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis.
C. Orphan Justice Center (children at risk): works to adopt and restore orphaned children including undocumented refugee minors. We are asking the Lord to help us to care for 10,000 children as a vital part of the IHOP–KC family in the context of our missions base in Kansas City.
D. Zoe Foundation and Hannah’s Dream (adoption agency): Zoe Foundation helps fund adoption of children as an alternative to abortion, as well as providing care for the adoptive mothers. Hannah’s Dream is our adoption agency that works to significantly lower the costs of adoption.
E. Women’s Life Center (Herrnhut Apartments)
1. Birth mother homes: designate apartments to help needy moms (who decide to not abort)
2. Group foster homes: for orphans and providing resources to families who adopt children
3. Human trafficking: with special focus on URMs (Unaccompanied Refugee Minor) or refugee
children who arrive in the United States with no parent or guardian)
4. Safe homes: first response homes for those rescued from human trafficking
5. Domestic violence: ministry to battered women
6. Prostitutes: focus on serving our Hope City inner city outreach
7. Drug rehab: focus on serving our Hope City inner city outreach
8. Big Sisters program: focus on serving our Hope City inner city outreach
9. Honoring widows: helping widows according to 1 Tim. 5:3-16
10. Special needs children: those with physical or developmental disabilities
F. Justice Ministry Center (Red Bridge Center with Shiloh)
1. Crisis Pregnancy Center: providing counseling and support
2. Basic Education: teach English, GED programs, elementary school (for orphans)
3. Life skills: financial, hygiene, health, social skills, housing, etc.
4. Occupation skills: i.e., cleaning, hair cutting, child care, phone banks, warehouse, etc.
5. Emotional healing and Bible training: with emphasis on foundational truths
6. Justice Prayer Room: 6–12 hours a day
7. Administration: for the Woman’s Life Center and IHOP–KC’s justice initiatives: Exodus Cry
(human trafficking), Bound4LIFE (pro-life), Orphan Justice Center (children at risk);
Zoe Foundation (raises money to help fund adoptions); Hannah’s Dream (adoption agency).
G. Hope City inner city outreach will be an extensive ministry center that will work with other ministries. It will include a network of buildings providing rooms that include:
1. IHOP–KC Prayer Room: with space to seat approximately 500 people
2. Staff housing: some staff will live in the apartments
3. Soup kitchen: on-site food distribution
4. Live-in discipleship program: for new believers
5. Community center: youth-oriented with a YMCA-type function
6. Health services: health clinic with some on-site care
7. Warehouse: facilities to provide the poor with food and clothing
8. Homeless shelter:
9. Administration: (office space)
10. Ministry Rooms: focused on evangelism, discipleship, life training, as well as Bible training,
children’s ministry, family building, educational (literacy and GED), life rehab (drug and
alcohol), high school and jr. high outreaches, Bible programs for kids in the neighborhoods,
big brother/big sister programs and an Adopt-A-Block program to provide practical
servanthood such as cleaning up neighborhoods, and evangelizing
11. Occupational: training, helping to start new businesses, etc.
12. Mobile food trucks: to serve food to starving families
13. Hospice care: enables patients to continue an alert, pain-free life and to manage other
symptoms so their last days are spent with dignity and quality surrounded by loved ones
H. Evangelizing Kansas City: Mark Anderson is committing YWAM’s resources and wisdom to help us work with other ministries to systematically evangelize Kansas City starting with Grandview and the inner city. Neighborhood centers will be centers for mission activity within a neighborhood. They will help mobilize believers in each neighborhood to evangelize and disciple according to the seven spheres of influence in society (business, education, family, government, media and technology, arts, entertainment and sports, and science).
I. Healing Rooms/Prophecy Rooms: Both ministries began at IHOP–KC in 2002. Since that time the Healing Rooms have ministered to 35,000 people (currently, 1,200 people each month) and the Prophecy Rooms have ministered to 75,000 people (currently about 1,500 each month).
II. OUTREACHES AND JUSTICE INITIATIVES: NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL
A. Crisis Response International (CRI): CRI is a disaster relief organization committed to training end-time prophetic mercy missionaries mobilized in the forerunner spirit of night and day prayer. CRI seeks to reach the harvest in crisis and rebuild cities through demonstrations of God’s power and His kingdom. CRI provides response relief to those affected by disasters or emergency situations by giving immediate access to clean water, food, shelter, medical care, and security, as well as helping those affected by such crises to rebuild their lives and the cities they live in.
B. Exodus Cry: works for the ending of human trafficking and the restoration of those caught in the web of the sex industry. It seeks to bring widespread awareness on the issues of modern slavery while reaching out to those caught in the sex industry.
C. Bound4LIFE (pro-life): works for the ending of abortion, the increase of adoptions, and the reformation of government and society through spiritual awakening. It began in May 2006.
D. African America Forerunner Alliance: Believing that the Lord has given a divine mandate to African Americans to give significant leadership to the prayer movement, AAFA serves the black community and works to see those of African descent walk in the fullness of their leadership calling.
E. TheCall: Launched by Lou Engle, it gathers believers in stadiums and arenas in the spirit of Joel 2:15 to contend for revival and to target false ideologies through mass prayer and fasting. The first Call took place in Washington, DC, in September 2000 gathering nearly 400,000 people to the National Mall. Since that time, TheCall has hosted solemn assemblies in over a dozen cities in the US and internationally, filling stadiums and arenas with worship and prayer.
F. Luke 18 Project: trains young adults to plant prayer furnaces on college campuses and equip them to live out the Sacred Charge. Our vision is to work with other ministries to establish prayer ministries on all 2,600 college campuses in America. We currently have over 150 prayer groups.
G. I Love Myanmar: In response to the devastation that Cyclone Nargis brought to the nation of Myanmar, Levi Lim launched a humanitarian relief organization to serve its victims: to continue to help build schools, churches, homes, boats, mini-hydropower plants, fund medical projects and to provide Bibles to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis.
H. Praying Church: a local church movement committed to preaching the gospel and doing works of justice while rooted in night and day prayer, and modeled on Acts and Revelation. It intentionally works to prepare the Church as a Bride (Rev. 19:7) who actively participates with Jesus’ plan as seen in Revelation, to transform every nation on the earth as it comes under His leadership. It builds churches that prioritize intimacy with God, intercession for transformation, and the raising up of forerunner messengers (Mal. 4:5-6) with a prayer room at the center of its ministry life, while seeking to establish God’s kingdom in the seven spheres of society (business, education, family, government, media and technology, arts and entertainment, and science).
I. Call2All: We will support the Call2All ministry. Call2All-Orlando was attended by 600 leaders (CEOs of 170 of the primary missions organizations in the world with many international prayer ministries). Call2All is led by the two largest missions organizations, Campus Crusade for Christ and Youth With A Mission, who together have 50,000 full-time and 500,000 part-time staff. At Orlando, the missions leaders and prayer leaders recognized God’s hand in establishing them in a strategic alliance to bring the gospel to every nation. Missions leaders define 4,000 geo-political zones on earth. Each missions organization must be covered in prayer. We are calling each prayer ministry and intercessor across the earth to adopt one missions organization, three missionaries, and one of the 4,000 zones to cover in prayer. The organizations we cover in prayer are YWAM (Jan. 2004) and GOD TV (Jan. 2007); Egypt is our zone (Feb. 2008).
J. Israel: The Church is to obey Jesus’ leadership in loving the Jewish people in practical ways, including sharing resources, praying for their salvation, and standing with them in persecution.
III. KEYS TO MAINTAINING THE IHOP–KC DNA
A. IHOP–KC’s core foundation is to do outreach from prayer instead of outreach without prayer. Our primary mandate is to “keep a 24/7 sanctuary of worship and prayer” (Ezek. 44:15), not to be a traditional missions organization. It has taken us ten years to grow to 500 people who have set their heart to do this. By this, I refer to intercession that is led by worship flowing from intimacy (Father’s heart and bridal paradigm), with faith for the release of God’s power, in the context of eschatological truths (forerunner spirit), motivated by compassion that turns our hearts to the children (Mal. 4:6), and coming from those who embrace the fasted lifestyle, who seek to walk in 100-fold obedience.
B. Our tension will consist of people joining us without having our values. Key to our vision is the occupation of full-time intercessors. Each staff member commits to invest 50 hours a week (25 hours in the prayer room and 25 hours in service/outreach). Our two essential commitments are:
1. Commitment #1: All full-time staff must keep a sacred trust (12 prayer meetings a week). All the top ministry leadership in all our outreaches must keep this commitment. Exceptions include our operations staff, and professionals who are required by the State.
2. Commitment #2: As a rule, do not take large groups on ministry trips outside of the KC area. There will be exceptions to this (especially in CRI outreaches). Our leaders will do many ministry trips. However, we ask the local ministries in other cities to provide the “work force” from the Body of Christ in their area. This is a practical necessity in terms of time and money for us to maintain our sacred trust commitments and, thus, to fulfill our primary mandate to keep a 24/7 sanctuary of worship and prayer (Ezek. 44:15).
Our justice commitment: By the grace of God, we commit to combine the 24/7 prayers for justice with 24/7 works of justice until the Lord returns. We commit to give time, money, prayer, and verbal support.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog, and welcome inside my head. I wanted to start keeping a blog because I wanted to have a place I could share updates on what and how I’m doing here in Kansas City, in more detail than I would in an email update, so you can visit as often as you like, read as much as you like and share your thoughts and comments. I would also like to be able to share my thoughts, ideas and the things I’m learning here in Bible school. I’m hoping I can share things that are helpful, encouraging, instructive, etc, and to engage in a conversation that will build each other up and propel one another forward in the knowledge of God and devotion to Jesus, our great Bridegroom, King and Judge.
Blessings to you, and Welcome!
-Erin

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!