There are seven elements that make up Trinity Fellowship’s spiritual DNA. The Kingdom of God, knowing God as Father, and signs and wonders are a part of the seven. Without having a real understanding of the Kingdom and an experiential knowledge, along with a deep, intimate relationship with the Father, signs and wonders are not going to happen through us. That’s why the church needs to step up quickly to be a guide for the Kingdom of God instead of sitting on the sidelines and watching God move through other means to accomplish His will in the earth.

Show Notes:

• The worldwide church is way behind what God is doing now. That’s why church leaders must start listening to the Father and conveying that to their people.
• There are thousands of people coming to Christ presently, but most of the church is stuck in old traditions and religious ways, which is keeping people from a deeper walk with the Father. That’s why it’s so important that the message concerning the Kingdom of God—and real kingdom people with kingdom mindsets—come to the forefront to help guide and teach these new converts what it is to really have a true walk with the Father.

Quotes:

• “I’m more of a teacher than I am a preacher. I’m not trying to entertain here. I’m serious about the seven things that God has given for us to focus on. I’m not trying to grow a church, but I’m trying to develop a people.”
• “We’re going to start seeing a lot of these high-profile people—actors, even politicians—starting to get saved. A great example is Jelly Roll. Upon receiving a Grammy, he shared his whole testimony about Jesus, about God, and basically telling everybody that they can have all they want of Him.”
• “The Kingdom of God exists right now in its perfection and its fullness, but it doesn’t manifest in the natural realm until someone like you or me is obedient to what we believe God is doing.”

References:

Matthew 6:33

Takeaways:

God is moving very quickly in the earth, and the church has to step up fast, or God will find other ways to get His job accomplished.

Having a personal, interactive relationship with the Father and having a clean heart are both actually the first step. Matthew 7:7 tells us to knock and keep knocking, seek and keep seeking, ask and keep asking, and the door will be opened to you. That’s what you have to do to be efficient at anything. We, as believers, are hardwired for the super-natural. Just because your prayers for people and things don’t turn out like you think they ought to, don’t get discouraged. Keep doing it, keep trying and don’t stop doing it. How about going after something smaller than trying to raise someone from the dead right off the bat? In reality, signs, wonders and miracles are happening much more than we know, but we have to start looking with spiritual eyes to see them.

Show Notes:

• There are so many people who think that signs and wonders are just reserved for somebody else, someone who knows a lot more Bible, or someone more committed than them. What a misconception! We’re all created for signs, wonders and the supernatural, because we were created in the image of God.

• A lot of people go around wondering why, when they pray for someone with a terminal illness or something, most of them end up dying. Understandable! But you never know what might happen if you keep praying for these people. The Bible tells us to keep on knocking, asking and believing for it to happen.

• Sometimes it’s better to pray and not see immediate results. And, sometimes, you find out months after you did pray over someone, that a healing really did take place. Could God have been protecting you from pride at that time?

• One of the greatest signs and wonders is being able to communicate with the Father, and the ability to hear Him speak to us in so many different ways.

Quotes:

• There has to be signs, wonders and the supernatural acts and events for the world that we live in, to see the kingdom of God advanced to the degree that those kinds of things start to happen on the regular course of our day.

• I’ve seen too much supernatural stuff for someone to say that God’s not doing them today. I think God always wants to do it, but now more than ever. And I think we’re in a place, the church, the body of Christ now, where we’re going to see a lot more of that kind of stuff.

References:

Matthew 7:7

Takeaways:

As believers, we should never stop believing and praying for miracles to happen for people. If miracles and healing are two of the gifts of God’s spirit, we all should be contending and going after these things to start happening in our everyday life.

To be able to walk in this supernatural realm of signs, wonders and miracles, the first and foremost thing is to have an ongoing, close, intimate relationship with the Father, on a consistent basis. Everything we do, especially signs and wonders, stems from this. Second, God has given all of us the same portion of faith, but we all have to start using it and building it up for it to become effective. Start praying for impossible-looking situations and see how these things can start happening in situations that you get involved with.

Show Notes:

• God is eternal and if we are saved, we are also eternal. We have been prepared for good words. Isn’t it possible that those good works have already occurred in the eternal realm, and the Father is waiting for an obedient kingdom person to walk into that situation, and by faith, make it happen?

• So many believers, especially in the Bible Belt, have a mindset that only the ministry people do these kinds of things, so we have to break that mindset because we are all truly called to these things. We’re all hardwired to walk in the supernatural.

• It happens a lot where we pray for someone to be healed and it doesn’t happen. So, are we just supposed to stop because of that? God is testing us in the natural to see if He can trust us with the supernatural. If we don’t ask, and keep asking, for a healing or miracle, it certainly won’t happen.

• If you want to move in signs and wonders, just do it. Don’t think small. Cross the threshold and exercise your own faith. Activate your faith.

Quotes:

• We’ve been trying to train people around here for a long time, to ask big and to pray impossible-looking prayers.

• We are hardwired for signs, wonders, miracles and good works as kingdom people. I believe these should be happening all the time, and should be following us in the path of our life.

• Signs and wonders should have been escalating all this time, not tapering off. It’s religion that really tends to get in the way of this. Our God is a God of miracles, and He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

References:

Ephesians 2:10

Mark 16:17-18

Takeaways:

With us, when these seemly impossible situations come up, there’s no way that we feel adequate to tackle them. But then, the Father never wanted us to feel adequate. He wants us to know that we can only do all things in Him. It’s in our inadequacies and weakness that His strength and power can flow through us to pray for, heal, and see miracles come in other people’s lives.

There are several things that factor into walking in signs and wonders, which are some of the elements of Trinity’s Spiritual DNA. These are: The Kingdom of God, Relationship with the Father, Grace, Family & Relationships, and being equipping for the work of the ministry. God intended for all for us to move in signs and wonders, but we have to shake off our unbelief and reluctance in order start taking steps to seeing these things happen. The only thing that keeps us from moving in the supernatural is our own thinking.

Show Notes:

• One of the key factors in preventing signs and wonders from occurring is unbelief and hardness of heart. That’s why Jesus, after His resurrection, appeared to the 11 and rebuked them for not believing those who told them that He had risen.

• We are called to operate in the supernatural realm, not under our own power, but under the power of God, by the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

• Signs, wonders and miracles are not limited to someone who is healed of a deadly disease or raised from the dead. It could be something as simple as God working out an impossible looking situation in someone’s marriage, or with other relationships.

Quotes:

• In Mark 16:17 it says, “These signs will follow those who have believed”. The acid test is not whether you say you believe. The acid test is if you can look back last week, last month, last year, and see if there are signs and wonders in where you have been, because we are the people who carry those signs and wonders.

• As believers, we have been hardwired for signs and wonders. We’re made for the supernatural realm. Supernatural signs, wonders, and miracles are woven into the fabric of the creation story from the beginning, and were intended to be part of every Kingdom believer’s life forever.

References:

Matthew 22: 37-39

Ephesians 4:11-12

Mark 16: 14-18

Genesis 1:1

Takeaways:

Signs and wonders are happening every day, but we have to be looking with spiritual eyes to see them occurring. When you start talking about signs and wonders, so many people start thinking about the big occurrences, like people jumping up out of wheelchairs and things like that. Most of the time, it’s the little things that God is doing, that seem to go unnoticed by most.

Without a close, intimate relationship with the Father, where you and He are connecting and communicating together, your chances of walking in a ministry are next to none. With the help of the Holy Spirit, all of us should be desiring and walking in the anointing and gifts that God has given to us. All of us can, and should, be getting fed to go out and communicate the good news with everyone that the Lord leads us to connect with. Walking in a ministry is very simple if you drop the fear and intimidation of connecting with and touching people out of your heart and spirit.

Show Notes:

• Our main objective here at Trinity is not just to feed people, but to equip them to process the information, so that they are able to communicate it to the people they come in contact with. That way the word becomes perpetual. “Teach these things to faithful people, who will teach others also”.

• Ministry is so much more simple than people make it out to be. It can come at a restaurant with a friend, or out of the golf course, where something is brought up and you are able to talk from your position on what you have learned.

• The most important thing about doing ministry is having a close relationship with the Father, where you and He are connecting and communicating together.

• The five fold ministries talked about in Ephesians 4 are to be equipping the rest of the body for the work of the ministry. God didn’t establish them to “do all the doing”.

Quotes:

• People come to church with the main idea of getting fed, but to do nothing with it is a futile effort, in my opinion. They are not thinking about giving that away to somebody else.

• You are carrying more than you realize you are. And, you’re not going to realize how much you carry unless you’re in a situation, in real relationships, where this stuff comes out.

• Ministry is not something we do, ministry is someone that you are. All we’re doing is being able to tell our story, based on where we are in the Lord, and how we’ve grown up in the Lord.

• You’re called to the work of the ministry. That means putting one foot in front of the other. Keeping obedient to God, and listening to what God is saying to you. So, start to find out your place in the body by finding an area of need in your church and step in and start to helping out.

References:

Ephesians 4:1-16

Luke 15

2 Timothy 2:2

Takeaways:

God’s true church will never be what it is supposed to be until everyone in the body of Christ starts to wake up and starts walking in the anointing and gifts that God has already given to each of us. The Lord has given us all strengths in Him to walk out if we will just stop sitting around waiting for someone else to do it.

Being desperate for your time with the Lord, not just to hear his voice but to become aware of and rest in His presence, is the first step in being equipped for the work of the ministry. Your connection with the Father opens doors for you to pray for and encourage people. That’s what gives you the heart to touch people to see them freed up to have a real walk with the Lord.

Show Notes:

• When the Lord starts to bring people to you with similar problems which becomes a pattern, start pressing into the Father to see if you have a particular anointing to pray for people along those lines.

• As a male, when the Lord puts a burden on you to pray for a lady, if she is married, it’s a very good thing to ask her husband since he is the head of the household. Same thing holds true if you are led to pray for a child. Ask their parents first.

• We all can miss opportunities to pray with someone who has a need, and if that happens, it’s not a good feeling. But this does make us more aware when another opportunity does arise.

Quotes:

• The easiest entry level into ministry is when someone comes to you telling you their problems. One is they trust you and two, they’re really asking for help. All you have to do is be available and willing to listen and pray with them if they are open to that.

• Stepping out to minister to someone with an inconsequential issue can turn out to be a huge, huge thing in someone’s life. With a believing heart, when praying for someone say, “Let Your kingdom come, Your will be done, in this situation”. That’s the Kingdom of God at work.

• I’d rather be here right now than any other time because this generation has the incredible opportunity to see the Kingdom of God manifest like it’s never, ever manifested before, but it depends on you and you embracing the truth of God.

References:

Exodus 19:5-6

Deuteronomy 10: 12-13

1 Peter 2: 9

Takeaways:

Ministering to God’s people is something that we should be driven to do rather than being something to shy away from. We should be pressing into being equipped to minister so that we can be a huge force in many, many lives, in God.

Jesus bumped heads with religious tradition every day of His earthly life. He came almost begging people to drop their traditions so that they could see Him for who He really was, but they couldn’t do it, especially the religious leaders of that day. The same traditions that held people back then are holding people back now from what God wants to do and accomplish in their lives. This is why the five-fold ministries, mentioned in Ephesians 4:11, are so important, to help pull people out of the traditional church age and into a true walk with God, where everyone is encouraged to have a personal walk with the Father and to do His will.

Show Notes:

• Abraham lived in a pagan nation and God appeared to Him and told him to get out of his country, from his family, and from his father’s house. Abraham believed God and was reckoned righteous and he went out, not knowing where he was going. Abraham only knew that he had to follow the Father on where to go and what to do.

• Church traditions are not necessarily bad, but if those traditions are keeping you from your true spiritual identity and who you are supposed to be in God, they are not just bad, but are the most evil thing there is.

• The only truths that you can definitely stand on are that Jesus was born of a virgin, He was the son of God, He lived a sinless life, He died on the cross, and He arose from the grave. All other beliefs are going to be continually changing and evolving.

Quotes:

• For the most part, every church is preaching on the facets of their statement of faith. Most of the time, it’s a salvation message and it’s not really geared to equip people to do the work of the ministry.

• The greatest opponents of the moving of God are the people that God moved in the generation before, because it was so good. They saw the life of God moving in that, but they won’t let go of those things for what God wants to do next.

References:

Ephesians 4:11-14

Mark 7:13

Takeaways:

Jesus ached over the people who couldn’t see Him for who He really was, and especially for the religious leaders. They were not only refusing to see Him, but they were also holding back all of their people from seeing who He was. The same is happening today, because of the religious traditions that people are caught up in.

Everyone comes to church to get fed in some way, but we aren’t supposed to get fed and do nothing with it. We should go to church to get fed and equipped to take that word out and engage in ministry to others. God has a ministry for all of us to engage in, not just a few who have some title. It’s old Bible Belt thinking that says God raised up just a few who are supposed to do all of the ministry.

Show Notes:

• The whole concept of equipping people for the work of the ministry has been left to the wayside in many church circles, especially in the Bible Belt, because we have this mentality that the guy who is up front is the one to do all the ministry.

• Coming to church is like taking a time-out in a basketball game. There, the coach (church leader) equips you to go back on the floor and play the game. The church is not the end game, but its the place we go to get instructed on how to go out into the world and play the game.

• Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers were given to equip us for the ministry, not for them to do it all.

• Your profession can either be a job to you, or it can be your ministry. It’s not all the money you can make, but it should be about all the people you can touch.

• God’s real plan for all of us is not to have some title, but to get out and be all you can be to the whole body of Christ. Titles are way over-rated.

Quotes:

• When we get people to break through in their thinking about ministry, then the church really takes on a whole life of its own, and people start to find their place, their gifting, and their anointing.

• To find out if you have that kind of anointing on you, it’s just to keep walking out your call day by day, spending time with the Father and paying attention to the open doors that God gives you to go through.

• To find your calling, it’s just by obedience, faith and consistency in walking this life out with the Lord.

References:

Ephesians 4:11-14

Takeaways:

It’s not for just a few people with titles to go out and do all the ministry. God’s plan is for all of us to be equipped in our calling to go out and be a blessing to the body of Christ and the world, with the anointing that He has given us.

Do you want a church where everyone remains an infant in the Lord, not mature enough or prepared to be a real asset in God’s Kingdom? Equipping the saints for the work of the ministry should be the focus of every church, to help their people grow out of infancy and into maturity in their spirits. For the many churches that don’t emphasize this principle, their people are held back from becoming what God wants them to be. The final result is a church full of immature people who expect their pastor and a few others to do all the teaching and ministering.

Show Notes:

• The church cannot and will not be the true church until leaders and the rank and file of the whole body of Christ embrace the truth that all Christians should start being equipped for the work of the ministry.

• In the church age Bible Belt, Christians are held back because of the concept that the pastor and a few others are supposed to do all the ministry.

• So many people run from the word “ministry” because they think they have to get up in front of people and do all the talking. Wrong concept!

• God gave some as apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. These ministries are given as gifts to the church. It takes all five of these foundational ministries working together to properly set a church in order and mature the people. Without all of these ministries working together, the body of Christ will never be able to attain to the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God.

Quotes:

• Equipping the saints should be a part of the basic, fundamental DNA of every church. That’s how strong I feel about equipping the saints.

• Paul went to great lengths to talk about the physical body, comparing it to the spirit, the body of Christ. Everyone of us have a different gift set. We have gifts, talents, and anointing, so it’s been a high priority of mine all of these years to help people to open their minds and understand that they have a calling.

References:

Ephesians 4:11-14

Takeaways:

Most of the Christian world has been held back from becoming mature believers because of a lack of understanding and teaching concerning equipping and preparing the saints to step up and minister to those who God wants blessed.

Andy Taylor is the author of two books: “Reading Your Bible for All Its Worth”, and “The Best Kept Secrets in the Kingdom”. Andy writes in a way that is simple to understand and is written for the common person. With short chapters, which makes for an easy read, both books are phenomenal, first in how fun and easy it is to start reading the Bible, and opening your heart and mind concerning what the Kingdom of God really is, and how to start moving in it.

Show Notes:

• The book, “Reading Your Bible for All Its Worth”, gives many tips to help you to find how fun and easy it is to start reading your Bible without making it a religious chore.

• The book, “The Best Kept Secrets in the Kingdom”, was written to equip everyone for the work of the ministry. It is not exhaustive in nature, but it helps our understanding of subjects like church, the gifts of the Spirit, church government, and true worship along with 16 more chapters, all of which get people into the flow of what God is doing right now.

• “Reading Your Bible for All Its Worth” was written after discovering that between 75% to 90% of all Christians don’t read their Bibles on a consistent basis, which was confirmed by many of Andy’s ministry colleagues and friends.

• Andy wrote these books using language that all people can understand. The books are both geared for the common person, especially those who have a hard time reading and enjoying what they read.

Quotes:

• It’s been an observation of mine down through the years that people are not readers like they used to be, especially men. Men are not readers.

• I wanted to gear it toward people who don’t read. So, every chapter is two to three pages in length.

• What we wanted to do was create and foster people loving the Word of God.

• Most people are waiting for somebody like me or another leader to do all their spiritual thinking for them.

Takeaways:

Both of Andy’s books are full of real kingdom tips that you can use in your everyday life. These tips are simple to understand and are very encouraging, especially for people who have a hard time reading and enjoying what they are reading.

Our prayer time with the Father should always be two-sided. There’s a time to talk with Him, to petition Him with certain things, but there’s also spending some quiet time where you give the Father a chance to talk and commune with you. That’s why it’s so important to go to the Father with much gratitude, and with no agenda.

Show Notes:

• With all that’s happening in the world today, there’s no way not to get discouraged without having a close relationship with the Father and spending time with Him. Spending quiet time with Him with much gratitude and with no agenda opens the door for God to love, encourage and speak to you.

• There is never any contradiction between what God speaks to you and what you read in the written word (Bible). He can’t do that. That’s why is so important to have a firm foundation in the written word, and being persistent in spending time reading it.

• Any conversation should never be just one-sided. If all you do is go to God with all your wants and petitions, how will He ever be able to speak back to you, if you don’t take part of your prayer time just to be thankful and listen for Him to speak back to you?

• Just like Jesus, when He would go to the mountain to be with the Father, we can do the same thing. Quietly sitting with Him, sometimes without a word said, you can let go of bad feelings and at the same time take on the Father’s love, compassion and be able to hear Him speak back to you. That’s how this no-agenda thing can work for you.

Quotes:

• Make your spiritual life a priority. It’s about renewing your mind according to the Word of God- the written word of God (Bible), and then the word that God is speaking now. It’s a combination of the two.

• Over the last two or three years, I have found it really most important in my life and in my relationship with the Father, is to just be quiet and enjoy the presence of the Lord. It’s not hard to do, but it takes time, some discipline, and it takes some learning- mostly how to deal with distractions.

• Using the “CALM app” has been one of the most productive things I’ve done over the last few years. It has helped and taught me how to get in the moment.

• The key is to be so in tune with the spirit that you are walking in step, in fellowship with the Lord, where you are in union with Him.

References:

Philippians 4:6

Takeaways:

Your gratitude to the Father opens the door for Him to speak to you and commune with you on deeper levels. When you go to Him in gratitude, not asking for anything, there’s no way He’s not going to bring you into a closer relationship and union with Him.

As God’s people, we should all be hearing God’s voice, and not just a select few. God wants to speak to all of us. You can develop a sense of hearing Him on the run, but it is much better if you take the time to sit down, quiet your spirit, eliminate the distractions, and just listen for Him to speak to you. Even more important than that is to just learn how to enjoy God’s presence through all of this. If you make this a priority, God will start to talk to you in some way.

Show Notes

• Learning God’s voice is not for a select few leaders of the church. It’s for all of us to be able to hear Him, whether it be by an audible voice, a small still voice, or so many other ways that He can, and does, speak to us.

• There were many times when Jesus would sneak away to be with the Father. He took the time to be in God’s presence

• When I’m sitting quietly with the Lord, sometimes I hear Him and sometimes I don’t, but the real prize is the presence of the Lord, and just learning to enjoy Him.

• When faced with a situation of some sort, if you are the kingdom person in the picture, take that to the Father and see what He tells you about it before you proceed. When you feel that you have something from the Lord, don’t be afraid to step into it. We all miss at times, but let’s not miss by playing it safe and doing nothing about it.

Quotes:

• God is still speaking. When I say, “Well, I heard God”, people automatically think that I heard this big, booming voice from heaven. I’ve never heard Him that way, but I believe that there’s a steady flow of information coming from the throne of God in our direction all the time, and God wants to speak to us.

• You can hear God on the run, but there’s just something different, more profound, and better about sitting down, taking the time, learning to push out the distractions, and just make it a point to be quiet before the Father.

• There’s a general mentality in the whole body of Christ that God uses the preacher, pastor or leader to speak to them. And, most people are waiting for someone else to tell them what God’s saying to them. What a misconception!

References:

John 10:27

Takeaways:

God desperately wants to be with us and to speak to us. Our relationship with Him means everything to Him. If you will just be willing to take to time to spend with Him, it won’t be long before He starts to speak to you in some way.

The greatest thing you can ever do is to get into a place where you can truly feel and enjoy God’s presence. The problem is that we seldom can get there, because of the effort and time that it takes and the ability to get past the distractions that try to get you off track. God is always speaking, but we have to make it a real priority to get to the place where we can hear Him.

Show Notes

• You must make it a priority to be able to listen and hear God speaking. He is always speaking, but if it’s not a priority for you, you will never hear Him. This takes effort on your part.

• Time is the number one thing. This is the hardest part, and is the thing that people tend to neglect the most. You have to give this time, in order to feel Him close.

• If all you are doing is taking these quiet times to hear Him in some way, you could be missing the point. The payoff is not what you hear or get from God, the payoff is His presence.

• One of the biggest things you face is distractions.

• The C.A.L.M app is a great way to get into Godly meditation and how to still your mind. Using this app is a great way to get into the moment and learn how to savor the moments with Him.

Quotes:

• If I take the time where I’m not on the run and just get alone and learn how to deal with distractions, I find God to be in a really talkative mood.

• I think the first thing you have to do is not overload yourself at the start. Just take five minutes. If you give yourself to 5 minutes at first, it won’t be long until you’re doing 10, and it won’t be long before it’s 20 minutes.

• The hardest thing for people to get over is just to get still.

References:

Matthew 4:4

Deuteronomy 8:3

Psalms 46:10

Takeaways:

Practicing God’s presence can be challenging, because of the time and effort that it takes. But, what could be more rewarding and uplifting than to actually spend time with Him in His presence, talking with Him, and enjoying everything He is and wants to give us?

Recently the Lord gave Andy Taylor a prophecy, not only for Trinity Fellowship, but for the whole kingdom. It came the first week of November, right after the election. The Lord told him that this is a time of unparalleled favor, but not a time to relax. This is a time to take advantage of the favor of the Lord, and the test for us as Kingdom people is to keep the focus and redeem the time. If it is in your heart, do it!

Show Notes

• The only way for things to really change is for us in this nation and for the kingdom is, as kingdom people, to walk out 2 Chronicles 7:14; to humble ourselves, pray, and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways.

• We have to be wise as kingdom people to recognized that we are in a time where people are calling good evil and evil good, and that we are experiencing a battle between light and dark.

• The favor that Andy is talking about is based on our cooperation with God in what He’s trying to do, and what He wants to accomplish.

Quotes:

• When you hear something from Him, you may just think that’s the Lord, and then you add your faith to that. But sometimes, it’s so clear that you just know. If you lean into that, keep your heart open and give that some time to let it marinate, the Lord will keep adding to that a lot of times.

• If we can turn to God and let Him do what He wants to do, He’s going to turn this nation around.

• The smartest thing someone can do is to just open the doors of your heart and say, “Lord, have at it”. If we’ll keep on listening and pursuing the truth, He’s going to fix our hearts.

References:

2 Chronicles 7:14

Isaiah 5:20

Revelation 3:20

Takeaways:

It’s not a time to relax in your seeking after the Father. God is giving us a time of favor, to take advantage in this season to grow, mature and become more like the Lord. This takes our cooperation with Him, and a drive to allow Him to work His perfect will in our lives.

There are many people who think that God no longer speaks or communicates to His people. That is not true. There is nothing in the scriptures that tells us that He no longer talks to us. As our heavenly Father, He wants desperately to talk to us. The biggest challenge for us is to actually take the time to get quiet, get past the distractions, and listen for Him to speak to us. He communicates to us though the elements, through numbers, through colors, and a multitude of other ways. One of the most prominent ways is through a still, small voice.

Show Notes

• God still speaks to us, and we have to know that there’s a balance in the way God does speak. He speaks through the written word (The Bible), and He also speaks through a still, small voice, or through any of His many other ways.

• It’s important, when you think you’ve heard Him speak to you, not to assume you understand all of it. You must keep the “ends open,” because what you heard in the beginning can unfold in a much greater way if you give it a little time. So don’t jump the gun and get in a hurry.

• It’s one thing to hear Him while you are on the run, but a much better way is to find a quiet place, sit down with no agenda, and truly listen for Him to speak to you. Just enjoy His presence and listen for Him to speak to you in some way.

• If you think you have something from God for someone, don’t be afraid that you might miss. We all miss sometimes. And if you miss, let it be on the long side, meaning that you put a lot of faith into it. If you heart is correct, you aren’t going to miss as much as you think you will.

• When taking the time to sit quietly before the Lord, learn how to deal with the distractions. Quiet things down and get in the moment.

Quotes:

• The reality is that God still does speak, “My sheep know Me, and they hear My voice”. God is a Father and we are His hand-picked kids. And, fathers want to speak to their kids.

• He can speak through the elements, through numbers, animals, colors and even audibly on rare occasions. But my favorite is the still, small voice. That’s the voice that you hear, but you don’t hear. It’s like in your thoughts. It really kind of comes across like, “I think that’s the Lord”. Sometimes it’s clear and concise but more often than not, you’re not going to really know if it’s God until you add your faith to it and walk it out.

• We need to take the time and make it a priority to listen to the Lord. And if you will jot those things down, He tends to keep adding to that.

• A prophetic word can really set the course of someone’s life. When you do receive something for someone, many times it validates something to that person that has been in their thoughts, that God has been dealing with them about that they weren’t sure if it was God or not.

• If you are faithful in a little, God will bless you with more. I just want to encourage people to put that to the test.

References:

John 10:27

Matthew 9:29

Takeaways:

He is a true Father and does all that He can do to speak and communicate with us. We just have to be willing to hear Him and truly take the time and listen for what He wants to speak to us.

This controversy over grace needs to change. Without a real experience with grace, it’s very hard to grasp the depth of love that our Father has for us. We don’t have to work for it, or do anything to earn it. Just as the Bible says that God is love, God is also grace, a depth of which goes beyond words.

Show Notes:

• It’s easy to be on opposite sides, yelling about how “they” are wrong, which has been happening in the Body of Christ too long. Until these two opposing sides can come to the table, discuss and be open to one another, not much is going to change.

• There is a lack of understanding about Grace, because there are so many Christians who think that Grace and the law should go together. These two elements don’t mix. In most cases, those teaching a mixture of law and grace aren’t teaching grace at all.

• Critics argue that cheap grace implies receiving God’s forgiveness without a corresponding transformation in our thoughts, our attitudes, and our morals. They have a point, if those who call themselves grace people are not changing and becoming what God whats them to be.

• True grace brings discipleship and a drive to follow Jesus, even at great personal cost. It gives those walking in it a consciousness of sin and of the consequences that can occur. It promotes repentance and living in a moral and ethical way. True grace should make you want to walk, think and act differently.

• You can’t truly teach something that you have not experienced. For those who teach and preach out of what they think they know, without a corresponding experience, they are producing that same lack of understanding and experience to all who you speak to. Don’t contaminate others with a wrong heart.

Quotes:

• Grace is God’s supernatural ability to do everything and anything needed in your life to help you be like Jesus, and to perfectly live out the life He has purposed for you.

• A proper understanding of grace always leads to less sin, never more.

• I get asked if we have to repent for every sin. I would say “no,” because I can show you scripture after scripture where it says that you have been washed, sanctified, justified and forgiven. We have already been forgiven. But if you still believe that you have to ask for forgiveness, go ahead.

• Your understanding of grace is a gift to be treasured and stewarded with wisdom and maturity. It’s not something you’ve earned or even deserved.

• You teach what you know, but you impart who you are.

Takeaways:

God’s grace goes way beyond anything we can understand up to this point. The grace of God is what keeps us alive, and gives us a heart beat and brain wave. It fact, it the very essence of our existence.

There are many Christians who question true grace, because they think there is not enough restraint to keep “grace people” from going off the rails. Actually, it works just the oppositely. When you have a real experience with God’s grace, you want to start doing the things that please the Father. If you experience grace like the prodigal son did, you won’t want to go out and sin more, you will sin much less.

Show Notes:

• In the prodigal son story, the father probably knew that his son would return at some point. He could have had a list of things to be angry at him about, but instead, seeing him from far off, ran to him and accepted him back with no questions. That is the true picture of God’s grace.

• In this story, Jesus used every example of things that went against Jewish tradition. That’s because the Jews lived so much by the law, Jesus used this story to push all of their buttons, and tried to show them what true grace really is.

Quotes:

• Grace is one of those essential characteristics of the nature of God. You can’t separate God from grace because it’s not just something He does or has, it’s Who He is.

• The discipline that we receive from the Father is also an example of His grace. The chastening of the Lord is God loving us like sons, because that’s how He wants us to relate to Him. If He’s Father, then we’re sons.

• The highest form of life that we can possibly live is a delicate balance between liberty and responsibility. As sons of God, we have a responsibility not to get too far over into the ditch of liberty.

• We’re not under the law, but when they say you can just go out there and do anything that you want to do, you actually can. There is forgiveness, but at the same time, there are consequences for that. The Father will discipline us for those things, not for our harm, but for our good. That is grace.

References:

Luke 15:11

Takeaways:

The discipline of the Lord is not for punishment for our wrong doings. It’s God’s tremendous love and grace to help us mature into true son ship. God wants genuine sons and daughters to relate to, not immature Christians who don’t have an understanding of what His grace is all about.

Grace is a subject where quite a bit of controversy can exist. This podcast helps to bring clarity concerning this subject. Those people who oppose grace think that grace people use their liberty to go out and do what they want. If you really start experiencing grace, and come into a revelation of true grace, you will start sinning less, never more. That’s because with true grace comes a love and acceptance from the Father, which makes you want stay close to Him, where sin separates you from Him.

Show Notes:

• Most people’s definition of grace is “God’s unearned, unmerited favor”, but every time you really experience grace, your definition seems to change. It starts to become much deeper for you.

• There are some that are yelling “cheap grace”, and others who are saying that it is all about grace. What we need to do is sit down at the table together and communicate, and have some productive dialog about it. That would be so much better than making accusations back and forth. This controversy needs to be settled.

• One thing is for sure; those preaching a mixture of law and grace are not really preaching grace at all, because law and grace don’t mix. It’s like trying to mix oil and water.

Quotes:

• Grace is actually sustaining us at this very second. It’s keeping us alive. It’s holding us up. It’s that simple, but it’s extremely complex at the same time.

• Grace must be experienced before you can even start to understand it.

• The argument is not among the saved and the lost. It’s among the saved and the saved, and among the people who are proponents of grace and others who believe that grace is being misused and miss-communicated.

• God forgives us of all our sins, but with sin comes consequences. God loves you too much to not discipline you over those things.

References:

Matthew 6:9-13

Matthew 6:33

Romans 6:23

Takeaways:

People who have really, truly experienced God’s grace are much less prone to go out and sin, contrary to the opinions of so many Christians who feel differently about it. True grace draws you closer to the Father and helps you to have a close relationship with Him, where you don’t want to sin or offend Him in any way.

Grace is God’s supernatural ability to do everything or anything in your life that needs to be done, to help you be like Jesus and to perfectly live out the life He has purposed for you. There’s no way to earn God’s grace. Grace is a gift from Him. All we have to do is receive it and cooperate with Him, to become all that He wants for us. God is the potter, and we are the clay. All we have to do is allow Him to shape us and mold us into what He wants us to be.

Show Notes:

• The old covenant was governed by law. But when Jesus came and shed His blood for us, He created a new covenant, which is governed by grace.

• So many have been taught that they have to work their way into the favor of God. That’s not grace at all. Christ’s blood has already washed us, sanctified us and justified us. He has already done it for us. You don’t have to work your way into, or earn God’s favor. All we really have to do is just cooperate with Him.

• If you have a thorn in your flesh, like Paul had in his, would you rather have God fix it on the spot, or with the grace of God, would you endure that thorn to see another side of God that you couldn’t have seen had you not gone through the trial that you went through? And, to see another side of yourself that you would have never seen before? For most people that have had to go through one of these trials, they would choose to endure, to have what they gained through it.

Quotes:

• Grace must be experienced before you can even start the process of understanding it.

• It’s the grace of God that sustains us, our entire life and existence.

• Everything that needs to be done, God has done it for us. When you start to get a revelation of that, God begins to show us and open our eyes, our spirit and soul to those things.

• Most people in the Bible Belt, on any given Sunday, are hearing a mixture of law and grace. What I say is, if you’re preaching or teaching a mixture of law and grace, you’re not preaching grace at all.

References:

II Corinthians 12:9

Takeaways:

God’s grace is truly sufficient for us, and without it, there is no way we can be shaped or molded into what He wants for us. Trusting in God and receiving His grace, like Paul did, works something in us that we could never come into any other way.

Grace is such a vast subject that no one can really get a hold of it. More than anything, it is the Goodness of God. By grace, Jesus shed His blood for our sins- past, present and future, so that we can have a relationship to the Father, just like He does . That doesn’t mean that our sins go unchecked- there are still consequences to our actions, but grace covers them so that we can still relate freely to our Father.

One of the greatest risks for all of us is the sin of pride. For anyone who is “going after it”, pride will be an issue at some point, so we need to try to keep one another “in check.”

Show Notes:

• Paul went back to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles and teachers concerning the Gentiles having to keep the law of Moses. It was determined by all that they weren’t required to keep it, and did not have to live under the restriction of it. But the Judaizers in Corinth were trying to get the Gentiles to submit to the law.

• Paul told the Galatians to “stand fast in your liberty” and not get entangled in a yoke of dead, legalistic, rules-oriented religion, because that wasn’t what it was about anymore. It’s about having a relationship with the Father, through Jesus.

• Especially in the Bible Belt, people still think, “I have to go to church, or I’m not right with God. I have to pray a lot or I’m not right with God”. That is not how the Father thinks.

• Paul had a right to brag and boast about what God had shown him. So, to keep him from slipping into pride, the Father gave him a thorn in the flesh to buffet him. That’s grace. Pride is coming to all of us if we don’t keep an eye on it.

Quotes:

• I have experienced a lot of grace, but it’s such a vast subject that you never really feel like you have a handle on how good and how deep this subject of grace really is.

• The old covenant was the 10 commandments, and then they added over 600 more laws. These laws help people about how to deal with their neighbors, how to deal with people and even not to eat. They covered just about everything.

• The new covenant took the place of the old covenant. The new covenant is a covenant of grace, and before Jesus shed His blood, He kept all the facets of the law, because you and I couldn’t do it.

• Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin. He took on all the sin that would ever be committed before, during and after Jesus, so that we could become the righteousness of God in Christ. He took on Himself what we had coming, and in turn, we got what He had coming; grace, life, favor, blessing, relationship with God, all of that. This is what I call the Divine Swap.

References:

Galatians 5:1

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Takeaways:

Grace doesn’t give us a license to go out and do whatever we want to do. Consequences could follow. Grace gives us the liberty and ability to become Christ-like in everything we do. Grace is what gives us life, favor, blessings, and a relationship with the Father. It simply transforms us so that we can all say, “When I am weak, then I am strong”.

Most Christians feel like God gives grace to them mainly when they are in trouble. In truth, grace is always available to us, but it doesn’t always come in just to bail us out of negative circumstances. The true purpose of grace is to help grow us into mature sons and daughters of God.

Show Notes:

• Grace is there for you. It’s there in every situation in your life, whether you are going through a bad situation, or if you are going through some very good times.

• Most Christians have the concept that grace is for our hard times, to make things better. What about the times He shows you grace by seemingly making your situation worse? That’s what Paul experienced when Jesus struck him with blindness on the road. God used Paul’s blindness to change him from being a law man into the greatest proponent of grace in all the Bible.

• To makes things worse, God gave Paul a thorn in the flesh to buffet him, and help him not to get proud because of all that God had shown him. Believe it or not, that’s real grace.

• If you are being taught a mixture of law and grace, you aren’t being taught grace at all. Law and grace are like oil and water. They don’t mix.

• If God had fixed Paul’s problem right away, we might never have had the depth of message on grace that we now have, or the relationship with God that is available to us.

Quotes:

• For those who have never actually experienced grace personally, it’s an easy word to define. But for those of us who have received a lot of it, we’re still looking for the words that can adequately explain it to someone else.

• Which is the greatest manifestation of grace? The guy who prays and gets healed immediately, or the guy who is like Paul, who prayed three times and went through, maybe for the rest of his life, and never got healed or fixed from his problem, but endured and experienced a deeper level of relationship with the Father, which showed him another side of God.

References:

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Takeaways:

Grace, in spite of what most Christians feel that it is, can be the most transformative thing that God could ever do with you. It can become a profound treasure of a deep relationship with the Father, brought on only by Him taking us through things that take out the impurities in our nature, so that He can use us as we have been destined to be used by Him. When Grace has produced it’s fruit, the power, favor and presence of God will be able to come through in its fullness. Let’s all open up to the Grace of God, as Paul did.

As Christians, we can learn all about the ins and outs of ministering to people, but until we get past our fears and break through the resistance (the threshold) in our own heart, little is going to happen through us. We don’t have to be professionals to reach out and care for, or pray for, someone who has a need. It’s just Bible Belt thinking that makes you feel unqualified or unworthy to do this. People out there need what we have to offer, so let’s not deny them the blessing and prayer that they really need, and are crying out for.

Show Notes:

• The five fold ministry- apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, were raised up to prepare the body for the work of the ministry. These ministries weren’t raised up to do all the ministry, but their job is to prepare the saints to do the ministry, which is contrary to a lot of Christian thinking.

• The fear of doing ministry and praying for people is what keeps the majority of us from getting in and giving it a try.

• If you can get past the threshold of caring for or praying for someone who has a situation, you might discover that a lot of people are very blessed, just because of the fact that you cared enough to pray with them, whether they got healed or not. Most just need a touch, more than anything.

• When you take the time to care for and pray for someone concerning a situation, you never know for sure what God will do for them, but the connection that you make with them will continue, and you might feel to keep praying for them now and then. That’s how God tends to do it.

• Most people can easily spot a religious phony and will tend to shy away from them, but if your approach is genuine and caring, hardly anyone will turn down a word of encouragement or a prayer for healing.

Quotes:

• The main qualification is if you’re available and allow the Lord to use you, and you are sensitive to the Spirit of God, so when those opportunities arise, then you just go through, and that’s the threshold I’m talking about. We have tried to take away the mystique from that a lot, so the people are not afraid to do that.

• I think the prayers that God loves and maybe honors the most is, “God, help”. “I may not even know how to pray for this guy, but God, I just know that you can fix this. I just believe God can heal you”.

References:

Ephesians 4:11

Takeaways:

It takes courage to get over the fear of encouraging and praying for people who really need a touch. It’s not our pastors’ job to do all of this, but it’s our responsibility to walk through the open doors that God creates, to bless and pray for people who really need a touch from the Lord.

It’s amazing how many good Christians have a fear or apprehension when it comes to being lead by the Holy Spirit to pray for and encourage someonewho has a real need. A lot of the reason is because there aren’t more people who are willing to be equipped to do this. They feel that its up to the pastor or a few others who are supposed to do the ministry. You, as an individual, will never grow or become what God wants you to be if you aren’t willing to step out in faith and embrace this thing of being equipped for the work of the ministry.

Show Notes:

• It’s so easy for people, especially if they have been raised in the Bible Belt, to think that it’s only reserved for a very few to actually do the ministry and pray over people. It can be very foreign to their thinking.

• So many think that being equipped for the ministry means that you have to get up in front of people and preach, or lead in some way. That’s not what we are talking about. What we are talking about is just having a confidence to pray over someone, and believe with them when a need arises.

• If you will just try it a time or two, you will start to feel less fear and apprehension, and that’s where the excitement of this starts to come. Don't be overconfident, but humbly approach it, believing that God can, and will, fix it.

• Wouldn’t be nice if there were 20, 30, or more people who have been equipped, who you could call of you have a need, rather than always calling the pastor or two or three others employed by the church who normally do the ministry? That could easily happen if there were those open to being equipped to pray with and encourage the people.

Quotes:

• 99% of the time there hasn’t been this mindset or this concept of being equipped for the work of the ministry, and if people won't buy into it, it becomes not just the fear of it, but it becomes an apprehension. They feel like, “You know what? Now I know that’s probably something I should do, but I’m just not sure how to get going in it”.

• It’s finding your identity and your place in the body of Christ, and allowing God to use you like He wants to use you. If you will embrace this truth, God will start to give you opportunities. So, heads up, pay attention to the Holy Spirit in these situations.

• One of the easiest ways to determine if it’s God or not is if someone comes to you, telling you their problems. They have some level of trust with you, and they are asking for help.

References:

Ephesians 4:11

Takeaways:

People who have grown up in the Bible Belt, especially, find it very hard to grasp the concept that they could be a part of the ministry, even though they aren’t a pastor or an elder. Actually, being equipped for the ministry should be in everyone’s heart, and not for just a few. If there were many people who were equipped and trained to be a part of the ministry, think about how many needs could be met without having to go to a pastor for every little problem that we encounter.

Honoring God in all situations that we face can bring such a simplicity to our lives. It’s a human, natural trait to make anything we face complicated and hard to understand. But, by honoring the Father, we start to find how simple and uncomplicated He really is, and how much He wants to move through us to do the supernatural without us getting complex or prideful in any way.

Show Notes:

• Why do people want to make things so complicated, especially in the things of the Lord? Jesus told us all to be as little children. Children have a way of just trusting, which makes things work for them.

• If Jesus was simple and practical in they way He taught, why do we, as humans, take that and try to make it so complex that neither you or anyone else can walk it out?

• We are starting to learn, here at Trinity, after seeing well over 100 real miracles in the last 35 years, to honor God in every situation, and give Him all the credit.

Quotes:

• I’m noticing about my relationship with the Lord and my time with the Father that the things that God is teaching me are not complex, but they are really, really simple, basic spiritual principles.

• Jesus taught in such a way that someone who had absolutely no spiritual orientation whatsoever could get the truth. They couldn’t miss the truth. It was that simple.

• I believe that is a gift that God has given me, to take some of these complex scriptural issues and make them simple, where everybody can understand it. So, I'm going to roll with it.

• My teachings are for the regular guy. I could go in and pick out a message that only 10% of the real Bible hounds in church are going to be able to grasp and understand, but I don’t see any really good reason for doing that, when you have 80% of the people who are regular people, like me and you.

• God is testing us in the natural to see if He can trust us with the supernatural. There’s nothing complicated about it. It’s a simple, simple principle.

• Any compliments or praises that you might get after praying for a healing and it happens, you should deflect those straight toward the Father, which helps you from getting prideful in some way.

References:

Matthew 16:18

Takeaways:

Don’t make it complicated. Honor God in everything that you do and experience, and give Him the credit for all that happens through you and around you. God is testing us in the natural, to see if He can trust us with the supernatural.

We as Christians are used to doing the same things that have been done for many generations. However, the Lord is beginning to show Himself in new, unorthodox ways in this day. A great example happened at a Monday night football game when Damar Hamlin just dropped to the ground after a play. The report said that he died on the field but through the prayers of millions of people watching that night, he was brought back to life. The Lord wants us to not be afraid to pray and encourage people who reach out for our help. God never intended for a few in each church to do all the ministry. It’s the responsibility of everyone of us to help those who God puts in our paths.

Show Notes:

• Start to look for God to do things in an unorthodox way. One of Jesus’s healings happened when He spit in the dirt to make mud to rub in a blind man’s eyes. Then He told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam, and when he did, his sight was restored.

• Please never be pushy in your desire to pray for someone. If you feel led to approach someone to pray for them, use spiritual etiquette by simply asking them if you can pray for them. That takes the push out of it. If they decline, back off in love.

• If someone shares a problem with you that they are having, one, it shows that they trust you, and two, they are usually asking you for help. That’s an opportune time to offer to pray for them or just speak a word of encouragement to them in love. Show them you care and are concerned for them.

• When praying for someone, laying hands on their head can make a difference. There is an impartation and a transference that can happen spiritually for them.

Quotes:

• There’s no substitute for being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. You can do it. If you’re listening, you can do it.

• I think in the Bible Belt, people get so used to go on doing the same thing and going through the same motions all the time. It takes away the need to hear the Holy Spirit, which really doesn’t work long term at all.

• I’m beside myself in the things that I’m seeing God do. If you’re listening, He’s doing those things around you. But start paying attention to what God is doing in these situations. When we see God doing things, we honor Him in that.

• Go to the Father with no agenda and let Him speak to you, or not, and enjoy His presence if nothing else. It’s not getting more complicated. It’s getting so simple that people have a tendency to just blow it off.

• Don’t be tempted to blow this stuff off. God is trying to teach us to pay attention. We’re going to see this stuff more as we work it out and practice it in our lives.

• This generation has a chance to see the greatest display of signs, wonders and miracles out of a relationship with the Father. The opportunities now are greater than they’ve ever been.

References:

John 9:1-7

Takeaways:

As Christians, let’s wake up and start paying attention to what God wants to do in us and through us. Let’s stop backing off of ministering to people because of the Bible Belt mindset, that only a few are qualified and should be doing all of the blessing and ministry. God is calling all of us to step it up and be a part of all that He wants to do in this time.

The church will never be the church, which is us, until we, as God’s people, start connecting with the Father and start maturing in Him. That means opening up to the leading of the Holy Spirit to bless people, whether it’s an encouragement for someone to receive the Lord into their heart, or praying with and lifting up someone who comes to you for help. You don’t have to be some high-powered ministry to do this. All it takes is love and the help of the Holy Spirit for you to help God’s people to be all they can be in the Father.

Show Notes:

• It’s so important to get people to look at the little everyday things that they go through, and see where they can see God moving, because He’s trying to set us up for something much greater, depending on how good of a steward we have been with what He has already given us.

• When talking to someone, we should never try to push any conversation around to Jesus. Ministry usually opens up when someone seeks you out to tell you their problem or the concerns that they are having. They are trusting you enough to talk about it, which is a great sign that they are asking for help.

• When these situations with people start happening to you, it’s because God has been working His heart in you to respond. As we are faithful in these things, the Father starts to give you more opportunities to bless and help people.

Quotes:

• When you start to see those signs and honor God in those situations, He test you in the natural to see if He can trust you with the supernatural gifts. 

• God tests us all the time, just in the natural course of life. When we start to get more aware of the kingdom and more aware of what God’s doing, we notice those things more.

• If God has your heart, He can get your feet where they belong. God is sovereign in that there are things in front of us that He wants us to respond to in a kingdom way.

• When you are in the right place with the Lord, ministry comes to you.

• The Father made all of this stuff where it’s simple. If we just do it, it always works. It works every time.

• You are not going to get proficient in ministry unless you do a little of it.

• I’d rather miss by doing something, than miss by just playing it safe all the time.

References:

2 Timothy 4:2

Takeaways:

We will never be effective at ministering to God’s people until we step out and allow the Holy Spirit to move through us. We only get efficient at ministering after we do it several times, even when it’s uncomfortable and we don’t know what we are doing at first. All of God’s people are crying for someone like us to bless and lift them up.

There are so many Christians in this day that don’t even believe in healings of any kind. That is definitely not what we believe here at Trinity Fellowship. The challenge is to keep praying for healings when you don’t see everyone healed. It is easy to play it safe, but it’s another thing to go after it and really believe God, even when things look impossible. Let’s become like little children and just believe. And when you do become a part of someone getting healed, don’t let yourself get puffed up and start biting on the pride hook. That is the thing that can destroy a Christian faster than anything.

Show Notes:

• There have been many people over the years who have come to Trinity specifically to be healed. Why? Because they know we will pray for them and we listen and we believe that God really heals.

• When praying for healings, it’s easy to err on the side of caution and play it safe. It’s another thing to go for it and really believe God, even though not everyone gets healed. It’s better to pray for the impossible and see God move, if He wills.

• It’s so important that we, as God’s people, don’t take credit for what God does through us. Pride can sneak in on us so fast if we aren’t careful. That especially holds true for those who are spiritual leaders of Christian groups.

Quotes:

• It’s not an anointing on just one person here at Trinity. It’s a family anointing. It’s an anointing on this house. So we all have that ability for God to use us that way.

• I believe that God is bringing us to a place where we’re going to see more of that (the healings) if we can be good stewards of it. That’s the key.

• I can name a dozen healings that I’m praying for every day who have cancer, and then these little kids, who really don’t even know what is going on, can just say, “Fix it, Lord”, and it happens. And God told me, “because I can trust them with it”.

• The people that God’s doing stuff in, around, and through, are at the greatest risk of pride. It never comes in the front door. It always comes in the side door.

• We all have this desire for our life to mean something of significance. And, you know, we can get so far out of balance that we have to watch out for, as spiritual people, that we don’t take credit for something.

• Pride kills what God is doing in your life quicker than anything, and spiritual pride is the worst kind of pride. Everybody knows you have it except you.

• When your message becomes more important than the people that you’re supposed to deliver it to, you are out of business and you may not know it for several years.

Takeaways:

When it comes to praying over someone for a healing, let’s quit playing it safe, and really go after seeing people healed. Let’s be more like little children, who just believe and things happen. As we start to see more success, let’s not let pride slip into our spirit, and run the risk of loosing everythng that the Lord has given us. 

So may Christians have a fear of stepping out and praying of lifting others up, whether it is at the golf course, in a group of guys drinking coffee, or at your workplace. That’s why this teaching of equipping the saints is so important. There are so many opportunities out in life, where people are reaching out for help, but not many Christians are really willing to step out and take the chance in asking them if they would like some prayer or encouragement. Crossing the threshold means that you have matured enough in the spirit to recognize and seize an opportunity to minister when the opportunity presents itself. Everyone looses when we, as Christians, fail to recognize and take advantage of these times, but, on the other hand, everyone wins when we do.

Show Notes:

• When you are talking about the ministry, everyone automatically thinks of the head guy. But he is there to equip the SAINTS for the work of the ministry...so that everyone is sufficently equipped when you're ministering out there in the workplace, or when you are praying for or encouraging someone.

• It is a good idea to use the scriptures when you pray. It is a great way to lay hold of what is already ours, through the promises already given.

• So many Christians think that knowing what the Bible says is the pinnacle for Christian success. The Bible was never meant to be a substitute for our relationship to the Lord. It was written to enhance our relationship with our Lord and Father.

• When we seize an opportunity to connect and pray for someone out there, it might look like a tiny thing, but when you really look close, it’s really a big thing, because it’s relational, and that is a manifestation of the Kingdom of God coming. That’s what I’m trying to get our people to look for. It can be so simple.

• When people draw you close to share something with you, first off, they trust you enough to share a problem or concern, and second, they are really looking for help. That’s a very big deal.

• When you miss an opportunity, afterwards you can feel a little remorse, but if you have seized an opportunity, usually you feel blessing coming back to you.

• What’s the importance of touching someone when you pray for them? There’s the possibility of an impartation of wellness or other spiritual things to that person. The Bible doesn’t use the act of laying on of hands just for the heck of it. When you do that, you’re contributing to their whole body, soul and spirit.

Quotes:

• Equipping the saints for the work of the ministry is as biblical as you can get, but it’s been ignored, hasn’t been talked about, hasn’t been prioritized in the Bible Belt church. Equipping the saints is one of those key elements that causes the church to really be the church.

• “Your Word says that by Jesus’s stripes, we are healed” and “You want us to prosper and be in health, even as our soul prospers”. I think there’s some significant spiritual things happening when we use the written Word of God when we pray.

• When Jesus was being beaten on His way to the cross, He was purchasing for us, 2000 years later, the legal rights in the court room of God, to appropriate the healing that He paid for with His stripes. We aren’t begging God to heal us; we’re just basically laying hold of what is already ours.

• You have crossed that threshold when you discover, “I can do this too!”. That’s a big deal. That’s what needs to happen in the whole body of Christ. After you do it a time or two, it becomes second nature and part of your life.

References:

Isaiah 53:5

3 John, 1:2

Takeaways:

When people come to us, personally wanting to share something that is heavy on their heart, let’s recognize that they are putting trust in us, and they are reaching out for help. Let’s not fail to step in to help because of fear or feeling embarrassed to be an encouragement, or pray with them over whatever it is that is happening in their life. It is an opportunity to bring forth the Kingdom of God in both their lives and ours.

Being equipped for the work of the ministry is something that the whole body of Christ should be concerned for, not just a few pastors, elders or deacons, which is something that the Bible Belt promotes. All Christians ought to be matured and prepared to seize the opportunity to encourage, pray for, or stand with people who come to you, reaching out for help.

Show Notes:

    • The main function of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers is to equip the rank and file of the whole body of Christ to do the work of the ministry.   The church is never going to be the church until we embrace this truth.     • If a church is limiting itself to a few elders/deacons and or a pastor to do all the ministry, that church is crippled and will likely go no where.  This practice promotes a culture for most of the people to not grow or move in God.     • Most people have a real fear of getting up in front of a group, but we aren’t necessarily talking about that kind of ministry.   It’s basically doing the works of Jesus out in public, wherever opportunities arise.     • When people come to you with a problem and want to talk, if we aren’t careful, we will miss a real opportunity to encourage or pray with them.  It’s easy for these opportunities to slip by if we aren’t thinking about it.     • When someone opens up to you to share their problem with you, first off, he or she has a level of trust in you; second, they are really asking for help, and third, that’s the open door to encourage them and even pray with them over that problem.     • Disappointments that come because you didn’t take the opportunity to encourage or pray with someone can end up being a huge learning experience, and it tends to prepare you for the next opportunity.  

Quotes:

• Equipping the saints for the work of the ministry is one of those things that has either been ignored or overlooked in modern Christianity in the Bible Belt, for the most part, because in the Bible Belt, they expect the pastor to do everything.

• All you have to do to have a kingdom business is to make it about the people rather than about the money.

• We don’t try to push the door down. I don’t see Jesus doing it. We don’t do it either. But if the Lord opens the door, step through that door.

References:

Ephesians 4:11-12

Takeaways:

It’s so easy for most Christians, because of fear, intimidation, or lack of training, to back off and think that those kinds of things are supposed to be limited to just a few. That’s not true at all. Being willing and prepared to love, encourage and pray for those in need is something that ought to be at the forefront in every Christian’s thinking.

The foundational ministries- apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, were never sent to do all the ministering in a church, but rather were created to equip and help all the believers mature and come to the place where they become the ones to get out and do the ministry. Without all five of the foundational ministries, most churches will tend to settle on a much lower level in their maturing process.

Show Notes:

• Many people, when they have a Bible Belt mindset, think they are supposed to come to church to get fed, and they tend to complain if they think that isn’t happening. But the people who usually complain about being fed rarely do anything with what they are fed. Jack Taylor used to say, “Well, you know, babies have to be fed. Adults feed themselves”.

• When you talk to people about ministry, most think they have to get up in front of people, which scares them off. That’s actually is just a small part of what you have to do in ministry. Most ministry happens on the golf course, at a store, or even at your work. It is simply encouraging someone or praying with them for a need that they might have.

• When Jesus was walking on the earth, was He ever referred to as a pastor? He was referred to as a shepherd, which is a much better word for a leader.

Quotes:

• In the Bible Belt, there’s a mindset that the guy who’s up front does all the ministry. He’s expected to be good at everything. That’s just not the case. That’s not even a biblical concept. Their main function is not to do all the ministry, but to train the body of Christ to do the work of the ministry.

• Being equipped is a lifetime process. I’ve been doing this a long time, but I’m still being equipped for the work of the ministry. I’m still learning about ministry. Do not wait until you think you’re thoroughly equipped. You are going to be better at doing ministry by simply doing it.

• The reason this is so important is that the body of Christ needs to be equipped for those opportunities and open doors that happen out there, because there’s a lot of them, and there’s going to be a lot more of them. So there’s no way one guy can do it.

• In the traditional evangelical church, you don’t hear much about the function of apostles and prophets. You do hear about teachers, evangelists and in paying pastors.

• An apostle has the God given ability and anointing to see what God wants the church to be, to see where the church is now, and how to move the church from where it is to where it needs to go.

• We live in a religious mindset in the Bible Belt that there are not apostles and prophets anymore. To me, that is a subtle, deceptive trick of the enemy, because they are so needed. The apostles and prophets are the foundation of the church.

References:

Ephesians 4:11

1 Corinthians 12:8-11

Takeaways:

There are so many churches out there that are stuck, doing the same thing week after week, year after year. One of the reasons is they either don’t know about the importance of the 5 fold ministry talked about in Ephesians 5, or they refuse to believe that they still exist and are very much needed in this day. Without true apostles and prophets, churches tend to be stuck and lack life that these ministries can provide. That’s why so many people aren’t equipped for the work of the ministry.

How can any of us even begin to speak the truth in love, as Jesus was able to do, without really being equipped to do so? God has to put these abilities in us and that comes through this equipping process, worked deep within our hearts.

Show Notes:

• Two things keep coming to me. The number of signs and wonders are not happening near as much in the church as they should be happening. And, the other thing that is not happening as much as it should is the expression of agape, unconditional love among the people in the Body of Christ.

• Speaking the truth in love (agape love) really needs to happen or the church is not going to have the testimony with those who are outside unless we’re exercising agape.

• Another example of speaking the truth in agape love was when Jesus pulled Peter aside and asked him if he loved Him three times. Peter was grieved, but with great love, Peter wasn’t a bit condemned.

Quotes:

• We have seen a lot of things around here in 35 years that we would all consider miracles, but not to the degree that I thought I would be seeing at this stage of my life, at the stage of my ministry. I thing there should be more.

• When Jesus met the woman at the well, He said, “you have had five husbands but the one you’re with now you are not married to”. That can come across as straight up condemnation. But every thing Jesus said was 100% seasoned with agape. So even though that was a hard, hard truth for her, it came across in a way that was easy on her soul and her spirit.

• The atmosphere around Jesus was always 100% charged with agape unconditional love. So Jesus could tell them, that straight up truth in a way that doesn’t come across as condemnation.

• There’s a favor blessing anointing that comes when we speak the truth in love. It calibrates their heart and touches them in a right place.

References:

Ephesians 4:9-16

John 4:6-26

Matthew 16:18

Takeaway:

Without sitting under and learning from the five fold ministries listed in Ephesians 4:1l and being equipped for the work of the ministry, we will not have the where-with-all to speak God’s truths with a deep love that they not only can accept the truth but get melted hearts in the process.

It was never meant for a pastor and/or a few elders to do all the ministering in a church. That is totally a Bible Belt concept that someone started a long time ago, and the people just got used to it. The five-fold ministries were given so that all of us can be equipped to go out and talk to people, bless and pray for them and point them to the Lord. The church was never meant to be full of babies who are always fed, but never grow up to be mature sons and daughters who go out and make things happen.

Show Notes:

• Ephesians 4 talks about the five-fold ministries for building up, edifying and equipping the saints. This scripture alone should change a person’s thinking about just a few people in a church who are supposed to do all the ministering.

• When you get the revelation of being equipped for the work of the ministry, it propels you into a place where you will never be the same again.

• The Bible Belt concept that just one person is supposed to do all the ministry is ludicrous. Moses tried, but couldn’t do it, so with the encouragement of Jethro, he commissioned many to help him with the people.

• Honestly, most of the ministry should be happening outside the church walls on Monday through Saturday; at your work, when shopping, on the golf course, or a thousand other places. That’s what we are being equipped to do.

• When you are out there and the Lord starts dealing with you about praying over someone or giving them a word of encouragement, it can be hard the first or second time you step out, but it does become easier, However, don’t ever start relying on yourself without the help of the Holy Spirit.

• One huge open door is when someone comes to you and wants to tell you their problems. That means they are asking you for help, and they have an element of trust in you. Do not break their trust by spreading around what they tell you. It’s not that hard, if you just keep pointing them to the Lord.

• Quotes:

• We have to break through the Bible Belt mindset that there’s a pastor, elders or a group of ministries that does all the ministry. That’s not even a biblical concept.

• For people who have been to church in the Bible Belt for most of their lives, it takes repetition, repetition, repetition, and they finally get it.

• “I need to talk to the pastor”. Well, what if there’s half a dozen other people who can do those things better than I can? Because there are.

• I’m not going to bend or crumble to the request of the people to do things I’m not very good at. I’m going to focus on the things that I am good at, and set people in places of authority where they’re anointed, so they can do a lot of those kinds of things.

• It’s going to be challenging getting this idea moving in the right direction, because people have been trained to not do anything.

• When people wake up, it changes everything. Then what is just a boring Christian life turns into excitement and an adventure, when you see that God wants to use you. It’s a pretty incredible thing, and people are finding out that they are good at stuff.

• If you open yourself up to this and you are willing to do it, immediately you’re in OJT (on the job training) and you’re needed now.

References:

Ephesians 4:11

Exodus 18

Takeaways:

All Christians need to get past the concept that only a few in the church are supposed to be doing all of the ministry. This is what is referred to as the Bible Belt Mentality. It’s the responsibility for every believer to grow up and start being who we are supposed to be, to the whole body of Christ. At first, it may seem hard to step out, but the Lord will lead you, if you keep allowing the Spirit of God to get more into your heart each day. It will get easier, and more rewarding, each time.

It’s one thing the be saved, or born again, where you know you are assured a place in heaven. But why would you want to stop there, when the door is completely open for us to start talking to Him and listening for what He has to say back to us? That’s what starts cultivating a personal, close relationship with the Father. God is not this distant being in the sky who cannot be related to. He’s a loving Father to every one of us, who wants to be in every aspect of our lives, to guide and help us to become just like His Son, Jesus.

Show Notes:

• As much as Jesus referred to God as a Father throughout His ministry, it is not talked about much around the country in Christian circles.

• If Christians don’t really know God as a Father, they tend to disengage when they hear this being talked about, because they know God conceptually, but they never really connected with God as a Father personally.

• Having a true relationship with the Father is not quite the same as a relationship with one another. We can touch, feel and even hug one another, but with the Father, it has to be a spiritual thing.

• A true relationship with the Father doesn’t just happen when you become saved, it starts to come when you make it a priority, not just to pray or talk to Him but also in learning how to listen for what He has to say back to you.

• Being into and learning the Bible is a wonderful thing, but it isn’t meant to be a substitute for our relationship with the Father.

• We as Christians have all the faith we need, but it still up to us to activate it. You can use it to move a mountain, or you can choose to let it lay there dormant but you do have it. It is a matter of us moving in the spirit, with the help of the Holy Spirit that gets your faith going.

Quotes:

• Jesus said to Nicodemus, “you must be born again, or you can’t see the Kingdom”. When we’re born again, we step into the plan that God has for our life, and if we’re not born again, we don’t. So, you can’t fulfill the plan that God has for you.

• When I had the encounter with the Father, my prayer was, “God, if You’re out there, You’ve got to help me”. When I prayed that prayer, something obviously happened for me.

• God could be anything He wanted to be. It was His choice to be Father. God reveals Himself as Father, because that’s who He really is.

• Knowing He is Father is not the same as knowing Him as Father. It’s the relationship aspect of that. That’s where the magic happens. It happens in the relationship with God the Father. Don’t complicate it. It’s really, really simple.

• You can check out a book on Abraham Lincoln or anybody like that, and you can learn a lot of stuff about them, but you can’t know them, because you can’t interact with them anymore. It’s different with the Lord.

• One of the greatest opportunities of our lives is that we can communicate with God . I don’t mean just talk. We can also listen and discern what God is saying to us. As we do that, we develop what we call relational equity.

• If we will start listening and make it a priority to hear what it is that God’s saying, it trims our list of what we need to ask Him way down, because God will talk to us about the things that are in His heart, the things that are pertinent to us. If you give God a little time, He will confirm that it’s Him who you are dealing with.

References:

Philippians 4:6-7

John 10:27

Galatians 5:25

Romans 12:3

Takeaways:

Being born again is not the end of a walk with God, but just the beginning. Having a true, close relationship with the Father is what our hearts should be desiring, where we can talk with as well as listen to Him, and truly become and walk in all that He has for us.

Being saved, or born again, is not the complicated action that many make it out to be. It say’s in Revelation 3:20, that the Lord stands at the door and knocks. All we really have to do is just open the door and receive Him into our hearts. Very simple! After that, it is our responsibility not to dwell at that initial salvation experience, but to keep exposing ourselves, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to what the Father wants us to become and to do. The purpose is actullay to become like Jesus.

Show Notes:

• When Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and Jesus told him that he must be born again to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, he asked, “How can a person be born again?” That’s a question most people have in the beginning of their walk with God.

• Being born again is not logical to the human reasoning. The understanding only comes when you open up to salvation and His Spirit.

• Being saved, or born again, is not the end game. It’s just the beginning to becoming a mature son or daughter in the Lord, and it’s a lifetime process to become like Jesus.

• When we first get saved, or have an initial experience with the Father, it can be like going on a honeymoon with Him and it lights you up in your spirit. But the feeling can taper off after a while There really is no such thing in the Bible as a sinner’s prayer. All you actullay have to do is open up when He knocks on the door of your heart, and just receive Him in.

• After your salvation experience, at some point the enemy will try to convince you that you aren’t saved. That is the evidence that you are saved.

• We don’t have to be a professional at all to help guide someone to Jesus. All we have to do is encourage a person to receive Jesus into their heart. No big prayer or anything. This is happening so much in this season. If you don’t keep reaching into Him with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Quotes:

• Don’t try to justify with logic that which can only be attained and understood by faith. One is spiritual, the other is flesh.

• When you are born again, you are in the Kingdom. Actually, if we are alive and on the planet, we are in the Kingdom. We may not be connected through salvation by being born again, but the Kingdom of God is the domain under which God is the King.

• The evangelical church has made being born again the end game. If we are not careful, we get a lot of people saved, but we don’t get a lot of people established and in growing in their faith. We really make a point of that around here.

• When I was born again, I knew that something had happened. Because, when I would do something or say something that was out of the character of Jesus, I immediately knew it. And that’s a sensitive asset that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives, that helps guide us and connect us. Hopefully, we never lose that.

• No man comes to the Father unless the spirit draws him. The Spirit of God draws us to the Lord. We can either say yes or we can say no.

• You can’t find anywhere in the Bible that the 12 were even saved. They just began to walk with Jesus.

• All it takes is for you to just say, “Lord, I receive you into my life”.

• God is trusting the spiritual well being of these 8 billion people to you, and people like you. That’s a huge responsibility.

References:

John 3:1-16

Revelation 3:20

Matthew 16:19

Takeaways:

Being born again is not the end of the game for a Christian, but it’s just the first step in growing and maturing in God, so that we are able to have a close relationship with Him, and become like Him in our lives. It’s tragic for any Christian to just receive salvation, when there is so much to have and to be in God.

There are so many people who have accepted Christ into their hearts, but don’t attend church. Sometimes it is because of past bad experiences with church people. You can be a part of the Kingdom and not go to church, but if it is true that we are all compared to body parts, like Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 12:12, aren’t we robbing the body of it’s wholeness if we don’t come together? Relationships become one of the focal points of His Kingdom because relationships are the adhesive that helps hold it all together. It’s so important to do all we can to maintain these relationships and not run away or break oneness when things get a little challenging at times. This holds true for both personal and church relationships.

Show Notes:

• Do you have to be in the church to get into the Kingdom of God? You don’t have to attend a church, or do anything. For leaders, to say that a person has to attend church automatically puts people who are doing fine into a bad place.

• We are encouraged in Hebrews to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. It’s important that we do come together, because there’s an exponential thing that happens.

• There’s a mindset out there that says, “I can find the Lord out in my deer blind, or at the fishing hole. I don’t need to go to church to do that”. I totally agree with that. You can. He’s everywhere. But some people just use that as an excuse for not showing up and going to church.

• If you get right down to that mindset, it’s selfish, because Christ refers to all of us as body parts. So, if you are a body part that’s not present when the body comes together, the body can’t totally function properly.

• How does the church and the kingdom relate to one another?

  • The church is a facilitator: It’s the church’s responsibility to teach the Bible, the Word of God, and what it is saying. Its also responsible for presenting what God is still speaking in this present day. It’s to carry out the elements of the Kingdom, to teach and bring out the mysteries of the Kingdom.

  • It’s a purveyor: It brings the good news about grace, the peace of God, the joy of the Lord, the power to overcome, and the intimacy of being in a relationship with the Lord

  • It’s a distributor: The elements of the Kingdom are distributed to the people, to make the Gospel of the Kingdom simple and understandable, so that people who hear it can take it, understand it, sink their teeth into it, and find out how to work it into their lives, so that they can go teach it to others, as well.

• The Kingdom of God is relationships; first with the Father Himself, and then with one another. The more time you spend together, the more relational equity we have. If we trust one another, we are able to get down to the heart stuff. To help advance the Kingdom of God, give attention, time and prioritize your relationships.

• In relationships, problems usually arise at some point. So, we must make the relationship more important than the problem. It’s so important to submit to the process and, if necessary, get a mediator to help.

• To enter the Kingdom of God, you must be born again. That’s what Jesus told Nicodemus. If you are born again, you can see the kingdom through spiritual eyes, with the help of the Holy Spirit. When our hearts genuinely, authentically, want the will of God, it attracts the elements of God, His grace, and His favor.

Quotes:

• Most of the time, people have been hurt by church people.

• I don’t hear enough leaders talking about the body of Christ and their care, concern, and love for the whole body. That’s one of those things that has kind of been at the front of my mind all these years.

• People are looking for the perfect church. There is the perfect church for you, but when you get there, it’s not perfect, because it’s still full of imperfect people, myself included. But we are being perfected and conformed into the image of Jesus.

• Find somewhere that feels like home, where they’re teaching the Word. I think they need to be talking about the Kingdom some, and learning about the Kingdom. Some place where you’re encouraged to not just know about the Lord, but to actually know Him. That’s the key. That’s where the magic happens. That’s where you find your significance and your purpose in life. It’s in the relationship.

• If you make it a priority to hear Him, He will make sure that you do. He speaks through the still small voice, words of wisdom and knowledge, the prophetic word, tongues and interpretations, the elements, colors, and animals.

• I’m embarrassed that not enough believers, Christians, people in our own family here, that people will have a problem and they will turn and walk away and leave the relationship.

• God not only restores the relationship, but He makes it better and stronger.

References:

Hebrews 10:25

Matthew 18:19-20

John 5:39

John 10:27

2 Timothy 2;2

John 3:1-21

John 6:44

Revelation 3:20

Takeaways:

The Kingdom of God encompasses so much, and the church is an integral part of it. The church is a facilitator, a purveyor, and a distributor of all that God wants the world to have. Relationships are one of the main keys of what the kingdom is. They work like a glue to hold everything that God wants to do all together. Because relationships are so important, we shouldn’t cut and run when they get a little challenging, but rather do all we can do to maintain the relationships that God has given to us.

As we read through the New Testament, you can find many places where both John the Baptist and Jesus talked about the Kingdom of Heaven and it being at hand and it is within us. This is why the church needs to be putting much more emphasis on it. The church and the Kingdom are very intertwined. One of the parts of the kingdom message is how important it is that we open up and allow the Father to come in to our hearts, and how He uses trails and challenges to refine and purify our hearts to become like Jesus. That allows us to see our walk with God as more of an adventure rather than just walking through life.

Show Notes:

• The reason we are doing this Podcast is to help people along and get moving in their walk with the Lord. When you listen to this Podcast, there’s a whole team of people who help us with this project, who do both the audio editing and the show notes. Also, none of this could have happened without an unnamed benefactor and some credit to the family right here at Trinity Fellowship, who have helped us flesh this stuff out for almost 35 years.

• So, how does the church and the kingdom relate together? The church is not the kingdom, but it’s included in the kingdom.

• My uncle, Jack Taylor, said this years ago, “When God said, Let there be light, the light started going in every direction at the speed of light, and it hasn’t stopped since God said that”. So, if you can believe this, that’s the domain, the King’s domain of which He rules, and it is an ever expanding kingdom. All we can do right now is speculate a little bit.

• We can teach on the kingdom from now on, and never exhaust the content. That’s the most profound, broad, vast subject that there is. Don’t complicate with logic that which can only be understood and attained by faith.

• Trials and testings are such an important part of any Christian life. There is redeeming value in the trials, the problems, the roadblocks, and all those things you go through in your life, because those things really figure into us being conformed into the image of Jesus and being refined like gold. That’s God’s plan for us.

• Eric Metaxas wrote a book entitled, “Letter to the American Church”. In it, he talked about all these challenges that we go through in life, the ups and downs of mountains and valleys and all that. He called it the Abrahamic adventure.

• If we could look at all these ups and downs, challenges, heartbreaks, and those kinds of things as an adventure, rather than looking at all of this as a negative thing, it would change all our lives in a very profound way.

Quotes:

• The Kingdom of God should be at the forefront of the mind of leaders who are leading the churches in this season. I think it’s that important.

• The church is the answer for every negative thing that we see in the world. It’s more important than just a counterculture, or where people go and get a spiritual touch.

• It’s the church’s responsibility to offset the darkness that exists in the world, with the light that comes from Jesus. It’s the only organism on the whole planet that God has given the authority and the power to cooperate with Him and co-labor with Him as He establishes His kingdom of the earth.

• I get asked all the time where in the Bible is that sinner’s prayer. It’s not there. And, you would think that a principle that we’ve built the whole evangelical Christian faith on, is praying a prayer that we don’t find anywhere in the Bible. It’s kind of interesting. All we really have to do is open the door of our heart, and allow Him to come in.

• The kingdom is the new frontier. I believe that this generation has the golden opportunity to see the Kingdom of God manifest in a greater way than any generation prior to now.

• Everyone I know right now is undergoing extreme testing. He doesn’t test our faith so He’ll know where we are in terms of our faith. He tests our faith so we can know where we are. It’s kind of like one of those signs in a mall that shows you right were you are.

References:

Matthew 6:33

Matthew 16:18-19

Revelation 3:20

Genesis 12:1

Take Away:

If we can open up to this, the Kingdom of God is probably the greatest adventure that we can ever live. The Kingdom is so close to us right now, and it’s so important that the whole church start to teach and live it the kingdom now, rather than putting it off to some future event.

There are so many Christians who accept Christ as their Savior and get born again, but end up not doing much with it. They don’t understand that salvation is just the start of the game, and not the end of the game. To be a real player in God’s Kingdom requires much teaching and training, even to be able to wear a uniform, let along play in the game. That’s why we are not only to be born again and be baptized in water, but also we are to hook up with a church where you can grow and become everything that God wants you to walk in. Don’t miss God’s Kingdom, thinking it’s off in the future. Open up to it’s fullness now, and walk it out.

Show Notes:

• Books that Andy Taylor has written: “Reading Your Bible for all it’s Worth”, which is a very good way to help someone to start to learn to read their Bible. Also: “The Best Kept Secrets in the Kingdom”, which talks about getting a relationship with the Father and spending some time with Him.

• Salvation is just a matter of receiving Jesus; “Lord, I receive you into my life”. That’s all that it takes. After that, the Bible encourages us to be baptized in water. You will be able to tell that something is different when you get born again.

• When you do get born again, you can enter in and see the Kingdom of God, and you start getting spiritual eyes to see how the Kingdom is manifesting right now in the world.

• True words from God should start resonating with your spirit about the past, your intellect, your mind and emotions, which touches something deep down inside of you. That’s what the Word of God does, especially when there’s the anointing of the Holy Spirit on that Word.

• So, how do you then find a church? “God has determined our pre-appointed times and the boundaries of our dwelling”. Where you go to church, where you hook up and connect, is really, really important.

1. 1. 1. Find a church that preaches the Bible.

      2. It’s ultra important that the church is talking about not just what you do, but teaches you who you are in the Lord, and teaches you about the Father.

      3. One of the key things that causes people to come to church and stay in church is that they start building relationships. The Kingdom of God is Relationships. They are able to connect relationally.

      4. It has to feel like you fit, and it feels like home to you.

      5. The Bible says that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. You should really feel that the people are being encouraged to be together often.

      6. It should be a place where you are able to find and move in your gifting.

      7. Find a church where people understand they are being equipped for the work of the ministry. That is how the whole body takes shape.

      8. It needs to be a church where they’re at least talking about, and helping people to understand the Kingdom of God.

      9. Look for a church where they love to worship. God is looking for those true worshipers who worship in spirit and truth.

Quotes:

• Nicodemus came to Jesus at night because he saw something in Jesus, that going through the religious motions didn’t do for Him. He saw a life. Jesus told Nicodemus, “you must be born again or you can’t see the Kingdom of God”.

• The first thing that has to happen if we are going to get in the game is to have that relationship with the Lord.

• If you have not made a decision to receive Jesus as your Savior, and then make Him the Lord of your life, that has to happen before any thing else can happen. So, you have to be born again.

• Look for a church that sounds like they’re speaking your language, it resonates with your spirit and it just feels right, which is your spirit agreeing with what’s going on there. You’ll know; it just bears witness with your spirit.

• If all these aspects of a church are coming together for you, then you roll your sleeves up and learn how your gifted. We find those things out by just doing and learning to do ministry.

• Look around and see where there is help needed and step in, volunteer and help in that spot. Finding where you are not gifted is as important as finding out how you are gifted.

• The Kingdom of God exists in its perfection, in its fullness, and its completion, but it’s not manifested in the natural realm, the realm we live in, until we are obedient to the Lord.

References:

Acts 17:26

Matthew 6:33

Matthew 24:14

Takeaways:

Get in the game and stop playing around on the fringes of what God is doing right now in His Kingdom. Open up to what God is doing right now, and stop putting this off, thinking that there will be a better time to get in the game down the way. The Kingdom of God is now!

It's easy to compare sports with God's kingdom. Alot of us start when we are young and, just like parents who encourage us and cheer us on, the Kingdom is full of people that do the same, to see us grow and become all that we can be in God. It's just getting off the bench and getting in the game that makes all of this start to happen. 

Show Notes:

• There's a time that we have to get off the bench and get in the game, but many are afraid to step on the court or field, especially when it comes to doing any type of ministry. 
• Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers were given to the church to build up, edify, and for equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. It's the job of these five fold ministries to equip you to go out and do the ministry to God's people. 
• We're all being equipped for the work of the ministry. Opportunties come up if we are looking for them. Just be ready for it and open to it. 
• Being pushy and manipualitve dosen't work. That's not God's way at all. Nobody likes someone who tries to push Jesus on them. That's a bas look on the whole body of Christ. 
• Ministry is best done through relationships. That makes it a lot easier. Then, when you do feel the spirit of God leading you to so that, put it out there. Something like, I believe that God can fix your problem."
• So, what's the next step for all of us? The first thing is to lean into a relationship with the Father. From His standpoint, it's always been about the relationship. "You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but you are not willing to come to Me, that you might really have life." 
• The way that you get in the game is to build that relationship with the Lord. YOu have to give Him some time, and I would encourage, really encourage you, to get in the Word. 
• The church will never be the true church until we recieve and understand this thing about being equipped for the work of the ministry. 

Quotes:

• There's a stigma associated iwth the word "minisrty." People think about standing up on a stage, giving thier testimony, preaching a message or sonething like that. It's one of those things in the Bible Belt, where we are so used to those poeple...the pastor and a few elders, doing all the ministry and the rest of us just sitting around. We are all called to mnistry. 
• I always had the thought in my mind that when I would go to church, hear things and would sit through messages on Sunday morning, I didn't know anything at that time, but I took notes and took notes. But from the jump go, I was always in the mode of being trained, being raised up, being equipped for something. 
• We have the mentality that only a few are called to the ministry. That's not true. Accoursing to the Bible we are all called. And if we get that, then the ministry gets outside the church service, out there on the golf course, at your palce of business and those kinds of places. 
• We are made by God to be sensitive and to recieve information, input, leadership from the Holy Spirit. So we need to take Him up on that and ask for people to be healed, to be set free, for marriages to be put back together, all those kind of things. 
• Get in the game and find out how you are gifted, vecause there are ways that you are gifted and anointed. That's a supernatural endowment from God and that helps you go far beyond what you could do. 

References:

Ephesians 4:11

Takeaways:

It's not nearly as hard to reach out and bless people in some way as you think it is. The queastion is, "will you?" But we all have to get off the bench at some point, start connecting with the Father and letting Him lead us by His spirit to move in our anointing to bless others and see them have an experience wiht the Lord. 

Pride is a very ugly thing, especially when it attaches to those who feel like they have received a lot from the Lord, or have accomplished much in the name of the Lord. The only antidote for pride is to have a close relationship with the Father, where you are spending time together, both communicating and listening to what He is saying to you.

Show Notes:

• It’s so important for people, especially church leaders that are buying into and are hearing this, and are getting confirmation from the Lord, to make adjustments to facilitate what it is that God is doing. That is going to be a challenge for many churches.

• If you are submitting to this process of listening to the Lord and are spending time with the Father, it’s likely you will get challenged by the enemy, because he doesn’t want you to succeed.

• Spiritual warfare is not a myth. It is real, and we can’t be ignorant of satan’s devices. This isn’t just useful information, but it is something we are going to have to do.

• The Kingdom Cowboy Podcast promotes the gospel of the kingdom that the Bible talks about, which most churches are not focusing on. So, leaders need to be pressing in and finding out what the gospel of the Kingdom really is, which some consider to be the new frontier.

• Desperation and hunger for the word of God triggers God’s voice to you. He will take you seriously at that point. We will be so desperate to hear God’s voice that He will start speaking to us, which He wants to do so badly.

• When you start growing in the Lord, it’s easy to start taking some of the credit, especially when you start getting compliments. If you point that immediately right onto the Lord, that’s one of the safeguards.

• True spiritual pride is the worst kind of pride. It’s like having bad breath; everyone knows you have it except you, and it’s ugly.

• God disciplines us, even though it can be painful at times, so we aren’t so prone to buy into pride and the consequences that follow.

• When it comes to pride, the Holy Spirit is faithful to point that out to you if you will let Him. When you do hear those things from the Holy Spirit that need to be adjusted or tweaked, then by faith, with the Holy Spirit’s help, let God touch your heart about those things. The Pharisees were great examples of pride, because they were “doing” the law, and that caused them to be prideful and puffed up.

Quotes:

• The Awakening is actually here, and it’s happening right now. So, the church in America should be adjusting, as no longer “business as usual”.

• God has a plan, and He’s working that plan. So, start paying attention to what is happening in your heart and what you are hearing from the Lord. Ask the Lord to show you what you need to do about this Awakening.

• The enemy knows how to attack and the only guarantee for us to not get swayed, and not get sucked in, is to walk in the spirit.

• You can do this. You’re geared to do this. You just have to train yourself to do it. You have the benefit of the Holy Spirit helping you, so just pay attention to what God is doing in you individually.

• People who are at greatest risk for pride are the people who are deepening in their relationship with the Lord and have made that the most important thing in their life.

• When you start communing, listening and interacting with God, then you light up on the enemy’s radar. And, when you get your focus on the Awakening, then you have become a threat to him.

• Jesus came to restore the relationship with God that Adam and Eve had in the garden before sin ever entered to picture.

References:

Proverbs 3:5-6

Proverbs 16:18

Takeaways:

It’s much easier to humble yourself than have the Lord humbling you. You will find that pride is one of your worst enemies, especially as you start to grow and mature in the Lord. The only way to avoid it’s trappings is to stay close in a relationship with the Father, and pay attention to what He is speaking and showing you.

So many Christians today are focused more on what they know conceptually, rather than what they have actually experienced in a real relationship with God, the Father. That’s why God puts us through trials and testing (if we allow Him to), to form us, shape us and perfect us into our true identity in Him. The big questions are, how badly do we want this relationship with Him? And, how deeply are we going to allow Him to work this within us? If the answer is “YES”, start paying attention to where you are spiritually and start submitting to the process.

Show Notes:

• There are many indicators concerning the Awakening happening, if you are aware of them, such as many people coming to the Lord, and many salvation's in our house, our neighborhood, this region and in the world. Things are happening in third world countries, even at a greater rate than in America. That is embarrassing, because America is founded on Christian values.

• God is after our heart. He won’t take it. It must be given to Him willingly. So, the safest and most productive thing you can do right now is to open the door of your heart and say, “Lord, have at it”.

• We are being conformed into the image of Jesus, both individually and corporately as the Body of Christ is shaping up, which is this Awakening.

• Everything is being shaken; the financial system, political system, school system, education, business and commerce, but it’s not a thing to be discouraged about. Start looking with kingdom eyes, because God is causing a lot of this to happen.

• Christians are so used to letting others do their thinking for them, and just taking things as they come. That’s why we have to shake ourselves of our passivity and go to the Father for His understanding of what is happening. Jesus is standing at our door and knocking, but we have to get up and let Him in.

• God is very serious about perfecting His bride, which we are becoming. Judgment, change and repentance all start at the house of God, and that starts with its leaders.

• As we grow in God, it is easy for an element of pride to creep into our spirits. That’s why spending true time with the Father becomes such a safeguard for us.You never have to stand in line with Him. He always has the time for you. It’s not what He tells you or shows you. The prize is actually HIM.

Quotes:

• Since 1984, I have believed that there was a time coming where the church would be as powerful and as full of agape, unconditional love as what I have seen depicted in the Bible. Now, I’m starting to see the Kingdom of God emerge at a level like I’ve never seen before.

• If the true church doesn’t rise up, and rise up quickly, the human race is in for some dark times.

• Four years ago, I wasn’t hearing about the Awakening from anybody. Now we’re hearing it and it’s happening all over, and you don’t have to be extremely spiritual to pick up on it.

• The Awakening is here, but the church is asleep, so it’s time to wake up and pay attention to what God is doing and saying to your own heart.

• There is a trend where a lot of people are going through some of the hardest things they’ve ever been through in their life. God is dealing with our imperfections and our inconsistencies to mature us in Him. If we submit to the process, it shortens the duration of the test. “Count it all joy, when you fall into various trials”.

• These hard things that we go through in life are designed by God to perfect us by revealing our strengths and weaknesses.

References:

Hebrews 12:27      1 Peter 4:17      John 1416

Philippians 2:5       James 1:2         Philippians 3:13

Revelation 3:20     John 3:20         Romans 8:28

Takeaways:

God wants to shape us and form us into the image of His Son. He uses trials and tests to make this happen, if we are willing to open our hearts to His perfecting process. The actual prize in all in this is not what He shows us or what He speaks to us. The actual prize is Him, and the enjoyment of just being with Him.

It is really important that the church wakes up to what God wants to bring on the earth at this time. The Awakening is happening now, just like what happened when Jesus came on the scene with the religious organization of that day. We can all be partakers of this Awakening, but we must shake off the old traditions that have been holding us back. It’s through our opening up to being born again and being baptized that we are able to see, and start experiencing, this new Awakening and the Kingdom of God that is springing forth on the earth.

Show Notes:

• The church should be a moving, changing, evolving organism, but unless a church has apostolic influence somewhere along the way, they’ll set up camp, and that’s where they will stay. That’s who they will be. That’s why we need the five fold ministry operating.

• We baptized more people in 2023 than we had probably baptized in any 5-6 year stretch. Other churches in our area are experiencing the same thing. That is one of the big signs of people coming into the Kingdom of God.

• Tradition is not a bad thing unless it’s standing in the way of what God wants to do. For instance, in Jesus’s day, religious tradition wasn’t just a bad thing, it was the most evil thing there was. It was what was hindering Jesus from doing what He was supposed to do.

• In baptism, we identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord. We go under that water immersed, and we come out of the water to a new life. So, water baptism is really important. John baptized with water, but Jesus baptizes you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

• The Awakening is not here in it’s fullness yet. It’s going to depend on what the church does with it. So Leaders, wake up, get your focus on the Lord, and listen up. At that point, He’ll give you instructions and what, how, when, and who, and all that, to do in your house. It’s going to look different everywhere.

• Quotes:

• The ministry of the apostle sees where the church needs to go and has a good understanding of where the church is now; and then God gives practical steps on how we get from where we are to where we’re going. Sometimes it takes a real blast of some kind to get the church off high center, but I think that’s happening in today’s church atmosphere.

• There’s one church. We are all part of it in Christ. There’s neither Jew nor Greek, slave or free, male or female; and we can carry that on to Baptist or Pentecostal. So, we are all one in Christ.

• If you want God to do something in your church, first off, let Him start to do something in you. And if everybody will do that, then this Awakening won’t be just one or two people. It’ll be that whole body of Christ.

• God wants the Awakening to last all the way until Jesus comes back, but it depends on what the church does with it. So the church has to come out of its traditional mindset, elements of tradition that is keeping us from being what God wants us to be.

• The Word says to believe and be baptized. That was what signified someone who had made a decision in their heart to trust and follow Jesus, so the first step of obedience that we take is to be baptized.

• The Awakening is God moving on the hearts and spirits of mankind. Your purpose and your life wont’ be fulfilled until you lock onto what God’s purpose for your life is.

References:

Galatians 3:28

Acts 1:5

Takeaways:

The Awakening and the Kingdom of God are coming forth, whether we are aware of it or not. That’s why it is so important for the spiritual leaders of this day to wake up and get focused, so that they are able to bring their groups into this new day that the Lord wants to bring now.

This teaching on the Awakening is both practical and simple. It is bound to bring changes to what the church has been used to doing for so long, and none of us should miss it. Therefore, the church, especially its leaders, must wake up, or the churches they are pastoring and leading could very well miss what God wants to do in this hour.

Show Notes:

• The Lord has given Andy the ability to speak to a group where everyone in the group feels like he is talking directly to them.

• This podcast series starts out with just two people talking, and then is handed off to others who have different roles to help produce this, but if there is anything good about this podcast, it’s the Holy Spirit doing that.

• We all are gifted in different ways and it’s up to each of us to figure that out, so we can find our place and how we fit into the whole body.

• There are so many folks around who can throw a lot of stuff out there that is so deep spiritually that no one can understand, but the Lord spoke this recently, “I’m about to bring the prominence to simplicity that it has always deserved”.

• When asked if the church is ready, I have to say, “NO, not even close”. But it seems to be coming closer.

• Quotes:

• When I read the word, study the word, when I hear someone else teach or preach, it needs to be practical, something that people can sink their teeth into and then find an easy way to apply that to their lives.

• The Lord has given me a gift of simplicity, to take something pretty complex and break it down and make it simple.

• I want to be a good steward of what God has gifted me in, and allow the Lord to use that.

• In my time with the Lord, I’m just saying, “God, I don’t know anything”. I’ve learned a lot, but I don’t know how to get us to the next place, to the next level, to the next juncture. It’s got to be the Lord and we have to be desperate for that.

• Is the church ready for this Awakening that’s here? The Lord showed me that the church is asleep. I’ve spoken to groups outside of here about the Awakening, but it’s almost like it falls on deaf ears sometimes, because the church in America, and maybe around the world, is stuck in doing the same things that we’ve always done.

• I’m not criticizing, but now’s the time to change what we are doing.

• God always does it with unlikely people and unlikely groups. God loves to use the unqualified to do the impossible. We are just living proof.

Takeaways:

God wants to bring about new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things. A good portion of the church worldwide is not readily getting that, because they are too used to doing things the way they always have. God is using the message of the Awakening to literally wake up the worldwide church to what He wants to accomplish now, and not put it off for some future time.

The church is not just a building. “The church is an ever changing, ever evolving, supernatural, called out and victorious kingdom family of like minded believers in Jesus, working together and known for their love for one another, bonded together by the common thread of agape love and the unity of the Holy Spirit, who are commissioned and empowered by the Father with the authority to propagate and spread the good news by communicating and demonstrating signs and wonders to the world, and to carry out the perfect will of Jesus, to co-labor with Him as He establishes His Kingdom in the earth”. It is the Body of Christ, a many membered organism that carries out the full will of the Father.

Show Notes:

• The most important question to ever be imposed to anyone is, “Who do you say Jesus is?” Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus’ reply was, “And on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it”.

• God’s method of building the church is to build it through people.

• When we are talking about the Kingdom of God and about the Awakening, we are talking about an emergence of all these conditions that we see in the world, both the negative side and the positive side. But you have to look with spiritual eyes to see what He’s doing.

• Many people are wishing that Jesus would get down here and rapture us out. That may happen, which could be wonderful, but then we would miss spiritually what I believe is happening right now, and what has been escalating for the last few years.

• At times, the church as it is now has hurt people and has not been the beacon of agape love that it is supposed to be. The legalism has made people feel like they couldn’t measure up to other’s expectations.

• Quotes:

   

• The Church is the body of Christ. It’s a many membered organism that carries out the full will of the Father, just like Jesus. We are the body of Christ, His hands and His feet.

• Jesus said that by God’s own design, He won’t reach over the church today, or anytime, and do what He’s given the church the authority and power to do.

• The church is not the kingdom, but the church is responsible for cooperating with God and Jesus to see the Kingdom come.

• The Bible never once refers to the church as a destination, a building or anything like that. In fact, after the day of Pentecost, it was 300 years before there was actually a building known as the church building. It’s always been about the people.

• For the guy who says, “I don’t need the church. I can be out on the pond with my fishing pole or out in the woods and that’s my church.” If that’s your mindset, if that’s your opinion about how that works, then it’s totally selfish, because you’re denying the fact that you are handpicked for this generation.

• There’s no biblical reference for living the Christian life outside the community of believers. That’s why the church is that important.

• There is a community, somewhere, of believers that God wants you to be a part of, where you begin to find your place, your area of gifting and anointing.

References:

Matthew 16:13-18

Acts 2

Ephesians 4:12

1 Kings 19:18

Takeaways:

The true church is the Body of Christ. It has been charged with cooperating with the Father and Jesus, to help bring about God’s Kingdom. The church is not a place, but it’s a body of people who want to bring forth all that God wants to do and accomplish here on earth. And, today, it is in the process of coming forth.

The Awakening and the Kingdom of God already exist and are moving, but it takes a real spiritual awareness to see it manifesting in the earth at this time. As God’s people, all it takes is a desire and an obedience to see it start happening more every day. When Jesus was teaching the disciples to pray, He was loosing His Kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven. That means we don’t have to wait until we die to experience it, but we can start experiencing it right now, here in the earth.

Show Notes:

• In Andy’s book, The Best Kept Secrets of the Kingdom, he brings out 20 keys that will help to get a realization of the Awakening and what it’s about. This book was written with the regular guy in mind, with short chapters that can easily be read in a short time.

• The Awakening is happening at this very moment. If we are in tune with things that God is bringing (things like the Damar Hamlin situation on the football field, the Asbury Kentucky gathering, and the Michigan Wolverine football team- where 70 players got baptized this last year), we can begin to see that there is so much more to come as this Awakening progresses.

• What is happening in India and Iran looks different that what we are seeing in America.

• Preparation on our part is so important at this time, because the Kingdom of God is coming with you, or without you.

• Everything is changing, and that’s hard for people who are in a religious mode. Today is just like what happened when Jesus was alive here on earth. The religious people were stuck in their traditions, and Jesus was bringing change.

• When God starts to talk to you about the Awakening and the Kingdom, lean into it.

Quotes:

• The Church is going to be a glorious organism (not an organization), which will have the answers for all of the negative things that we see our in the world right now.

• The Kingdom of God already exists in its fullness and perfection, but it hasn’t completely manifested, or emerged into the natural realm.

• Every time we forgive someone, pray for someone, or every little thing you do, the Kingdom of God is manifested in the earth.

• As we give God access to our heart, He begins to do the work that needs to be done. He is conforming us into the image of Jesus.

• The Body of Christ is never going to be what it is supposed to be, until all of us find our place in the body and function there. When we do that, there’s a supernatural anointing on us that’s above and beyond anything that we can do.

• The Church is not the Kingdom, the Church is the facilitator of the Kingdom.

References:

Matthew 6:33

Revelations 3:20

Ephesians 4:11

Matthew 16:18

Takeaways:

God is moving and manifesting His Kingdom on earth right at this moment. However, as His people, we need to wake up and start connecting with the Father to be able to see it and start experiencing it right now.

God the Father wants so much to talk to us, but we have to have a real desire to hear what He is speaking. It takes time and a discipline to slow down long enough to connect with Him and learn how to enjoy His presence. In this podcast, we have been given some really practical steps on how to come into His presence, eliminate the distractions that come to keep us from hearing Him, and discover that it’s not the answers that He has for us, or the things we think we need from Him. The greatest discovery comes when we come to the realization that He, God our Father, is the real prize, that He is all we really need.

Show Notes:

• We think it’s important that you hear the Lord, and there are a lot of practical things presented here that we can do to get our hearts and minds into a place where we can hear Him well.

• The rule of 100 (this stands for 100 hours divided by the number of days in a year, which comes out to be 18 minutes per day) was devised to help all of us focus on a particular discipline to improve our skill. This really holds true when we are seeking the Father to hear Him speak to us.

• Distractions are the biggest hurdle we experience when trying to hear the Father speak to us, such as our phone or our watch. When either of them ring, your mind automatically turns to them.

• Here are some practical things to do when trying to hear God speak to us.

1. 1. Make it a priority in your life.

   2. Practice gratitude.

   3.  A great starting place is to leave your phone and/or watch in another room when waiting on the Lord.

   4. Keep a note pad close, to jot down things that you think God is saying to you.

• This is something that you have to want to do, because you have to take the time to do it.

• If this becomes a desire and drive for you, when you start to get a taste of Him you will want more.

• Because of our desire to hear from the Father and all that God is beginning to do in the world, the enemy sees the move of God escalating, emerging and growing, so he will do all he can do to distract us. It’s so important for us not to fall for his tactics of distraction.

• Hebrews 12:27 refers to everything that can be shaken will be shaken. So, when we see Him shaking the financial system, banking system, school system, and human system, then we are not moved by it.

Quotes:

• If you spend 100 hours a year working on a particular discipline by practicing it 18 minutes per day, you will be within the top five or 10% of people in the world with that knowledge and understanding.

• If you are not hearing the Lord, the chances are pretty high that the problem is not on His end.

• Most of us have gotten pretty good at hearing the Lord on the run as we go through our day, but there’s so much to be said for taking a time where it’s just designated for hearing the Lord.

• Any good communication is two way; talking and listening. I have learned that to listen has been more beneficial to me than the things I need to ask for.

• When we spend time with the Father, it’s not the thing that the Father gives, does, or says. The real prize is His presence.

• There is a shaking going on right now and at the same time, there is an awakening. Think about what happened with Damar Hamlin at a Buffalo Bills game in the NFL. Another one is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that happened at Asbury College in Kentucky.

References:

Psalms 100:4

Isaiah 5:20

Hebrews 12:27

Takeaways:

We are discovering that it’s not what God can do for us, or the things that we think He wants to talk to us about. The testings and discipline that He puts us through, and the time that is required to eliminate the distractions so that we can really connect with Him, are to create the bottom line. The bottom line is that we discover that God Himself is all that we really wanted all along; to be with Him and to just enjoy His presence.

God, our Father, has a great desire to talk to us and commune with us. The problem for us is getting to a place where we are able to hear Him. This podcast is geared to help us get to that place, by using simple tools like the Calm App to teach us how to get past and/or eliminate distractions that keep us from really hearing what He has to say to us.

Show Notes:

• God speaks in all kinds of ways, if we can get our receptors out there and pay attention. The key to this is putting a real priority and a high value on hearing the Lord.

• When you start listening to these people talking about health, fitness and nutrition, so many of these folks put a pretty high value on meditation to help you into those disciplines. And we aren’t talking about Transcendental Meditation, spirit guides, or those kinds of things.

• Meditation has gotten a bad reputation among Christians, because of these Eastern philosophies, but it is spoken of at least 20 times in the Bible.

• Using the keys on the Calm App helps you get mindful and helps you to get in the moment.

• If you set some time aside to get with the Father, don’t you think it’s important enough to do all you can to eliminate distractions, like your phone, watch, or other things that tend to pull your attention away from Him?

• The Calm App takes you through different steps, like deep breathing and relaxation by focusing on different parts of your body, which helps us on how to discipline our mind and deal with stress, so that a lot of these distractions can be eliminated.

• The Calm App also guides you in your meditations by using calm music like ocean waves.

Quotes:

• What we are going to talk about today are distractions that will cause you to miss some of the biggest things that you could have for your life.

• It’s not hard to hear the Lord, but a lot of people struggle with just the thought of that.

• First off, make it a priority to get your heart and mind into a good place when you are going to take this time to spend with the Lord.

• It’s just possible that what the Lord wants to speak to you is more important than your Instagram, your Snap Chat, or your Facebook feed. So, those things are really, really distracting. Do you want to sit and talk to the Father, or do you want that time with other people?

References:

1 Peter 5:8

Takeaways:

This podcast offers some great tools to help us when we are trying to spend time hearing from the Lord. It really points out how much distractions can rob us from getting into a place where we are able to hear Him and what He wants to speak to us. The enemy uses distractions against us. Because of that, we have to make it a real priority and have a drive to push those distractions out of the way, so that we can be successful in our walk with Him.

When it seems like God has withdrawn from us or is being silent with us, it is seldom because He is mad at us or that we have done something wrong. As we get deeper into our relationship with Him, He starts speaking to us in various ways. But when we go through a time of not feeling His presence or hearing His voice, we can start to get very introspective. It is likely that God just wants you to get closer to Him by spending time with Him and/or spending more time in the written word (the Bible). We all have to remember that the most important thing is not what God says to us or what He gives to us. The most important thing is HIM, and just enjoying His presence, being with Him.

Show Notes:

• When we start entering into a relationship with God, He wants to speak and commune with us in many different ways.

• A lot of Christians tend to experience a small still voice when God speaks to them. It is a voice that you hear in your heart and mind, but you don’t hear it with your natural ear. There are, however, some people who do actually hear the audible voice of God.

• When it seems like God is silent toward you at times, it is so easy to think that you have done something wrong, and are being punished for it. In most cases, that is not true at all.

• When you are in a time of not hearing God that much, it’s so easy to think that you have to get busy and do something, when all the time God just wants you to stop and just enjoy His presence.

• Asking God when you really, really need to know something isn’t bad, but you might find that when you go to the Lord without an agenda, and you are not there for anything, your list of wants and needs greatly decreases. “I’m just here for You, Lord”.

Quotes:

• The average person out there who doesn’t go to church, when they hear someone talking about hearing God, they can automatically think that the one talking is hearing the audible voice of God.

• Sometimes God will withdraw the tangible evidence of His presence and His voice to cause you to draw closer to Him.

• Let’s not forget that God does speak to us through the written word, and maybe that silence is to drive us back to the Word, back to the Bible.

• As we grow and deepen in our relationship with the Father, these are some of the things that we begin to understand, that even if we have messed up, He still wants to talk to us.

References:

Hebrews 13:5

John 11:27

Isaiah 55:8-9

Romans 12:1

Takeaways:

As we grow in our relationship with the Father, we start to sense Him and hear Him more. We get used to feeling Him close to us, but there are times when He seems to withdraw His presence and His voice from us. When this happens to us, it is natural to think that you have done something wrong, or made God mad you in some way. Most of the time, that’s not the case at all. In most cases, God is just pulling us into a deeper place with Him, and is wanting for us to press into the written word (the Bible) more.

God created everything for one simple reason; to have a people that He can love, commune and talk with, and have a close relationship with. There has never been a more important time than now to develop a relationship with the Father and learn His voice.

Having a drive to be close to Him and making it a priority in our lives makes God happier than any of us can understand at this point.

Show Notes:

• It’s so important to make it a priority if we want to hear God. The secret is getting in the mode of listening for Him to speak to you.

• The first thing I always tell people on the subject of hearing God is to learn to relate to God as Father, which sets everything else in proper perspective.

• The love that the Father has for us and the relationship that He wants to have with us is probably the very most important thing in life.

• God loves it when you take the time to be with Him and come without an agenda. That allows the Lord to tell you what your agenda should really be. That’s hard for some people, because they have all these things that they really feel like they need to hear the Lord on.

• There’s coming a time when everything that can be shaken will be shaken. That’s why now it more important than ever to get a close relationship with the Father, and learn to hear His voice and what He wants to speak to you in this season that we are in spiritually.

Quotes:

• “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”. So that just says that the sustenance for our life really comes from the things that God says.

• I’ve been on a mission to help people know that they can hear God.

• I think you can make trying to hear God too hard. It’s really pretty simple. One of the most important things is to stay in the mode.

• I’m a huge proponent of taking time where it’s just you and Him, but we can also hear God on the run, in our daily lives.

• I told the Lord recently while waiting on Him that He always shows up. In a still small voice He told me, “I never show up. I’m always here. You’re the one who shows up”. There’s never a time that God doesn’t have time for you.

• Anytime you want to get together and spend time with the Lord, He’s always game for it. There’s never a bad time for it. It’s always a good time.

References:

Matthew 4:4

John 6:44

Romans 3:23

Romans 6:23

Take Away:

There has never been a more important time than now to develop a relationship with the Father and learn His voice. All that God created boils down to one thing; that He have a people that He can love, can commune and talk with, and have a close relationship with.

Coming into an ability to hear what God wants to say to us should be one of the greatest things we ever reach into the Father for. Any good conversation should be two sided. Always talking and never listening won’t get you very far in your walk with God. It’s not our pastor’s or shepherd’s responsibility to go and get a word from God for us. We have to develop an ability to hear from Him for ourselves, and the directions He wants us to take.

Show Notes:

• We are encouraged to pray to the Lord, but we need to also listen. Listening is a tough skill to learn. A good conversation should always be two sided.

• It’s natural for people to want their opinions heard, so they tend to talk over others. But when you’re listening to the Lord, who are we, to talk over Him?

• One of the biggest challenges when trying to hear God are distractions and how to deal with them. As we keep reaching in to hear Him, the blessings, favor and power of God start to come through.

• A key to help you with these distractions is worship. Just start telling the Lord that you love Him, praising Him and showing Him adoration, which calibrates your heart and lifts you up into a better place.

• Andy learned early on as a shepherd to encourage people, especially younger ones, who expected him to tell them what to do concerning situations, to go to the Father themselves for their direction, rather than having him tell them. This caused them to connect and interact with the Father.

Quotes:

• I believe there’s a steady flow of information pertaining to us, about us, coming from the throne of God all the time. So we need to learn how to get into a place where we can hear that.

• When you start to hear the Lord and see the blessing, favor and power of God in the things that He says, it really helps.

• We learn through repetition and leaning into that relationship with Him. We learn the sound of His voice and the ways He speaks to us. It’s learned behavior.

• People think that the holy guy, the pastor, the shepherd, apostle, prophet, or evangelist is the one who is supposed to hear God. My responsibility is to tell you that you can hear God as well as I can.

• God would rather talk to you about you than He would like to talk to someone else about you, which makes sense from just a purely logical position.

References:

Hebrews 13:5

Take Away:

It’s not the responsibility of your pastor or shepherd to go to God for direction for your life; it’s your responsibility to hear God and to know what He wants you to do, and where He wants you to go. To do this, you have to learn to listen for His voice and allow Him to speak to you, as you commune with Him. Being able to hear His voice is one of the most treasured things you can ever have from the Father.

God longs to have sons and daughters that He can commune with, who can be functional contributors to what He wants to bring forth. He is doing everything He can to draw us in close enough so we can hear Him speak to us. There are many ways that He speaks, and it so very important that we take the time and stay close enough to Him to hear Him. The problem is not whether God is speaking or not, it’s whether we are listening or not.

Show Notes:

• Andy’s book, “Reading The Bible For All It’s Worth”, is written in bite-sized format, with each chapter being three to four pages long. You can read very few pages and get little keys to help yourself understand the word. This is important because you’re not going to enjoy the Bible if you don’t understand it.

• Andy recommends the New Kings James Version of the Bible because it’s easier to read than the King James Version, but he found it to be really, really true and close to the King James Version.

• It’s so very important that we understand that God wants to speak to us and He communicates to us in a wide, wide variety of ways.

• The more you make it a priority to hear God, the more it will happen.

• Going to the Father with no agenda is so much better than going to Him with a long list of things you want Him to do. Rather, just come in and say, “Here I am, Lord”.

• God tells us everything that we need to know, in precise timing. Andy suggests that we should approach our time with the Lord that way.

• There are times when God, even though He is always with us, seems to get lost for a season where you don’t feel Him. By doing that, He helps us to draw closer to Him.

Quotes

• If you stop and think about it and boil it down to the simplest element, it’s your relationship with the Father. God is what He is, but Father is who He is. Knowing He is Father is not the same as knowing Him as Father.

• Dads want to talk to their kids, they want to communicate.

• I believe there’s a steady flow of information from the throne of God, from God toward us, about us, and to us all the time. So I get tuned in, get into the Spirit, pay attention, and start learning the ways that God speaks to me.

• This could be the greatest move of God that there’s ever going to be, and, you know, time will prove whether we’re right about that or not. The worst thing that can happen in our household is if that doesn’t happen. To me, if it doesn’t, our people just got over prepared.

• People who pray hear God better than people who don’t.

• Recently I said to the Lord, “You always show up”, and He said in a still small voice, “I never show up. I’m always here. You are the one that showed up”.

• Sometimes people are not hearing what God is saying because He’s not saying what they want Him to say. We have to understand that everything that God says to us brings life.

References:

Matthew 6:5-6

John 10:27

Take Away:

The Father is doing everything He can to draw is in close enough so we can hear Him speak to us. There are many ways that He speaks, and it so very important that we take the time and stay close enough to Him to hear Him. The problem is not whether God is speaking or not, it’s whether we are listening or not.

It’s through being born again, reading the Bible, allowing the Holy Spirit to come along- side as our helper, and using the measure of faith that God has given, that we are able to grow, become mature in the Lord and find our significance in the Body of Christ. For most of us, it’s not being religious about reading the word, but it’s about enjoying what we are reading that makes us reach in for more.

Show Notes:

• Andy talks about the first book that he wrote, Reading Your Bible For All It’s Worth.

• Most people prefer to read books with shorter chapters so they can feel some sense of finality without having to read 25 to 35 pages to get there.

• Most of us really want to hear from God, and one of the key ways is through reading the Bible.

• To be able to understand the Bible, it’s very important that you be born again.

• The Holy Spirit is our teacher and starts to give us the mind of Christ, because the Spirit of God lives in us. He’s always there to help and comes along side of us.

• We all have been given the same measure of faith, the same measure of faith that Billy Graham has. It’s whatever you do with that faith that dictates whether it grows, or whether it lays there dormant. You have to use it or it has no effect in your life.

Quotes:

• God’s gifted all of us in certain ways. One of the ways God has gifted me is to take some pretty complex scriptural issues and make them really, really simple. So that’s what I’ve done in the book.

• So my book, Reading Your Bible For All It’s Worth, has no chapter more than three to four pages, so you can pick it up anywhere, thumb through it and find a tip that will help you.

• People are not going to read their Bible if they don’t enjoy it.

• If we are going to find our significance and find our place where we can function in the Kingdom of God, we have to get into the word until the word gets into us.

• When we get this awareness brought on by the Holy Spirit that we need to be born again, then it’s a simple matter of just receiving it.

• Most people have a spot in their life where they really felt like God drew them. No man comes to the Father, unless He draws him. It’s not our doing, it is the Father’s doing through Jesus with the help of the Spirit. All we have to do is just cooperate with the plan of God.

References:

Romans 12:3

Romans 10:17

Take Away:

“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). It’s only by us enjoying God’s word and desiring to grow and become what it says, are we going to mature and find our place to function in the Body of Christ.

Show Notes: • Andy explains how he started reading the Bible. • He prefers the book of John as a starting place because it refers quite a bit more regarding the Father than the other three gospels. • Andy has made hearing from God a huge priority for many years. • He encourages beginners to not to read a lot at one time. Better to read just a chapter at a time. • We are encouraged to meditate at times on the word, in that you just read to let it sink in a little. • Understanding that God is Father and starting to relate to Him as such sets every other thing, both spiritual, and non spiritual in perfect perspective.

Quotes: • After being asked questions, I’d look in the Bible, I’d look, look, look, look, look. That’s how I learned my way around the Bible. • I think it’s really, really important that you get an early-on understanding of grace and the new covenant is that you start in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but first in the book of John. John refers to the Father quite a bit more. • All scripture is given by inspiration from God. • I’ve never heard the audible voice of God, but that’s not the only way that God speaks. He’s got all kinds of ways of speaking to us. And one of the key ways is the word of God. • The word says that the Holy Spirit is our teacher. And He lives in us. He quickens and makes alive the words that we read • Prepare your heart, get in the moment and deal with the distractions. • When we hear God, you gotta at least assume that there’s more to it than what you first understand. • Learning to come into our sonship is one of the key elements of the Kingdom life. • A key thing in the kingdom life is learning that we’re a handpicked son, which is not gender specific.• A key thing in the kingdom life is learning that we’re a handpicked son, which is not gender specific.

References: Book by Dallas Willard, “Developing a Conversational Relationship with God”. Romans 8:14 Acts 17:26 Galatians 4:6

Take Away: Learning to read and grasping an understanding of the Bible opens up that ability to start hearing God’s voice, the reality of becoming one of God’s sons and coming to know God as Father, and not just about Him

It’s having a relationship where you start to hear the voice of God, and the many ways that the Father can speak to you. It’s so important to set aside quiet time, where it’s just you and Him. There is no substitute for getting to know the Father through spending time with Him, to learn His voice.

Show Notes:

• When we should make it a priority to spend time with the Lord. It’s just making time with Him and focusing on Him with no agenda.

• When starting out having quiet times with the Father, it better to do it in short increments of time, where you can really focus on Him.

• The more you practice these things, the easier it gets to get past the distractions and really focus on the Father.

• In Philippians 4:8, it talks about meditating on things that are pure, lovely, noble right, admirable and excellent.

• God can and does speak to us in so many different ways in including our circumstances, audibly, dreams, and visions,a word of wisdom and knowledge, but the two that stand out are that a small still voice and through God’s written Word.

• When starting to read the Bible, you don’t have to read a lot. Find a place with some words that Jesus spoke would be great.

Quotes:

• I don’t have a certain set time or day that I spend time with Him, but I do have some times during the week, several times during the week.

• If we experience nothing more than His presence when spending time with the Father, that’s enough.

• When reading the word, start with some of the words of Jesus would be great.

• It’s always just you and Him. That’s the kind of commitment that God has made with us. And He’ll never leave us nor forsake us...

• Don’t over try. Meditate, think and get in the moment and just listen. It’s simple.

References:

Philippians 4:8

Hebrews 13:5-6

Matthew 24:24

Proverbs 3:5

Take Away:

God is always here with us. It’s up to each of us to give Him time where He can speak to us and guide us every day. There is no substitute for getting to know the Father through spending time with Him, to learn His voice.

Relating to God as Father brings you much closer to Him than just relating to Him as God up there somewhere. So many people have a conceptual knowing that God is a Father, but not nearly as many folks really know Him as Father. If we can get past the distractions and start spending time with Him, we will come to realize that the prize is not what God gives, but the prize is God Himself.

Show Notes:

• There are many who had a dad who was not there or one who was critical toward them. God said that He would never leave us or forsake us and He is always good to us.

• In Luke 11:1-2, “Our Father”, Jesus gives us permission to relate to God, just exactly like He relates to Him as Father. It’s something we should take full advantage of.

• When spending time with the Father, the prize isn’t what God will give to you, but the real prize is God Himself.

Quotes:

• God is not looking for a congregation, He’s looking for a family. If He is looking for something other than a family, He would have called Himself something other than a Father.

• It’s just a gamble of trusting God as Father and calling Him Father, Dad, Daddy, whatever, just starting that process, and engaging in the relationship.

• It’s a stretch for some, but it’s the only fix for fatherless people or an orphan mindset.

• Somewhere along the way, as I read and studied, He began to reveal Himself as Father.

• You don’t have to have had a good father to be a good father, but you don have to be a good son to be a good father.

• There is no substitute for time with the Father. I’m going to the Lord with no agenda.

• My time with the Father now, and all the revelation that is coming, is from sitting in my living room by myself with no agenda. I usually tell the Lord, “I don’t know anything.”

• Let Him speak if that’s what He wants to, or let Him not speak if He doesn’t want to, but enjoy the presence of the Lord.

References

Hebrews 13:5

John 5:39-40

Luke 11:1-2

Psalms 34:8

Philippians 4:6

Take Away:

Learn to relate to God as Father, rather than a God who is somewhere out there who is not attainable. Coming into an intimate, close relationship with the Father becomes all that you ever really wanted out of your walk with God. It’s not what He gives to us that matters as much as what He becomes to us as we walk with Him.

This is an introduction to the Kingdom Cowboy podcast and insight’s into Andy Taylor’s life. Andy talks about his

salvation experience, his rodeo career, and how real a walk with God is to him..

Show Notes:

• Introduction to the Kingdom Cowboy Podcast with Andy Taylor.

• Andy gives us insight’s into his salvation experience.

• He tells stories about his rodeo career.

• Andy has had many opportunities to speak into many of his rodeo friend’s lives.

• The Word of God became very real to him by sitting around the kitchen table with his pastor.

• As time went on God reveals Himself as Father to Andy.

Quotes:

• ...I felt the Lord dealing with me, so I walked all the way from the back row and the to the front and gave my life to the Lord.

• I knew something happened. I didn’t know what and I’m still after all these years learning what happened to me…

• So I had for 10 years between 1974 and 1984 what I would call a disposable relationship with the Lord. .

• ..Still crying and prayed this prayer word for word, “God if You’re out there, You got to help me”, and He did.

• So I had opened the book and made myself a real student of the Word.

• Pastor, I think the Lord’s calling me to preach. And in his deep voice he said, just forget it!

• But along the way, within the next five or six years, the Lord began to show me who He was as a Father.

• God is what He is, but Father who He is.

• Knowing that He is Father is different knowing as Father.

Take Away:

Andy talks about his life, his rodeo career and how much God has meant to him as his Father.