Pastor Bruce’s blog

Sunday morning was one of those unforgettable services, wasn’t it?  The Lord’s Presence was so tangible during worship.  In the middle of worship a young woman from singing on the worship team began crying; I thought she was just touched by the Lord in her heart.  She came down off the stage and with tears told me that the Lord had healed her of asthma as she sang!  She normally had pain in her chest after one song of worship and this time she had none.  We stopped worship to let her speak about what God had done and then prayed for everyone else that needed healing.  We continued to worship and then paused again for 4 water baptisms.  As each person gave their story everyone was so responsive, so encouraging.  Then we baptised them as the rest of the church worshipped again.  Wow.  The message was next.  Pastor GF Watkins from Powerhouse Christian Center preached, as this was our last Summer Summit Conference meeting.  He preached an awesome message on the roles of men and women and compared them to the relationship of Christ to His church.  He is a great communicator and his use of visuals enhanced every point.  We ended the service by praying for couples who were unable to have children; Pastor GF said that he and his wife seem to have an anointing in that area.  The whole church was full and we all felt spiritually full when it was all over.  Again, wow.  We took away from the weekend a renewed passion to minister to men in particular and to find God’s way of reaching the lost.  We’re praying that the Lord directs us in applying what we heard this weekend…may God give us the desires of our heart!  Blessings, PB

We had a great conference kickoff meeting tonight!  Pastor GF Watkins from Texas was here and gave us a terrific message and impartation for being, well, salty, as he put it.  He used a pair of Bible verses, one New Testament, one Old Testament, to show that God wants us to be full of His Spirit and reaching the world around us for Christ on an everyday, radical basis.  Many folks were touched and helped as they came forward for prayer.  Two women gave their lives to the Lord.  I can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds!  Men’s breakfast in the morning and a picnic then service tomorrow afternoon and early evening.  I’m going to sleep well tonight!  Blessings, PB

This morning I was reading Psalm 11 and I came across these words…”His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.  The Lord tests the righteous…”  Then later this morning I spoke with a brother who has shared with me that he felt the Lord was testing our people in regard to believing Him for our future building.  And it brought a whole bunch of thoughts about how God will most often allow a vision He has given us to simply “die”, and then resurrect it from the dead in order to purify our hearts and to show us that it’s really Him directing us.  Have you had the “death of a vision” experience in your own life recently?  Has a Godly plan, purpose or situation seemingly perished for no good reason?  Then maybe it’s just simply God at work in that plan to make the fulfillment of the vision purely His.  Just pray and see what He does…  Blessings, PB

I’m just realizing that it’s been almost a month since I wrote last!  Sorry everyone…

I was just reading today about Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.  You know, as great as Solomon was and as wise as he was, apparently he didn’t prepare his son well for the future.  We see that when he was given the kingdom of Israel that when he was approached by the people for some tax relief that he asked for time to consider a response.  He consulted with two sets of people.  One group was made up of the advisors his father Solomon had.  They were older, wiser actually, and suggested that Rehoboam lighten the heavy burden on the people.  The second group was made up of his young friends.  They told Rehoboam that he should be even tougher on the people, make them fear Rehoboam.  They were wrong in their advice.  But guess what?  Rehoboam took the younger advisors’ approach and the results were devastating.  What’s the lesson here?  Who you listen to is very important!!!  Are you listening to the Lord through the Scriptures and in prayer?  Are you talking to and relating to Godly people?  Who you consult in this life will have a great effect upon your future!  Get with the wise ones, not just someone you think you can relate to easily because of your age or stage of life.  Blessings, PB