Last week I dreamed I was in worship at Calvary when I heard a rumbling sound. Things literally started shaking and I looked around wondering if I was going to “feel” anything when the cap I was wearing flew off my head! It was pretty awesome and satisfied my “feeling”.

Dearest Saints,

Blessed be the name of the Lord! He is moving in the midst of His people.

He hears when His people cry out to Him. And it seems more are crying out theses days than ever before in my experience. Some of you were able to be at the all night prayer at the Ark this weekend as worship and prayer and supplication came forth. Can you feel the drawing, the wooing of the Lord? He will have a people of faith in these last of the last days. There are plans being made for other gatherings of worship and prayer that will take place in various places around the Shoals in the days to come. Praise God, for I feel that this is in direct answer to many prayers for unity and agreement across the Body of Christ in our day!

Father we thank You for making our valleys of Achor – the places of our greatest defeats and discouragements and wounds – doors of hope! We declare that the power of hope deferred is broken in our lives because we have this hope as an anchor for our souls – that our lives depend on two unchangeable things: Your nature and Your word in which it is impossible for You to lie. You are not a man O God that You should lie or a son of man that You should change Your mind. Do You speak and not act? NO! Do You promise and not fulfill? NO! You have commanded blessing over us and it cannot be reversed. We declare that we have fled to take hold of this hope offered to us. We have returned to You, our Rock and our Fortress our Deliverer and we have become prisoners of hope! We hear now with the ears of faith You announcing that You will restore twice as much to us in this day!

Hosea 2:15, Hebrews 6:18-19, Numbers 23:19-20, Psalm 18:12, Zechariah 9:12

Remember the play this Saturday afternoon at 2:00. Also the chili lunch and cookie sale after the meeting on Sunday. Come hungry for the Word and hungry for chili! All the proceeds and donations from the play will be given to the New Life Ministry and the Sunday chili lunch and cookie sale will go to the China orphanage. I am humbled that the Lord gives us these opportunities to reach out to hundreds and even thousands across the Earth to see His glory revealed.

Once again I exhort you to come with expectancy to our meeting this Lord’s day. We shall see His wonders in our day!

In His Love…  parke  <><

Dearest Saints,

We approach the Lord’s Day with much anticipation. I have had the pleasure to talk to many of the saints this week and there is an expectancy in the air! Many of you are going hard after the things of the kingdom and the Lord is showing Himself faithful.

Elsie B. shared how the Lord brought some members of Calvary’s past together recently, some who haven’t seen each other in decades, and of the rich fellowship that has come. And much is still being declared from the recent women’s meeting. The men’s Monday meeting this week was rich and I feel that if we men continue in seeking the Lord for this church that we will see those things which are even beyond our imagination!

I couldn’t meet face to face with Gary this week because I have had a little cold or sinus thing, but we had good fellowship and cousel on the phone. And speaking of the phone, lets use it and the computer, and Myspace, facebook, IM, and everything else available to us to saturate the air(waves) and atmosphere extolling the praises of God. He is worthy!

Thanks goes out to Joshua Holder and the worship team for leading us into refreshing worship. Saints, enter in to the time of worship and praise on Sunday. You’re not required to dance or clap or even sing, but isn’t He worthy of all of that and much more? If for some reason you do not choose to enter in with the others then please meditate on the Lord within yourself. Do not destract others by drawing them into conversation or some other hindrance. This time is for the Lord and His people to commune in a corporate way. Let us take full advantage of the time He has given us.

Bless His Name with me now:

We joyfully give thanks to You Father, who have qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For You have rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son You love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Lord we thank You that You said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” and made Your light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

So then, just as we received Christ Jesus as Lord, we continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as we were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

We declare that we are not taken captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. Cycles of death of human striving based on fear and drivenness to perform to earn love or acceptance are broken. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and we have been given fullness in Christ, who is the Head over every power and authority. In Him we were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.

We thank You Father that by Your circumcision You have cut off every lying voice of the enemy – voices of fear, of despair, of rejection, of discouragement and made them strange and unfamiliar voices to us. You are the Good Shepherd and You call Your own sheep by name and lead them out. We follow You alone because we know Your voice and we will never follow a stranger, in fact we will run away from Him, because we do not recognize the voice of a stranger.

Thank you for freeing us God! Whom the Son has set free is free indeed!

Colossians 1:11-14, Colossians 2:6-12, John 10:14-16, John 8:36

Wow, I feel washed by those words! Let us enter His courts with thanksging and praise! See you Sunday! In His Love… parke <><

Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ,

I want to thank you all again for you faithful prayers, cards and calls. I have been greatly blessed by your loving kindness. I have just received my eighth treatment this past Monday and I am feeling much better after this one than the last, praise God!

I also want to encourage you all in the Lord, post election. I believe the greatest days are ahead for the church. Let us remember we are citizens of another kingdom. One that we are not waiting to enter some day, but one that we are already born into. This kingdom, unlike the kingdoms of this world, is unshakeable and eternal. This kingdom is not built by man, but it’s builder is God The Almighty. There are no recessions or depressions in this kingdom and all investments yield lasting dividends.

The great minds of our day are perplexed by the magnitude of our national financial crisis and no one seems to know what to do. Listen, the Lord has not promised us “The American Dream”, our lifestyles as we have enjoyed them. We are the most blessed nation on the face of the earth. Our gracious God has sent His rain on the just and the unjust and for many, these blessings are viewed as entitlements rather than gifts.

I believe that the days ahead will be days of change and great difficulty but also days of Glory. We have prayed for the power and the Glory God to be restored to the church; could it be that we have not seen that yet because we have had too many options in days past?

In the past a miracle was our last resort, in future days it will become our only resort as impossible situations increase. We must remember, Matt. 19:26 “with God all things are possible.” While we cherish freedom of religion, guaranteed by our constitution, let us remember that this kingdom is of God and not man. Let us remember that the most oppressive places on earth, have the most vibrant and growing churches. Those with no rights given to them by the state are experiencing great revivals with signs and wonders.

All the promises of scripture we quote to each other in an effort to comfort and encourage will become more and more real as we cling to them, as all that we have. It has been easy to say trust in God, He is our provider, when we have a job, but what about when we don’t have work? It has been easy to say that God is my healer when we’ve been healthy, but what about when we are sick and there are no doctors or medicines available? We will experience the supernatural power of God when we have nothing else to turn to. We will experience the supernatural power of the Lord as we become more and more dependent upon Him.

So, our best days are ahead! Remember there is more to this life than what the natural eye can see. May the Lord open our eyes to see His purpose in the bad times and in the good times, He is working all things according to the counsel of His will.

HE IS IN CONTROL!

Your brother,

gary

Come and exalt the Lord with me today!

Exalting God For Who He Is

God, You who are the blessed and only Ruler, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To You be honor and might forever. Father we thank You that You ARE love – the very essence of love is captured fully in Your nature and character.

We praise You, O LORD, among the nations; we sing of You among the peoples. For great is Your love, higher than the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

O LORD, You are our God; we will exalt You and praise Your name, for in perfect faithfulness You have done marvellous things, things planned long ago.

O LORD God Almighty, who is like You? You are mighty, O LORD, and Your faithfulness surrounds You.

Holy! Holy! Holy! is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being.”

1 Timothy 6:15-16; Psalm 108:3-4; Isaiah 25:1, Psalm 89:8, Revelation 4:8;11

William:  Mom, I don’t get it.  Why is God tired?

Becky:  What do you mean?

William:  You know, that song – “He Is Exhausted”!

Becky:  Oh honey – that is “He Is Exalted“!

William:  Oh – I see!

Hello to all of my Calvary family! I’m excited about having an opportunity to bring a little encouragement to all of you on our website. I want to try and have a new message on the blog every week or two. Our website can be more than just a few pages of information. We can have an ongoing community exchange of church news, encouraging words, praise reports, and many other things, like photos and videos. I am really thankful that we can now put audio messages from the Sunday sermons here so that we can review them or hear them when we have to miss a meeting. Thanks goes out to Becky Perry for making this all possible for us. She has had some computer problems lately but she should be back up to speed in a day or two. Thanks again Becky. And thanks also to all the saints at Calvary Fellowship. It is truly an exciting time in the body of Christ in this hour. I give praise to the Lord for allowing me to walk it with you. In His Love…  parke  <><

“Contending For Fullness” -parts 1 and 2 are available on the website.  You can listen to it online or upload it to your favorite mp3 player.