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Breaking
Free, Part IIPastor Mark D. BoykinSunday June 29, 2008Acts
12: Last week, Pastor Mark D. Boykin started a message
entitled "Breaking Free", based on Acts 12. He continued
with that message on Sunday June 29, 2008.
The church
is in a 40 day period of prayer and fasting, which ends on
Sunday, July 20, 2008. On July 27, 2008, Pastor Boykin
predicts that we will have a "Miracle Sunday" of healing.
God will do the supernatural, faith will be here, and we
must move when the Holy Spirit moves. You can never predict
what the Holy Spirit will do. There may be healing that day.
There will be a profound sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
Some will be healed as they walk in the door. Many church
members are praying and fasting. When people pray, God will
move. Pastor's message was centered on Acts 12.
This is the
story of Peter's miraculous escape from prison. After Peter
was arrested, the church "prayed without ceasing"..."And
behold" the chains fell off. God is going to break the
chains. Whatever is holding you back, the chains are coming
off. The Spirit of God will transform you and give you a new
life, for prayer changes both the situation and the
petitioner. God will transform your life. He will move the
petitioner more into the center of God's will. Pentecost
produced a new paradigm. God released His blessing upon the
people at Pentecost. We will all be justified, sanctified
and then glorified.
At
Pentecost, God let His Spirit loose. As set forth in Acts 2,
when the Spirit of God came upon them, tongues of fire set
upon them. After the initial outpouring, there were no more
tongues of fire, but people still spoke in tongues and
prophesied. We still see tongues today when the Spirit comes
upon us.
Several things happened at Pentecost:
I. At
Pentecost, there was unity. The people there came
together in love and put aside their differences. As they
were united in love, the Spirit began to flow. We cannot
have a divided heart. Every time you see the Holy Spirit,
there are wonderful works of God which are uplifting and
edify the name of Jesus Christ. Personalities and
differences fall apart. Our hearts are full of love for
Jesus Christ and we sing His wonderful works. Jesus must be
at the center. There is no place in the church for
personalities. With the Holy Spirit, we must follow Jesus
Christ, and keep our eyes upon Him.
II.
At Pentecost, there was a release of new potential.
Blind eyes were opened, the deaf could hear, ailments were
healed. Jesus said that we would do greater works than these
in His name. In Mark 16:17, Jesus did not say to follow
signs, but said that signs would follow those that believe.
God has given us supernatural power, and we will receive
more power as the last days approach. At Pentecost, people
were amazed at the power of God. There were tongues of fire
and speaking in tongues. We gauge our lives by the Word of
God. God promised that there would be a greater outpouring
in the last days and that greater things would happen. We
must place our children in the hands of God and let God
watch over them. We need to place a shield of fire around
them with the power of God that we have been given.
As set
forth in Acts 3, there is power in agreement. We need to
pray corporately. There is no such thing as a lone
Christian. We need to pray together and set aside our
differences. Some of us are guilty of spiritual pride, and
think we can do it alone. We must melt away the spiritual
pride and come to God in humility. For without God, we are
nothing. In Isaiah 58:1-6, God states that He will break
every yoke. He will loose the bands of wickedness. We must
choose the path that God has given us.
Only He can
undo the heavy burdens that we are carrying. God will break
the chains, He will break the heavy yoke; He will release
the heavy burden. This will come only by praying, true
fasting and by His grace. We must participate in "true
fasting", by giving up something that we truly love and give
it to God. We must show sacrifice during fasting to show God
that you love Him more. We must surrender all to God and let
Him do a "spiritual operation" on us. Revival is coming.
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