Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Everything Will Be Shaken

Hebrews 12:25-29
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,

26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”

27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Haggai 2:6-7
6 “For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land;

7 and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts.

The use of the word SHAKEN here in Hebrews means “things ready to FALL and PERISH”.

Hebrews says HIS VOICE SHOOK the earth and it shakes heaven.

This shaking is to remove everything that can be shaken so that which CANNOT BE SHAKEN REMAINS.  Hebrews tells us that is the KINGDOM OF GOD.

So every time we try to build something that is NOT Kingdom, He will shake it.

God is shaking the kingdom of this earth.
He is shaking the economy.

He is shaking Government.
He is shaking businesses.
He is even shaking churches.

Earthquakes shake things.
Hurricanes shake things.
Wind shakes things.
Sound shakes things.

There are a lot of things that cause shaking.
But the shaking I’m talking about is from God.

Matthew 24:29-30
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Just a few short days ago our security as a nation was shaken here in Ottawa.

It feels like we are walking on a frozen lake but we can hear the cracking and not sure we can get to shore.  It seems like everything is SHAKING.

What is the state of our culture?

Since 1970 approximately 3.2 million babies have been aborted.

Pornography revenue today exceeds the revenue of several major T.V. networks combined.

It’s larger than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, EBay, Yahoo, Apple, Netflix combined.

We need a shaking.
Where is the Church?

Asleep, distracted or intoxicated by the world.  Like the old song, we are “looking for love in all the wrong places”.

Clearly in Canada there is a disconnect between who we say we are and what we believe.  WE NEED TO BE SHAKEN.

How can we be salt and light to the world we look the same as?

Luke 6:46
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?

When kids are cutting themselves, including church kids, we need a shaking.

When marriages in church are failing, we need a shaking.

When fornication is happening with Christians, we need a shaking.

When we don’t witness, we need a shaking.

When we don’t pray, we need a shaking.
When we don’t share our faith, we need shaking.

Let me tell you what CAN’T be shaken.
His love for us CAN’T be shaken.

His healing power can’t be shaken.
His delivering power can’t be shaken.

His saving power can’t be shaken.
His blood can’t be shaken.

His Kingdom can’t be shaken.
His Grace can’t be shaken.

His Church can’t be shaken.
His power can’t be shaken.

So why is there a shaking going on?
Because He loves us and wants us to repent.

Let go of everything else and hold on to Jesus only.

Yours for revival,
Pastor Francis Armstrong

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Faith Wins The Battle

2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

1 John 4:18a
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment

Fear is a tormenting spirit.  It stops you and paralyzes you.

You can’t see over it or around it.  Fear can debilitate you.

Fear is the opposite of faith.

Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

To get rid of fear we must first know what causes it.

One cause of fear is focusing on the temporal.  After the feeding of the 5,000, on the way to the other side of the sea, a storm arose.

Funny how our greatest storms come as we are trying to obey God.  When Peter took his eyes off Jesus, FEAR hit him.

So fear will hit you if you focus on your surroundings.

Is what you are SEEING causing you to fear?  Can you only see bills, debt, pain or sickness in your life?  Get your eyes back on Jesus.  He came to destroy the works of the devil.

#1 Greater is He that is IN YOU.
#2 If you believe the evil report, fear will rise.

Every day you and I are bombarded with evil reports.  Bad news.  Negative talk, murder, child abuse, deaths, etc.

Jesus said perilous times would come and men’s hearts would fail them for fear.

We must hear the report of the Lord.

Ten spies turned a nation because of fear.  Only two came back shouting, “WE GOT THIS!”

They saw the same giants but their report was one of faith.  GOD’S WORD IS TRUE.

So fear wiped out an entire generation.  So many Christians are overwhelmed with an evil report.  “The doctors have given up hope.”  People start telling you how you are going to die.

The creditors talk about the bleak outlook.

Fear trying to drown your faith.  But the righteous are as bold as a lion.

Numbers 13:30
Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

Ok you may say, “But, I do have giants in my life.  FAITH does NOT DENY the giants.  When you are sick faith does not deny the pain or the condition.

Faith believes God to fix the condition.

When you’re faced with debt, faith does not deny the bills.  Faith remedies the situation by bringing it to God’s Word and power.

The problem comes; fear comes when we pick up the problem and put down the Bible.

Romans 10:16-17
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”

17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Who’s report will you believe?  Accepting where you are at NOT only causes fear but strengthens the grip fear has on you.

The longer you accept your present condition of sickness, bondage or poverty/debt, the longer fear takes ROOT in your thinking.

And the longer that goes on the longer you accept it AS NORMAL.

400 years Israel had a SLAVE MENTALITY.  Every time it got rough they wanted to go back to it.  So because they could not see a way out, they died bound by fear and doubt.

In John 5, a lame man was paralyzed for 38 years.
Talk about disappointment, disillusionment, frustration and despair.

Easy to give up hope.  But it does NOT have to be that way.

Jesus said to him, “DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?”


Yours for revival,
Pastor Francis Armstrong

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Defend Your Soil

Matthew 7:24-25
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:

25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. For the short time I’m on this earth I want my life to count.

It’s easy to live for yourself but the greater sacrifice is to live for someone else.

You are building one of two types of houses.
A house that will STAND or a house that will COLLAPSE!

And the house that stands will be built on the WORD.
The church is not built on meetings but the Word.

If it’s not built on the Word it will NOT stand.
What you build will be tested.  So we must:

Hear with purpose!

If you don’t hear there is NO LIFE.  If you don’t hear you’ll never change.

If you don’t hear there is no faith.
But if you hear then faith will arise.

WE must DISCERN WISELY.
You will hear lots but what is God saying?

Receive and renew your mind.  You must agree with what God says and then you must believe it.

God has blueprints for the buildings.  The plans have been approved.

Renovations are coming
New walls are coming
Old walls are coming down

Are you ready for a new building?  Say goodbye to the OLD.  There is a heavenly pattern coming.  Capture it from heaven.

New things are about to happen.  New people, new families.

People touched by God and His power.  O’ church, the pillars of ZION are NOT earthly.

It’s a heavenly foundation.
SAY GOODBYE to THE OLD.

New things are about to happen.

Matthew 13:3-9
3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow.

4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.

5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.

6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.

7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.

8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Mark 4:13
And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

Only one seed had a harvest which was planted in GOOD SOIL.

First three parables are about the SOWER, seed and tares, and mustard seed.

This parable is the MASTER KEY for the year of the OPEN DOOR.
Kingdom of God starts with a seed, the Word of God.

The parable of the weed/tares, the seeds are the sons of God.

Parable of the mustard seed, the seed is the beginning of the spirit life of faith and the spirit dimension.

The seed has supernatural capacity.  This is why the seed of God’s Word must be IN US!

Growth will be 30, 60, 100-fold.
Our blessings can grow.

But God gives us the          WORD first, not the blessing first.
Most people want the blessing without the Word.

Without the Word you have a form of godliness.
We must engage the Word.

Matthew 13:19
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.

You want to ATTRACT the devil, then fool with the Word.
He will come and kill, steal and destroy.

If the seed is gone YOU WILL BE BARREN.  NO tree.  So we must have a SOWER to sow the seed.

Otherwise we have NO starting point.
It’s why we need church.

Then we must hear and receive the Word with joy IMMEDIATELY.
Because it’s our future.  So that soil needs to be GOOD.

Let that WORD take ROOT IN YOU.
In your heart and mind.

If you hold the Word the Word will hold you.

Every time we hear and receive the Word we ought to take a step up.

Did the serpent bite Eve?  NO!  He took the WORD AWAY.
If he can take your Word away, HE GOT YOU.

But if the WORD is in you then you can fight off sickness and disease.

Don’t listen to his lies, he wants your Word.
Don’t give it to him!

Yours for revival,
Pastor Francis Armstrong

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Your Will Be Done, On Earth As It Is In Heaven

Matthew 6:10
Your kingdom come.
 Your will be done
 on earth as it is in heaven.

Ayin Dalet
Ayin – to see

You have to have an EYE to SEE the OPEN DOOR.
So the first thing we need to SEE differently is the church.

It is not a tradition or religious institution.
It is a spiritual church that God is building.

It is NOT a routine.  So we need to unlearn some things and relearn new things.

If God wants us to do things differently, then we must start doing things differently.

NEW season.  We must think corporate and not just as an individual.

We must lose our individualistic mentality.  Ask God, “What are YOUR plans, what do you want?”

Jesus’ purpose for coming to the earth is bigger than blessing one person.

He did not come just to heal and do miracles.  He came to translate the Kingdom of God on the earth “Your Kingdom Come”.

Miracles confirm the Kingdom.  He came to connect heaven and earth.

So we must have PILLARS for revival.

#1 – Pillar of the Word of God

We must RE-LAY the Word of God as the strong foundation.
Whatever we know is how far we can go.

But if God is increasing, our foundation MUST be re-layed.  To go higher, the foundation of His Word must go deeper.

So what does that mean?  Is just reading the Bible daily enough?  Or good books?  Both good and needed.

What does the Bible say about the Word?

John 1:1-3, 14
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The WORD became flesh.  The WORD came down in the person of Jesus.

The Word is NOT just knowledge in the mind.
The Word is a person.  Jesus.

So, if the church is not laid upon Jesus, we have only head knowledge.

1 Corinthians 3:10-11
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.

11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Everyone who wants to build the church (revival) must lay the same foundation, which is Jesus.

Everything God does is looked upon Jesus.  Everything is ABOUT JESUS.

So if the church has another mission and is not building the same way Jesus told us to, then all we are doing is projects, fellowship and picnics but WHAT IS OUR FOUNDATION?!

Is it Wesley?
Is it Booth?
Is it Seymour?
Is it Calvin?
Or JESUS?

If we have any other mission we are NOT building upon Christ.

So as a church we cannot remain the same.
We must go to the next level.

Deuteronomy 1:6-8
6 “The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.

7 Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates.

8 See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.’

It’s time to possess NEW Land.  Don’t stay at the mountain of past blessings.

We need a Jesus revival.  God has set before us a land to possess.

It’s time for a new assignment.

Matthew 7:24-25
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:

25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

So let’s –
Hear with purpose
Discern wisely
Receive and renew our mind
Believe wholeheartedly.

Yours for revival,
Pastor Francis Armstrong

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

On Earth As It Is In Heaven

Matthew 6:5-15

5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

9 In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.

10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.

13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

I have not been able to stop saying, “On earth as it is in Heaven.”

Smith Wigglesworth said, “If you want anything from God you will have to pray into Heaven.”

We often pray or ask God for something with an “IF IT’S YOUR WILL” at the end.

But if we knew scripture we would know that cancer is NOT in Heaven, etc.

His will is for earth to reflect what is IN HEAVEN.

Listen, I give to prevent the attacks as God rebukes the seed eater.

I pray to prevent attacks.
I praise because He inhabits my praise and breakthrough happens.

Listen, I would rather be a fool, freak, a radical or fanatic than NORMAL.

I can’t do church once a week and live.

I demand more.
I desire more.
I anticipate more.

On earth as it is IN HEAVEN.

Let the worshippers arise.
Let the warriors arise
Let the Jesus Freaks arise.

It’s time!  Your time.  A moment to a movement.

Peter had a moment on earth that turned into a movement in Heaven.

He denied Jesus three times yet led 3,000 souls to Christ on Pentecost.

Pentecost was “on earth as it is in Heaven.”

For every day of sickness you will have more days of health.

For every day you suffered you will have more days of laughter.

For every day of mourning you will have more days of dancing.

OK you sinned but HOLINESS is here.
OK you were down and out but you’re coming out on top.

OK there were days you had no money but you’re about to bless others.

OK you were rejected, but He accepts you!

Jacob needed on earth as it is IN Heaven, so he wrestled.

Listen, God will not let you go until He anoints you.

He will not let you go until He lifts and elevates you.

Time to go from hell on earth to Heaven’s will.
Time to go from misery on earth to celebration.

Your time has come.  Time to arise, stand up and declare THIS IS YOUR MOMENT.

If praise goes up from earth presence comes down from Heaven.

If worship goes up from earth glory comes down from heaven.

If prayer goes up from earth His anointing comes down from heaven.

Psalm 121:1-2
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?

2 My help comes from the Lord,
 Who made heaven and earth.

Yours for revival,
Pastor Francis Armstrong

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

I Want To Hear

Hosea 6:1-2
1 Come, and let us return to the Lord;

For He has torn, but He will heal us;

He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
2 After two days He will revive us;

On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.

Ayin Dalet – the bent shape of dalet symbolizes a needy person bent over the Word to hear.

I want to hear.  God, what are you saying?
And I want to be listening.

Revival is often over phrased, overused, ill defined, misunderstood, exaggerated.

Some ask for it and when they get it they reject it.
Some cry for it and when they get it they control it.

Revival!
It’s God’s heart being poured out on people.
Waking us up to prepare us for the next level.

Revival is NOT the end, but the beginning.
To be revived is to be awakened.

Revival is meant to raise us up to LIVE IN HIS SIGHT.

So what is God reviving?  Who is God reviving?

Gen. 22:4, 6-7
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.

6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.

7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

“Where is the Lamb?”  His question was answered two thousand years later.

John 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

The world says, “Know yourself first then try to know God.”
But it’s in knowing God you know yourself.

Without God I AM NOTHING.
But IN HIM!

I AM:
More than a conqueror
The salt of the earth
The light of the world

God, let me be lost in your presence.  Permit me to lose my identity, my objectives and my dreams.

Let me be lost at the cross, never to be found, always secure in the shadow of your wings.

Jesus was crucified a lamb yet resurrected a lion.

Revival is God telling His people, “WAKE UP and defeat that serpent.”

The Lion of the tribe of praise roars through us.

Ps. 18:6-9
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.

7 Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.

8 Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And devouring fire from His mouth;
Coals were kindled by it.

9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With darkness under His feet.

Listen, God, in His zealousness and passion for you, will part water and seas to get to you.

Nothing can stand in His way.  You are His priority when you are in trouble.

Ps. 18:12-14, 19
12 From the brightness before Him,
His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.

13 The Lord thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice,
Hailstones and coals of fire.

14 He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe,
Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.

19 He also brought me out into a broad place;

He delivered me because He delighted in me.

WOW.
Why does he train my hands to battle?  Because we are empowered to defeat the enemy.

He makes my storm His canopy so His light can shine on me.

I’m telling you that there is a praise inside of you that will cause the enemy to fear you.

The psalmist was saying that from the depth of his being he searched and found a praise and that praise stopped the attacks of the enemy.

We praise to get satan out of the way, the flesh out of the way, the world out of the way.  We worship to bring God IN.

Praise gets the devil out.  Worship gets God in.
So hear me 3rd Day.

Stay hidden in Christ.  Then every time the devil looks for me he ends up finding Jesus.

When he sends demons they will return and say that address you gave me, we got there and guess who was there?  Christ.

Col. 3:3
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Yours for revival,
Pastor Francis Armstrong

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

That I Might Know Him

Philippians 3:10
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death

There are four statements in this verse:
1.   That I may know Him

2.   And the power of His RESURRECTION

3.   The fellowship of His suffering

4.   Being made conformed to His death


Think for a moment about Paul, aged by this time, battle scarred and worn but NOTICE his prayer.

His aspiration never dies.
His vision never becomes dim.
His Spirit is never dull.

He does not pray to be released from prison.
He does not pray for a ministry.
He does not pray for healing.

Even though he could have.  HE PRAYS first THAT I MAY KNOW HIM AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION.

The resurrection of Jesus is the standard of power in the New Testament.

It’s the miracle of miracles.

Think about PAUL and his track record.

He raised the dead.
He opened the eyes of the blind.
He cast out devils.

He wrote most of the New Testament AND YET he says, “I WANT TO KNOW HIM!”

It’s not that he doesn’t know Him, but that there is more to know.

A.W. Tozer said, “Remember this, that while you and I are on earth we are passing through enemy territory.”

The devil shoots darts at us.  Opposition will come.  The world does not like what we do, doesn’t like what we say, doesn’t like how we act.

It is a corrupt, sinful, wicked world.  It follows its god, it’s ruled by the prince of the power of the air.  But keep your head up.

You can draw day-by-day, hour-by-hour, moment-by-moment on the resurrection life, because the resurrection life is the SPIRIT of Him who raised Jesus from the dead.

The death of Jesus, the cross, proves the LOVE OF GOD.

The resurrection proves the power of God.  And because HE IS RISEN:

The world
The flesh
The devil
Are under our feet.

40 days and nights He didn’t say a word to the world.  For 2000 years He never bothered with the Jews.

O’ that God would not go silent on us.  Let’s NOT miss our visitation.

I want to KNOW Him and the POWER of His resurrection.
When He rose, I rose.  He died that we might be cleansed.

He died so we might be pure.
He died that we would live a victorious life.

The resurrection life of Jesus quickened our mortal bodies.
Up, Up, Up from the grave He arose!

Matt. 28:1-6
1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.

3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.

4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

HE IS NOT HERE!  O’ praise Him.

Yours for revival,
Pastor Francis Armstrong