Offending the mind to reveal the heart
I would like to share my reflections on the three days that Gregorio and Monica Mcnutt were with us. I have many different thoughts, many different feelings and impressions that have been floating in and out of my mind these past few days.
First, I want to say that Gregorio and Monica are wonderful people who have a very sweet love and devotion to Jesus that I find to be rare. Gregorio turned his back on a family fortune for the sake of following the missionary call. He is a man of great passion for Jesus, for the gospel, for revival and for reaching the lost.
Even though he is American born, he is culturally not an American, with little sensitivity to things like schedule or time contraints. He preached really long. He wasn’t the greatest singer. He meandered all over the place when he spoke. Yet, at least for me, God really spoke to my heart. At one point on Saturday night, even before Gregorio spoke I wept so hard that my entire body shook. During that time the Lord spoke powerfully to me, through the obedient ministry of one of the sisters in the church. I was greatly encouraged by God reassuring me that He was in fact going to bring revival.
One of the things that I have been learning is the beauty of simplicity delivered with great passion. Gregorio is, for the most part entirely without pretense. I find that really helpful. He brings a very simple set of things to Lamb of God, and if you open your heart to them they really will stir and shake you.
First, the power of remembering the mighty works of God. He hammered this theme for 2 1/2 hours on Friday night. Like a farmer plowing a field he went over it and over it and over trying to dig deeper into heart and plant this sweet seed. How important is it to remember the mighty works of God. It reverberates throughout the Word. Again and again we are pointed backward to look at what God has done. It is so dear and precious to the people of God. See, look, remember what our God has done. Over and over again he has been faithful to the people of God, even when they have not been faithful to Him. How much of a treasure is this ability to remember? It is such a precious treasure to be able to recall the great men and women of God, the great moments where God intervenes, the great deliverances He has wrought and so on. My heart is so energized when I think of dear Evan Roberts, 26 or 27 years old being faithful to listen to God’s voice and go home to his home church and preach. Just a short time later the Holy Spirit fell like fire and all of Wales was touched, and that move swept around the world. Or how about those dear saints who witnessed to John Wesley, even though he was already a pastor. And he trusted Christ for the first time and went on to change the world. I could talk about the pastor of the Brownsville Assembly in Pensicola who would go and lay himself before the Lord in the church, all alone and cry out for revival. Later thousands upon thousands of people were touched by the winds of revival that swept through Pensicola, Florida in 1995. I could recount so many moments - and Gregorio reminded me that this is critical to our prayers and hunger for revival.
Saturday night Gregorio spoke of spiritual mothers and fathers in the faith and their importance. I was greatly encouraged by that. I thought of my mom and dad, who took me and my brother to church from the time we were babies. I thought about my grandmother, my mother’s mother who prayed for me. I began to think about Dave Stonebreaker, and Youth for Christ leader in high school who really encouraged me in my faith. Of course my spiritual father in the faith is Ray Nethery, now 77 years old. He has poured into me, loved me, prayed for me for nearly 25 years. So much of whatever I am as a person comes from his godly hands on my life. I also have been profoundly blessed by Tom Padley, and his godly example of sacrifice and faith. He is my dearest brother and I love him so much. I have also been so greatly blessed by my dear brother elders Gary, Kevin, Todd and now Doug and Ben. Each of these men are both sons in the faith to me, as well as blessed comrades who have stood with me so faithfully and been there every time I’ve needed them. I could mention many more. But the point is simple - we need spiritual fathers and mothers to flourish.
Finally, on Sunday morning Gregorio’s stirring call to pursue the fire of God on the altar of our hearts. What a great word for the church, at this season of our life as a body. I believe that we are so close to seeing the prayers we have been praying answered. I believe that soon we will see things that will astound us, shake and stir us and reveal God’s glory like we have only imagined. But while I wait I am encouraged by the fire which God has put on my heart. I am thankful beyond words for the stirrings in my inner life. I am grateful for the gift of tears, oh to be made tender toward God, what a blessing and a priveldge to feel so broken inside. Broken, not as some dysfunction, but broken before the Lord. Inside my heart feels so tender, something that I treasure. There was a time not so long ago where my Christianity felt more like my job than my delight. There was a time not so long ago where cynicism felt natural to me, instead of child-like awe and wonder at the person of the Lord Jesus. There was a time, not so long ago where despair felt like realism, rather than hope in a great God who takes ordinary people and does great things.
But, thanks be to God, all that has changed. Gregorio reminded me of that. The simplicity of the messages, the intensity of his passion, even the ridiculously long meetings all worked something in me that feels so much like a God-thing. My confidence in Jesus was strengthened. My hope for revival was intensified. My dedication to not give up but to pray and believe and to wrestle with God until he answers was made even more resolute within. Yesterday, all day long the refrain from the worship song “The Sweetest Name” kept reverberating through my mind - “The sweetest name, that I know, is the name, the name of Jesus.” Over and over again it kept going through my mind, and I would sing it out and meditate on the truth of the phrase - the sweetest name that I know…. It really is the sweetest name I know.
Finally, I have been drawn back to one passage of scripture over and over again: Isaiah 60: (22) The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the LORD; in its time I will hasten it. That moment is close, the moment of God’s hastening. To everyone who longs for a new day for the church, who desperately desires the salvation of the lost and who yearns for the Bridegroom to come…. keep praying… keep believing… peace, the black dwarf
August 29th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
yes…such sweet memories of my precious spiritual mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters who prayed me (for 2 years–as 13-16 year olds!!!) into the kingdom until one night Jesus opened the door, showed me his beautiful feet nailed to the cross…showed me forgiveness of sin…scooped up a beggar and gave her a feast…
and oh, the spiritual parents i have now through lamb…
i am still young but i long for spiritual children…i have the fire and passion beginning to increase…but i sense that i need the tears and brokenness before the harvest will be allowed to me. nevertheless i try to keep sowing and watering wherever and whenever i can…but oh! my heart’s desire is to bring in a harvest…a nursery full of babies…to give back the gift of infinite value that was given to me…Lord! Put the tools of harvest in my hands…
“You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you to go bear fruit…” Please, Lord…it is the cry of my heart…and i am so deeply thankful…my heart is on its face with the thought that you chose *me*…the least of these…the chief of sinners…oh, thank you, my Savior.
September 1st, 2007 at 10:59 am
I was very moved by Gregorio’s visit. I did enjoy the Friday nite message, I came home and researched all the events in history he mentioned. They were all available on the internet. I purchased the book “God & His People” distributed by the Jim Garlow Ministries. When I finish, I will share this book with whomever might want to read it.
I felt the Fire within me. I believe LOG has the fire within its community to bring forth the word of Jesus and our Lord to many, many others. The great news I feel, the LOG community is ready and willing to go forth with the Lord’s good news. I am so thankful I am here to share the excitement that will happen within LOG. Thank you for bringing true believer’s to ignite our fire.