Images Towards September’s End

Hope these images towards September’s end -- that spoke to me -- speak to you.

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

My Specific Gethsemane Gathering Prayers

These verses formed the beginning of my opening prayer at our Sunday Night Gethsemane Gathering -- a concert of simultaneous prayer meetings across our zones -- on the Philadelphia District Church of the Nazarene. (I met and prayed with our South Jersey zone.)

Psalm 139:23-24 (AMP) -- Search me, thoroughly, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way. Amen.

Also, this was my specific prayer request: That love, forgiveness, and friendship would continue to strengthen in our local churches and across our district that lost souls may see Jesus and be saved. Amen. 

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Wait

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14 

When the Lord tells us to wait, why is it we too often begin to squirm and churn? The temptation of our times is to stay busy and delay stillness. Perhaps that’s why so many people never know that God is God. “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10.

In waiting on the Lord, we gain strength for today and gain heart for the journey ahead. The journey with God is not unlike road trips of our day. As the highway builders invite us to pull off at rest areas, so our Lord leads us to times of rest, restoration, and renewal.

Need to exit now? Matthew 11:28, is our invitation to wait for the Lord and rest in Him.

* Exerpt from my devotional book titled, “Beyond the Sunset.” Printed 2007 as a gift for the only local church I ever pastored, Harrisonburg First Church of the Nazarene 

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Very Vivid Vocabulary

One thing I love about The Apostle Paul is he most often speaks with very vivid vocabulary. Here’s one example from 1 Corinthians 8:1b-4a, quoted from The Living Letters Paraphrase for extra clarity:

"Although being a know-it-all makes us feel important, what we really need to build the church is love. If anyone thinks he knows all the answers, he’s just showing his ignorance. But the person who truly loves God is the one who is God’s friend. So now, what about it?"

Enough said. Heh?

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis

The Preacher

My Mom, Lady Melba, has three sons — all preachers. This is her newest favorite song, she told us, to encourage us, no doubt. 

https://youtu.be/FVjBuiuVoPo

Presence Matters Most!  No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis  

A Sincere Question to Ask

My wife, Kim, and I, have had an ongoing, careful and prayerful, specific stewardship dialogue going on since coming back to Christ and back to the local church as a married couple in 1980. 

The theme of our dialogue has been a sincere question to ask of ourselves. It goes something like this: "Are we really giving our best to the Lord through the local church He has called us to live out our life of faith alongside?"

As a couple, we attended local church first together in Virginia, and then in North Carolina, and then in Colorado and finally in Virginia again, before becoming district servants where we now reside on the Philadelphia District.

Our local church families have changed but our sincere question has not -- "Are we really giving our best to the Lord through the local church/churches He has called us to live out our faith alongside?"

Recently, I sat with a local pastor who transparently shared that finances and volunteers -- or the lack of adequate finances and enough volunteers -- for the local ministry needs is presently a heavy load on his personal faith. The burden is, at times, even seemingly unbearable. 

As I listened to him tenderly share, my heart was really hurting for him and inwardly I was praying something akin to this: "Lord, move on the hearts of Your people in this local church to ask the sincere question Kim and I have asked for decades: "Are we really giving our best to the Lord through the local church He has called us to live out our faith alongside?"

Kim and I have never forgotten that all of "our resources" are not really "ours" at all. All of our resources are really God’s and He has only entrusted us to be good stewards of His talents and riches loaned to us for our brief lifetime.

Want to be an encourager? Do your local pastor and local church a favor. Yes, ask a sincere question of yourself: "Are we/Am I really giving our/my best to the Lord through the local church He has called us/me to live out our/my faith alongside?"

As you ask the sincere question, honestly, you are indeed doing your local pastor and local church a compassionate favor. And while asking the question may not necessarily impress God, I believe it will surely delight God, as well. 

As you carry out this compassionate favor to bless your local pastor and local church with increased financial giving and volunteer availability, I pray God’s favor will overflow afresh and anew in your own personal life, especially as you begin to practically respond by possibly increasing your local church giving if that proves to be a right answer to “our” sincere stewardship question you have agreed to ask of yourself/yourselves.

Thanks for listening. 

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis

“Our God Wants to Forgive Us!”

This morning I preached in revival and one verse I used really lifted my soul. Here it is with a music video to accent the final idea of the verse, “Our God wants to pardon us — “forgive us!” How sweet that reality is to me. Yes, the sweetest words God ever says? “I forgive!”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55:7‬ ‭NIV‬‬ is the verse:

“Let the wicked (unbelivers) forsake their ways and the unrighteous (those not yet in right relationship with God) their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on them, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.”

https://youtu.be/6O0hex4PR9s

"A Song in the Night"

I remembered today something inspiring my Dad, Capt. Billy, told me in 2014 just before He went to be with the Lord. 

Dad said: "Every time I awake in the night The Lord gives me a song."

This is one of the songs: 

https://youtu.be/DkYGSvekg1c

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis

"The Practice of Saturation"

I am sensing the Lord moving my heart to host a three-to-four-day ProjectGalilee.org / HeartsAflame.org retreat for those most hungry and thirsty for the Presence of The Lord in their lives and those desiring a renewed, right relationship with Him. 

I will call the set-aside sacred season "The Practice of Saturation -- A Season of Solemnly Seeking the Presence of God, Together.” It will contain both private contemplative seasons and public community sessions.

Pray for me as I consider the details and logistics with my Project Galilee Crew and others who may help. 

I am thinking perhaps October 14-17, 2020 at Cape May, New Jersey. Deo Volente. As God wills. 

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

The Solid Rock

The first hymn I ever remember hearing sung in a church setting was “The Solid Rock.” Sometimes I wonder if that simple experience somehow helped to form a strong and profound foundation under my spiritual life from childhood. 

Have a listen to the old faithful song of the faith as my dear friend, Jim Cole, sings my favorite arrangement ever of the sacred hymn. 

https://youtu.be/NrdlQs2IvjU

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Saved? God Now Calls For a Holy Life!

‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭1:9-12‬ ‭NLT‬‬ speaking deeply to my soul today... 

"For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time--to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News. And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News. That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return." 

Jesus, I know the One I trust in -- YOU ARE THE ONE! You have saved me and I now say "YES" to Your call to live a Holy Life. Holiness happens only as You live in me and as I live in You! So be it! Amen. 

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Revival Still Matters

I have believed strongly all of my life that revival matters and I believe to this very day that revival still matters. 

It has been my privilege to preach revival in several of our local churches on the Philadelphia District Church of the Nazarene over the past year as the district servant (DS). 

Last night as I was preaching the Lord revealed Himself so undeniably. I was preaching my third service of a four-service season at Selinsgrove, PA. and my third message on "The Beauty of Holiness." At the conclusion, an estimated 40 hungry God-seekers representing every generation came forward for what proved to be an irresistible invitation. Take it from me: Lined altars is one right answer for helping with whatever’s the matter. 

Spiritual awakening has been the fervent prayer of this local congregation over the past months and without doubt God has heard and is now answering those prayers. 

So, if you have given-up on local church revivals, could it be that you haven’t been in a Holy Ghost Gathering for the purpose of spiritual renewal in quite some time? 

It’s not too late to do the right thing. Be an advocate for a revival in your own local church. Why? Revival still matters. 

Lord, revive us again and again! Amen and Amen. 

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY! 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Holiness = Possession

Jesus isn’t primarily looking for followers since Pentecost came. Because He wants Holiness to happen, He’s now looking for sanctuaries. Yes, Holiness is all about Who owns us and Who indwells us. In other words, Holiness equals possession.

Jesus calls us beyond merely imitating Him to increased intimacy with Him. Yes, it’s ownership of us and oneness with us that He wants and what He wants is what we need. 

Let us not live beneath the inheritance line He has lovingly afforded us. In John 15:4, His invitation is clear: "Live in Me and I will live in You!" That’s more than follower-talk. That’s possession-language. 

Holiness is indeed what I long for, Jesus. Ever-increasing intimacy with You. I want You to totally own me. I want to be one with You. I want to be exclusively Yours. It is all joy for me to say: "Yes, Lord, I’ll be Your Holy Place. Make Your home and set up Your Throne in me!" 

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

A Prayer for You, Especially You

Today, I am praying for whoever is reading my blog --yes, even you, especially you. 

Dearest Lord Jesus, Fairest of 10,000 (and beyond) to my soul. 

I pray today for those who are reading my blog, either for the first time or for the thousandth time.

Please let me approach your Great Throne of Mighty Mercy asking that You would work in mysterious and miraculous ways in the lives of those leaning into these words of intimate intercession right now. 

Lord, please extend Your goodness and gentleness, yes, Your compassion and countenance in undeniable ways. Touch each heart, mind, soul, and body with the beauty of Your Holiness and with the reality of Your Wholeness. 

Meet every need, I pray, according to Your riches in Christ Jesus -- Your Beloved Son, our Precious Savior. 

Where faith is giving out, revive.

Where love seems cold, renew. 

Where kindness seems dull, recreate. 

Where hope seems gone, restore.

Lord, You alone are all we have and all we need. You alone have the wonderful Words of Life, because You are The Only Way, The Whole Truth, and The Eternal Life. So help us God. Breathe anew within each soul Your everlasting existence. 

Finally, Lord, let everyone reading my blog today know that you are both Great and Good. So Great that You exist and You existed before all time and eternity, and so Good that You reward those of us who earnestly seek You. (Hebrews 11:6)

Be our God and make us to be Your people.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen. 

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Need Strength?

Early in the morning this sacred song strengthened my soul:

https://youtu.be/kCzg_uTk3MI

Presence Matters Most!  No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Images as Summer Nears an End

Here are some of my selected images as September begins:

Presence Matters Most! No Invisible People!

UNITY!

Pastor Kerry Willis