Purify Our Pouting

Lord please purify Your people from pouting lest real persecution arrives and catches us weak in self-pity. Amen. -kww

Pray always.

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Saturday Night Revival — “Surrender”

On Saturday night and Sunday morning, i was blessed to preach in revival at Reading, Pennsylvania. The Lord strongly met us in both services and the beautiful altar responses were like Heaven touching earth to my soul. 

Saturday night was beautifully unusual. i quoted one verse, Galatians 2:20, and then it was like the Lord built a fire wall between me and my notes. It was great. He gave me every sentence to speak until the conclusion. Let me just say: “The messenger was amazed and grateful.”

Here’s the service if you have time to watch. Warning: It’s close to two hours from beginning to end. 

https://youtu.be/YJz4676IAjI

i surrender all again! 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

The Truth That Sanctifies…

"The Truth that sanctifies begins with cleansing of heart and motive, a life surrendered to The Divine Will, and personality possessed by and filled with The Holy Spirit -- and i very nearly missed the Way." -- Samuel Chadwick 

Surrendered to the One Who is The Way, The Truth and The Life -- Jesus Himself. 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Comforting Thoughts

When spiritual warfare is underway in our lives, let’s remember the enemy does not give us more attention than our Father God does. -kww

Early this morning the Lord seemed to be speaking these words deep to my weary mind. Comforting thoughts indeed.

Believing totally.

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Words of Jesus, Mark 12:38-40

“Jesus also taught: ‘Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces. And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished.’” Mark‬ ‭12:38-40‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Please Love Jesus and all others passionately.

Pastor Kerry Willis  

Mourning

“The heart of the wise [learns when it] is in the house of mourning, But the heart of fools is [senseless] in the house of pleasure.”Ecclesiastes‬ ‭7:4‬ ‭AMP‬‬

“Blessed [forgiven, refreshed by God’s grace] are those who mourn [over their sins and repent], for they will be comforted [when the burden of sin is lifted].” Matthew‬ ‭5:4‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Love passionately. 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Prayer is About Relationship with The Everlasting Father -- Father’s Day 2021

i was blessed to preach on this Holy Father’s Day Sunday morning for both services at Lynchburg, Virginia, Church of the Nazarene where my youngest brother, Stephen, is lead pastor.

The services were similar but my message was somewhat different in the second service. i am posting it below. If you need encouragement for your prayer life, perhaps this will be helpful.

https://youtu.be/kzq-aWw6Zlo

Love passionately.

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Dreaming About Daddy

It’s Father’s Day Weekend 2021 in the good ol’ U.S. of A. When my Daddy, Capt. Billy, was living, he missed his own Daddy, Capt. Gray, fiercely, like i miss him now. My Daddy often had dreams about his Daddy. Those dreams were so inspiring. 

Well, last night i awoke after dreaming about my Daddy…

i was somewhere away from our home and was getting ready for a wedding and realized i had the wrong suit of clothes. i had a gray, pinstripe suit and needed my black suit. i phoned Momma and Daddy and they agreed to drive the suit i needed to wherever i was. 

On the phone call -- as i gave them driving directions -- i could hear Daddy joking in the background and making Momma laugh as usual. 

Finally, they arrived in their old, light-blue, Pontiac Catalina with a white vinyl top. i got the right suit of clothes from them. There was joy in the atmosphere and in my heart. Then i awoke. It was 5:30 a.m. Been kind of smiling ever since. 

As i have reflected on the dream, i do surely know my Momma and Daddy did all they could do to live as sanctuaries of the presence of the Lord, in part, to make sure their three sons got the right suit of clothes on for the Married Supper of the Lamb. 

i am a great and grateful debtor. Indeed. Happy Father’s Day in Heaven, Daddy. In the sweet by-and-by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. 

Love passionately.

Pastor Kerry Willis 

"Holiness Unto the Lord" by Pastor Dan LeRoy

Humbled to read this writing by one of my friends and mentors in life, Pastor Dan LeRoy:

My dear friend Kerry Willis is the district superintendent of the Philadelphia District for the Church of the Nazarene. He’s a Harkers Island boy who grew up in our Free Grace Wesleyan Church there. My dad was his boyhood pastor. 

Kerry is a great, Spirit-filled advocate for holiness. Kerry is one of those people the Lord chooses to wear like a coat. 

He tells the story of riding his bicycle to the church on the Old Ferry Dock Road to watch my dad and Samuel Davis, the Island sign-painter, hang a fifteen foot wide sign on the front wall of the sanctuary, prominently placed above the pulpit for all to see. It read, ‘Holiness Unto the Lord’, in gold, Old English script on a natural stained board, in high gloss finish. It just shines. 

Kerry says witnessing the hanging of that sign was a moment of inspiration that has impacted his life to this day. ‘Holiness Unto the Lord’ got deep into his heart. 

There was one thing about us, back in the day. Our church neighbors around the corner had a brass cross sitting on their communion table inscribed with the Latin phrase, ‘In Hoc Signo’. 

Not us. 

We didn’t even have a brass cross in that little Island church. And if we were going to have a sign, it wasn’t going to be in Latin. It was going to be in English, and it was going to be bold, and it was going to tell you who we were and what we believed. And we were going to do our best to live up to that sign. We didn’t always accomplish that, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. 

That sanctuary burned down in a lightning storm a decade ago. The congregation had just finished a new sanctuary and the old sanctuary, attached to the new construction, had been converted into a fellowship hall. 

The ‘Holiness Unto the Lord’ sign had just been moved from the old sanctuary and was placed over the entrance doors in the new sanctuary. By God’s intervening grace, the fire that destroyed the old sanctuary burned right up to the side door of the new sanctuary, but came no further. 

The battle for the heart, soul, mind and future of The Wesleyan Church will be won or lost in the same proportion ‘Holiness Unto the Lord’ is lived and proclaimed by the pastors and people of The Wesleyan Church. 

I’m talking about that holiness that, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, is best described as Christlikeness. The kind of dynamic that does not simply confine itself to being ‘personal sin management’, but is characterized by the love of God filling us in such a way that it transforms every aspect of our lives, and overflows into all our relationships, everywhere we have influence, and into every dark place we take it. 

May we be like the young Kerry who has never gotten over his encounter with the Holy One through his boyhood church’s testimony of ‘Holiness Unto the Lord!’

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify us through and through. May we be kept blameless until the day of his appearing. May we know the reality, by faith, that the One who calls us is faithful, and he will do it!

It is for real. It is for now. It is for you.

Pastor Dan LeRoy, Retired Wesleyan District Superintendent 

A Few Words from Pastor Kerry’s Daily Journal

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

i love you Jesus, nevertheless i know You loved me first and You love me most. 

i want to thank You, Lord, for this week of campmeeting with the Philadelphia District family at the Erma Holiness Campground in Cape May, New Jersey. 

On this Tuesday, the double-blessing day for the Hebrew, i want to give thanks for a new double-blessing my life -- Claire and Tom Rivera. Lord, this couple from our Royersford, Pennsylvania congregation drip with Your presence in my life. (And o how they love You and their pastor, Peter Clarke.)

Claire and Tom are relatively new to the Church of the Nazarene. Their compassionate ministry in their local church and community is called "Illumination" and o my, are they examples of their mission name.

Claire and Tom have been so excited to attend their first holiness campmeeting. Weeks before the event their social media posts were inspiring me and many others. The week before the gathering Claire sent me these words in a text: 

"Hi Pastor Kerry!! i just want to let you know that i am SO EXCITED for holiness camp. Tom and I are there the whole time. If you need logistic support (help with set up/clean up, to bring anything, worship team vocal fill in, etc. etc.) feel free to put us to work. I have no idea what to expect so I can’t predict what you may need. Just want you to know there are two pairs of hands willing to help."

i immediately forwarded the Rivera’s phone numbers to John Sharpless, our campmeeting servant leader and he connected right away with Claire and Tom. Talk about a match made in Heaven! Wow! Praise the Lord!

We are only in Day 3 of our summer spiritual get-together and Claire and Tom are basically lighting up the whole campground. They are the first ones in the tabernacle each service and have been working behind the scenes alongside my wife dear Kim and Shannon Gipple who leads the Erma Camp staff, etc. Claire and Tom have quickly and beautifully found their place at the beverage table for each meal and the water cooler in the tabernacle and when i just left the dining hall kitchen area after breakfast Claire was washing dishes and Tom was hauling heavy trash bags to the dumpster. They are illuminating and transforming the atmosphere as carriers of the presence of Jesus.

Lord, help us all to be revived and to show up as carriers of Your illuminating and transforming presence wherever we may be or go. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. 

P.S. Claire and Tom Rivera have been the highlight for our evangelist, Dr. Stephen Manley. He just gravitates to them before and after every service. 

Friends, it’s really true! Presence Matters Most! 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Even in His Righteous Anger, Jesus Healed.

Today, i have been saturating in The Gospel according to Mark, chapters 2 and 3. These words are speaking so strongly to my being: 

“Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched Him closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.” Mark‬ ‭3:1-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Think about it, even in His righteous anger, Jesus healed. That’s my Lord. -kww

Love passionately.

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Joy, Unlike Happiness…

A dear brother in Jesus, Pastor Mark Anderson wrote this recent devotional on joy. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rKomFOo54Nd--IYInoz8Vbb2Gjj_ksNCEmfqXOgaxvU/mobilebasic

Love passionately. 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

The Prayer

This is so inspiring… 

https://youtu.be/sIbAmZZ_F5U

Love passionately. 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

“Prodigal” Illustrated

i have posted this video before but it can never be watched enough. May it touch your soul and remind you: 

“Father God’s not mad at you; He is mad about you.” -kww 

https://youtu.be/9RXi_cZ57sg

Love passionately. 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

“Now that i’m Old and Gray…”

“From my childhood you’ve been my teacher, and I’m still telling everyone of your miracle-wonders! God, now that I’m old and gray, don’t walk away. Give me grace to demonstrate to the next generation all your mighty miracles and your excitement, to show them your magnificent power.” Psalms‬ ‭71:17-18‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Love passionately.

Pastor Kerry Willis

“Can I Get a Witness?” — The Dove of Love”

This was my message today, Sunday, June 6, 2021, at New Holland, Pennsylvania Church of the Nazarene… 

https://youtu.be/pebezpdi1j4

Love passionately. 

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Love… Resentment…

“Love keeps no record of wrongs.” 1 Corinthians 13:5b

“Resentment ruins relationships. Love forgives and chooses to forget.” -kww

Profoundly love.

Pastor Kerry Willis 

Withholding Love

"To withhold love is to cancel the attitude of Jesus within us and to testify that we do not know Him." -kww

"This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed His life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear." 1 John‬ ‭3:16-17‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Invitation: i invite you to read 1 Corinthians 13 once a week. It is the life-changing love chapter of the Holy Bible. 

Profoundly love.

Pastor Kerry Willis 

A Song That Lifts My Soul

This is surely one song that lifts my soul. I pray it will do the same for you today.

https://youtu.be/Rl-a64eVr4k

Simply trust.

Pastor Kerry Willis

My Morning Prayer

Dearest my Lord: 

Still locked within the human parentheses of time, emotions and feelings go high and swing low, yet the hope of Your ever-present Holy Spirit with and within me helps me to remember i am journeying ever onward, forward, and upward towards my Heavenly Home. 

For this i give thanks. Amen. 

Still trusting.

Pastor Kerry Willis

NOW is Essential to Obeying The Call!

SHARE THE WORD -- "As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow Me." Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people." AT ONCE they left their nets and followed Him. When He had gone a little farther, He saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. WITHOUT DELAY He called them, AND THEY LEFT their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Him." Mark‬ ‭1:16-20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The words that stand out to me are in CAPS above. i fear too often when Jesus calls people to come with Him, HESITANCY HAPPENS. When Jesus calls, let us not say with our actions: "i will only come after You, Jesus, when it’s convenient for me." NOW is essential to obeying the call of Jesus on our lives. -kww 

Simply trust. 

Pastor Kerry Willis