Are you up yet?

The Bridge has been waiting for you.  We’re excited!  The first post from the Atlanta meeting is here.  Your morning routine just got more meaningful.

There is such great power in gathering together in one spirit and one faith.  After a meeting, as everyone returns home, we still work diligently to make sure we all stay close and connected in purpose and direction.  Showing up here is one more way to do that.

---

---

By Brother Robert Wadleigh

The announcement went out.  January Minister’s Meeting would be in Atlanta.  The excitement began to build.

The question was not, “Are you going?”  It was, “When are you leaving?  Is anyone riding with you?”

The ministry was excited and as the meeting started, it was clear the excitement was well-founded.

A Culture of Manners

In the Body of Christ, we are taught to do things decently and in order.  We are instructed to render honor to whom honor is due.  We learn to respect the elderly and obey them that labor among us.

Common sense, right?  Well, what that looks and sounds like are sometimes more abstract.  It’s easy to let cultural ideas of honor creep in.  Before you know it, we look and sound like everybody else.

But we are different.

If you want to know how to behave, be observant.  How does the ministry behave?  Who are they honoring?

Following their lead brings safety.

We Have a Pattern

Moses was given instruction by God to build the tabernacle.  He could have allowed “process improvements”, but the end result wouldn’t have been what God intended.

Moses could have allowed the golden candlesticks to be cast in a mold.  Making a mold and casting the candlestick might have produced a nicer product and would have allowed for easier duplication, but it wasn’t what God asked for.

Making the candlestick from one beaten piece of gold, allowed God’s light to shine forth.

Our pattern is proven.  It has a spirit.  It doesn’t require our buildings to look alike or our service times to be exactly the same, but it generates the same love, the same joy, the same praise toward God.

A Season of Praise

A heightened spirit of praise swept through our general meeting in October.  At times, the spirit was so strong the ministry could not speak.  Since then, the spirit has been noticeably different in our services.  It’s hard to explain, but If you have felt it, you understand.

Praise lets God know you appreciate and need Him.

This season of praise will bring us closer to God and bring growth to his people.

Prayer Extends the Conversation

Just as praise has feeling, prayer should have energy.

James said, “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”  Prayer is made effectual by fervency.

God looks for passion in our prayers.  He wants to hear we know He has the answer to our problems and have confidence He will answer our cries.

Are we prayerful enough to see what God has for us?

Yoke and Burden

Jesus said, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”, but there is a yoke and a burden.  It becomes easier and lighter when we bear only the burden that is ours and when when we carry it correctly.

If there isn’t a price to be paid, our mind will trick us into thinking there is no value in this way.

Come and See

Bridge regulars already know we like to fellowship and, of course, that means we like to eat.

During this meeting, fellowship took on a different look.

Normally, we end up at the church or at someone’s house, eat way too much, and blend our spirits (that’s lingo for picking on each other and, generally, getting to know one another).

This time we took our fellowship public.

Whether we went shopping or out to eat, we let our light shine.  We let people see it.  We offered them a church card and an invitation to come and see what God is doing in the area.

Stay tuned for the results.

Sunday Morning

Remember what I said about praise?

As is our custom, service started with praise, but when it would normally have ended, it didn’t.

The thankfulness of the people could be felt as we praised God for everything we had already received and for what we were still expecting.

Over the next couple hours, the ministry went to work.

We heard about our comforter, the mercy seat, and the five-fold ministry.  We were challenged to “let our loins be girded about and let our light burn”.  We learned ways to tell the authentic from the counterfeit.

We heard about God’s power.  Then we felt that power.  The service ended with a tremendous outpouring of the Holy Ghost.

Great Start

The Church at Atlanta provided a perfect kick off for 2019.  Our next stop is Riverside, California in April, and then . . .

Stay tuned, but don’t take your traveling shoes off, we’re just getting started.

2019 is going to be a great year!