I just hung up the phone this morning with one of my all-time preacher heros, Jack Taylor. This Southern Baptist pastor who discovered the power of the Holy Spirit and the kingdom of God some forty years ago, wrote a book that turned my world right-side up in 1987. It was entitled The Halleluiah Factor. This book is still in print (Amazon) and has sold upwards of hundreds of thousands.
At the time, I was a conservative evangelical Campus Crusade missionary, struggling to figure out how to reach Japanese college students in Tokyo. I don’t know how I got hold of the book, but it rocked my world. I’ve since read it four or five times through the years.
The book gave me a whole new perspective to praise and worship! I was never the same. It was through this book that I then discovered a man named John Wimber (founder of the Vineyard movement) and his call for the kingdom of God. Later I would become John’s assistant at the Anaheim Vineyard and my world truly got rocked after that!
Today, Jack Taylor and I spoke for about five minutes and, my goodness, were those a glorious five minutes! We kept talking over each other because we were so excited about the times we’re living in. We were excited about the coming revival and the cosmic work of the kingdom of God in these last days.
God’s on the move. The day after the election of Donald Trump, I awoke with the words “Make Jesus Great Again!” That Sunday, I told The Road, the church I lead, that this would be our theme for 2017. In my zeal and passion, I had not put two and two together. But the kingdom of God, using my vernacular here, is all about making Jesus great.
Making Jesus Great is the proclamation and demonstration of the kingdom of God! That’s what it is. That’s what we’re contending to do at The Road in 2017. That’s what I’m contending for in my life this year.
Join the greatest message ever given by the greatest man who ever lived — Jesus. Let’s make the name of Jesus great in our life, our families, our cities, and in our churches this year.
Contending for the kingdom of God in 2017,
Steve
www.theroad.org
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Twitter: @pastorsteveholt
