One of the sections of the "Life on Wings" interviews with Dr Ern Baxter that I found the most fascinating was when he spoke about past movements of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because we can learn so so much from past moves. We can learn what to expect when God does move but more importantly we can learn from the past mistakes of those who rode the waves of the Spirit and fell at various hurdles. Although Rob Rufus may not have lived through quite as many past moves of the Spirit as Ern Baxter did, I was still very interested to find an extensive comment that he made during one of his sermons in Hong Kong in 2004.
Here it is - Rob Rufus on waves of the Spirit of God:"I believe that there is a "paddling" Anointing on us the Church to catch a wave of God.
About six months ago, God said to me, “I am going to establish a move of My Spirit in your Church that will touch the world.” The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized or reaped within the lifetime of that opportunity. The prophetic people see the window, they see the door opening.
About six months ago, God said to me, “I am going to establish a move of My Spirit in your Church that will touch the world.” The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized or reaped within the lifetime of that opportunity. The prophetic people see the window, they see the door opening.
Jesus warned that in the last days, as the world is coming to the climax and the consummation of the ages, as history is about to be summed up in the return of Jesus Christ, He says in Matthew 24 verse 38 that there will be people just running around, giving and taking in marriage, and they will be distracted by this thing and that trivial thing and that silly thing over there and He said suddenly the end will come and they would have missed out on their destiny and the purpose for which they were raised up. The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime of that opportunity.
In 1905, the Azusa Street Revival broke out in Los Angeles. Los Angeles, a city that was a wild, cowboy town. It was a racially prejudiced city. God broke out in the most amazing ways. The Presence of God came upon a black man by the name of William Seymour – he was a one-eyed black man. God chose a black man with one eye to start a revival in a city that was racially prejudiced. They say that William Seymour could see more with one eye than people could see with two eyes. William Seymour had been kicked out of a white Church, and as he sat outside he said: “Lord, I love you and I wanted to be with my brothers and sisters and Worshipping in that Church, in Your House and they have kicked me out.” He said: “Son, don’t you worry, they have kicked me out a long time ago.”
William Seymour went down to Azusa Street and they had a little house meeting that went to a Horse Barn that could seat four hundred people but it fitted in eight hundred people. They had eight hundred people sitting on boxes and planks, no air-conditioning in the hot heat of Los Angeles. Eight hundred people, some journalists who went there said you had to stick your head under a chair to find a little air left. He described the air and the smell and the stench of horse manure and no deodorants on eight hundred people packed into a four-hundred seater place. William Seymour spent most of the service hiding his face because he was so humble, he did not want to take any glory at all and God came and they had three years of revival where they had twenty-four hour meetings, seven days a week – continual praising and worshipping of God and for the first time in one thousand years people got baptised in the Spirit and a Congregation began to speak in tongues and pray in tongues and people came from all around world. They came in there and they saw little children speaking the Word of God like Oracles and announcing the secret things of people’s hearts and the worship went on for hours and hours and people were slain in the Spirit, lay under the Glory of God and the Power of God came.
Now we look back on that and we say, whoa, it would have been so easy to have been a part of that. No, it was not easy because the statistics say that the revival only lasted three years and in those three years they only saw five hundred people born again. Now, you may think five hundred people is a lot in three years in a revival. That is not a lot.
Just two years ago I was in my home town in South Africa doing a big tent meeting and we saw in one meeting four hundred people come to Christ. I said “I do not want backsliders now, I am not asking for the Prodigals that is the next Altar call. This is for those who have never been saved.” Four hundred people saved in one night. Yet that did not produce a revival in our city, it was a great meeting but that was not revival. There is no revival in Pinetown today, there are some great Churches there but there is no revival, there is no Power sweeping through the City as great as the Churches there are. There are great Churches, but that is not revival. You can have great sophisticated Churches with dignified people but that is not revival.
Five hundred people in three years - that is only about three people a week being saved - that is not a lot. Only fifteen thousand people came from the nations of the earth to see what was happening there and catch it and take it back. Only fifteen thousand, that is not a lot over three years. That is about a hundred people a week.
But one hundred years later in 2005 from 1905, Five hundred million people can trace their Spiritual roots back to Azusa Street. There have been more people saved and more Churches started from that little revival than any other thing that has happened in the last century. Far more people have come out of that and are worshipping God than all the Catholics and all the Anglicans put together - out of that little one-eyed black man’s meetings because God came and there was a group of people that let Him come and it poured out of them onto the lost.
God sends waves of His Glory to the planet. Some of you know this and some of you have no clue what I am saying because you were part of those denominations that did not let those waves touch your congregation in the past. Over the last hundred years we have had about eight major waves that have come to this planet that hit the Church first.
Surfers know how to ride waves. They paddle out, they position themselves and they catch waves on purpose. If they do not position themselves and deliberately go to catch the wave, they have to start paddling before the wave comes into their geographical proximity. They cannot wait for a wave to be on them and then suddenly start paddling because many beautiful big waves by paddling too late. Now, if they are really good, they can give a little thrust from behind and it takes two or three strong paddles and they can get into a wave. But most have to start scratching long before it gets to them.
You have to be prophetic to catch a wave of the Glory of God. What are these waves? These waves are seasons in the History of Man where the Power of God comes with heightened awareness – much more than the normal times between the waves – and in every wave there is a restoration of a lost Truth that has been lost by the traditions of men. In every wave there is a restoration of what was lost during the Dark Ages. Waves that recover healing, waves that recover the Gifts. Waves that have recovered Elder-governed Churches. There are waves that recover Apostles and dismiss superintendents and executives. Waves that bring the Church closer to what the Book of Acts, the fountain of pure origin is about. Waves that come and they break across the wineskins of Churches and burst the wineskins open because the new wine cannot be contained within the religious wineskins of religiosity.
I have been a Christian for twenty-seven years and I have only lived through three major waves. In the tail-end of the Charismatic Movement, we got broken out of the Pentecostals and broke into Catholics and Anglicans and they all – millions of them – became tongue-speakers. It was an opportunity for those who had got behind to catch up with the restoration. Sadly millions of them rejected that wave, and many of them that caught it are no longer riding the wave that came after that which was the faith movement the Word of Faith movement and I rode that wave and I know that it ended in about 1983.
And then one was called the Toronto, the wave of joy and restoration and refreshing. That came. Actually it came to us in the mid-eighties we were under the rejoicing in God and it came in 1989. In 1993 it came to us in July 1993 in Adelaide for six weeks. And then in 1994 Toronto became famous but that wave began to fade as well. I am telling you, that I know, that I know that I know that there is another wave very close now.
It is not on the horizon. We are beginning to feel the first little, little effects of its’ coming. And in this wave it will not be this emphasis, or that emphasis, or tongues or joy or laughter or healing. This wave is the Mother of all Waves up to this present time. It will have in it everything that has been restored in previous waves – everything will be in this wave. Every surfer knows that every seventh wave is the big one – they call it the “creeper set.” They do not want to be caught on the inside when a creeper set is coming through. They can sit closer to the shore and enjoy the smaller waves and catch them but they are always keeping their eyes to the horizon because if the “creeper set” comes and they are not in the position, they are going to miss it. And that is the one they are waiting for because that is the biggest thrill.
If you have ever caught a big wave, you know what I am talking about. I mean, when that thing flows over you and it begins to get closer and closer in the “green room” – it is like transparent glass around you – pure moving water and energy and as that thing closes in on you, you can feel the eardrums compressing as the pressure in there begins to get compressed and then it literally shoots you out with a spit and a spume – and you have just got to do that again, and again, and again. And I just want to tell you something, you have got to start paddling before the wave arrives. You had better start paddling before this wave arrives; otherwise you are going to miss it. But I promise you this, when you catch the wave, no-one will have to tell you, you have now caught it, you will know you have not caught that wave, that wave has caught you.
Because you go from a “paddling Anointing” to a “thrill Anointing.” No more
just a paddling Anointing to get into a wave. Right now we are in a paddling Anointing. Right now, we are paddling to catch the wave. When we catch this wave we will experience a new energy, a new power, a new Glory, a new Awesomeness of God thundering around us - shaking and manifesting that is phenomenal! We will not have to paddle, once we have caught the wave we will not have to paddle anymore. It will be glorious, it will be magnificent.
Now, I have no doubt that this wave is coming. It is so close, I can feel it, it is beginning to lift, we are paddling for it. My only concern is how much of the Church is going to catch it, how much of the Church world will catch it because tradition shows when waves come, most of the Church has rejected the wave. When the Messiah came, most of the religious orthodoxy rejected Him and said He was not the wave, He is not the Messiah.
In 1905, the Azusa Street Revival broke out in Los Angeles. Los Angeles, a city that was a wild, cowboy town. It was a racially prejudiced city. God broke out in the most amazing ways. The Presence of God came upon a black man by the name of William Seymour – he was a one-eyed black man. God chose a black man with one eye to start a revival in a city that was racially prejudiced. They say that William Seymour could see more with one eye than people could see with two eyes. William Seymour had been kicked out of a white Church, and as he sat outside he said: “Lord, I love you and I wanted to be with my brothers and sisters and Worshipping in that Church, in Your House and they have kicked me out.” He said: “Son, don’t you worry, they have kicked me out a long time ago.”
William Seymour went down to Azusa Street and they had a little house meeting that went to a Horse Barn that could seat four hundred people but it fitted in eight hundred people. They had eight hundred people sitting on boxes and planks, no air-conditioning in the hot heat of Los Angeles. Eight hundred people, some journalists who went there said you had to stick your head under a chair to find a little air left. He described the air and the smell and the stench of horse manure and no deodorants on eight hundred people packed into a four-hundred seater place. William Seymour spent most of the service hiding his face because he was so humble, he did not want to take any glory at all and God came and they had three years of revival where they had twenty-four hour meetings, seven days a week – continual praising and worshipping of God and for the first time in one thousand years people got baptised in the Spirit and a Congregation began to speak in tongues and pray in tongues and people came from all around world. They came in there and they saw little children speaking the Word of God like Oracles and announcing the secret things of people’s hearts and the worship went on for hours and hours and people were slain in the Spirit, lay under the Glory of God and the Power of God came.
Now we look back on that and we say, whoa, it would have been so easy to have been a part of that. No, it was not easy because the statistics say that the revival only lasted three years and in those three years they only saw five hundred people born again. Now, you may think five hundred people is a lot in three years in a revival. That is not a lot.
Just two years ago I was in my home town in South Africa doing a big tent meeting and we saw in one meeting four hundred people come to Christ. I said “I do not want backsliders now, I am not asking for the Prodigals that is the next Altar call. This is for those who have never been saved.” Four hundred people saved in one night. Yet that did not produce a revival in our city, it was a great meeting but that was not revival. There is no revival in Pinetown today, there are some great Churches there but there is no revival, there is no Power sweeping through the City as great as the Churches there are. There are great Churches, but that is not revival. You can have great sophisticated Churches with dignified people but that is not revival.
Five hundred people in three years - that is only about three people a week being saved - that is not a lot. Only fifteen thousand people came from the nations of the earth to see what was happening there and catch it and take it back. Only fifteen thousand, that is not a lot over three years. That is about a hundred people a week.
But one hundred years later in 2005 from 1905, Five hundred million people can trace their Spiritual roots back to Azusa Street. There have been more people saved and more Churches started from that little revival than any other thing that has happened in the last century. Far more people have come out of that and are worshipping God than all the Catholics and all the Anglicans put together - out of that little one-eyed black man’s meetings because God came and there was a group of people that let Him come and it poured out of them onto the lost.
God sends waves of His Glory to the planet. Some of you know this and some of you have no clue what I am saying because you were part of those denominations that did not let those waves touch your congregation in the past. Over the last hundred years we have had about eight major waves that have come to this planet that hit the Church first.
Surfers know how to ride waves. They paddle out, they position themselves and they catch waves on purpose. If they do not position themselves and deliberately go to catch the wave, they have to start paddling before the wave comes into their geographical proximity. They cannot wait for a wave to be on them and then suddenly start paddling because many beautiful big waves by paddling too late. Now, if they are really good, they can give a little thrust from behind and it takes two or three strong paddles and they can get into a wave. But most have to start scratching long before it gets to them.You have to be prophetic to catch a wave of the Glory of God. What are these waves? These waves are seasons in the History of Man where the Power of God comes with heightened awareness – much more than the normal times between the waves – and in every wave there is a restoration of a lost Truth that has been lost by the traditions of men. In every wave there is a restoration of what was lost during the Dark Ages. Waves that recover healing, waves that recover the Gifts. Waves that have recovered Elder-governed Churches. There are waves that recover Apostles and dismiss superintendents and executives. Waves that bring the Church closer to what the Book of Acts, the fountain of pure origin is about. Waves that come and they break across the wineskins of Churches and burst the wineskins open because the new wine cannot be contained within the religious wineskins of religiosity.
I have been a Christian for twenty-seven years and I have only lived through three major waves. In the tail-end of the Charismatic Movement, we got broken out of the Pentecostals and broke into Catholics and Anglicans and they all – millions of them – became tongue-speakers. It was an opportunity for those who had got behind to catch up with the restoration. Sadly millions of them rejected that wave, and many of them that caught it are no longer riding the wave that came after that which was the faith movement the Word of Faith movement and I rode that wave and I know that it ended in about 1983.
And then one was called the Toronto, the wave of joy and restoration and refreshing. That came. Actually it came to us in the mid-eighties we were under the rejoicing in God and it came in 1989. In 1993 it came to us in July 1993 in Adelaide for six weeks. And then in 1994 Toronto became famous but that wave began to fade as well. I am telling you, that I know, that I know that I know that there is another wave very close now.
It is not on the horizon. We are beginning to feel the first little, little effects of its’ coming. And in this wave it will not be this emphasis, or that emphasis, or tongues or joy or laughter or healing. This wave is the Mother of all Waves up to this present time. It will have in it everything that has been restored in previous waves – everything will be in this wave. Every surfer knows that every seventh wave is the big one – they call it the “creeper set.” They do not want to be caught on the inside when a creeper set is coming through. They can sit closer to the shore and enjoy the smaller waves and catch them but they are always keeping their eyes to the horizon because if the “creeper set” comes and they are not in the position, they are going to miss it. And that is the one they are waiting for because that is the biggest thrill.
If you have ever caught a big wave, you know what I am talking about. I mean, when that thing flows over you and it begins to get closer and closer in the “green room” – it is like transparent glass around you – pure moving water and energy and as that thing closes in on you, you can feel the eardrums compressing as the pressure in there begins to get compressed and then it literally shoots you out with a spit and a spume – and you have just got to do that again, and again, and again. And I just want to tell you something, you have got to start paddling before the wave arrives. You had better start paddling before this wave arrives; otherwise you are going to miss it. But I promise you this, when you catch the wave, no-one will have to tell you, you have now caught it, you will know you have not caught that wave, that wave has caught you.
Because you go from a “paddling Anointing” to a “thrill Anointing.” No more
just a paddling Anointing to get into a wave. Right now we are in a paddling Anointing. Right now, we are paddling to catch the wave. When we catch this wave we will experience a new energy, a new power, a new Glory, a new Awesomeness of God thundering around us - shaking and manifesting that is phenomenal! We will not have to paddle, once we have caught the wave we will not have to paddle anymore. It will be glorious, it will be magnificent.
Now, I have no doubt that this wave is coming. It is so close, I can feel it, it is beginning to lift, we are paddling for it. My only concern is how much of the Church is going to catch it, how much of the Church world will catch it because tradition shows when waves come, most of the Church has rejected the wave. When the Messiah came, most of the religious orthodoxy rejected Him and said He was not the wave, He is not the Messiah.
But all I know is when this wave hits, every Church and all groups and leaders that catch this wave – they are going to ride a wave of such Power and even if it is only a remnant or small part of the Church that catches this, this wave is going to have such Power it is going to carry us with such Anointing and freedom and joy and authority and peace and visions and dreams and reality that it is going to splash out onto the world and multitudes of the lost are going to come into this wave. I prophesy that the most who will participate in this wave are going to be the lost people that come into the Churches that are riding this coming wave".
The sermon was; "Why is Faith So Important? (9)" - 30th October 2005.
Let him who hath an ear to hear - hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.
3 comments:
Awesome find Dan!!!
Dan,
Have been away restringing that 1840s Grand. Have immersed myself in the European messages that Shawna told us about , plus Rob's early June messages. Plus Dvorak plus another composer I knew nothing about:Joonas Kokkonen. I just wanted to stress to Shawna, I am really glad she told us about them. Have you heard the awesome words of prophecy over Rob and his church??? LOVED, LOVED,loved the spirit of the Dutch pastor. There must be gazillions of them over there embedded in the Word, like him. I loved the messages on Mixing things with faith. Just got extremely edgy about the guy's spirit. Honestly, the last time I was this edgy about the mismatch between content and content provider, was Tony Morton, once when he came to Emsworth , then when he came to our Havant church. Far from being an apostle, Tony is now to my knowledge not in any ministry whatsoever,just 4 years later.
:) This is kind of funny Chris. My husband and I went away for the weekend(4th of July here), left the kids with the grandparents, and I was able to finish reading the book that you recommended by Maurice Smith a while back! This is one of those times that I wish I was better at expressing myself, but you'll have to trust me that when I say "it was really good, and I got a lot out of it" I mean a lot more than that. I could relate to the picture of the doors and coridors in Chapter 8. I know that I've gone through some doors, but I'm in a coridor still. I believe that there is a day coming when I'll walk through a final door into spacious freedom though. I really appreciated his advice on pg. 25 about runnning at full stride yet being content not knowing everything and enjoying where we are at.
I was going to ask you about the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, levels that you were writing about with Dan a couple posts back. You've refered to them before, and I've been curious to ask if theres another place that you're written about the concept in more detail. Maybe you can help with that too, Dan.
Glad you're enjoying the messages. I actually listened to the "mixing it with faith" message on the long drive home from our weekend away. Your comment about content and provider was pretty interesting. And that word for Rob, Glenda and CCI WAS amazing. I thought Dan did a post about the prophet who gave the word a while back and linked in an article that he'd written which I found really helpful (now I can't find it though). Anyway....gotta go.
Shawna
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