THE GLORY OF THE LATTER HOUSE SHALL BE GREATER THAN THE FORMER
This may be the most important Presidents Message I have ever shared with you, it is a little longer than normal (6 pages) but every word is important, please read the entire message and share it with the other men in your chapter.
Last week I received an e-mail from a man named Ivan Sisk. Ivan is a prophetic man, who had left the Fellowship in the late 1990’s discouraged and disillusioned at the way things were going. He wrote last week to inform me that after he attended a recent FGBMFA Men’s Advance, he felt that I should rejoin the Fellowship, so he took out a three year membership. Ivan’s email brought to mind a prophetic vision concerning the future of the Fellowship which he had sent to me in February of 2002. But before I share that vision with you, let me set the stage with little historical background.
Like many of you older men I came into the Fellowship at the height of the Charismatic movement. The Fellowship was exploding; our Greater Seattle Chapter had over 600 members, at the direction of the Holy Spirit we were sending over 100 members a year on airlifts to the nations. But by the mid 1980’s problems were developing in the International Leadership, and our founder Demos Shakarian had experienced a crippling stroke. Soon strife broke out between the Fellowship Members and the International Executive Board; in 1989 we had the first group of men break away from the International Fellowship.
MY SPIRIT WAS TROUBLED
By in the early 1990s some of the men who had been in the forefront of this great move of God, men who had been my mentors, men who had established the Fellowship in Europe, Africa, and Central America were leaving the Fellowship. I loved these men, and I became troubled in my spirit. I also loved the Fellowship, it had given me an opportunity as a young Christian, as a businessman, to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the nations of the world. Now I saw it faltering… I began to cry out to God, “Father are you through with the Fellowship? What is happening? Is the glory that You released upon ordinary men like myself lifting?” I did this each evening for weeks, then one day in the spring of 1992 I awoke at two o’clock in the morning and began to cry out to God, “Father I need to know, are You through with the Fellowship? Should I resign also?” I prayed earnestly in the spirit, I prayed for hours… soon it was time to go to my office but I had received no answer… I asked my wife Barbara to call my office and tell them I would not be in today. I was determined to hear from God! I continued to pray in the spirit, my heart was weeping before the Lord, “Father are you through with the Fellowship…?” Then after more than eight hours of prayer, deep down in my spirit I heard the word “Haggai”, I ignored that word at first, I didn’t realize that it was the Holy Spirit speaking to me. But as I continued to pray in the spirit, again and again down in my spirit I heard “Haggai”. After another hour or so I picked up my Bible and began to read from the book of Haggai.
MY SPIRITUAL EYES WERE OPENED!
I had never spent much time in Haggai before, I had read through its two chapters, but it had never seemed relevant to my life. But now it was like a veil had been removed from my spiritual eyes. I saw clearly that the message spoken to the Israelites by the prophet Haggai was also relevant to the remnant of the Fellowship. God showed me that the Fellowship was like Solomon’s Temple at the time the Israelites had returned from captivity in 536 BC. The walls of the Fellowship were broken down; it was only a ghost of its former self. Zerubbabel (the Jewish leader) and the Israelites had begun to rebuild the Temple, they had laid the foundation, but when opposition arose from the non-Jewish residents, the work was stopped for nearly 15 years. The Israelites had started well but when trouble arose, they quickly abandoned the work of God to pursue their own interests. Then at the proper time God sent the Israelites two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to encourage them and inspire them to return to the work of rebuilding the temple of God. The prophet, Haggai, encouraged the Israelites by proclaiming, “The Glory of the latter house shall be greater than the former saith the Lord of hosts” (Haggai 2:9); and several months later the prophet Zechariah prophesied to Zerubbabel and the Israelites one of the most inspiring words in the entire Bible “Not by might nor by power and, but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts” (Zechariah 4:6)
Thus in the spring of 1992, God firmly established in my heart that the latter years of the Fellowship would be greater than the former. I was excited; I began to share this revelation with several other directors. Then at a Directors meeting in the 1993 Boston Convention Cy Rickman one of the men with whom I had shared the Haggai Vision asked me to share it again with the rest of the Directors. But less than a month after the Boston convention our founder Demos Shakarian went to be with the Lord and his son took over the leadership of the International Fellowship.
IF GOD SPEAKS A PROPHETIC WORD CAN IT BE DELAYED?
I was convinced that the rebuilding of the Temple (the Fellowship) was at hand, and my wife Barbara and I joined wholeheartedly with the new leadership to rebuild the Fellowship. But sadly within a few years I saw that the Fellowship was continuing to drift farther from our earlier spiritual roots. The freedom of the Holy Spirit which had epitomized the early days of the Fellowship was replaced by centralized control, instead of our leaders looking to the Holy Spirit for guidance in evangelizing the nations, now those decisions were being made by human leadership.
Then on February 18th 2002 Isaac Sisk, the prophetic man I mentioned earlier in this Newsletter emailed to me the following vision which he had received several months earlier. The Vision brought to my remembrance the rebuilding of Solomon’s Temple in the book of Haggai. Here is the vision in Isaac Sisk’s own words.
A VISION CONCERNING THE REBUILDING OF THE FELLOWSHIP
“On Sept. 22nd, 2001 the Lord gave me the following vision concerning the Fellowship. I saw the old Fellowship, in the form of a temple which had been leveled to the ground, to the basic foundation on which the Fellowship had been built; the vision which God had given to Demos was all that remained.
Then I saw new stones being brought in to construct a new Temple. These stones looked to be about 18”x 24” square and about 4 ft long. They were white and pure, in fact they even glistened, the craftsmanship of the stones was perfect, and there were no flaws. The stones represented new men that the Lord had prepared out in the quarry, so that when the temple was being rebuilt there would not be heard the sound of iron or hammer, even as it was when the temple of Solomon was being built. These new men were men of integrity and honesty, they were men of the word, and they moved in the power of the Holy Spirit, no more works of the flesh. The Lord also said to me that there would be a change in the top levels of leadership, and there would come unity, no more strife, no more envy over who gets the credit. These men, who have been proven in the quarry, are men who have a proven track record of being led by the Holy Spirit.”
Ivan Sisk
Email sent February 18, 2002 - 11:16 AM
This vision which Ivan Sisk shared with me in 2002 was a great encouragement, it held me steady, and encouraged me to continue to pray and seek God for a Spiritual awakening in the Fellowship.
MENTORING THE JOSHUA GENERATION
Four years later, while attending a Regional Fellowship Convention in Boston, the Lord spoke a prophetic word in which He had called upon our Fellowship to reach the “Joshua Generation.” While the Lord had spoken to me earlier about mentoring certain young men, it was not until I heard James Lévesque (a young twenty six year old prophetic man from New London Connecticut) speak in Boston, that He began to impress upon me that He was calling the men of our Fellowship, the Moses’ born before 1960, to become fathers to the Joshua generation, those men born after 1960.
SEATTLE JOSHUA CHAPTER MEETING
On January 17, 2009, near the end of an FGBMFA Joshua Chapter Meeting in Seattle, Joshua Alvarez the young speaker turned to me and said “When I first came into this room the Lord told me to tell you… … “Strengthen the foundation, for I have given you the keys of David, and the glory of the latter house shall be greater than the former house – the best is yet to come.”
Then three months later in our 2009 National Convention the speaker proclaimed “‘I see four angels posted at the four corners of this ballroom, and I see a cloud of glory hovering over your heads… and then he suddenly turned to the head table and prophesied
“This organization will be the catalyst to the greatest move of God to ever be poured out on this nation….”
Like the Virgin Mary when the angel Gabriel announced that she would conceive a child born of the Holy Spirit, (Luke 1:34) I thought “How can this be…” As I pondered these prophetic words, the first given in a Joshua Chapter meeting in Seattle and the second in the 2009 FGBMFA National Convention I was reminded of the revelation that He had given me from the book of Haggai back in the spring of 1992, “The Glory of this Later House shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Haggai 2:9). Then my mind moved again to the vision of the Fellowship in the form of a temple in which the walls had been taken down to its very foundation, (all that remained was the vision that God had given to Demos) then new walls were being constructed of new men, men of integrity and honesty, men fashioned out in the quarry, men who were led by the Holy Spirit.
Some will say Bob, if God has given these prophetic words, then He will bring them to pass…
Next month I will share with some important spiritual principles concerning the birthing and manifestation of the prophetic word of God…
Last month I introduced you to Morris Means book “The Art of Seeking God - developing a mighty and effective prayer life”. This book has a tremendous anointing upon it, and I believe it holds the keys to a new move of God in our Fellowship. I pray that you will order a copy of the book and begin to pray for a fresh move of the Spirit of God in our Fellowship, a move that will be even greater than that which we experienced in the glory days of the Fellowship. It was through the Holy Spirit that God released His power in the early days of our Fellowship – and it is only through that same Holy Spirit that He will launch us into the future.
As you know during the last several years, I have been encouraging the older men of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship in America, the Moses generation, those born before 1960, to mentor the Joshua Generation, those born after 1960. In his book Morris Means reveals a very special truth concerning the “Mentoring the Joshua Generation”. It is perhaps the greatest truth that he could have shared with you and I; let me tell it to you in Morris’ own words…
“Retired people have the opportunity to become the most valuable resource America has. Other than people in prisons, retired people have more time to seek God and change the destiny of our nation than any other class of people.
God has tremendous rewards waiting for retired people who will spend the rest of their days seeking Him. They can do more to shape the future of our nation than all our armed forces combined and in the process have far more fun and satisfaction than from any hobby or pastime they could pursue.”
“Out on the prayer road (the road on which Morris walked as he prayed) the Holy Spirit put it into his heart to pray for a youth prayer group. Night and day he would pray, ‘Lord send a youth prayer group,’ over and over again. Morris said that he must have repeated that prayer thousands of times—it became the cry of his heart. Finally God brought a powerful youth prayer group right into the house, where he lived, and many of the young people attending that meeting in the 1970’s are leaders in the body of Christ today.
IF MORRIS RECEIVED A YOUTH PRAYER GROUP THROUGH PRAYER… THEN
FGBMFA CAN OBTAIN JOSHUA GENERATION CHAPTERS THROUGH PRAYER
Will you join with me to pray over and over “God send FGBMFA young men, men we can mentor to become Godly Fathers to the next Generation”?
I believe that God has told me personally to pray for twelve men to come along side of me in prayer to pray for a spiritual awakening in our Fellowship. Are you one of those men?
Sincerely,
Robert W Bignold, President
Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship in America
Morris Means book is available through Kevin Rush and his wife… they have 1400 copies of “The Art of Seeking God” – Developing a mighty and effective prayer life - by Morris Means which they will make available to anyone desiring a copy.
You may obtain a single copy for $11.00 which includes shipping and handling.
Or you may obtain multiple copies by simply e-mailing Kevin Rush at the following email address . Be sure to insert ” Prayer Book by Morris Means” in the email subject line.
In your email identify to Kevin the number of copies you require and your postal mailing address. Kevin will contact you by e-mail with the cost of the books and postage.
You may pay by check or money order payable to: Kevin Rush. 1512 Front Street Lynden, WA 98264
Or if you desire, identify to Kevin that you wish to pay on-line by PayPal. Kevin will have PayPal invoice you by e-mail.
You may contact Kevin Rush by US Mail at 1512 Front Street Lynden, WA 98264 – or by telephone at 360-354-8273
INCREDIBLY THIS BOOK IS BEING OFFERED ON AMAZON.COM FOR FROM
$80.80 including shipping to a high of $165.91 plus $ 3.99 shipping. Click below to view the Amazon link.
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