Word Explosion 2012 Held May 21st – May 22nd

 

You do not want to miss this next move of God!!  Bishop Ed Stephens Jr. is hosting Word Explosion 2012 at Golden Gate Cathedral on May 21^st & 22^nd at 6 p.m.  This conference is an extraordinary opportunity for leaders as well as delegates from across the mid-south to receive encouragement and insight regarding how to break the bearers that have been preventing your progress. 

 “For every designated place there is a designated provision,” states Bishop Ed Stephens, Jr., Senior Pastor of Golden Gate Cathedral. 

Bishop Stephens will be joined by internationally sought after speakers such as:

• Bishop Paul S. Morton, Sr., Presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship

• Bishop Noel Jones, Senior Pastor, City of Refuge, Los Angeles, CA

• Dr. Steve Gaines, Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, TN

• Dr. Stacy Spencer, New Direction Christian Church, Memphis, TN

Don’t miss this life-changing event at Golden Gate Cathedral in Memphis Tennessee on May 21^st-22^nd.  Free registration is available at www.GoldenGateCathedral.org and childcare will be offered for children ages 2-11. This is sure to be two fun-filled evenings of faith that the entire family will not forget! Doors open at 5:30 and early arrival is strongly suggested. Advertisement opportunities are also available by emailing Events@goldengatecathedral.org

What is Word Explosion? The Word Explosion is a powerful gathering for people of all walks of life to hear powerful preaching and practical teaching about how to cultivate creativity & strengthen your faith.

Why should you attend the Word Explosion? You will hear dynamic messages from internationally acclaimed speakers who will challenge you to reach beyond your present circumstances and inspire you to see new possibilities that are available through Christ.

What happens during the Word Explosion?

• You will experience high-energy music and worship.

• You will enjoy power-packed preaching that will help you to see your obstacles as opportunities for God to demonstrate His greatness.

• You will gain valuable insight about how to improve you

Get Your Heart Right

“Create in me a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.”    (Psalm 51:10-12)

It is necessary for us to work on having the right spirit.  It is God’s desire to dismantle the strong holds of the darkness of our inner beings and make us completely His own.  He does it by a process called sanctification.

We need a spirit of confession because sin separates us from God, and our inner man can feel the separation when it begins to happen.

There is a longing within each one of us to have a relationship with God, and confession always allows the process of sanctification to begin.

Confession is taking the garbage out of our lives, but confession alone is not enough.  We also need a spirit of repentance.  Confession without repentance is like dumping everything out of the garbage bag and admitting it before God; but then eventually, picking it up again.

Repentance is leaving it there with God and making a commitment to turn away from it.

True repentance is turning away from the sin . . . and declaring never to return again.

With the garbage gone from our lives and a new heart, God’s forgiveness is needed.

It is human nature to sin, but it is God’s nature to forgive!

~~~~  Notes by Charlett Golden

It’s Not About Easter

It is not about an Easter Holiday, but it’s about a risen Savior.

He died for US, and then HE rose for US so that we may have eternal life.

Just remember this weekend, that it isn’t about an Easter Holiday or a bunny rabbit.  It’s about Jesus!

It isn’t Easter Weekend, but Resurrection Weekend.

~Elder Juliette Moore

He Died for Us

And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”  When He said this, He breathed His last.  (Luke 23:46)

It’s important that we know that man didn’t take His life; nonetheless, He gave His life.  He willingly and obediently laid down His life for you and I.  Earthly men did not have the power to hold our Jesus against His will.

He drank from the bitter cup so that we might have LIFE and have LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY!! 

So let us worship Him for His tender mercies and His loving kindness to lay down His life on an old rugged cross for you and I . . . that we may not be found guilty of sin and held bound to shame.

~  Elder Juliette Moore 

It Is Good to Worship

I love the Lord, and I will not take it back.

Loving the Lord gives us true joy and soothes our souls.  It is this love that leads us into worship and the desire to serve Him totally and completely.  In our worship, we honor Him and appreciate Him for continuing to give us life.  Thus, with our lips we speak thankfulness for all the things He allows us to enjoy while we are on this earth.  A psalm is a song for the day of worship.  It is good to give thanks to the Lord . . . to make music to praise His name.  It is good to announce His mercy in the morning and His faithfulness in the evening .  .  .  .

Image via Wikipedia

Psalm 92:4 reminds us that we find joy in what the Lord has done . . . to sing joyfully about the works of His hands.

God’s thoughts are deep toward us and all the earth.

It is good to worship the Lord, and those that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

He is our Rock, and will satisfy us with long life.  For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by.  For the length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength.   Psalm 90:10

~Elder Juliette Moore

And We Did Not Build A House

Running late!  Thinking 24/7 is counting on me.

Old tee and jeans packed. Tennis shoes? Check!

Even a scarf and hat . . . just in case it is windy as we are building.

Everyone has their waivers signed, and all encountered know today is the day that the young adult ministry, which is also called 24/7, is building a house!

Arrive at the location and see no bricks, shelves, or soil.

We are at the Habitat for Humanity warehouse.  Ok, this is where we pick up the supplies to build and furnish the house right?

Certainly, we all spot the pool table inside. There is a family who is going to be excited about this home!

We tour the warehouse.  We receive our task.

Revitalize this complete disarray and organize its contents to create a home store appeal for buyers.

What?

I guess reading the email Whitney sent was resourceful because Pastor Trey anticipated the need for Steel Toe boots.

So we lift, pull, drag, and receive delegation over and over.

It hit again, we did not come to build a house. 

Now, it is time to go, and we have built much more than a home; we have built character.  Better yet, 24/7 has conquered building its ministry. The bricks laid are the repeated efforts to restore items that service a community. The soil is our rich love for God’s people. No shelves are needed for that.

By Gabrielle Jackson

Chain Reaction

This gallery contains 3 photos.

I am following Christ.  You’ve been thinking about following too?  Then become a disciple with me.  So you thought only the famous twelve could be disciples?  LOL!  It’s ok.  That only means you think like I do.  Let me encourage … Continue reading →

When Opportunity Breeds Opposition

Watch out for people who are absent during your struggle, but present during your success.  The favor of God can often reveal the truth within our inner circle, such as people we though were our friends, but really were not true friends.  When the favor of God is on our lives, and God is doing His work within us,  sometimes our friends don’t understand the shift that is taking place and soon begin to drift apart from the connection which we once thought was inseparable.  Often times, others will feel they are privileged to discuss details about our lives when they don’t really know who we truly are.  Those individuals will often broadcast our failures, but remain totally silent about our successes.

Favor has been reduced to a one-sided, enjoyable and destitute of trouble indulgence.   It is vastly important that we understand that when the favor of God is on our lives, things will not always be convenient.  My point is this — Favor Breeds Opposition.  Just because the favor of God is on our lives doesn’t mean we will be free from challenges.   However, we should be reminded of this very important fact.  Regardless of the current fashion of the matter, our present difficulty is going to be instrumental to our future happiness.   Romans 8:28-29 tells us that “all things work together for good for those who love God and for those who are called according to His purpose.”    We have be able to handle the oppositions that come with the opportunities.  It’s easy to handle favor, especially when things are going as we intended.   It’s dealing with the opposition that requires spiritual maturity.  In order to handle the next move of God, we have to resist retaliation.  In order to resist retaliation, it is important for us to know why the opposition is present from the start.  The pressure of opposition is usually caused by our successes and not our failures.  Opposition is usually created by our desires to constantly and consistently become better than we were before — to strive for greater heights in life — to go from glory to glory.  Don’t let the opposition keep you from growing.  To embrace the next move of God, we must be willing to pray with our problem.   When we pray, we give God earthly permission to enter our situation and give divine revelation to us about US!  It’s not just the problem that God wants to work out, but He also want to clear out the distractions and clutter in our lives and reveal His divine plan for us.  Jeremiah 29:11

Nehemiah Rebuilding Jerusalem

We must also build through the bitterness.   It is vital that we don’t let bitterness eat away at the opportunities in this life that God has planned for us.  God wants to know if we are going to be responsible when the opposition comes.  Will we trust Him or will we act as though God is not on our side?  Let’s come into agreement and decree today that we will choose to trust Him totally and completely.   “As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.”  Nehemiah 1:4

Notes for Post Prepared by Pastor Edward Stephens, III

New Year New You

Golden Gate Cathedral is out with the old and in the new.  Since the beginning of this new year, we have been in a posture to fast forward to the new position the Lord Almighty is calling us to within this season.  We are no longer looking backwards in the rear view mirror of what hasn’t worked or what hasn’t happened.  The only way we can receive what God has for us is looking ahead towards the plan He has for us.  The reason the car windshield is larger than the rear window is because there is more to see and more to receive when we look ahead.  Get ready for an incredible year in 2012 and watch God move in way that may seem unbelievable.  Go ahead and let the past go!  Have faith and move forward into this next move of God.

Jesus Loves Memphis

This was an incredible weekend!  Golden Gate Cathedral participated in an outreach with Bellevue Baptist Church by partnering with other evangelical churches throughout the city bringing “Jesus Loves Memphis” to neighboring communities.

Golden Gate Cathedral participated in Jesus Loves Memphis by taking a section of the Raleigh area near our place of worship and causing it to become more appealing.   We did this by facilitating a three hour morning clean-up to remove trash and debris from the streets of James Road and the Expressway at Warford and James Road.

Many volunteered in order to help transform our community, and God used Golden Gate Cathedral as a vehicle to cause great transformation.

Every single person that participated in the event was overjoyed with excitement and anticipation about the clean-up with a very willing spirit, and look forward to doing this again.