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America Fresh Oil New Wine 2013 Living It Out In Real Time Miracles Out of Nowhere The Big Event The Life of Faith The Mysteries of God The Secret Place

What If?

Sunlight thru trees-editedIf you had a chance to change your life, would you take it?

If you had the opportunity to have a fresh start, would you jump at the chance?

If you had the choice between staying right where you are or moving into a better situation, what would you do?

If you could not just stumble into or happen upon the Presence of God, but truly abide there, would you?

If you are like most people (myself included), you would answer all of these in the affirmative. To move forward, whether it be financially, emotionally, or spiritually, is built into the human DNA. We continually desire to improve on our position in life, and when opportunity knocks, the wise man usually doesn’t leave him standing out in the rain.

Most of us have looked at the children of Israel in the Old Testament, and followed their many failings. We see the way God delivers them, yet at the first opportunity, they turn away from Him, and begin worshiping false gods. They repeatedly play out a vicious cycle: cry out, deliverance, gratefulness, complacency, rebellion, and failure. And every time we witness this in Scripture, the thought comes to mind…

“What is your problem? In light of all that God has done for you, why in the world do you keep rejecting Him? Are you INSANE?????”

However, the truth is, if we are honest with ourselves and with God, we do the same thing. Every day, most of us turn our backs on opportunities to get into His Presence, and miss kairos (opportune or supreme) moments of destiny.

So, one more time…
If you have a kairos moment staring you in the face, how do you respond?

Well, here is such an opportunity I don’t want you to miss out on.

Next Wednesday, August 21, an event will begin in the life of our ministry that holds the promise of being a Kingdom Encounter. Ron Phillips Ministries is hosting The Big Event, August 21-25, and this year’s lineup of speakers holds passion, purpose, and promise for all who attend…

Perry Stone… One of the most anointed prophetic voices in the world today.

Jentezen Franklin… One of the most dynamic pastors in America.

Randy Caldwell… Kingdom preaching at it’s best.

Tommy Bates… Music and message rooted deep in the fires of Pentecost.

Ron Phillips… (Yours truly) What happens when you give in to the Holy Spirit? Find out what happened in my life.

Ronnie Phillips Jr… My son – A gifted evangelist with a heart filled with compassion for the lost.

Great music and worship, dynamic preaching, and free registration.

For more information, or to register online, click here.

Don’t miss your moment… register today, and join us August 21-25 at The Big Event!!!

Big Event Banner

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Living It Out In Real Time The Bible The Life of Faith The Mysteries of God Through The Looking Glass

Too Small for Prayer?

Through the Looking GlassSo what has got your stomach in knots today?

What are you concerning yourself  with that  you have absolutely no control over?

Corrie Ten Boom was the only member of her family to survive the Nazi death camps of World War II. Having faced death on a regular basis, she once said…

“Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer
is too small to be made into a burden.”

What is it that you are worrying about right now?

Potted PlantYour job?

A relationship?

Your health?

Events unfolding in the world around you?

Whatever it is, the next question is…

Have you prayed about it?

We have a Heavenly Father who is concerned with every part of our lives, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. He reminds us repeatedly in His word of this fact.
In I Peter 5:7, we are told…

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

This is not just a nice thought or helpful suggestion from an ancient book — this is a present imperative command and promise from the living, breathing Word of God!

Still need more convincing?

Cast your burden on the Lord,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
~ Psalm 55:22

If your situation is not big enough to pray about, it’s not big enough to worry about.

However, if you earnestly seek God about it, you may just find that He takes the worry away, and replaces it with His peace.

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America Living It Out In Real Time The Life of Faith The Mysteries of God The Secret Place

Are You Cashing-In?

Why are so many people unhappy?

In his article, A New Year – A New Life, Steve Shepherd gave his idea of a perfect world. He said:

“In a perfect world you would feel as good at 60 as you did at 17. And you would be as smart at 60 as you thought you were at 17.
In a perfect world professional basketball, baseball, and football players would be complaining because schoolteachers were signing multi-million dollar contracts.
In a perfect world potato chips would have calories, but if eaten with dip, the calories would be neutralized.
In a perfect world, mail would always be early, and the check in the mail would always be for more than you expected it to be.”

KS77810In our own Declaration of Independence, we are guaranteed “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.

“… The pursuit of happiness.”

I think our Founding Fathers may have understood that, while man may have the power to allow others to pursue happiness, the only one who can guarantee true happiness is God.

So… why are so many people unhappy?

A big part of it could be a misunderstanding of what prosperity is. While in some religious circles prosperity has been saddled with negative connotations, in the Bible, prosperity is very positive, and denotes much more than a financial position.

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. ~ III John 1:2

In God’s economy, prosperity goes so far beyond financial success and multiplied possessions. Plenty of miserable people have those things. True soul prosperity (III John 1:2) is born out of listening to Godly counsel (Psalm 1:1), maintaining a vital connection with the LORD (Psalm 1:2), recognizing prosperity’s purpose in your life, and maintaining a healthy balance in all we do (Psalm 1:3).

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400.

Yes, every single morning.

However, there’s a catch: Every dollar that is left by the end of the business day is debited. Whatever you failed to use by the end of the day is gone, unable to be recovered.

So what would you do? I would imagine that you would draw out every penny.

The fact is, each of us has such a bank. The bank is called “LIFE” and it’s currency is “TIME”.

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the day’s deposits… the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against the “tomorrow.” You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and success!

The clock is running… it is your future.

Make the most of today.

Be sure to join me this coming Sunday as I continue my series Seven Words That Work Wonders. Service starts at 10:30a.m. To watch live, click here.

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Living It Out In Real Time The Mysteries of God Through The Looking Glass

Let The Moon Light Your Way

Through the Looking GlassFrom the beginning of time, the sun and moon have always served to light our way. While the sun lights the day, giving life and light to everything on the earth, the moon lights the night, reflecting the sun’s light toward the parts of the earth facing the cold and dark of space. Though not as bright as the sun, in the absence of any other light, it dispels the darkness and lights our way until the dawning of a new day.

This is an amazing picture of our relationship, not just to God, but to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Sometimes, when our way seems darkest and we feel like we are a million miles from the presence of God, all we have to do is cling to the encouragement, love, direction, and “reflected light” coming from our Christian family. We can lean on the love of Jesus — shining through others– until the direct light of God is once again evident to us.

Are you having trouble seeing the Son?

Just remember… In the darkest of nights, there is a lot to be said for allowing the moon to light your way.

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Through The Looking Glass

The Blame Game

Through the Looking GlassYogi Berra once made this statement:

“I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?”

This seems to be the 21st century mindset: “I’ll blame others because this can’t be My fault!” We see this mentality rampant in the news, and in our society…

“All of these tornadoes are because of man-made global warming.”

“The reason I’ve had all of these problems in my life is because of my parents.”

“My client knows what he did was wrong, but can’t be held responsible. After all, he was under the influence of alcohol at the time.”

Sometimes we have to take responsibility for our wrong choices. Sometimes, bad things happen, and there is nothing we can do about that. All we can do is change the things we can change, and trust God regarding the things we can’t.

While Jesus did promise we’d face trouble, He also made us another promise…

“I have overcome the world”.

By trusting Him today, YOU can become an overcomer as well.

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America Fresh Oil New Wine 2013 Healing Living It Out In Real Time Miracles Out of Nowhere The Life of Faith The Secret Place

It’s Coming…

It’s just around the corner, folks…

We are less than a month away from the biggest event of the summer for Ron Phillips Ministries, and we want YOU to be a part…

THE BIG EVENT… August 21-25, 2013

Perry Stone, Jentezen Franklin, Ron Phillips, Tommy Bates, Randy Caldwell.

Share this video with your friends, and help us spread the word. It is going to be an amazing time of revelation and impartation. Join us!

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America Living It Out In Real Time The Life of Faith The Mysteries of God The Secret Place

Radicals, Racism, or Righteousness: The Choice is Yours

Society is being turned on it’s ear, and we are being given a front-row seat.

I could sit here for days and decry the many ways in which our culture is losing it’s soul. I could catalogue the multiple symptoms that are evidence of the demise of towns and cities all over America.

I mean, think about this…

To steal an eagle’s egg in the U.S. carries a $10,000.00 fine, yet killing an unborn human is perfectly legal. Since the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973, if the same fine was imposed for the nearly 55 million abortions that have taken place since then, the cumulative monetary fine would be more than $545,596,150,000.00

Staying sexually pure is mocked, while sexual promiscuity is lauded as normal. While the acceptable age for “sex education” in our schools goes younger and younger, “abstinence education” is frowned upon and virtually ignored. Meanwhile, the out-of-wedlock birthrate in our nation is at a disastrous 40.7%.

To speak out against homosexual activity is viewed as more reprehensible than the activity itself.

Time and time again, the national media is caught in the act of “creating news” instead of “reporting news”.

The city of Detroit is now in the process of filing bankruptcy. Political corruption and out-of-control crime are being blamed as two of the contributing factors in the city’s demise.

While the country was focused on the George Zimmerman trial in Florida, the murder statistics in cities like Chicago continued to skyrocket — virtually ignored.

So what do we do? How do we as Christians respond to such overwhelming bad news? How do we stand against the forces of dishonesty, corruption, and division that would tear our country apart?

Righteousness.

Now you say, “Pastor, that sounds a little simplistic and naive.” Maybe it does, but the fact is that truth is not a difficult concept. Regardless of how complicated we try to make things, the best way is, in most cases, the simplest. Throughout history, the most popular ideas and inventions are often the most practical ones. The problems that most people have with Scripture are not based on the doctrines of Scripture, but on our own personal hangups…

  • We have an aversion to calling sin by its proper name: SIN. Because of political correctness and fear of the “thought police”, we suffer from a lost consciousness of evil, and confusion over right and wrong. Solomon tells us in Proverbs 18:21 that…

Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.

So the question becomes: Are you eating the wholesome and delectable fruit of righteousness and truth, or the poisonous, rancid, spoiled fruit of “conventional wisdom” and “popular opinion”.

  • There’s an old saying: “If you don’t stand for anything, you’ll fall for everything”. Truth is not subjective. Truth does not change. The consequence of standing in front of a speeding train is certain death, regardless of how much you disagree with the laws of physics. The consequence of breaking the laws of God is spiritual death, regardless of how much man ignores, defies, or denies Him.
  • There is an immutable fact in nature: “You reap what you sow”. The Bible is very clear in Galatians 6:7-8:

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

No society can long survive lawlessness and corruption. Any civilization that forsakes righteousness and truth is not long for the world. As President Ronald Reagan once said..

“If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be one nation gone under.”

  • God didn’t call us to be a “white church” or a “black church” — He called us to be “THE Church”. We cannot begin to expect to change a culture that is (sadly) so racially divided until we break down the walls that divide us in within the family of God. In the Bible, the primary racial divide was between the Jew and the Gentile. Paul addressed that divide in Ephesians when he said:

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. ~ Ephesians 2:14-18

We don’t need a culture of more “open-mindedness”… we need a culture of Godly righteousness.

We don’t need more “gun control”… we need more “self control”.

We don’t need leaders who will prove themselves once they get into public office… we need servants who have already proven themselves in order to get into public office.

We don’t need more programs for fatherless children… we need more “real men” who will honor women, and make them wives before they make them mothers.

If we are still bound and determined to be a “colored church”, then let’s be the “Crimson Church” — covered by the crimson blood of the One who died to make us all one in Him.

Join me at Abba’s House this Sunday as I talk about Righteousness as I continue my series “Seven Words that Work Wonders”. If you can’t be there, click here to watch us online.

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Friendship Through The Looking Glass

The Human Touch

Through the Looking GlassIn A Letter to Arthur Greeves, C.S. Lewis wrote:

“If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I should say, ‘Sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.’”

In the age of Facebook, Twitter, and the plethora of other social networks, it is easy to lose the human touch. Through instant messaging, texting, and email, we think we can show affection, settle conflict, and stay close to our “5,000 closest friends”.

However, when times get tough, how many of those 5,000 friends are going to show up on your doorstep to help? When you get the bad diagnosis, how many of your Twitter “followers” are going to offer you a ride to the doctor, or come visit you in the hospital? When you just got news that your company is laying off, and you’re probably going to lose your job, is a “poke” on Facebook going to touch you like a hug from a true friend? While social media has its place, no amount of online chatting can take the place of sitting down across the table from a friend, sharing a cup of coffee, and engaging in a heartfelt conversation.

Jesus said that there is no greater love a man can have than to lay down his life for a friend. He understood the value of deep, abiding, face-to-face friendship.

Take a moment today (now is a good time) and reach out to someone in a very real way. Schedule a lunch together. Go grab some coffee with them. Make it a point to reach out and be real. There’s no telling the difference you can make in someone’s life today.

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Friendship Healing Living It Out In Real Time Miracles Out of Nowhere The Bible The Life of Faith The Mysteries of God The Secret Place

The Way of an Eagle

KS77759From references in Scripture to it’s place as our national symbol, it is obvious that the eagle is very highly regarded.

Why is that?

Consider a few facts about eagles:

  • When eagles mate, they mate for life.
  • Eagles are very protective of their families.
  • When eagles grow old, they return to the rock of their birth.
  • After an eagle’s 60th year, it appears young once again.

Do you think you’ve missed your call in life? Are you worn out, and think you’ve outlived your usefulness? Is “purpose” a word that you believe is a thing of the past?

Maybe you’ve decided it’s time to throw in the towel. Before you do, can I ask you to do two things for me?

#1: Consider this verse…

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. ~ Isaiah 40:31

#2: Watch this video…

My prayer is that after watching this, you will find your strength renewed like the eagle, and understand that with God, faithfulness, perseverance, and persistence are qualities that far outweigh the superficial qualities (money, fame, looks, etc) that the world tells us gives an individual worth.

Keep on soaring!

Pastor Ron

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Fresh Oil New Wine 2013 Healing Living It Out In Real Time Miracles Out of Nowhere The Life of Faith The Mysteries of God The Secret Place Through The Looking Glass

A Fisherman’s Tale

TN River BaptismWe just wrapped up our Collide Chattanooga 2013 Conference at our church. This was a youth meeting that brought powerful worship and ministry to the auditorium at Abba’s House, and featured Damon Thompson, Dutch Sheets, Chris Brooks, Ronnie Phillips Jr., Rick Pino, Eddie James, Abby Brown, and more. There was restoration, healing miracles, deliverance, and the overwhelming Presence of God. With nearly 2,000 youth and adults gathered together, hungry for the presence of God, the atmosphere was electric.

On the last afternoon of the conference, they took the crowd out to the TN River and had a mass baptism. Hundreds of young people and adults stepped into the water, and made a public statement that they were “burying the old man”, and going on with God in freedom. It was an awe-inspiring site as hundreds gathered on the banks, dozens were baptized at once, and even boaters stopped just outside of the “swimming area” where the baptism was taking place, just to watch.

That evening, when the last session began, one of my staff got up on the stage to do some announcements. He looked out at the audience and said, “I look out here at your faces tonight, and I see the love of Jesus. But I just gotta say… you guys smell like fish!”

The audience laughed as he continued.

“Now, that’s not so bad. Any fisherman worth his salt is going to smell like fish. And here’s the deal… Jesus called you all to be fishers of men.”

What a great analogy! In Matthew 4:19, Jesus commands His disciples to “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Any good fisherman is going to get his hands dirty. Any good fisherman is going to get scrapes, cuts, and bruises. A good fisherman knows going into it that, in order to be successful, it’s going to require having “skin in the game”. Fish are unpredictable. Fish are sometimes slippery and hard to handle. They have scales and fins that are slippery and sometimes sharp. However, any good fisherman knows that catching fish means embracing the task, and that in most cases, the fish that is hardest to land is usually the one most worth having. The more fish a fisherman hauls in, the more he is going to smell like that catch.

As fishers of men, that should be us. If  we are going to win the lost, we must follow the example of Jesus, and be willing to get our hands dirty. Sometimes the people we witness to are skeptical and hard-hearted. Still, we must be diligent in our witness, fervent in prayer, and committed to the task, regardless of the squalls, storms, and hardships along the way.

Someday, I will stand before God. I long to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant… enter in!”

But in my mind’s eye, as I turn to enter in, I can see Jesus catching my attention, smiling at me, and with a wink saying…

“Ron… you smell like fish!”