Arise and Come Away With Me…


How Bella Changed Lives
November 18, 2008, 12:12 am
Filed under: Eternity, Family, Fear of the Lord, Justice, Sin

During college I worked as a supervisor for the afternoon program at a Montessori School in Little Rock. At the time, though I was pretty spiritually immature, I was also mildly vocal about my faith. I would often have spiritual discussions with my co-workers, many of whom claimed to be Christians. *Maria was a good friend of mine at work. She was very funny, somewhat controversial in her subject matter but when you were around her, you most definitely had a good time. She was a riot to hang out with.

One afternoon I snuck into the teachers lounge to warm up my lunch when I saw an open yellow pages on the table and noticed that it was open to the “abortion” section. I tried to shrug it off, thinking that it was just a mistake and that it just happened to be open to that page but I had a sneaking suspicion that one of my co-workers might be in trouble.

At the end of the week I was alphabetizing a school directory when Maria came into my office and shut the door behind her. She had a bewildered look in her eye.

“Brooke. I came to you, because I know you’re a Christian.” Maria said. She looked anxious. I felt anxious.

“I have five-hundred dollars in my pocket right now to go have an abortion this afternoon.” She became silent and waited for me to respond. The statement hung in the air, suspended like one of those Japanese paper lanterns… only a lot heavier.

I leaned forward and looked into her eyes and told her that if she aborted this baby she was murdering her own child. I told her that the child had a destiny and the the Lord was already drawing up plans for that destiny and she had no business altering the plans of God for her child. I told her that if she had that abortion she would be guilty of the bloodshed of a perfectly innocent human being and that she would be judged for it by God Himself. She would be judged because she not only knew it was evil (otherwise she wouldn’t have come to me, knowing I would try and talk her out of it), but because someone had warned her of how insidiously evil it was.

What happened? Ten months later she was strolling down our hallway with a tiny little boy named Michael.

I love Maria to death and I know that decision was a truly difficult one for her. She already had one child from a pregnancy when she was fifteen and now she would not only be a single mother for one but TWO children. I don’t pretend to realize that this would be an easy thing for her. But now she has this beautiful, precious little Image Bearer who was formed skillfully and uniquely for the enjoyment and pleasure of God.

We as Believers in Christ have the responsibility of warning this world of the judgement that sin will cause. Not only because we too will be judged but because those who commit that sin will be judged as well. It’s called mercy.

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The Emergent Church: What Does it Mean in the End of the Age?
November 13, 2008, 8:55 pm
Filed under: Bible Study, Biblical love, Communing with the Holy Spirit, End Times, Eternity, Evangelism, Grace, Humanism, Intercession, Intimacy with God, Justice, Leadership, Martyrdom, Maturity, Prayer, Prophecy, Social Activism, Spirit of the Age, The Church, Wisdom

* The following statements are not necessarily the beliefs of the International House of Prayer but are based on my own opinions… the opinions of Brooke Turner.

I am not a heresy hunter therefore I want to first affirm some of the sincere qualities of the emergent church. I have been a participant in the Emergent Church movement in recent years and some of those involved in this movement are people that are very much beloved by me. This is not intended to bring hurt or cause disunity in the church, however, I felt the need to share my heart about this matter because it is an area of great concern to me.

The emergent movement began initially to address the great decrease in church attendance among young adults. It was clear that traditional church culture was not drawing the lost to Jesus. And so in observation of this dilemma, a web of ideas began to circulate among many young leaders. The underlying theme seemed to be: “how do we get the world to like us more so that in return, they will start coming to our churches/home groups etc?”

I believe that many “emergents” have a sincere burden for the lost. Many of them are characterized by great compassion for the poor and the marginalized. They have a desire to break out of the traditional Christian culture mode and relate to the lost in a new and fresh way. This is admirable considering the great majority of the church seems to feel more comfortable hiding behind the four walls of the church than venturing out into the world to love and serve the lost.

However, I have many concerns about the direction the emergent church has gone in recent years. The primary reason I have these concerns is because I believe that we are at the end of the age. Unlike a large percentage of the church, I believe that instead of being “sucked up” to heaven during the tribulation… we will actually be living here on earth. The tribulation will be used to purify the Bride of Christ and make them ready for His return to earth (2 Peter 3:14, Revelation 19:7-8). If you can find a verse supporting a pre-tribulation rapture, I would love to find out where it is because I haven’t seen one and personally… I would love to stay up there in heaven while hell breaks out down here on earth… but it ain’t gonna happen that way, folks.

The emergent movement has challenged the explicit truth of the Bible that we are to live Holy and blameless lives (Ephesians 1:3-5). Instead of using intimacy with Jesus and the powerful gifts of the Holy Spirit living inside of us to draw unbelievers to the truth, they have instead utilized compromise as a bridge to the lost. This may sound harsh but I myself have experienced this. In fact I was one of the promoters of this style of evangelism: “let’s hang out in bars, drink what we want and that way the lost will feel more comfortable around us.” Did it lead anyone to Jesus? I don’t remember one person coming to Jesus through this method and even if there was such a person, they sure weren’t being fed the truth of the gospel.

Why are we so concerned if the world likes us? We are actually suppose to expect that the world HATES us. 1 John 3:13 says, “do not be surprised brothers, if the world hates you.” In Jesus’ conversation with His father before his death on the cross he prays for us, His followers, “I have given them Your Word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.” John 3:19 says “this is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil.” Yes. It is uncomfortable to be around people who hate us because we love Jesus. We are commanded to love them anyway but we are not given permission to join them in their sin. It pains me to think that we are using a false message of grace to exploit the work done on the cross. Grace is not a reason Jesus gave us to sin. Grace was given to us to empower us to keep from sinning. Sinning just because we can is a mockery of what Jesus has done on the cross.

So how do we reach the lost then? I have a few ideas 1. PRAY. Pray for the lost to know Jesus. Pray for specific people. Pray for their hearts to be open to the gospel. Pray for encounters with Jesus and dreams in the night. GOD is a real, active, and personal God and He is always moving. He wants evangelism to be a partnership with Him… not just some idea that we come up with on our own. 2. Prophesy. Yes. That’s what I said. 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 says that “if an unbeliever or someone does not understand comes in while everyone is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming ‘God is really among you!’. 3. Serving the lost. Feed them, clothe them, but don’t feed and clothe them without introducing them to Jesus. Without Jesus, humanitarian efforts are pointless. We are simply making their lives more comfortable as the drift away to hell.

A message of holiness, intimacy and purity for God CAN work in a young adult movement. Just look at my community, IHOP. The International House of Prayer is comprised mostly of young adults. Imagine that. Around a thousand or more young adults, pursuing Jesus as their ONE desire, and striving to live a life before God that is blameless. It can happen. Young adults are looking for something bigger than they are. In the words of Misty Edwards “there’s something bigger going on… something bigger than ME.”

In light of the times that we are in… and trust me… we are very very close to the tribulation… I want to introduce a few other dangers with the emergent church.

Because Jesus return is so imminent, the Sprit of the Anti-Christ is increasing rapidly. The Apostle John refers to this in 1 John 1:2-3. It is a spirit that deceives unbelievers into trusting in the false doctrine that Jesus is indeed NOT fully God and fully man. This spirit will be prevalent even in the body of Christ and well… it actually is already very prevalent. The emergent church has been characterized by a pervading deception that questions, ever so subtley, the deity of Jesus our Lord. This will start out in a seemingly subtle way and then increase in deception over time. A few years ago, I was able to hear a very popular emergent speaker. I will not share his name because it is not my desire that anyone should be ’singled out’, but some of the things this man referred to have disturbed me for some years now. He made a statement similar to: “the book of Genesis is outdated and archaic” and then began to subtley share his unbelief in what he seemed to believe wasn’t inerrant, God-breathed scripture on how the earth was formed and created by an uncreated Being. 2 Timothy 4:2-4 says this, “3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” People who are uncomfortable with the truth of God’s inerrant Word will find someone to preach to them what they desire to hear. This is dangerous, why? 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 explains about the Spirit of the Anti-Christ or the Spirit of Lawlessness as it is otherwise called: “the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance to the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perished because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” There will be many in the church, who once called themselves Christians, who will fall away from Jesus because of offense.

In essence… we don’t have time to mess around. This spirit is in the world RIGHT NOW. We cannot allow any form of deception from the enemy. We cannot allow ourselves to sit in compromise. If our consciences are bothering us at all, we must turn away from that sin. Paul said that he “strives to keep his conscience clear before both God and man.” In humility and without religious pride, we must lay hold of the prize that is set before us… JESUS! We must live lives holy and blameless before Jesus and before the World. This includes loving each other. This includes serving each other but it also includes fleeing from immorality, darkness, dangerous theology, and drunkenness.

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SNOW DAY! (not all that excited about it right now)
January 17, 2008, 4:04 pm
Filed under: Biblical love, Eternity, Finances, Friendship, Humility, Life in General, Sermon on the Mount, The Church

So this is what I get for trying to come to work. My van is now stuck at the bottom of the hill on Cleveland and I had to WALK the rest of the way home which is hazardous in itself.

Oh well. So I woke up in the middle of the night and heard the Lord clearly say “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”… Matthew 6:19-21. It was so clear and loud in my Spirit that it startled me a bit.

Last night, I had my first class of “Foundations of Healing the Heart” at FSM.  We were asked to let the Holy Spirit examine our hearts and reveal hidden weaknesses. I have never thought that materialsm was one of my weaknesses. Yes, I like nice stuff just like every other girl in the universe but I never thought that it was out of control. Last night as I prayed that prayer, I didn’t think that “stuff” was an issue with me. But as I was thinking about it this morning, I realized that I do place too much value on all of my things when in reality… it’s all going to burn some day. None of it matters even though I think I place high value on it because it satisfies me temporarily or I think it gives me a higher level of social status.

This is not a Godly mindset. Several months ago, I was at FCF and I saw a group of FSM/FMA students. I felt like I was looking into the window of a high school, not a group of college-age students who are suppose to be practicing the Sermon on the Mount. Some really trendy, cute girls were sitting. They were clad in their urban outfitters ware and had cute, indie-rock haircuts. A couple of other girls came up to them and appeared to be attempting to have a conversation with the trendy girls. The new girls were dressed in what the world would consider a little dowdy and generic-looking. They might have also possibly seemed a little socially inept but that’s really not the point either. The trendy girls (that’s what I will call them in this context) simply rolled their eyes at eachother and then moved to another side of FSM where they wouldn’t have to sit next to the less-than-cool girls.

WHAT THE CRAP. This actually caused pain to rise up in my heart as I watched it happen.  This has been an issue my prayer room team has been discussing a lot. Yes, we may study the Sermon on the Mount a lot here but I think there’s one verse that we fail to remember to actually practice “you ought to treat others how you yourselves would like to be treated.” Compassion. Sincerity. We are the body of Christ… this is not a popularity contest… this is the kingdom of God. Let’s get over ourselves… please.

The issue I see with myself is this… I really am just like these girls in some ways. I equate  my own appearance and possessions with high social status when Jesus equates the purity of my heart, meekness, and humility with high status.  We can talk all day long about how much we know about the Word and how we should be practicing the sermon on the mount but if we really aren’t practicing the second commandment ALONG with the first then it’s really completely POINTLESS to have knowledge about any of it.

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So this is it…
October 21, 2007, 9:10 pm
Filed under: Eternity, Music

Last night was a nice, fun break from the intensity of this year. I have to say that my years have been pretty intense from right out of high school but this year was intense in a different way. I can’t say that I’ve had a whole lot of “fun” this year. Anyway, though I had to sell some of my stuff to pay for gas money to the show in Lawrence, it was worth it. The show the Spree put on was probably one of the most incredible concerts I have been to yet. What a preformance! Let’s just say I have been to probably hundreds of shows in the last 10 years but nothing compared to last night’s.However, on the way home (an hour long drive) I felt this nagging emptiness coming over me. Though being in that club with all the excited people and hearing the music that was so loud I could feel it in my bones was thrilling for a time, it left me even more hungry for the Lord. I know some of you may think that I may over-spiritualize everything but I have tried all kinds of different ways to fill myself over the years… to bring satisfaction to the emptiness of my heart but nothing will ever satisfy me like He can. I could go on about my heavy involvement in the whole music scene for five years but really, as I was observing what was going on around me I was saddened to see a lot of extremely insecure, pretentiousness in that little club. I don’t miss those days. I guess if I approached it again in a redeemed way and God called me back to the same type of involvement again, I know that I would want to come into it without all of my insecurities and have confidence in who I am in the Lord. I wouldn’t want it to be about me anymore. I would want it to be all about Him.

I don’t ever want to forget that I’m not on this earth for myself. I’m living for eternity.

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All I Can Get.
April 19, 2007, 1:48 pm
Filed under: Communing with the Holy Spirit, Eternity, Fear of the Lord, Intimacy with God, Jesus, The Cross

The other day, for the first time since I’ve been at IHOP, I found myself asking the question: what am I doing here? Everything in me wants to run out and get a normal job with a normal paycheck. Somehow each month I seem to have the money to pay my rent and buy food and I don’t know how it happens… it just does and it just affirms the fact that this is where I’m suppose to be but other times I feel like beating my head against a wall. I want so much to have control over my own destiny  but Jesus keeps saying, “just sit here and receive. This is how it’s gonna happen, Brooke. This is it. This is what you’re here for.”

I’ve honestly had a lot of grace in my prayer times in the morning but then I go home and everything hits the fan. I’m confronted with the reality of my weakness every second I’m out of the prayer room and I am getting frustrated the more God seems to be asking for more of me. Am I willing to give Him everything? I don’t know…. EVERYTHING??? That’s so scary! I want the revelation that I’m here for something much greater, that I’m living for eternity. It is so painful being in this place of waiting on Him. As He exposes those hidden hurts, the blatant weaknesses and sin, it is almost unbearable. I just keep hearing from Him, my grace is sufficient for you and I do believe it. I know that I have access to a life of abandonment because of the cross, because He has poured his grace upon me, because His Spirit lives inside me. What’s absalutely killing me is the fact that I have to take steps to get there and what’s killing me even more is that the step is as simple as sitting before Him outside of my sacred trust I can’t even seem to give Him that. I know that’s what He’s asking of me. Jesus, do whatever it takes to get me there. We need you, Lord. We cannot, CANNOT do this without you. Help!!

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In A Little While…
April 1, 2007, 2:21 am
Filed under: Eternity, Intimacy with God

I just recently changed my schedule slightly and now I come in on Saturdays at noon before I work in the prophecy room. As I was sitting in my seat, soaking up the presence of Jesus I couldn’t help but watch some of the people around me. Many of them were elderly and one older man in particular caught my eye. He was probably in his late 80’s or early 90’s but the joy on his face was contagious as he stood and raised his hands to heaven and worshiped Jesus. It gave me hope to watch him still so in love with God. As a pastor’s kid I grew up in a small church that was filled with many bitter elderly folk who seemed to suck the life out of everything. It made me wonder if I would make it after years of just living life and going through hard times.  I came back tonight to the 8 pm set and the old man was there again and still praising Jesus with wholehearted love. I suppose it is a reminder to keep my heart tender and remember the mercy of Jesus and the gift of eternity in His perfect kingdom.

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The “groan for the lost” verse.
March 19, 2007, 3:04 am
Filed under: Eternity, Evangelism

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.;

Where are the wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom  did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who have been called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”

Who can fathom this Jesus? How can the lost ever expect to rationalize the cross? It’s just not rational or logical… mainly because it’s something we can truly never understand to the full extent. So many friends of mine disbelieve the message of Jesus because it is such a mystery… but who can ever figure God out? He created us and we expect to know His thoughts and ways? I feel the fear of the Lord right now for those who don’t know Jesus. Not only do I have fear for them because they will go to hell for their disbelief but because I cannot imagine getting through this life without ever having known Jesus.

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In Light of Eternity
March 12, 2007, 10:52 pm
Filed under: Bible Study, Eternity, Finances

The Lord has been doing some interesting things in my heart the last month or so but it seems like just in the last week He has been teaching me much. Jesus has been telling me lately that He is expecting more out of me now, that He has raised the bar and I need to start ’stepping it up’. I know exactly what this means: issues with my time, issues with faith, issues with love. I have been so frustrated because I am naturally a very independent person and hate giving up control of my life. To say to the Lord, “okay, instead of farting around, I’m going to spend my time in a way that I can get to know You more and where I can grow on a deeper level.” So I’ve been reading the Word a lot more and now… well, it’s totally freaking me out. Listen to this verse in Luke 12:47 “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know but does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Jeez. That is super super scary, you know it? Eternity is a huge deal and I think I’m finally not in denial about it anymore. I’m also realizing that in order to prophesy more effectively… I have to know the Word much more than I do. So I am going to immerse myself in it. Prayer, I haven’t had a problem with but reading the Word has been on the backburner for me and I realize I need it in order to grow and be changed. It is part of abiding in Christ and only there can we ever recieve the grace to pursue righteousness.

Also, I’m coming to grips that I might possibly be poor the rest of my life. I have given up many comforts so that I can pay for my “prayer habit”. For instance I will be buying my shampoo at Bargain Factory instead of Sephora, buying my clothes at Savers and when I have a little extra, maybe Arizona Trading Company (for all of you Dallasites, this is like a Buffalo Exchange except lower prices) instead of shopping at Urban Outfitters or well… Target (haha). And the way I see it right now… I won’t be buying ANY clothes any time soon because I can barely afford to buy groceries. But He’s teaching me that in light of eternity, this is not that big of a deal. So I have to buy Suave instead of Biolage or Phyto… it’s not gonna kill me. I may have mangy hair but at least I’m doing what God wants.

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