To the church in Santa Rosa, Revival Report.

Saints,

One of the unique privileges that the Lord has honored me with is the many intertwined and significant relationships with leaders, churches and people in our region. I spend a great deal of time corresponding or meeting with Christians & leaders in this city. My personal history with the church in Santa Rosa is an interesting journey, the number of relationships that God has given me allow a 'big picture' prophetic view of what God is doing and saying.
It also has curiously placed me in a position where I receive a lot of feedback and many questions.

Many of the questions that I am receiving recently are about the revival meetings in Santa Rosa.Some of these questions are about the prophetic words that are coming forth regarding the DNA and destiny that is on the city of Santa Rosa and many are about the message and methods of the evangelist who is leading these meetings.

I will write a Blog soon about the history & destiny on Santa Rosa but right now I will simply say that I am excited because I am hearing and sensing things in the Spirit that ring true, there is an incredible destiny on Santa Rosa and I know that God's gifts and callings are irrevocable.
This city has a 'splendidus fatum', magnificent destiny.

In this email I want to address the second most frequent questions regarding some parts of the message and methods of the evangelist who God is using to stir revival in our region: We are a mature church in this city, most of us have been exposed to many significant men and women of God who have come to our churches here. We have all seen incredible workers of miracles and have sat under the teachings of some of God's most anointed leaders. We have heard varied messages through these leaders who have come, their core values and doctrines are frequently so different that they require discernment on our part. 
We have also observed that miracle workers each have a unique style and method.
We also have seen revival in our own churches, we have experienced astonishing atmospheres of revival at many of the churches & ministries in our region.
And it is very important to remember to honor the leaders in our city who are themselves gifted in extraordinary ways.

At our classes at Radical Gospel we often discussed how the Lord uses individuals in all their uniqueness in order for the church to realize that we are a Body with differing gifts which actually force us to do two things:
# 1; to live without judgement because God has poured forth His Spirit without measure, His grace has made the realm of the Spirit accessible to all who believe, "signs will follow all who believe", & # 2; differing gifts force the Body to depend upon one another.

The most important thing to remember is that we do not need to 'check our brains at the door'.
Paul wrote his final instructions to a church in 1st Thessalonians 5:12-22:

"Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you.
Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other....

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test everything.
Hold on to the good. Avoid the bad."


 At Bethel's School of Supernatural Ministry the students are told during the introduction week that they will be exposed to many various leaders and miracle workers during their two years of classes. They are encouraged to use their heads, ask questions and learn. But everything is done in a culture of honor and openness, in a culture of the Kingdom which embraces learning in an atmosphere where the goodness of God and grace without self-righteousness is paramount. They have a simple phrase which might be a paraphrase of Paul's words to the
Thessalonians, "eat the meat, spit out the bones".

Dear Saints in Santa Rosa, we are living in incredible times. The stirring of the Spirit in our region is going to have a significant impact on all of us. God's church here is in a season of transition. There is an old adage that every military leader has known since the first battle, "an army is the most vulnerable at the
crossing of a river".
Wisdom, discernment along with a lot of intercession is needed right now.

I bless you all in Jesus' Name,
In His radical grace,
     Ray

All tax deductible giving can be sent to Radical Gospel Ministries
                                                                           2804 Bristol Rd.
                                                                           Kenwood, CA 95452  

Confident Faith

We all experience more than a few trials in this life.
Each of our trials may be different but they all require the same thing.
Faith.
Reading the letter to the Hebrews always brings me a fresh revelation of New Testament faith.
I always get encouraged. Faith is the theme of the letter to the Hebrews,
it is full of hope and expectation. It is one of the greatest theological letters in the New Testament. Verse after verse, thought after thought,
the author builds an absolute case for our secure position in Christ,
our total forgiveness of sin and our place as heir to the all the promises of God.

As the author writes all this, he intertwines an exhortation to
believe this incredible reality.

In short, the letter to the Hebrews is written to encourage
faith in and for the promises of God.

Hebrews describes a faith that is not a 'might-be' faith nor a 'maybe' hope
..NO!...the entire letter is intended to boost the saints' expectation for
the reality of God's promises to be true!

Too many Christian live with the idea that God's plan is to build us up
in a strength that can live with the disappointments in life and
still believe that God exists.
This is a type of 'hang-in-there' faith with little hope for God to intervene in
our circumstances. God is reduced to a 'comfort' in the trial.
The building of character is His goal for the Christian.

This would be a great concept if we define Biblical character as
having radical confidence in the power of God on our behalf.
Unfortunately most Christians define character in terms of personal
discipline and self confidence. Though these are good traits to have
in life they can be found in a lost person as easily (and sometimes
more frequently) than in a Christian.
I believe that the Bible reveals that a faith in God that includes an
expectation of miracles is a truer definition of faith.

This should not be a difficult leap for Christians since we all believe
the greatest personal miracle we will ever experience in life,
the salvation of our souls.
That miracle requires Biblical faith because it cannot be seen in the natural,
how much more should we believe that the our Savior who loved us so
much would also provide supernatural intervention for us in this life?

"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us,
who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son,
but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him,
graciously give us all things?" (Rom. 8:31-32)

Because we do not always see the miraculous intervention of His power
in our circumstances we can tend towards developing personal doctrines
based on disappointment rather than on His Word.
When a body of Christians does this collectively it can create an
atmosphere of unbelief rather than of expectation, faith and hope.

We often get in trouble and fall into doubt when we too easily
give up on true faith.
Faith is not singularly trust or belief,
faith requires a commitment to His truth,
it is a choice, it is a confident expectation of good.
Faith is more than a belief that God exists,
even the demons believe that.
Faith is the anchor of our heart in another Kingdom,
a belief in a superior reality that expects the goodness and power
of God to manifest in us, for us and through us.

Sometimes it is an effort, sometimes it is patience,
but faith is never stagnant, it is never in a doctrine.
It is not a 'way' to believe, it is belief itself.

The author of Hebrews addresses this in chapter six:
"..we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness
to have the full assurance of hope until the end,
so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who
through faith and patience inherit the promises.
For when God made a promise to Abraham...
He swore by Himself, saying:'Surely I will bless you and multiply you.'
And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.
So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise
unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath...
in which it is impossible for God to lie...so that we, who have fled for refuge,
might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul,
a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,
where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf...."

God cannot lie, He swore an oath by His own Name
that His promises are true.
He swore this oath so that we could put a stake in the ground
and hold fast to His promise.
Faith is an anchor when we are faced with the trials of this life.

At the heart of faith is a rest and assurance,
but we can never truly rest when we doubt His promise,
nor be 'assured' if we think that God is the source of our trials.

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen." (Heb. 11:1)

This Blog is not a 'hang-in-there' encouragement,
it is an exhortation to BELIEVE!

Faith in His Name!

At the Radical Gospel Monday Night Meeting,
when we lay hands on the sick or prophecy in the Spirit,
we are incredibly mindful of who's power is at work through us.

When a person is healed as we pray, sometimes in astonishing ways,
we become humbled by the awesome privilege to be used of God
as a transmitter of His virtue.
When the evidence of a healing manifests before our eyes there is
no way any reasonable person could take the credit for it.

Yet, it is the tendency of man to look at the individual through
who's hands (or prophetic word) the miracle came about. (and it always
gets a little disconcerting when the individual who prayed thinks it is 'about them').

The first officially recorded healing in in the post-Pentecost church is found in
the third chapter of the book of Acts. Peter and John declared healing over the
lame man at the Temple, "...in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, walk!"

An astounded crowd gathered around them and when Peter saw this
he had to teach, "Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare
at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made this man walk....
...His Name, by faith in His Name, has made this man strong whom you see
and know; and the faith which is through Jesus has given the man this
perfect health in the presence of all of you."

At Radical Gospel we believe that faith in the Name of Jesus is at work in our
midst. We believe that this same faith, 'which is through Jesus' is not a special
blessing upon any man or woman or ministry,
it is a faith that is with-in the spirit of every believer.
It is a faith that grows and develops in an atmosphere of His Presence.
It is a faith that is encouraged by the agreement of many. It is a faith that only
requires a turning from doubt to 'belief'. It is a 'faith which is through JESUS' so
that all men may know that it isn't about them, not their lack, nor their own power.

We believe that the miraculous is normal Christianity. The more people who
see the miraculous through their own hands, the more we will get the over the
idea that it is 'about' one individual or one ministry.
We are committed to equipping His People in the supernatural for this reason:
We believe that God poured out His Spirit to empower a People who are called
by His Name in order to be a blessing upon the earth!

At Radical Gospel we hold the absolute conviction that we are not special,
but we are His People!

You are His People!

In His radical NAME!,
Ray

Meeting every Monday Night at 7pm at the facilities of the Open Door Church in Petaluma.
(click on the 'itinerary' page for directions)

Faith in intimacy

"This God - His way is perfect; the promise of the Lord proves true, He is
a shield for all those who take refuge in Him." (King David in: 2Samuel 22:31)

David had a quite a few troubles in his time on earth. He created some of his challenges all by himself and some were thrust upon him by the madness of kings and men.

But David had an absolute conviction; God was good, God was faithful to His promise
and God backed him up.
David believed this even though he lived under an inferior Covenant.

God hasn't changed, He is still the God of David...David simply saw beyond the Law of
Moses and looked into the heart of the Father.
God did change His Covenant though, that is why it is called NEW.

In this New Covenant in His blood we do not need to strive to look beyond the Law
to see the Father. God took the Law away so that we might be able to realize a relationship of intimacy with Him that is based on faith.

"If God is for us, who or what can stand against us?, He who did not even spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, will He not also give us all things with Him?" (Romans 8:31-32)
"For all the promises of God find there YES in Him. That is why we can shout AMEN through
Him, to the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Our faith through Christ shouts AMEN to His promise; and that kind of faith brings Him glory.

"This God - His way is perfect!"

Believe it!

God's astonishing power and Presence continues to amaze me as He privileges us to see the manifestations of His signs and wonders in our Monday Night meeting.
Judy is cancer free today. She was diagnosed with stage 4 Ovarian cancer. She was given two months to live. In July our healing team prayed for her.
Recent tests confirm that she remains cancer free.
John came in this past Monday Night and reported that his latest PSA numbers (tests indicating Prostate cancer) were now below normal, his tumor had shrunk 50% after prayer two weeks ago, now these tests show further healing. Thank you Jesus!
Though the healing of cancer seems to us as a greater miracle, I am consistently blessed by the pains and sicknesses that flee in Jesus' name every week. He cares for all our needs. He heals all our diseases and carried all grief and sorrow.
He heals the sick and the brokenhearted.

For me, the revelation of the finished work of the cross that brings healing
to hearts and minds is a very great miracle.
It cannot be separated from the miracles of healing, nor all the signs and wonders.
It seems to me that it should be the easiest thing.
It is, after all, the central message of the gospel. We should know this.
But for some it is difficult to believe.
We might even be able to believe for healing of our bodies before we can grasp the wonderful reality that is the basic message of the gospel: we are totally new creatures in Jesus Christ.
And as such we have access to an open heaven and all the promises of God.

"His grace gift inspires me to say to you that your thinking
must be consistent with everything that is within you
according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned to every individual.
Let the revelation of redemption shape your thoughts."
Romans 12:3 (the Mirror Translation).

"Let the revelation of redemption shape your thoughts."
This is another way of revealing how our minds can be renewed,
transformed, by the message of His finished work.
The word for 'transformed' in Rom.12:2. is 'metamorphic',
like the change from a caterpillar to a butterfly.
Utter and total transformation.

Paul is writing with an understanding that this is not an instant revelation for the Christian who is born of the Spirit.
It is implied in this chapter of Romans that we need to have our minds renewed to realize who we are!
We need to remind ourselves, and each other, of our new identity in Christ.
One way to do this is to minister to one another with the understanding
that we are already new creatures in Christ.
Done deal, past tense and finished.

So I preach to this reality, I minister with this assumption. My words and my prayers are directed to what has been done, not what needs to be done.
The mystery of the gospel should be no longer a mystery...it has been revealed.

"He has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose,
which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time,
to unite all things in him,
things in heaven and things on earth." Eph.1:9-10

He has united, in Jesus, all things in heaven with the things of earth.
Wow!
Now read Ephesians 1:1-10 and you will note that Paul says these words after he
thoroughly makes the point that we are 'holy and blameless', he writes: ' we are destined in love', 'purposed in His will', 'freely bestowed with grace', 'lavished with grace', 'redeemed by His blood' and 'forgiven from all our sins according to His riches in grace'.

That was His mystery revealed in Christ, and it is a 'uniting of heaven and earth' because we must think from heaven when we look in the mirror and when we look at each other.
"From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;
even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard Him thus no longer.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.." 2 Cor.5:16-17
I posted a thought on FaceBook that was re-posted several times and commented upon in several countries. It struck a cord.

Ray LeBlond: Imagine yourself as a totally new creature in Christ...

Ok,... now stop imagining it and believe it.

Believe it.

We are continuing to meet on Monday Night with the expressed purpose of learning to think and 'believe' from heaven instead of earth.
This in demonstrated by how we prophesy , preach and pray.
We do not ask God to heal the sick, we command sickness to go in Jesus name,
knowing that it is His power but our authority as new creatures in Christ.

We preach to the transformed man and consider the 'old man' dead, crucified with Christ.
We believe that a revelation of your true identity in Christ will 'transform' you, complete you, heal you, and restore you, bless you and refresh you and renew your mind!

And Believe!