What a church and what a meeting! This church has had a special place in mine and Christy’s life and ministry. How we love and appreciate them dearly.
This was our third Sunday to Sunday meeting we have had with Pastor Tom Miles and the great people of Crooked Creek. Our first meeting was a true church wide revival and Crooked Creek has not been the same since.
This too was a good meeting with great responses from the people that has allowed them to go further down the road of revival. Sermons from this particular meeting can be found at http://www.crookedcreekbaptistchurch.org/February2010RevivalSermons.html
Here are some testimonys from the meeting:
Associate Pastor Matt Davis:
We just closed out a great week of revival services with Brother Ingram andare grateful for the Lord’s working in our midst. This meeting had been
bathed in much prayer and God did not disappoint! From our perspective the meeting wasn’t as much about Brother Billy preaching to lost people (though some were present and one profession of faith was made) but about God’s people, starting with the leadership, fulfilling God’s desire for “truth in the inward parts” (Psalm 51:6) so that we could be brought back to normal Christianity. I believe we witnessed that from the top down! Serious business was conducted between saints and their God every night and the altars were always full. There were several extended testimony times and it was clear that many people either took “exchanged life” truth to heart for the first time or realized that they had drifted back into flesh dependence. Many people claimed the complete and total victory that we have in Christ.As mentioned above there was not a focus on the lost as much as in past revival meetings. We didn’t even have a friend day! The Pastor felt that every Sunday would become friend day once the saints were fully revived – something we are anxiously looking forward to this first Sunday after the conclusion of the meeting. We believe that God is only starting the mighty movement of His Spirit in this area and are grateful that He used Brother Billy to teach, preach, and remind us of the great revival truths of Scripture.
Another testimony from a young man who was helped in a specific and special way in the same meeeting:
In 2007 I surrendered to the call to preach, about two years later I also surrendered to go to the mission field. Having grown up in a christian home, I always went to church. However, from the time that I was very young I have struggled in the arena of of lustful thoughts. I was introduced to pornography at the age of about 14 yrs old. After a period of time, I would always get caught by my parents and would ask for forgiveness, and would stay clean of it for a while. But then it would slowly creep back in. On one occasion after getting caught I finally thought that I was able to stop looking at pornography and find freedom from it at last. However, I found myself loosing the the battle shortly before Christmas of 09.
I struggled with this sin until about two weeks before Bro. Ingram came to our church to preach Revival. Each time as I struggled with this sin, I would immediately ask the Lord to forgive me and take it away. Thinking that I had dealt with the sin, I figured that it was a done deal. But I was wrong! The Bible says in Pro 28:13 “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
On Mon night of the revival meeting, Bro. Ingram preached on having fallow ground and the Lord convicted me that even though I seemingly confessed
my sin to Him, I was still hiding my sin and I WOULD NOT prosper unless I deal with my sin entirely.After the service, I went to Brother Ingram who advised that I go to my authorities. I went to my Pastor and then to my parents – – and the Lord showed me mercy. I felt like a 500 pound weight was lifted off of my shoulders.
Before I was trying to do it on my own, in my own strength, but I had to realize that I have to became weak and depend on Christ to fight my battles for me. And since that day the Lord is continually giving me victory in the area of lustful thoughts and Pornography.
Another Testimony:
Before the revival meeting with Brother Ingram, I had found myself very discouraged in my christian walk, due to some recent circumstances and because I was trying to serve God in my own strength. I had become tired of trying to do what was right and was just doing what I wanted without seeking God.
. . . The Lord really spoke to me in the message “Getting Numb to the Things of God” . . . I realized I was becoming numb to God and it was miserable not being right with Him. I new I had to surrender my life to the Lord daily and rely on His strength to serve Him. The Lord has since been much more real to me, I know that I don’t have to worry about things in the future because I can trust Him and do His will.
I have had more victory over sin as I rely on Him to over come temptation rather than attempting it in my own strength.The preaching of Brother Ingram is a real blessing and I still enjoy relistening to the sermons.