The Ballestero Blog

I Am The Church

Matthew 16:16-18

• I am a Divine experience, built upon a Divine revelation
• I am built upon the Rock.  That Rock is Jesus.
• I was born in obscurity, in an upper room.
• I have lived in palaces and poverty
• I am no stranger to the poor.  I was raised on the wrong side of the tracks.

Some have called me:

• Saul of Tarsus
• Simon Peter
• Cornelius
• Philip
• Stephen
• Timothy
• Lois
• Eunice
• Lydia

Of late, you have called me:

• Andrew Urshan
• G.T. Haywood
• Robert Tobin
• Verbal Bean
• Carl Ballestero
• Robert C. Cavaness
• Paul Jordan
• William R. Starr
• Jimmy Davis
• Bill Dross
• Morris E. Golder

I am the church

I was chosen from a life called:

• Foolish
• Weak
• Base
• Despised
• Nothing

That I should not glory in His presence!

• I am College Students and High School Drop outs,
• Factory workers and Housewives,
• Store owners and clock punchers,
• I am all ages and all sizes,
• I am teens with braces and Grandma’s with canes
• I am Sunday School kids whose parents are still asleep.
• I’ve lived on welfare, stood in soup lines,
• I used to be addicted to drugs, push dope, and belong to a gang.
• I was a streetwalker, alcoholic, liar and thief.
• But now I am washed, Now I am sanctified, Now I am justified, by the blood of Jesus.

I am the church

• I have lived in the “guttermost”, but have been raised to the “uttermost.”
• I have been lifted from the deep miry clay.  My feet set upon a solid rock, He has established by goings.
• Angels attend me daily. I am guided by Divine Direction.
• Heaven protects my every move.
• I am an army, I have never lost a battle. I am predestined to win.
• I am victorious.

I have been given authority in His Name, over:

• Every evil spirit
• Every disease known to man
• I have the power of the Name of Jesus at my command.
• I speak unto mountains and they are cast aside, In His name
• I walk by faith and live in the Spirit.

I am the church

Throughout history, I have been:

• Crucified
• Stoned
• Beaten
• Mistreated
• Banished
• Persecuted and Ostracized, I still prevail.
• I’ve been Lied on,
• Talked about
• Laughed at
• Mocked
• Scorned,

But Death still can’t stop me.

I shall not be defeated.

By Divine Help,

• There’s no mountain I haven’t climbed,
• No river I haven’t crossed
• No valley too deep.
• There’s no problem too big!
• I have been made to survive and flourish.

I am the church

• I have been hindered, but never stopped.
• Knocked down, but never defeated.
• Cast down, but never destroyed.
• Dictators can’t stop me
• Kings can’t stop me
• Presidents can’t
• Generals with cruel armies can’t
• Even Communism can’t.
• The Iron curtain, Bamboo Curtain, The Berlin wall couldn’t stop me.

Even the gates of hell shall not prevail against me.

• God is with me
• He is on my side.

Why do I not live in fear?  I have been given precious promises:

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

I am predestinated.
I am the church.

• I have lived in prisons, in castles, in cities and in desert places,
• I have lived in villages and barrios, in every continent and every nation under heaven.
• I am more colors than the rainbow.
• I speak the languages of many tongues.
• Tongues of men and of angels.
• I entertain no prejudices
• I am one body

I am the church

• I am commissioned to the Great Commission
• I live for the Word.
• I shout Amen,
• I run the aisles
• I dance in the spirit
• I love praise and worship
• I speak with tongues and prophesy.
• I baptize in Jesus Name
• I clap my hands and sing.
• I raise my hands in prayer and worship.
• I leap for joy.
• I exist to given Him praise.

Psa. 150:1  Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.

2  Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.

3  Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.

4  Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.

5  Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

6  Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

I will bless the LORD at all times

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

I am the church

Holiness is my trademark
Worship is my hallmark.
Prayer is my secret.

• I am a tired missionary
• An exhausted parent of small children,
• I am a tear-stained altar worker,
• A tired visitation team
• A Sunday School teacher with children that won’t be quiet
• A Home Bible Study teacher, burning the midnight oil
• I am a weary all-night prayer meeting
• I am an evangelist with a hoarse throat.
• I am an exhausted musician in a lengthy altar service,
• I am a King’s son wearing clothes from Goodwill,
• I know what it’s like to shout my hair down,
• I know what it’s like to get Holy laughter,
• I know what it’s like to shout during the preaching,
• I know what it’s like to travail in the spirit,
• I know what it’s like to make intercession.
• I know what the Pentecostal croup is
• I know what it’s like to see someone go home drunk in the Holy Ghost,
• I know what it’s like to be lost in the Spirit,
• I know where the prayer room is,

I am the church

• I’ve seen lives changed
• Families restored
• Marriages put back together
• Gays and Lesbians delivered
• Bodies healed
• Minds restored
• Drug Addicts delivered
• Smokers set free
• Alcoholics dried out
• Hard hearts softened
• Bitterness erased
• Anger dissipate
• Mistakes forgiven and wrongs righted.
• Unity restored
• All by the Han of God
• Some, in moment’s time
• I am the sole possessor of Truth
• I possess the secret of eternal life and of peace with God

I am the church

• I am preaching that changes that touches the heart
• I am an experience that changes the lives
• I am testimonies that ring that Jerusalem ring
• I am singing, that stirs the soul,
• I am prayers that reach heaven’s throne,

I am the church

• I am faces without make-up
• I am long dresses and uncut hair.
• I am modesty on a pedestal,
• I am virtue and purity on parade with heads held high.
• I am holiness without an apology
• I am dedicated to separation from the world.
• I refused to be influenced by immoral thinking
• I shun immodest apparel
• I hate every false way
• I deplore the works of the flesh
• Carnal thinking is not for me
• I keep myself unspotted from the world.
• I proudly represent the King of Glory
• He is Holy, therefore, I must be holy
• My adornment is spiritual and precious, rather than worldly and cheap.
• My men look like real men
• My women are my glory
• I am not a slave to fashion, but rather a servant of Jesus Christ.
• I am clothed rather in garments of Salvation.
• Immodesty does not become me,
• Impurity has no place in my world,
• I live a separated life.
• I don’t look like Satan’s children, talk like them, neither do I act like them.
• I do not feel comfortable in their environment.
• I hate all the works of the flesh
• I am not comfortable in Satan’s realm
• The world is not my home
• I walk ONLY on the OLD paths.

I am the church

My worship, my music and singing have been copied, mimicked, and duplicated.

But like the magicians, who cast down their rods before Moses, they still didn’t have the message.  Moses had the only message of deliverance.

• I alone have the message of deliverance for a lost and dying world.
• I alone have the keys to eternal life.
• I alone have the message that sets men free
• I alone have the truth
• I alone have the revelation of who Jesus is
• I alone am the bride of Christ
• I alone known the truth of being born again of water and spirit
• I alone baptize in the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved
• I alone have a world to reach

I am described as:

• Glorious
• Not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.
• Holy and without blemish.
• As terrible as an army with banners
• The salt of the world
• The light of the world
• A Great House
• The general assembly
• Mount Zion
• The city of the Living God
• The church of the first born
• An heir of righteousness
• A chosen generation
• A royal priesthood
• The Family of God
• The Habitation of God
• The Temple of God
• The Bride of Christ

I AM NOT:

• A social center
• A board run entity or a clever tax shelter
• I am not Political or politically correct
• Or Socially acceptable
• This Secular world was not created with me in mind.
• I don’t fit in to their societies or programs, their sports or their entertainment.

I AM A REDEMPTION CENTER

• A Hospital for the hurting
• An oasis for the weary
• A home for every one.
• Give me your weary, your homeless, your outcast, your oppressed, your needy and your distressed.

I am the church

• I am called to show forth the praises of Him who hath called my out of darkness in to this glorious light
• I am the sole possessor of the name of Jesus in redemption.
• I alone have taken His name.
• I am His bride.  I love His Name.

Revival is my heartbeat,

Calvary is my song,

The blood of Jesus is my hope,

The name of Jesus is my love,

Deliverance is my message,

The coming of Jesus is my prayer

I live only to:

• Worship Him
• Witness to others
• Love one another
• Praise His Holy Name
• Pray unto Him
• Help my brother
• Obey His Word and His will

I am sanctified

• Blood washed
• Blood bought
• Spirit filled
• Water baptized in Jesus name
• Tongue talking
• Endued with power from on high
• My name is written in the Lambs book of life
• I am the reason for Bethlehem,
• I am the reason for Calvary
• I am Pentecost in action

• I grow with tears
• I become stronger when I decrease
• I am love with a sword in its hand
• I am a soldier with compassion
• A rich man with no money,
• Royalty with no recognition
• I am an heir with no earthly home.
• I am a burden in shoe leather
• I am joyful when there is repentance
• I celebrate the death and Home-going of my own,
• Knowing that to absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
• But I grieve for all others.
• I have prayed teeming thousands out of sick beds,
• Seen countless others raised up from their death beds,
• Watched blinded eyes open, and seen the lame walk.
• Yet I still reach out to help others who have never heard of Jesus.
• While hope and time remain, I am dedicated to helping others find Christ.
• I live in the Supernatural, I walk in the Spirit, and I enjoy the benefits of eternity right here on earth.

I am the church

• I love the unlovable,
• I reach out to the rejected and outcasts of society while giving hope to the discouraged and depressed.
• I am a refuge in troublesome times.
• I am a comfort from despair, and a shelter in life’s storms.
• I give hope to the hopeless and help o the helpless.
• I minister to the needs of both the body and soul
• I am blessed most, when I am being a blessing.
• I bear my brother’s burdens
• I am an encourager to all
• I am an edifier and a giver of strength
• I point all men to Calvary
• I lead the hungry to Heaven’s banqueting table
• I take no glory for myself

I am recognized by the fruit that I manifest.

• Love,
• Joy,
• Peace,
• Longsuffering,
• Gentleness,
• Goodness,
• Faith,
• Meekness,
• Temperance: against such there is no law.

I am the church

• I am betrothed to the King of Kings,
• To The Lord God Almighty
• The Alpha and Omega
• The Beginning and The End
• The First and The Last
• The Prince of Peace
• The Rose of Sharon
• The Chief Cornerstone
• The Captain of Salvation
• The Desire of All nations
• The Great High Priest
• The Good Shepherd
• Emmanuel
• The Lamb of God
• The Lord of Glory
• The Most High God

He who is called:

• Wonderful,
• Counselor,
• The mighty God,
• The everlasting Father,
• The Prince of Peace, This is my beloved.
• He is altogether lovely.
• I get excited about the Name of Jesus.
• His Name is above every other.
• I am the apple of His eye.
• I am my beloved’s and He is mine.
• I love the sound of His voice.  His words to me are life and strength.
• I delight in them. I am excited when He speaks to me.
• I long for His touch.
• I live to be in His presence.
• I have no other joy.
• For all that thrills my soul is Jesus, He is more than life to me, and the fairest of 10,000 in His blessed face I see.

My days are limited, my time is short.

• I am redeeming the time.
• I am going to be caught away very soon.
• The Lord Jesus is coming to take me to a place He has prepared for me.

I must work while I still have the time.

• My light is lit
• There is oil in my lamp
• It is trimmed and burning
• I am watching and praying
• I am looking for His soon return
• I am on fire with Pentecostal fire
• The vision is great
• The harvest is great
• My garments are without spot or wrinkle
• I am ready for the 1st resurrection

I am the church

• My job is never done, nor my task finished till all have come to the knowledge of the truth.
• My focus must not be upon myself, but upon others.
• I cannot rest while one lost sheep is astray.
• I am called to rescue the perishing
• I am charged the responsibility of lost souls

Heaven is watching

Hell is watching

The world is watching

• I must not falter
• I must not fail
• I must not weaken or tire
• I shall not fail
• I shall be triumphant over all
• I will pray on
• I will sing on
• I will preach on
• I will go on
• I will keep on keeping on
• I will reach out to all that need Him
• I am determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
• The challenge before me is great, but He is greater.
• I shall be victorious over all, because of Him
• I am triumphant because of Him.

I am Called

I am Chosen

I will be Faithful

I am the church

“Are you in the Church Triumphant?

Are you in the Saviour’s Bride?

Come and be baptized into the body,

And for evermore abide.”

“I’m talking about the church

In the book of Revelation

It’s built on the Rock

Got a firm foundation

It’s been through the storm

It’s been through the fire

And one of these days,

This church is gonna move up higher

It’s the church, triumphant, Oh Lord,

And it’s built by the hand of the Lord.”

Are you in the Church today?

If not, then GET in it.

If you are IN it, then STAY in it