You have already experienced a couple of blogs which contain material from CLU student, Pastor Joe Brock. He spoke at our Sunday morning service a few weeks ago, leading the congregation on a trip to heaven (check it out here), and in the second blog we published, he shared a vision of Jesus playing solitaire, and asking us to come, commune with Him so He is not so all alone.
This blog lets you get acquainted with Joe's background and life and from this point on, Joe will be blogging under his own blog spot on the CWG website. We believe he has many rich things to share with us. Welcome, Joe!
I want to start by thanking Mark and Patti Virkler, their daughter Charity Kayembe, and the entire Communion with God staff. My walk with Christ has been enriched because of these fine people.
I believe in the 4 Keys of Hearing God’s Voice and teach them at least once a year at the church I pastor and everywhere else God allows me. The exciting thing I get to admit is I have an entire church of people that hear God all the time. Watching them grow and bring God’s Kingdom with them into their everyday lives is incredibly exciting. I owe a lot to these people and feel highly privileged to be able to minister with them. Thanks Mark, Charity, and the rest of the gang – you are a great bunch of people.
I begin by introducing myself and giving some background to who I am and the perspective I will be writing from. My name is Joe Brock. I am 45 and live in central Indiana. I have been married for close to 24 years; have 4 children with one on the way. I have a Bachelor’s degree from Bethel College in Northern Indiana and am on a trajectory to receive a Doctorate of Theology through Christian Leadership University.
In my undergraduate years, I was fortunate enough to have 3 years of New Testament Greek and 2 years of Biblical Hebrew. Of all that I have ever studied, the languages are what I have loved and value the most. I have pastored and done itinerate ministry for over 21 years. I am at present the senior minister at an Assembly of God church in our 9th year of service.
I would not define myself as a Pentecostal, Charismatic, or a Third Waver. I simply believe and expect to see and live in ALL the Bible teaches and instructs. If the Bible says it, I believe and accept it. I grew up in a mainline Evangelical church that preached wonderful messages of justification by faith but had very little available to follow this. The message was get saved and get busy doing something for God. There was never any talk of God’s relational love, daily conversation with Him, or the joy He has in His kids. I was afraid of God and did a good job avoiding Him for many years. It was because of a prophetic word I received from the speaker at a chapel service almost 24 years ago in college that God finally apprehended me – and I am so glad He did.
While in college, I spent three years studying Evangelical theology with very little emphasis on the things of the Spirit. God had plans that were bigger than I could see. A man came and spoke for a chapel service. We had immediate rapport. I began to visit him and found out he and his wife were heavily involved in the deliverance ministry. While spending time with them, I was introduced and trained in many of the aspects of the deliverance and inner healing ministries. Things simply evolved from there.
Over the next few years while God was ‘unteaching’ me so many aspects of my growing up years, He was also simultaneously teaching me about the prophetic and revelatory ministries, angels, dreams, visions and learning how to enter into heavenly encounters.
Because my initial years in church had none of these as a part, I was very cautious and Biblically driven to ensure all that we were learning could be found in Scripture. It was this self-imposed demand that gave me peace as God transitioned us from average Sunday church attenders to alive and hungry sons and daughters. The life called Christian that I am growing to know is more exciting and fun than anything else I have ever known.
As I blog, I will do my best to break down and explain God’s Word from the original languages when I feel it necessary. I am no scholar, but can see and bring out things that the English Bibles do not.
However, I am not satisfied with just a good translation. The Bible is a book that chronicles the encounters of God and man. I want and long for the same encounters. I want to hear God, walk with Him, know Him, see Him, and visit Him. He came to earth to save me and went home. If He loved me enough to come to me, it is my longing to go to Him and be with Him. Remember, it was Jesus who said in His explanatory prayer – Our Father, who art IN HEAVEN. If this is where He is, this is where I long to be.
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