The Church of the Laodiceans Can Have Revival

The Church of the Laodiceans Can Have Revival!

Rev 3:14-22 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write. . . I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot . . . As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent . . . Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me . . .

It would be arrogant and ignorant should the North American Church think that we are the ruling majority of Pentecostals on planet earth. Our overseas churches and constituents far outnumber the Pentecostals of North America. However, we are the wealthiest. In our wealth, we have no equal. What if our precious brothers and sisters from Nicaragua or the Philippines could visit our North American churches next week. Would we look like Laodicea to them? May God help us to do right with our wealth. To whom much is given, much is required.

God observed the works of the church of the Laodiceans and saw lukewarmness. God's quarrel was not with what these saints were doing but rather the passionless way they went about their kingdom work. God never mentions a loss of first love as He did to Ephesus, neither did he point out any obvious sins. It was their lack of zeal that apparently nauseated Him to the point of vomiting them out of His mouth.

God looked at their works and then gave a scathing rebuke to this lukewarm church. Because you are lukewarm and unexcited and unenthusiastic about working for me I am going to spew you out of my mouth. The Laodiceans lack of passion gave God a sick stomach. God must be concerned about passion among His believers.

The name Laodicea means the rule of the people and suggests a democratic church that no longer understood or followed spiritual leaders. They had themselves a nice little democratic church. It was their church; the church of the Laodiceans.

It was so tragic that having such a great potential to bless, they had no passion to carry out the work of God. Because of this, in God’s eyes they were poor and pitiful and blind and naked. Warren Wiersbe said of the Laodiceans, "What a picture of the apostate church of today, with its prestige, wealth, and political power, yet all the while spiritually poor."

Christ is standing outside the door of this lukewarm body of believers. This church has all this wealth and power but no zeal for kingdom work. Please understand, they were certainly working, but without passion. However, God was willing to come into that lukewarm church if someone would only open the door. God could have broken down the door and demanded a meeting. This was His church that He had purchased with His own blood. Yet, He waited for someone to open the door.

Enough about the sad state of affairs in the Church of the Laodiceans. Is there any hope for such a church? I ask this question because the North American Church sure has a close resemblance to those first century believers in Laodicea. Yes, the church of the Laodiceans can have revival. After rebuking them soundly saying, "as many as I love I chasten" God said, "Be zealous therefore and repent." I have gold for you and I’m more than willing to sell it to you. I am not going to give it to you but I’ll sell it to you. Ah, real riches. I have white raiment for you, clothes of righteousness for you to put on so the shame of your nakedness will not appear. And I have some eye salve for you so you can see clearly.

Take a look at the hope in this verse. There is still time. What Laodicea needed and what we must have is passion and zeal. A great opportunity waits! Would someone please help me open the door? Yes, He could force His way in, He could bust down the door, but that's not His way. He waits for someone with passion to throw open the door.

Perhaps the key word for this turnaround is zealous. The word zealous means to have warmth of feeling for or against. It means simply to burn with zeal. You and I are for some things and we are against some things but do we burn with zeal about them?

I am often aware of the many glaring weaknesses in my life. I’ve got enough close friends and family that keep me from forgetting those weaknesses, some learned and hopefully some genetic. I do not consider myself a good administer. I am not the best at delegating. I have so much to learn about leadership. I don’t always deal with situations as quickly as I should. This is not trash talk, just the facts.

However, myself and some others had one great thing going for us in the early 70's when we walked out by faith into ministry. We had passion. We were zealous for the Lord's work. I wanted then and still desire today a book of Acts church. I still hunger to see the miraculous. One man said, "The proof of your desire is in your pursuit" and I am still pursuing. I'm aging and I may fight cynicism but I am still believing we will witness one more great move of God in North America. This will be a powerful move that will bring with it a demonstration of the spirit and power of God and restore righteousness to the body of Christ.

There were great men of God who helped stoke the fires of passion in my early days of ministry. Along with my father, there were others like the Manguns, the Kilgores, and the Pughs. This list is much longer that this. They preached with such passion that they caused us to truly believe that end-time revival was more than a possibility, it was going to happen.

Yes, the church of the Laodiceans can have revival. Be zealous therefore, and repent. Whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. Get excited about whatever it is your doing no matter how small or how great the task. Do it with enthusiasm. I hope that in my short time of ministry I can impart a passionate vision into others. Pray for me!

William H. Dean and Cancer Report

Dad is 87 years old. He is a World War II veteran. He has a Purple Heart and 2 Oak Leaf Clusters signifying he was wounded three times. Today he is listed as 100% disabled by the V.A. Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer many years ago and opted to have his prostrate removed through an extremely rough surgery. For the first seven years after the surgery his P.S.A. counts remained low thus leading the doctors to believe that the cancer had been contained in the prostate. However, seven years after the surgery his P.S.A. counts started to rise again. There was a tumor somewhere in his body and it was active. Although his cancer cannot be cured we are grateful that his particular type of cancer is very slow growing. Last Monday, after reading his recent P.S.A. counts his doctor told him that the cancer has either moved into his lymph nodes or his bones. The doctor promptly offered a treatment that comes with side effects but cannot cure the cancer. Following is my dad's response. "In the war, they killed men in front of me, behind me, on my left, and on my right. My buddies wanted to live as much as I did. God let me live to come home and marry my sweetheart and find truth. Since I found Jesus, I have received in this life 100 fold without persecution. I don't want the treatment" Although we are expecting to keep dad around for a long while I cannot help but say that dad taught me how to live and now he is going to teach me how to die. Live long dad and besides, who knows, the rapture may catch us all away and we'll meet the Lord together in the clouds. Israel is fixing to bomb Iran and Russia is coming to their aid. Ezekiel prophesied that God would put a hook in Russia's jaw and drag them down to fight Israel. Russia, you better take a long hard look at Ezekiel 38 and 39. It's going to cost you more lives than you can imagine to make this trip because God's fury is going to come up in His face when you enter Israel. Pray for Dad's healing.

Louisiana Men's Conference 2009 - Heros Without Spotlights

Photos courtesy of RyanAustinDean photography.

There wasn't one insignificant moment. Every second was alive with the Spirit. Every song, every message, every moment of prayer, precious fellowship, the smell of catfish and crawfish as it spread across the camp grounds, anointing of the Men's Conference towels Friday evening, prodigals returning to the Father's House, praying with our pastors, all the men who received the Holy Ghost, one was 82 years old, another 70, $30,000 given to Foreign Missions, and the preaching was the best part. Tim Mahoney preached, "When God Says, Now I Know." Ronnie LaCombe's text was "Hur . . . Who Is A Him." Dr. Ray Kloepper's Message, "Guard Your Heart." Robert Tisdale's Message, "Recover Yourselves." Kevin Cox's message, "Who Decides What Is Significant?" We each returned home to become Providers, Protectors, Prophets, & Priest in our families and we all dare to remain permanently changed. Forever we shall be "Heroes Without Spotlights."

A picture says a thousand words . . .




















Never To Young















Never Too Old












Brothers











1045 Registered







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Praying For Our Pastors















Louisiana Men's Conference 2010
April 29-May 1
Tioga, Louisiana















































Progicals Came Home

Nicaragua Bible School

I watched a short video taken during the National Minister's Conference of the United Pentecostal Church in the nation of Nicaragua. Missionary John Hopkins shared this video with me. The exuberant rejoicing of the several hundred preachers and wives was over a sacrificial offering that had just been received. Regional Missionary Hopkins was present at this conference and told me that amount of the offering had just been announced and this is why the preachers and their wives were so excited. The total offering was the equivalent of about $1,500 U.S. Dollars. Later, the missionary in Nicaragua, Bro. Nix, related to me that some of the minister's had put their bus fare home in the offering. In 1998, Nicaragua was hit by hurricane Mitch. The nation, already poor, still suffers from the devastating effects of this hurricane and much of the infrastructure of the nation has never been rebuilt.

I am told by Bro. Hopkins that the Pentecostals in Nicaragua are some of the most wonderful Christians you will ever meet. Watching them rejoice over $1,500 should really cause us to stop and count our blessings and bring some perspective to our lives.

Because of the Miracle Offering given by The Pentecostals of Bossier City the United Pentecostal Church of Nicaragua has been able to purchase five acres of beautiful property on which a Bible School will be built as a memorial to my father and mother, Rev. and Mrs. W. H. Dean. Calvary Tabernacle of Bentonville, Arkansas, will also help us with the monies needed. My brother Johnny is pastor in Bentonville.

Bro. Nix told me that the great people of Nicaragua have been praying for ten years for a new Bible School. With this much excitement over $1,500 you can quickly see that without God's help the fulfillment of this dream would have been impossible.

We also hope to build a second Bible School in Guadeloupe, Mexico

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Why Is He Famous

Following is some wisdom that came forth from my 8 year old grandson last Sunday. Riding with me to the restaurant Lincoln saw a copy of a recent publication of the Smithsonian magazine on the back seat. Covering the front of the magazine were large pictures of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. My grandson immediately recognized the face of our former president but wanted to know the name of the other gentleman. I told him it was Charles Darwin. As is the case with an 8 year old there is always another question, "Who is he?" "Well," I said, "He is the man who came up with the idea of evolution." I braced for the next obvious question, "What is evolution." I explained to his inquisitive mind that evolution was a theory that man came from a monkey. Rather matter of fact like Lincoln asked his final question on the subject, "Why is he famous?" Out of the mouth of babes . . .

Evidence of the Grace of God!

When the disciples in Jerusalem heard about the great revival taking place in Antioch they sent Barnabas to check things out. When he arrived in Antioch he saw,"evidence of the grace of God"(Acts 11:22 NIV). Amazing! What did Barnabas see that gave witness to God's grace. Miracles? Physical healings? Radically changed lives? Holy Ghost baptisms? Water baptisms? Families coming together? Restored relationships? True repentance? What was the indisputable evidence witnessed by Barnabas that made him "glad" and provoked him to "encourage them to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts." I think we would be safe in saying, all of the above.

Is there indisputable evidence of the Grace of God in your local assembly? Do you worship with people whose regenerated lives testify of God's unmerited favor. If God's grace were on trial at The Pentecostals of Bossier City where I worship each week, would we have sufficient evidence to find God guilty? How terrible and sad it would be to worship with a congregation where there was no evidence of God's amazing grace. Praise be to God, we have some proof. Come and worship with The Pentecostals of Bossier City and everywhere you look, you will see evidence that our God is rich in mercy.

When we sing I am free to dance, praise God, there are people who have been set free. Many who have been set free from the chains of slavery brought on by sin. Free from the bar stool, free from cocaine, free from pornography, and free from the meth addiction. You'll worship with some are free from literal incarceration, free because of the ACTS program they went through while behind bars. You will see a couple whose marriage was gone but God's grace kept them together. I could go on for a while!

Not only do we see this evidence in the lives people who were rescued out of dark sin but also there are plenty like myself who by the grace of God was kept from so much in the world. Sure, I was a sinner and I needed God's grace but praise God he kept me from having to experience some of the nightmarish things we have heard about from others.

I wouldn't want to worship where there was no evidence of God's grace. I thank my God that when I arrive for worship at The Pentecostals of Bossier City, every where I look, I see evidence of the grace of God and I am glad!