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Introducing
By Dennis Pollock
Have you ever used a magnifying glass to capture the sun’s rays in order to try to set a piece of paper on fire? Most of my generation did this as kids (today they just use disposable cigarette lighters!). The reason a magnifying glass can do this, and not a regular piece of glass, is that it is possible to focus the sun’s rays on a very tiny point with the magnifying glass, and a laser effect is created. When light is tightly focused the degree of heat is increased dramatically. I have found our Lord uses this same principle in instructing His children in His truth. By focusing upon certain specific areas, He “burns” His truth into our hearts in such a way that it becomes a vital part of us from that point on. As we grow in grace we become collectors of the different truths the Lord has imparted to us. These become the source of our strength and the basis for our effectiveness in ministry. Spirit of Grace Ministries is the culmination of God’s dealings in my life over more than two decades of ministry experiences. We are sometimes asked, “What is Spirit of Grace Ministries all about?” The simplest way to explain this is to share with you these various areas of truth that are foundational in my life and ministry. Spiritual Awakening In my early years, as a pastor of a tiny church in a tiny town, I read a book on the life of John Wesley. This was my first introduction to spiritual awakening (also called revival). This little five feet four inch preacher was a spiritual giant whom God used to set all of England ablaze with the fires of revival. God launched a movement under him that transformed England and much of the world. From then on I read every book I could get my hands on that dealt with spiritual awakening. I learned of the other great revivalists – men like Savonarola, George Whitefield, Charles Finney, and D. L. Moody. I discovered that there is an unbreakable link between revival, prayer, and the preaching of God’s moral law and the grace that comes through Jesus Christ. I drank so deeply from the wells of revival that I was almost ruined as a pastor. It was hard for me to concentrate on settling arguments over the color of the carpets, or to oversee the planning of social functions, when all I wanted to do was pray, read God’s word, and evangelize. I became so tender on the subject of revival that once, when watching a television documentary on revival, I was immediately in tears. My prayer life became top priority for me. James tells us that Elijah prayed, the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. Prayer brings rain (Holy Spirit outpouring) and rain brings fruit. The Holy Spirit As I read about revival
and the great revivalists of church history, I discovered that these men
seemed to have a special regard for the Holy Spirit. They spoke and
wrote of the Holy Spirit
I want you to have high ideas of the Holy Spirit and to feel that nothing good will be done without His influences… Be careful, then, not to grieve Him away, by slighting or neglecting His heavenly influences when He invites you to pray. The more I read, the more I felt a need in my own life to know the Holy Spirit. I had had experiences with Him from my earliest days, but I felt I did not know Him in a personal relationship, like I knew Jesus and God the Father. As I read the Scriptures, I looked eagerly for every reference I could find pertaining to this wonderful Person. Gradually He began to reveal Himself to me. I have come to love Him. He is so wonderful, so tender and yet so powerful. My goal in ministry is to yield myself more and more fully to Him, and to testify with Him of Christ to the world. I thrill to watch Him work. Someone once asked me if I get nervous before I preach. I told him that speaking in public never really has bothered me – I can preach before ten thousand just as easily as two. But the one thing that keeps me from ever getting too comfortable is that I never know just how the Holy Spirit will work that night. Some times He shows up with great power and ministry is a delight. Other times He seems to withhold His influences and the results are not pretty. Nothing is ever accomplished when it is just Dennis standing there at the pulpit. I am so completely sold on the Holy Spirit! I want to enjoy His presence and His sweet fellowship not only when I preach and pray, but when I eat dinner, when I watch television, and when I sit down at the computer to check my emails. To grieve Him is my worst nightmare and to please Him my greatest delight. I love to teach ministers about Him, for I know that as they gain a revelation of their great ministry Partner, they will be far more effective at preaching Christ than ever before. Bible Prophecy In a clear and unmistakable way, God led me to join Lamb & Lion Ministries in 1993, to serve as an assistant to Dr. David Reagan, who has been called by God to teach Bible prophecy in a Scriptural, sane, and powerful fashion. I learned the basics of Bible prophecy from this outstanding Bible teacher. I was delighted to find that his ministry was not based upon speculation and weird claims that cannot be proven by the Scriptures, but rather on solid Biblical analysis of prophetic truth and the days in which we live. As I preach in foreign nations I find that the pastors are starving for knowledge in this area. When I do conferences on Bible prophecy, one of the most frequently heard comments from the ministers is, “We never hear these things; we’ve never had such a conference as this before!” In the evangelistic meetings I do, God has used a sermon I call “The Day of Christ” over and over again to bring many sinners to Christ. Billy Graham once said, in speaking of the dearth of preaching about Jesus’ return, “Isn’t it interesting that here is a subject that everybody wants to know about, and yet the pulpits are strangely silent?” Like Dr. Reagan, I avoid getting bogged down in speculative issues of Bible prophecy. I am not interested in trying to guess who the antichrist might be, or whether an increase of vultures in Israel means that Armageddon is near. There are plenty of basics to be covered: the nature of the Rapture, the tribulation, teaching on the book of Revelation, how our society today so closely parallels the societies of Lot’s day and Noah’s day, and many others. The main thing is to get Christians comfortable with Bible prophecy and make them aware that there are some pretty strong indicators that our Lord is coming soon. And He wants us to be ready! Evangelism One morning, a number of
years ago, I woke up from an interesting dream. I dreamed that I was in
a classroom sitting at a desk with other students. The teacher at the
chalkboard was
The greatest lesson I learned that year was that evangelistic preaching is all about Jesus Christ. Charles Spurgeon told his preaching students: Let your sermons be full of Christ from beginning to end crammed full of the Gospel… People have often asked me, “What is the secret of your success?” I always answer that I have no other secret but this: I have preached the Gospel… The Bible tells us that faith is a gift from God –faith is made possible by the Holy Spirit. But this cannot happen to sinners who have no knowledge of Christ. We cannot impart faith, but we can proclaim Jesus, and the Holy Spirit then uses this knowledge to transform it into faith. When preachers do not preach Christ, the Holy Spirit has no “ammunition” to bring the sinners to faith in Christ. They cannot trust One of whom they have no knowledge. Other principles I discovered include the preaching of God’s moral law, speaking directly to sinners until they feel the sermon actually applies to them, quoting the Scriptures constantly to back up every point, and letting the sinners know that in spite of their sins and their filth, God loves them immensely. The Vision When God called Spirit
of Grace Ministries into existence, He began to put these various truths
together. He has opened doors to the nations, and called me to teach His
servants, the
It is not enough for me to simply teach about evangelism and spiritual awakening – I long to see it in practice. For this reason we set up evangelistic campaigns wherever we can. As the church leaders attend these evangelistic meetings, they are enabled to see the principles they have been learning put into practice. This reinforces the teachings, and gives them a pattern to follow in their own ministries. Of course every ministry is unique, but many of the principles I share are going to be relevant in every ministry and in every culture. Spirit of Grace Ministries has an international outlook. We are convinced that much of the harvest in the Last Days will take place in nations outside the U.S. For this reason we pour a great deal of our money, time, and energy into setting up meetings in Africa and Asia each year. When we do these meetings in foreign countries, we see fruit in far greater abundance than any meetings we do in the U.S. Of course some of this has to do with our particular calling, but I am convinced that a big reason for this is that God is reaching out to all nations in this time just before the return of His Son. Healing miracles often occur in these meetings. We do not make healing our primary emphasis, but believe it is clearly an evangelistic tool to draw the masses and express the compassion of our Lord. As a result we often see the crowds increase with each meeting, as the word gets out that miracles are occurring. I have heard testimony after testimony from grateful men and women whose bodies have been touched by Jesus. Partnering with us We need your help. One of the ways God makes this ministry possible is by moving on the hearts of people like you to join our “Friends of Grace” program. This simply involves making a commitment to support this ministry with a financial contribution of $25 per month or more for a year. Some people pay the entire amount at once and others pay it month by month. When you make this commitment we will send you a monthly CD or DVD which include Biblical teachings, reports on current events in the U.S., and special DVD reports on the mission trips. By your financial gifts and your prayer support you truly become partners with us in this ministry. You become a part of our support team which God uses to make this ministry possible. You are investing in the nations of the world, and that is an investment which can never fail to produce dividends. Some you may see in this life; most you will see “on that Day.” Write or email us to begin receiving our free monthly newsletter! Also ask about how you can have Dennis speak at your church.
P.O.
Box 2068 ∙ McKinney, TX 75070
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as
though He were truly a Person (which He is). Charles Finney wrote: 
Billy
Graham! Upon awakening I felt God was speaking to me, and telling me to
study evangelism. I spent the next year doing just that. I listened to
at least one Billy Graham sermon nearly every day of that year. I read
the Bible with an eye out for evangelistic principles, and eagerly
sought books on the subject. 
ministers
and full time Christian workers, the principles of evangelism, spiritual
renewal, Bible prophecy, and about our wonderful Comforter, the Holy
Spirit. This is done in leadership conferences, where we gather church
leaders together for intensive teaching sessions. The result is a
multiplication of ministry. Those things the Lord has spent decades in
teaching me, I am able to impart to them over the course of a few days,
and they can take them back to their churches and areas of ministry to
employ for the glory of God.