The Prayer Revival

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

 In 1857 there was a forty-six year old man named Jeremiah Lamphere, who lived in New York City. Jeremiah loved the Lord tremendously, but he didn’t feel that he could do much for the Lord until he began to feel a burden for the lost, and accepted an invitation from his church to be an inner city missionary.

So in July of 1857 he started walking up and down the streets of New York passing out tracts and talking to people about Jesus, but he wasn’t having any success. Then God put it on his heart to try prayer. So he printed up a bunch of tracts, and he passed them out to anyone and everyone met. He invited anyone who wanted to come to the 3rd floor of the Old North Dutch Reformed Church on Fulton Street in New York City, from noon to 1 on Wednesday to pray. He passed out hundreds and hundreds of fliers and put up posters everywhere he could.

Wednesday came and at noon nobody showed up. So Jeremiah got on his knees and started praying. For 30 minutes he prayed by himself when finally five other people walked in. The next week 20 people came. The next week between 30 and 40 people came. They then decided to meet every day from 12:00 to 1:00 to pray for the city. Before long a few ministers started coming and they said, "We need to start this at our churches." Within six months there were over 5000 prayer groups meeting everyday in N.Y. Soon the word spread all over the country. Prayer meetings were started in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Washington D.C. 

In fact President Franklin Pierce started going almost every day to a noonday prayer meeting, he was the President of the United States from 1853-1857. By 1859 some 15,000 cities in America were having downtown prayer meetings everyday at noon, and a million were brought to Christ just in the United States. and many more hundred-of-thousands around the world!

The great thing about this revival is that there is not a famous preacher associated with it. It was all started by one man wanting to pray. People have been seeking God, and seeking a relationship with God through Jesus Christ for centuries. Let the spark of revival begin with your prayers too!

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

Roop-Crappell Ministries

My Author Page

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Melchizedek

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Genesis 14; Psalm 110; Hebrews 5-7.

The area south of the Dead Sea, where Sodom and Gomorrah lay, had paying tribute to the empire of Elam, which was located in modern day Iran, on the north end of the Persian Gulf. They had paid tribute for 12 years, but around the year 1900 BC, they stopped paying the tribute money. So Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam, with some other rulers marched their armies to the valley of Siddim, where Sodom and Gomorrah lay, to attack the area and reestablish their tribute payments.

The Elamites conquered the tribes in the entire area, then descended down on the valley of Siddim. The Elamites met the army of Siddim and defeated them, then pillaging the cities of the valley. The valley was full of slimepits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell into them. Some of the leading men of the valley were taken as captives, in this number was Lot, the nephew of Abram.

Up to this point Abraham and his possessions had avoided the invasion of the Elamites. But when he had heard about the capture of his nephew Lot from some Amorites, who were allied with Abram, Abram gathered the 318 trained men that were his servants. The men that Abram had was a tiny force compared to the battle hardened Elamite Army. 

Abram and his men pursued the Elamite army had found them near the town of Dan (unrelated to the future tribe of Dan), in modern day Syria. Abram viewed the situation and split his men into two forces. Abram then, during the night, attacked and defeated the Elamites. Abram was originally from the area of Elam and so knew those people!

Abram then pursued the defeated Elamites till just west of Damascus, where Abram took back Lot, his family and goods, all of the goods and women of the valley of Siddim. During the return journey, at the valley of Shaveh, on the east side, halfway up the Dead Sea, Abram met the king of Sodom and Melchizedek, the king of Salem (Means peace, and future Jerusalem) who was the priest of the most high God. 

Melchizedek (means Righteousness) brought Abram bread and wine (Symbolic of Christ). He was both king and priest. Kings ruled over people and priests served as a conduit between God and the people. No Jew has ever held both offices. He blessed Abram saying,  "Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which has delivered your enemies into your hands." 

The king of Sodom asked Abram to return of of the people and he could keep all of the goods (Abram had a right to keep or sell the people as slaves). Abram responded that he had swore to the Lord that he would take nothing from the king of Sodom, lest he say that he had made Abram rich (that honor belongs to the Lord). So Abram handed over the people of the valley of Siddim, except what Abram's men had eaten and their portion of the spoils.

Abram then gave Melchizedek tithes of all. Apparently, Abram knew Melchizedek. Abram gave God authority over him by giving tithes to God's representative priest, in this case, it was Melchizedek. Abram gave tithes to Melchizedek long before the Aaronic line was established. The lesser pays tithes to the greater. Jesus came in the order of Melchizedek, NOT in the order of Aaron established in the Torah. The order changed so the law must have changed. Jesus lives forever so His Priesthood lives forever.

Abram didn't tithe to get a blessing, he tithed out of thankfulness of the blessings he had already received!

Lessons from this story:

1. Protect your family and friends, even if this means force.

2. If God is blessing you then be bold in all things.

3. Honor the Lord and give his priests the tithes.

4. Melchizedek gave blessings and gifts. the king of Sodom just had his hand out.

5. Be separate from the world, especially the wicked, they can pay you for debts, but that is it.

William James Roop, M.A.B.S.

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Busted!

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

My neighbor, his nickname is Atchafalaya, came over to my motorhome was very  intoxicated as usual.  He staggered around and had to lean on my motorhome to brace himself. My neighbor's lives alone and he drinks too much. Bourbon whiskey is his choice.

He shared with me a funny story about his upbringing in South Louisiana, around the Morgan City area. Atchafalaya and his best friend named Steve noticed an older man didn't use his boat, that sat tied to his dock along the Tesh Bayou.

Atchafalaya and Steve wanted to go fishing with the boat, so they decided to sneak up on the boat tied up on the dock, and quietly untied, and then pushed the boat down the Tesh Bayou.

They would fish all day, catch a bunch of fish, and then return the boat, tied it up, cleaned it up, and made sure it was full of gas. When they found out they didn't get caught the first time, they started doing it two or three times a week. Always stealing the boat then pushing it down the river before they would start of the engine.

This went on for several months. Then one day his father came home and start talking about how a good boy is, and thought he'd buy him a boat. He thought that was kind of strange as his father never talked that way. He said he saw in the newspaper of a boat up the bayou for sale, and told him, "let's go and look at it."

Atchafalaya, his dad, and Steve got in the pickup truck, and they started driving down the road. His dad then pulled into a driveway that went towards the bayou. He looked at Steve with a scared look on his face! Steve looked at him back and horror. They were going down the driveway of the old man that they were stealing the boat from several times a week!

They drove to the house and they all got out. The old man came out of the house and walked towards the pickup truck. They introduced themselves and chit-chatted for a little while. All the while the two boys were scared to death of what was going to take place! They noticed nobody had gotten in a hurry, which made the horror even worse!

Then his dad told the old man, how much do you want for the boat?" The old man said, "well since these two boys have been using my boat, but bringing it back cleaned up, and full of gas, they can have the boat for free. Just every Friday, bring him a bunch of fish for the weekend!

Atchafalaya and his friend Steve were horrified to find out the old man knew every time they had stolen the boat! And then they found out that the old man and his father were a long time friends. As young men they played poker together and fished together!

This whole thing was a setup to punish the two boys of what they were doing. And it worked!  They were scared out of their wits!

Do you have a fishing story that you can share with us in the comment section? If you enjoyed this story you can click on the "follow" button to read all future stories.

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries


Hospice Care and Dying


The Trucking Tango

To Obey God

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

This is from an unknown author.

NO HEBREW WORD FOR OBEY.

I was reading an article by Rabbi Daniel Lapin, and he said that there is no Hebrew word for “obey.”  I always just assumed the actual word ‘obey’ was in the Hebrew Bible….it’s translated in our English Bibles, and it’s definitely in most sermons that are preached.   I did some further research, and sure enough, there is no word in Hebrew for our English word ‘obey.’  The word translated obey in our Bibles is the Hebrew word “shema.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against obedience, and I’m definitely not advocating for disobedience.  I am one of those people that obedience just comes naturally to.

Just as there is no Hebrew word meaning “obey,” there also is no English word for shema.  While this Hebrew verb translates as “hear” it means much more than just hearing or listening. The King James Bible chose the verb ‘to hearken’ rather than hear. But now, nobody hearkens anymore, so the English translators of the Bible didn’t know what to do with this verb. So they translated it as ‘obey’.

But “obey” poses a problem…before we obey we usually go through a 3 part process.

1. We hear what God says

2. We evaluate the command based on our understanding

3. We make a choice to obey based on our evaluation.

It’s a Greek mindset to understand first, then obey.  But God doesn’t give us instructions in order that we might understand Him!  He gives His instructions to us that we might live life well…  Proverbs 10:17 “Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life.”

There are 613 commandments in the Old Testament and 1050 commandments in the New Testament.  With so many “commandments” you would naturally assume that obedience is what God is requiring.  But He’s not looking for obedience from us the way we understand obedience.

Webster’s Dictionary defines obey as to do what someone tells you to do or what a rule, law, etc., says you must do.  Some synonyms are to submit, to keep, to comply, to be governed by, bow to, do one’s bidding, do what is expected, do as told, to take orders.  Lots of English synonyms for a word that’s not even in the Hebrew language.

IF NOT OBEDIENCE — WHAT IS GOD LOOKING FOR?

So, what does God require from us?  He’s looking for shema levot….for hearing hearts.  A hearing heart is a heart that is intent on… or committed to… doing whatever God commands… whatever He asks from us.  And most importantly a hearing heart is rooted in love (Deut 11:1; John 14:15; 1 John 5:3).

The first time “shema” appears in Scripture is in Genesis 3:8. “And they heard (shema) the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

Adam and Eve had just sinned and eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This scripture shows us God’s response to them in spite of their sin… in spite of them not following their hearing hearts and doing what God required of them. God came walking through His garden in the cool of the day.

The word walk is "halak;" it has the idea of moving or going as opposed to just sitting there.  The term “cool of the day” wasn’t just added as a poetic phrase, the word cool is the word "ruach" which is the word for spirit. 

Immediately following their disobedience they “heard”(shema) the Spirit of the Lord in the Garden ready to walk with them… eager to enjoy fellowshipping Spirit to spirit with them. They heard His Spirit come into the garden desiring to be with them like always.

To hear (shema) is hearing with understanding, attention, and with a response.  Response to what?  To come to Him and walk with His Spirit as usual.  Allowing the wind of His Spirit to blow over them and make things right.

Our translations then tell us that God said “where are you?”  Actually, in the Hebrew it is a Semitic idiomatic expression meaning “he is nowhere.”  God wasn’t asking a question; He wasn’t asking where Adam was.  He was crying out “Adam is nowhere in My heart.”

This is not a picture of an angry God who is looking for Adam so that he can punish his “disobedience”… this first look at sin for us is a picture of a caring Father so sad that His son left His heart.

Today let’s have hearing hearts, let’s respond to Him, walk with His Spirit, committed to doing whatever He asks.  Today let’s be hearers and doers.

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Baptism In The Name Of Jesus

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is a little message about Baptism in Jesus' Name, by John Ochoa.

Baptism in the Name of Jesus

Acts 2:38 KJV-- Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

Acts 8:12 KJV-- But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Acts 10:48 KJV-- And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

Acts 19:2-5 KJV-- 2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. 4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 

Romans 6:3-4 KJV-- 3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Colossians 2:11-12 KJV--11  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Galatians 3:27 KJV-- For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Matthew 28:19 KJV-- Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 

Notice how name is singular. Because there was 1 name we had to baptize under.
That Father has a name. That son has a name and that Holy Ghost has a name and it is Jesus. Matthew 28:19 was the commandment given to the apostles and it was fulfilled in Acts 2:38. The bible doesn't contradict itself. You can't pick and choose a verse. No one was baptized in Matthew 28:19 but that instruction Jesus gave to the apostles was fulfilled in Acts 2:38.

John 14:8-9 KJV-- 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 

Acts 4:12 KJV--- Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Ephesians 4:5 KJV-- One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

Act 22:16 KJV-- And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

William J. Roop


Roop-Crappell Ministries


Hospice Care and Dying


The Trucking Tango

Poker Night

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

My wife and I went out for the night, and had my parents babysit kids. My parents always enjoy watching their granddaughters. At the time my daughters were seven and nine years old. 

My wife and I went out for the night and had a good time. When we returned, we drove in the driveway and opened up the garage door. Both my granddaughters went into panic mode. That's because my parents were teaching my daughters how the play poker!

We're a religious family and we don't gamble or even play cards. But my parents are not religious and my dad was a well-known poker player. He shot pool for money and played poker for money and won at both!

So my parents thought I'd be fun to teach their granddaughters how to play poker. My parents thought that was amusing that as soon as they heard the garage door open they went into panic mode, and started hiding the chips and the cards.

When we found out what happened, we that was pretty funny too. Like I said we are religious, but we're not uptight either. We all kind of laugh together about it all.

Do you have a funny story about your parents babysitting your kids? Feel free to share it with us in the comment section? If you enjoyed the story you can follow this blog and catch all pictures stories.

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

The Banker

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

One day my wife and I decided to go out on the town and we asked my parents to babysit their two granddaughters. This happened from time to time as my parents love the babysit their granddaughters. 

We were very religious but my parents were not. My dad was a well-known  pool shark and very good poker player. He liked to get one for money and he almost always won. Let it go on Saturday afternoon to play pool you always came home with a pocket full of cash.

So when we left for the evening my parents thought it would be fun if they talk my two daughters how to play poker. It seems it went very well especially for my youngest daughter. When she caught on then if you won the game you won money it was on after that. She caught on very quickly and she ended up with all the money in front of her.

That's what I found out my daughter was very good with collecting and keeping money. Anytime I almost got her need some cash she always went to your youngest daughter who always had a large water cash in her bedroom.

We soon gave her the nickname of the banker. Thanks always have all the money she had the money as well. Do you know the single story Can you share it with us in the comment section? You enjoyed the story you can't click on the follow button to catch all future stories.

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango