We're carrying the glory. We don't have to pray
the glory down. We don't have to do, you know,
yes, of course, it's wonderful to fast. It's
wonderful to sing praises and get to that place
where you expect God's glory. But really, we
can expect God's glory all the time. God promises
in Joel 2 .28 to pour out His Spirit. on all
humanity. Welcome to Global Outpouring, where
we contend for that promised outpouring, we equip
for that outpouring, so that we may engage in
that very outpouring. I'm Philip Buss. And I'm
Sharon Buss. Welcome to the podcast today. We're
so happy that you're with us. We have with us
today our dear friends of, oh, probably three
decades or more, Clarence and Nancy McQueen.
who are amazing musicians. Claren leads worship
in our conventions and around the world in various
places. He has quite a history. And we're going
to talk today about following the leading of
the Holy Spirit as we move and walk with God.
Thank you so much for joining us today. This
is going to be a podcast you're going to enjoy.
But before we get started, I want to encourage
you, if you haven't already done so, that you
go to our website, globaloutpouring .net. and
that you click on our subscribe button to join
in our email lists so that we can stay in touch
with you and you can learn more about what's
going on with Global Outpouring. And there's
a place for you to click on events so you can
see the events that we have coming up. Most especially,
there's Convention 2025. It is going to be an
amazing time to be together. Claren and Nancy
McQueen will be there. among others, many others
that will be a part of the worship team leading
in deep, deep connection with the Lord. And the
speakers that we have coming, Pastor Tony Camp
and Dean Braxton and Siggy Oblander, Jeff Simons
and Jean Little and myself. And we're going to
have an amazing time in the presence of the Lord.
We know that this is a place for people to connect,
to go deeper with God and to go closer and to
make relationships that are going to last for
eternity. And just get fresh orders from the
Lord. There's people from many nations that are
going to be with us, and it'll be a wonderful
time. We encourage you, if you haven't ever been
to one, or if you have, come and see what God
is going to do in your life. It's a family event.
Bring your children. We've got a nursery for
the little ones and special meetings for the
children and the youth. And they're all going
to get something special from the Lord and grow
in the Lord. So please, please, please. consider
coming to this convention. Ask the Lord to make
a way for you. We're so happy to have Clarence
and Nancy with us. Thank you so much for joining
us today. It's our gift. We're very blessed to
be able to talk to you. Well, we love you both.
And wow, I was trying to figure out how long
that we've known each other, probably 30 years
or so. Yeah, 1991, I believe in Florida. More
than 30 years. We were part of Clarence Choir,
I think. Not that we went there intending to.
Yeah, we came to run the book table. We ended
up in the choir. That was fun. It was. I just
have to amend that. It really wasn't Clarence
Choir. It was the Christian Embassy's choir.
Oh, well. Okay. Okay. Well, we were delighted
to get to play along, sing along. Glory to God.
So you've been one of our worship leaders at
the convention for many years, too. We didn't
start out that part. quite that many years ago,
but quite a few years ago. How long have you
been doing conventions with us? Ninety -one.
Nancy came to her first one in 91. I came, we
came from Israel in 92, and I was just there
for the night that the embassy was there. We
brought a feast of the Feast of Tabernacles,
and then we were your Israel night that year.
And I think that year, either Sister Gwen or
you asked if I would consider coming back and
leading worship in the future. And I came back
the next year and have been coming every year
since then. Because we click. There's something
wonderful about the Holy Spirit anointing. That's
in your lives. That is also in our lives. And,
you know, there's relationships that are built
for eternity. And so I expect that we're going
to be worshiping together for eternity. Yes.
What else is there? That's one of the wonderful
things to me about global outpouring and the
handmaidens and servants is Sister Gwen instilled.
And we continue to carry that love for the intimate
presence of the Lord. To me, when I think of
the convention, I think of let's go spend time
in the intimate presence of the Lord. Yes. And
that can involve speakers. It can involve dancers.
It can involve flags or whatever. But it's all
about let's get into the intimate presence and
see what the Lord has. Yes. Which you don't find
in every gathering. True. But you certainly find
it in every global outpouring gathering. Yes.
Well, it's all about Him. Yes. It's really all
about Him and about connecting with Him. We want
to encounter Him. Obviously, I would say most
of the people that come are experiencing a daily
encounter with God. You know, walking with him,
going deeper with him all the time, going deeper.
There's always more. There's always more. There's
always more. And I'm reminded of what Dean Braxton
says, that as he looked at God, the Father, and
as he looked at Jesus, either one of them, he
would just get overwhelmed with the glory and
the majesty and the beauty and all the adjectives
that you can think of. And then he'd look again,
and it was more so. And then he'd get overwhelmed
and then he'd look again and he was more so.
So there's this increase. And I've been saying
lately that we are designed to go from glory
to glory because we're made in his image and
he's still going from glory to glory and always
will be. So what we have in our hearts, for me,
the convention is this amazing gathering of people.
who have really dedicated themselves to the Lord.
Now, not everybody that comes is that, but there
are so many that come that are that. And the
21 -day fast that Sister Gwen experienced that
multiplied the anointing in her life. And the
Lord spoke to her and called her to call out
these handmaidens and servants, that he promised
that he would anoint them in the same way that
he anointed her. In other words, giving that
increase of anointing, whatever your gifting
is, there's no cookie cutter business here. It's
who you are in him that keeps multiplying. And
whenever you get believers together, there is
a synergy that comes just because, you know,
whatever you carry multiplies because you're
with others. But when you get a whole bunch of
people together that have done this fast and
gone deeper with the Lord, and he's already increased
the anointing in your life, you get a bunch of
those people together. And I think that is part
of the sweetness of the presence of God that's
there, because you get a whole bunch of God lovers
together that are passionate for him. So this
synergy that comes together. I think, adds to
the weight of glory. There's a weightiness in
the presence of the Lord when you just walk in
the room, just because we're together again.
And we haven't had a big meeting like this for
five years. And so I'm really excited to see
what God is going to do. Yes. What are you feeling
for expectation in this convention? I was just
thinking of Anytime I'm at a global outpouring
convention, generally people will come up after
every service and say how blessed they were in
the service, how deep the worship was. But it
really comes because there are so many people
that attend that do have that passion and hunger.
They don't care if the morning service is over
at noon. They don't care if the evening service
doesn't end until after 10 o 'clock, as long
as the Holy Spirit is moving. And that's what
makes the depth. Because, you know, I can be
sold out and leading worship with all my heart.
But if people are looking at their watches and
wondering what time they can go out and have
dinner, then it won't be the same as if people
are coming down to the altar saying, yes, more,
I'll take more. Yes, Lord, whatever you got,
I want more. And that's what I'm always looking
for when I come together with the end time handmaidens
and servants. There are people that are always
saying, whatever you've got, Lord, I'll take
it all. Yes. And it does. It makes such a glorious.
God is able to, you know, the scripture we all
know says that I inhabit, I sit enthroned on
your praises. So it allows the Lord to say, oh,
here's a group of people that wants to build
a throne and let me be enthroned for however
long I want to be enthroned, which is just. Awesome.
It makes for such an awesome experience. Absolutely.
How about you, Nancy? I think whenever Clarence
has commented so many times that at ETH, at Global
Outpouring, at the conventions, when he first
puts his hand on the piano and the first chord
comes out and he begins to worship, it's instantly
everybody in the room is with him. And that comes
because of the Generally, the maturity of the
people that are there, like he said, ready to
go. Right. Ready to go into the throne room.
Yeah. Yeah. And that doesn't necessarily mean
an age. No, no, not at all. Yeah. It's just people
that are really longing. Yes. It's something
akin to, I think it's the closest thing that
I've experienced in the United States. It's akin
to when you go overseas and people have. walked
for miles to get to the service. They have made
a sacrifice just to get there to that building.
And the same thing happens. You know, you hit
that first chord on the piano. I remember one
time I was in a Latin American country and I
got up on Sunday morning and I said, let's worship.
And I played a chord and I looked up. And there
were five or six people that had come up to the
front and fallen face down on the floor. And
everybody else had their arms in the air. I hadn't
even played a song yet. I had just said, let's
worship. And so they all said, okay, we'll all
worship. And they did it with their whole heart.
When you do that, it just makes such a different
place to be for the Lord. And it opens the gate
for him to say, okay, if you really want, it's
what Jeremiah said, when you seek me with all
your heart, then I'm going to be found. You shall
surely find me. Absolutely. You know, the way
you're talking reminds me of the Hebrew word
Shekinah, Shekinah, as we would say in English.
Can you give us a little bit of... understanding
of what that word means? Because you've got a
better Hebrew background than I do. Yeah, Shekinah
actually is a word that you won't find in scripture.
Right. It was created by the rabbis to describe
what it means when the glory of God is present.
But really what it means is Shekinah means to
dwell. Yes. A neighborhood. In Hebrew, it's a
shakona. It's just places where people dwell.
And, of course, the last part of that word is
Yah, which is one of the oldest names for Almighty
God in Scripture. So it means Yah dwells here.
Wow. So if we're aware of it, and I teach this,
I've taught this so many times, I think so many
times people think, well, maybe the Shekinah
will come if I fast for a long time, or maybe
the Shekinah will come if we sing songs and we're
really intent. But actually, when we come, the
Shekinah comes. Because Jesus prayed in John,
the 17th chapter at the Last Supper, he prayed,
Father, I'm praying for these disciples, but
I'm praying also for all those who believe that
the same glory that you placed in me, you'll
place in them. So that even as you and I are
one, they'll be one with us. Yes. We're carrying
the glory. We don't have to pray the glory down.
We don't have to do, you know, yes, of course,
it's wonderful to fast. It's wonderful to sing
praises and get to that place where you expect
God's glory. But really, we can expect God's
glory all the time. Yes, amen. And I think that
something is also true in the conventions for
the global outpouring because so many people
end that. convention have been people that have
gone out to the nations where ministry is a little
bit more difficult and you don't have just the
right piano to play and you don't have all the
lighting and the room is not going to get dark
and there's not going to be any smoke machines.
So you're just depending on the Holy Spirit.
You know, you get out and wherever you are, I
mean, some keyboards that I've played in South
America, bless their hearts, you know, I've just
thought, okay, God. Maybe we should just sing
acapella. I had that with a guitar once. Exactly.
You see that just exactly the same thing happens.
You know, when I was first starting out, I had
a group of college kids that we were ministering
through the summer, and we really hadn't had
time to practice. And we had gone to Europe.
We really had not had any practice there. And
then came back, and we're still ministering on
our way back to the offices where we'd been sent
out. And we started a service, and the music
was just terrible. Oh, no. Kids were singing
out of tune, and I had a clarinet player, and
you know that sound that a clarinet makes? Well,
we made that sound a few times. And I was just...
recently out of college so this the music was
so bad and i was just about to get up from the
piano and say we're so sorry we're going to give
another service down the road i can't believe
i was going to do this but i was thinking to
do this and you know we're just going to end
now i'll say a blessing and you come and see
us tomorrow night and we'll sound better I stood
up from the piano, and I had not been looking
at the audience because I was so embarrassed.
But I looked out at the audience, and it's a
Lutheran church. Not a Spirit -filled Lutheran
church. It's a Lutheran church. And there were
people with their hands in the air. Wow. People
with tears streaming down their face. Oh, my.
And the Lord spoke to me in such a sweet voice,
and he said, You know, son. I don't need your
beautiful music to do what I do. Wow. So I think
because we have so many people that have had
experiences like that on the field that come
together that know it's just the Holy Spirit.
It's just the hand of God. So then when they
start to worship, they expect, they don't care
what the music sounds like. You know, I truly,
I've said this often, I think you could probably
sing the phone book at a global outpouring convention
and people would still be down on their knees
because they just expect the Shekhinah to show
up. Yes. Because we bring it with us. Yes. We
were just on our last five -week trip we just
got back on, and the last place we were at, it
was a... Sunday morning church in Indianapolis
with a pastor. The last time we were there, he
says, I want you here for Sunday morning. And
it worked out and we came and we went out. It
was a tremendous meeting. It was. It was really,
really powerful. The Lord gave Sharon an amazing
word. And we're out having dinner afterwards
and all that. And a lady comes up to me and says,
I heard the angels singing. I haven't heard him
for five months. Wow. You know, then we had breakfast
the next day with Michael Van Vlijmen and his
wife, you know, and he says, yeah, there was
about six other voices that were just singing
along. I thought that's great because we just
got off, you know, colds and didn't have a full
voice back or anything. And, you know, like I
say, it's not us. It's the Holy Spirit. We just
yield. Yeah. Wow. You know, I had an experience
one time. Philip knows this story. Oh, the build.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So there was one time
that I had made the song list for the song service
that we were leading. Basically, I was the lead
voice and Philip was going to be singing the
harmony. And Sister Gwen, our founder, was playing
the organ. And so I've got this list. I gave
her the list. You know, here we go. So we started
and... Got through some of the songs, and all
of a sudden, she took it and went a different
direction. And I was like, but I got that from
God, you know. This actually has happened many
times. Probably so. But in this particular case,
I heard the Holy Spirit say, you can sing Bill
Grogan's Goat, and if I anoint it, it's anointed.
Yes. Now, if you don't know Bill Grogan's goat,
it's a silly little song about this goat that,
you know, the man is so Bill Grogan is so upset
with him for swallowing his his red shirt or
something like his red flannel shirt off of the
line. And so he ties him up to the railroad track
and the goat coughs up the shirt and flags the
train. I mean, it's a silly song. But the Holy
Spirit said, if you sing that and I anointed.
It's anointed. And we had a lady in another time.
It could have been the same school. I think this
was a school of ministry class. And she would
get up and sing things like, she'll be coming
around the mountain when she comes. And the Holy
Spirit anointed it. I'm telling you. Because
she was saying, I'm seeing this as the coming
of the Lord. He'll be coming around the mountain.
Or maybe it was the bride. The wife, you know,
the six white horses. Yeah, he's coming on six
white horses when he comes. And we were all kind
of like, well, okay. But the Lord was there.
The weightiness of the Lord was there. So it's
not all about exactly what you sing. It's about
his presence. Yes. Yeah. It's quite an amazing
concept that, you know, you hear these people
complaining about songs that are not. exactly
doctrinally correct. And there are lots of them.
There are lots of them that have maybe a line
or two that are off. But if the Holy Spirit anoints
it, it's anointed. And He knows how to fix our
doctrine. He'll do it. He's faithful. The Lord
spoke to me several years ago about writing sermons.
And when I first started speaking, I'd taken
courses in seminary and they'd instructed us
on how to construct sermons and had an excellent
teacher at my university, just a wonderful preacher.
So I was doing what he had taught me to do. And
I would, of course, pray about what I was going
to speak. And then I would put together the sermon.
And then I would go through the sermon 15, 16
times, just preaching it to nobody, preaching
it to the mirror, preaching it so that I was
familiar with it. And that was okay. But several
years ago, the Holy Spirit said, you know, you
should really pray and then consult me as you
write the sermon and then go back to prayer.
Because it's really my presence in the sermon.
It's not how good your sermon is. Very true.
That's a good word. Wow. And I've heard. I think
we've all heard many sermons that were, maybe
they weren't constructed so wonderfully. Maybe
it was just talking off the top of your head,
really. But it was anointed. Exactly. And you
don't really care if there's an introduction
and you tell a funny story and you make three
points and then you make a conclusion and, you
know, do all the things that you're supposed
to do. If it's anointed. You know, Peter probably
didn't have an introduction and a funny story
and three points on the day of Pentecost. He
just preached what the Holy Spirit was telling
him to preach and had a great altar call. We'd
all be happy if we got 3 ,000 every altar call.
Absolutely. He had a funny Galilean accent. Yeah,
wow. You know, you commented about people from
the nations or going to the nations. One of the
things that I love about this convention, back
in the day when we went by the name End Time
Handmaidens and Servants, we called it our World
Convention. But since we now have the word global
in our name, it didn't sound right to me to have
a global world convention. So we're calling it
convention and then the year. But it's always
exciting to me to see the people that come from
the nations. Yes, it is. And how they're coming
opens doors for people who have a burden to go
to a nation. Yes. And, you know, we put up flags
around the whole room, flags of the nations where
our people have gone. And we haven't counted
recently. We're guessing that it's somewhere
around 160 nations or something like that. I
don't know. That's just amazing. And our founder
didn't go to all of those. But our people have.
Our members have. And I'm aware of members and
other people that are just interested that are
coming from Haiti and from Japan and from India
and New Zealand. And they're trying to get visas
to come from China. trying to get visas to come
from both Congos. There's Democratic Republic
of Congo and the Republic of Congo. And we know
there's people from Israel. And we've got a lady
that's from Belgium originally that's currently
working in Bolivia. And I'm sure there will be
others. But those are the ones that I can think
of right now. And it's exciting to me to see
how... God puts things together and relationships
get built. And, you know, people connect with
each other at this convention. And we're not
Taiwanese, but we will be coming from Taiwan.
Yes, that's right. That's right. You're on your
way to Taiwan very shortly here and probably
by the time this... goes out. In fact, I think
you're leaving the day that this is going to
be posted. So, listener, if you're listening,
as they'll be taken off on Tuesday, this thing
should land on our podcast platform on Tuesday.
Pray for Clarence and Nancy as they're going
to Taiwan, that God will use them and anoint
them. What are you expecting to happen in Taiwan?
Well, when we were last in Taiwan, we were actually
ministering with Ronis Baropoulos and Myrna Kergeli.
And Rona had in her spirit a very strong unction
to inspire people to pray for revival in the
nation, which they were already doing. And Nancy
had a vision at the same time. I just saw revival,
the spirit of the Lord going from the north end
of the island to the south, just covering over.
So praying into that. So we've been praying and
to that. And then just this morning, I heard
a report from CBN News that because of, to a
great extent, mainland China flexing its muscles
toward the island, it has inspired what they're
calling a revival prayer group movement that
has touched thousands of people. all over the
nation from the top to the bottom. And they are
united in groups of three, but there are also
larger groups meeting for prayer. But each group
has three that they're definitely attached to
so that whatever happens to the nation, even
if communication systems don't work and transportation
systems, there'll still be those three people
will be in touch with each other and they'll
continue to pray. But right now. There's 24 -hour
prayer for revival, for unity, for God's plan
to come forward for not only Taiwan, but also
for China. And I'm sure you're familiar with
so many Oriental people that their heart is really
back to Jerusalem, that they feel that. The gospel
came from Jerusalem to the Far East and that
their mandate in these last days is to take the
gospel back through, hallelujah, the 1040 window.
Amen. And spread the gospel all the way down
that. road that was the Silk Road, make it the
Gospel Road, all the way to Jerusalem. Amen.
And if you're not familiar with what the 1040
window is, it's from 10 degrees north of the
equator to 40 degrees north of the equator and
from West Africa. I guess all the way across
Asia. I think that's kind of what they call the
1040 window. The most concentrated people groups.
Yeah, people groups that haven't been reached
were mostly in that space. So there have been
prayer initiatives, like through the 90s, there
were a lot of prayer initiatives. And you could
see the people that keep the records were seeing
great spikes of evangelism, great spikes of people
coming to the Lord when there would be a prayer
initiative like that. births, revival, prayer,
births, harvest. And that's one of the things
that we'll be doing at this convention too, is
a lot of prayer. We're excited about how the
Lord is going to meet us in intercession and
lead us in intercession. I love how the Holy
Spirit will pray through us what's on our Father's
heart. Amen. So as you're listening to this podcast,
please pray for an open heaven, not just, and
we'll be there for a little bit less than two
weeks. Not just in that time, but just pray for
an open heaven over Taiwan, over mainland China.
Yes. I just heard a word through Joel Rosenberg
that it's estimated now that the number of believers
in mainland China has grown to 100 million people.
Wow. Which is, there were, I think, less than
500 ,000 when the communist government took over.
Wow. So it is just awesome what the Lord has
already done. But we've been in meetings and
past years when we went to the Orient where 9
,000 believers from all over the world, all Oriental,
most of them Chinese, all praying on their faces
and their knees, Lord, come. Even so, Lord, come.
One of the hymns that they were singing back
at that particular convention was a Chinese hymn,
but they had it translated into English so that
everybody could sing together whatever language
you were speaking. And it said, Lord, look at
all these that have gone through such suffering,
that have gone through the jails, that have lost
their name for your name. With so many creating
such a beautiful bride. Lord, don't you want
to come and reclaim your bride? And they sang
that. It sounds like they'd be crying when they
sang that hymn, but they weren't. They were triumphant
saying, look at us. Look at the preparation that
we've made. Lord, we are begging to be married
to you. We're begging in these last days for
you to come and unite with your bride. Don't
you want to come? Wow. Beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful. You know, that reminds me of a story.
of our founder, Sister Gwen Shaw. She went to
China, to mainland China in 1947, and ministered
there for a while. She was in Inner Mongolia,
and then the Lord spoke to her and the team that
she was with to go to this Bible school that
was run by W. W. Simpson, who was an Assemblies
of God missionary. So when they got there, W
.W. Simpson kind of chastised them in front of
the students and said, why have you come? The
Holy Spirit news, because they didn't have any
access to news other than from the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has told me that the communists
are coming and I'm going home. Why did you come?
The next morning in front of the students, he
apologized. And he said, I'm sorry, the Lord
rebuked me and said that he's the one who sent
you to take over the Bible school when I go home.
So they finished the Bible school teaching the
students. They got to the very end. And it was
like the day before the graduation, the magistrate
came to them and said, the communists have broken
through the Guomindang lines. Is that the right
words? Yeah, government lines. The government
lines. And they'll be here in 24 hours. Here's
my card. It won't be any good once they get here,
but maybe it'll help you get out before they
get here. And, you know, it's a long story. I
won't tell the whole story about how they escaped.
They did manage to get out from Lanzhou. It was
the next to the last flight that got out of there.
And then they ministered in Taiwan for some time
after that, and then Hong Kong. My point is that
in 2011, God made a way for Sister Gwen to go
back. And it was like closing the circle because
that's where she started. And that was her last
trip. And she went back to the Bible school and
found the people that were left. And learned
because she had prayed for all those years, hearing
the terrible stories of persecution and imprisonment
and all that sort of thing. And, you know, people
giving their lives that were coming out of China
that you'd hear these stories from was just terrible.
And she would pray and pray and pray for all
those young people. And as they were driving
away from there in what they would call a bus,
but it wouldn't be a bus like we know it. It
was more like a truck with seats in it. She watched
them running after this truck and waving and
crying. And she prayed for them all those years.
So when she went back, she learned that every
one of them survived. And every one of them went
all across China and began works, began ministering,
began churches. And it was something like 300
churches across China. So the seeds that she
planted in those days. are still bearing fruit
today. It's just amazing. Absolutely amazing.
But, you know, that's how the gospel is. The
gospel is like good seed. That's what Jesus said
in his parable. You put good seed into good ground
and it's going to bring forth the harvest 30,
60 and 100 fold. So that's what God's doing.
God is not stopped by difficulties. He's just
inspired to overcome the difficulties. That's
right. And he inspires us to overcome the difficulties.
Yeah. Hallelujah. We've been hearing the same
thing, reports coming from Israel, which I'm
sure every believer has been worried about all
the things that have been happening in Israel
in the last year and a half. But the reports
that we get back is that God is working on the
lives of both Jewish people. and Arab people,
Arab people in Gaza, having visions, having the
Lord speak to their heart, people finding salvation
in Gaza in the midst of all the difficulty, and
the same thing happening in Israel. It's amazing
how much God is not stopped by the plan of man.
He nullifies the counsel of the nations and he
frustrates the plan of the peoples. But the counsel
of the Lord stands forever. Yes. Hallelujah.
Amen. Glory. Wow. Glory. So you two have both
been very involved with Israel. We didn't really
talk about that, but just tell us a little bit
about the things that God had you do in Israel,
both of you. After I took my vows in 91, the
Lord took me to Israel and I hired unemployed
Russians to paint who are artists and brought
back wonderful art of theirs. Also started imported
into Israel computerized knitting machines to
start a little cottage industry for the unemployed
Russian moms that they could do at home. And
brought the sweaters back. And Sister Gwen sold
them. And other people. But, yeah, it was wonderful.
And met my husband. Yes. While she was working
with the immigrants that had come from Russia,
she was also playing harp in my worship team
at Christ Church. And the Lord started speaking
to me. I was traveling in music missions. and
in 1981 he said i'm going to do something completely
different next year and at the beginning of 1982
he started introducing us to people from israel
both arab people and jewish people and by the
end of 1982 he sovereignly not by any arranging
on my part had opened up ministry for us for
a month and a half in Israel and two weeks in
Egypt. We sang in Cairo and Alexandria, ministered
to people. Some may not know that Cairo has no
actual garbage collection system. The garbage
is collected by people who live in the dump.
And the Lord opened doors for us to minister
to them. Yes. Just wonderful, wonderful opportunities.
We sang for the army in Israel two or three times.
We sang on an atheist kibbutz. That was an experience.
Wow. The Lord just opened all sorts of doors.
And I thought that I would probably, that was
my trip to Israel and I'd never go back. But
within a year, the Lord began pulling me back.
And eventually I ended up being the. music coordinator
for the Christian embassy, both in Israel and
all of their different functions that they did
out from Israel, and also began leading worship
at Christ Church, which is the oldest Protestant
church in the Middle East. And while I was there,
they restarted, two years after I arrived, they
restarted a Hebrew -speaking congregation, which
had been the original purpose of Christ Church.
And it is now the largest congregation that meets
there. So I learned Hebrew by leading worship
in Hebrew. Wow. That was very interesting. You
know, I was looking at phonetics. I couldn't
read a letter of the Hebrew, but I could read
phonetics. And then when... In the 90s, the Russian
immigrants began to come. We had a number of
Russian immigrants that joined our congregation.
So then I had to use the Hebrew that I'd learned
because they spoke Russian and Hebrew and I spoke
English and Hebrew. So the only thing that we
shared was our Hebrew. And they thought I spoke
wonderful Hebrew. But if you're Russian and you're
just learning the language, I was OK. Tell us
the story of the lady that walked into Christ's
church and looked around. I love this story.
You know, the prophets say, both Isaiah and Ezekiel
say, I'm going to bring you back to the land.
And then after you come to the land, you're going
to experience a revelation. And Ezekiel says,
I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going
to exchange your heart of stone for a heart of
flesh. And then you'll know that I am God and
there is no other. There's never been another
savior, Isaiah says in Isaiah 43. It's only been
me. But once you come to the land, once I bring
you from all the four corners and I say to the
north, give up. And I say to the south, hold
not back. And I bring you from the east and the
west. Then when you come, then you'll know who
I am. So for a while at Christ Church, because
it is the oldest Protestant church in the Middle
East, it's kind of a place where people will
come, even if they're not believers. And the
church was built on prophecy. It was a group
from a revival that happened, a prayer revival
in Britain. that joined with another group from
Germany. And they, looking at scripture and reading
prophecy, said, ah, so Israel is going to be
physically rebuilt and people are going to come.
You know, they read Isaiah 43 and they believed
it. So they said, well, if all these people are
going to be coming to Israel, which Israel didn't
exist at the time as a nation. But if they're
going to come to the Holy Land, then we need
to prepare a place for them to worship. So they
built this building and everything in it is in
Hebrew. Because they were not building it for
expats to come and worship in the Holy Land.
They were building it for the people that God
was going to bring back who would be speaking
Hebrew because they were the people of Israel.
And were they speaking Hebrew yet? No, they were
not. I love it. I love it. At the time, Hebrew
was only used in the services. It was like Latin
in the Catholic Mass up until Vatican II. Nobody
ever used it. In fact, many of the rabbis taught
that you should never use Hebrew if you weren't.
praying or in a service because it was a holy
language. So when Hebrew was being revived later
in the 19th century, in the early 20th century,
a lot of Orthodox jury fought that because they
thought that it was the secularization of a holy
language, but that's a rabbit trail. So anyway.
Everything that's written in the church is all
in Hebrew. It has the Ten Commandments at the
front of the church, but it's all in Hebrew.
And the symbol for the Trinity is also written
in Hebrew. Yehovah is God the Father. Emmanuel
is Yeshua, the Messiah, God with us. And then
Ruach HaKodesh. Holy Spirit that hovered over
the face of the water. So it's set there in three.
It's obviously the Trinity, but it's still all
in Hebrew and from the Tanakh. So I'm working
as a guide in this building. And one afternoon,
a precious lady came in, beautiful, tall lady
with black hair. And she peeks her head on the
door and she looks around and she says, Mazzei,
what is this? And I said, Zekanesh, yeah, it's
a church. And she looks around again, and she
says, that's not possible. Look, everything's
written in Hebrew. And we went back and forth
a few times, and finally I said, look, I go here.
It's a church. And when I said that, then she
walks over to my desk, she pulls up a chair,
and she says, well, maybe you can help me with
something then. And she begins to tell me, she
says, when I was a child, I was raised when Stalin
was in power. And I was taught that there was
no God. I was taught to revere Stalin and Trotsky
and Lenin and all the founders of my nation.
But I was taught there is no God. But I knew
there was something. So I used to, as a child,
pray to the something. I didn't have a name for
him. But I would ask him for help. And then she
said, when I decided to make Aliyah, when I decided
to come to Israel, my government made it very
difficult for me to leave my nation. And so many
times it was so difficult, I just wanted to give
up. But I couldn't because this something that
I had been praying to, this force I'd been praying
to all my life. It was like almost there was
a force behind my back pushing me forward. Don't
stop. Go. And she said, now that I live in Israel,
I haven't found a job that is equal to the job
that I have. I don't have much money. My circumstances
are not wonderful. And many times I've thought,
well, maybe I should just go back. But I still
feel this force behind me. And it strengthens
me. And it just continues to tell me, go forward.
And then she leaned into my desk and she said,
can you tell me what that force is? Yes. Now
she knew in her heart what that force was. She
just wanted me to say it. So if I remember right,
we talked about Isaiah 43. I said, yes, I can
tell you. And I started in Isaiah 40 that said,
do not fear. I have redeemed you. I've called
you by your name. I've formed you, my beloved,
in your mind. And when you go through the waters,
it won't drown you. And when you go through the
fires, you won't be burned. And then I took it
up to Isaiah 43 and said, and when you come home
to the nation of Israel, then you will know that
I am God and there is no other. And we continued
to talk. And I never saw her again, but I'm sure
she became a believer. Amen. As her heart was.
So she was the epitome of Ezekiel and Isaiah's
prophecies. She was just standing in front of
me. And since then, I've talked to so many people
who were after the fact that they would describe
to me the same sort of situation that didn't
happen until they... either came to Israel or
decided to come to Israel, or that they became
a believer wherever they lived, and then immediately
they had this desire to go to Israel. And many
people said, I never thought about going to Israel.
I lived in a wonderful town wherever I was. I
had a great job. Why should I go to Israel? What
did I need in Israel? But once they connected
with the Holy Spirit, then he began nudging them.
Toward God's plan. Amen. Wow. Wow. I love that.
It just speaks to our Father's heart for His
people. Yeah. Yes. And not just, I mean, yes,
absolutely His chosen people, drawing them, but
He also draws everybody. And that's why He wants
to pour out His Spirit on all flesh. That's this
global outpouring that we've been talking about.
Ever since we started this podcast, it's the
outpouring of His Spirit. In the book of Acts,
where Peter is repeating what is spoken of in
the prophet Joel 2 .28, where in the Greek, it
says, I will pour out of the Spirit of me. I
just love how intimate that is. That's where
we started in this recording. We talked about
the intimate presence of the Lord. Yes. He wants
his people to have that intimate relationship
with him. Would you pray for our listeners and
just see how the Holy Spirit will lead you along
those lines? Lord, we feel you hovering even
as we're talking about you. Yes. And that's always
true. You say where two or three are agreed together,
that you're right there in the presence of that
agreement. So let me just ask for all of those
who are listening to this podcast, Ta 'ase mashu
hadash, Adonai. Do that new thing in their life
that they're longing to see. And Lord, I just
pray that if there are any listening to the podcast
who are sort of mulling over, wow, this convention
sounds like something unique, maybe I should
go to it. Lord, if that's your plan for them,
then just give them that confirmation in their
spirit, just that simple knowing that, yes, that's
the right thing. But if not, Lord, then I just
ask that you would confirm. to them who you are.
Yes, Lord. Just like that lady that was talking
to me in Christchurch, Lord, so many of us really
are being talked to. We've got that hand behind
our back that's pushing us forward, that's strengthening
us, that's giving us hope, and yet maybe we don't
really have the words to describe what that is.
But you're... what that is. So Lord, I just ask
that you would confirm that to each individual
that's listening. Lord, every heart, every ear
that's tuned to this podcast, just confirm to
them that just as Deuteronomy 7, 9 says, you
are God, the faithful God who keeps your covenant
and your loving kindness to a thousandth generation.
For us who love you and keep your commandments.
Yes, Lord. And, Lord, we thank you for being
that covenant -keeping, faithful God. Yes, Lord.
And just as Paul said, Lord, what our eye hasn't
seen yet, what our ears never heard about. what
hasn't even entered into our heart. And we, all
of us have so much that's entered into our heart,
hopes for the future and things we'd like to
do and be. But you say, even that which hasn't
yet entered into your heart, all that I prepared
for those who love me. So we thank you, Lord,
that you prepared our heart for all that you
have in store for us. We thank you for it in
Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Check out our website
at globaloutpouring .org to find out more information,
read our blogs, connect with us, and donate.
You can also browse our web store for life -changing
anointed books. Until next time, this is Sharon
Buss. And I'm Philip Buss. God bless you with
His overwhelming, loving presence.