The good news is that God is not afraid of your questions; the Psalms I think are the testimony to this fact. He is also big enough to love you ( as I have discovered) through any of the pain and anger you might express that has come from not understanding why someone you know and love seemingly did not manifest the healing or the victory that we are all certain has already been purchased for us. So as I have been pondering all of this in my heart and seeking God for an answer, I believe He gave me one. Keep in mind this is my answer, he may answer you differently, or show you another side of his limitless wisdom. I am not saying this is THE only answer, this is the answer He gave me as I sought Him and I share it so that maybe it might comfort another.

The answer that God gave me was simply this,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

These words were spoken by Jesus (John 12) right before he was crucified and He was speaking about His death. He was speaking about His death on a cross, as a 33 year old man. To anyone witnessing the brutality of the crucifixion that day the death of Jesus must have seemed a terrible injustice, a terrible defeat, an insufferable and incalculable tragedy. There were many there that day who thought that Jesus had come at that time to initiate a new physical Kingdom on Earth to reign over. To these, and many others for many different reasons, the death of Jesus must have seemed entirely untimely and impossible to understand. Everyone fled Him; even His closest disciples thought at the time that everything Jesus had taught them and every promise He gave birth to in their hearts had all come to an inglorious, shameful, and humiliating end….

AND THEN JESUS ROSE AGAIN.

Sadness gave way to joy, despair was swallowed by gladness, and all of the fearful uncertainty that must have hung over them all like a dark weighty blanket gave way to HOPE, glorious, giddy, newborn, intoxicating, healing, and overwhelming HOPE. Present hope, future hope, and eternal hope. What looked to be a certain and brutal end was in fact the establishing of a fixed and certain hope for all mankind. None of the disciples there that day witnessing the crucifixion saw this at the time.

There is something God is saying in this passage of scripture about death being a catalyst for great fruitfulness and harvest; in fact if you look at this passage of scripture in John 12, Jesus says these words right after he announced to them it was his time to be glorified. Yes, Jesus equates his brutal and seemingly (at the time) unjust and untimely death at the age of 33 by crucifixion to glory and then he also says this,

“He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”

When I read this I realized that most every Christian I know who died a seemingly untimely death, without exception, loved Jesus more than life. There is no doubt in my mind that the temporary and seeming injustice of their deaths will give way to a surpassing and overwhelming harvest of impassioned souls and great, unprecedented, and supernaturally dynamic fruitfulness. Seed always produces after kind.

We have witnessed recently the deaths of some great and mighty forerunners and there is only now the certain promise of unprecedented harvest and few fleeting days before we meet them all again in glory. Let their lives inspire you to give it all for Jesus.

RUN HARD.

3210 Southwestern Blvd

Orchard Park NY 14127

Contact: markk@theburn247.com for info or if you want to be involved in worship.

I don’t know where to begin. The warfare and contention over releasing worship and praise in the City of Buffalo for 24 hours was pretty intense. However it was OVERCOME by the passion of the musicians and the fire in their hearts to see Jesus glorified through their worship. It was historic, beautiful, sovereign, intense, glorious, fiery, and awesome. Everybody came with the desire to just pour themselves out, those that ministered in the night watch to the ten or so gathered in worship or sleep in the soft light didn’t pull any punches. The unity, power, and passion of worship ushered in wave after glorious wave of God’s presence.

I really am still at a loss for words to describe the incredible sense of joy, peace, and VICTORY that flooded over me as the Burn hit the 24 hour mark. I was left feeling like we really have very little understanding of the incredible spiritual breakthrough that was gained through the truly tireless song of the worshipers. You really can have NO idea of how great a victory they obtained unless you have been involved in DOING a 24 hour worship event on the West Side of Buffalo right in the midst of the heaviness and the darkness of the area. The event hosts Pastor Sean and Tammi O’Brien shared this word of testimony in an email with me this morning.

“I wanted to leave this testimony to the crew. The area of our church has much greater oppression than other areas, which is why I believe the Lord placed us there. We do cry to the Lord as Tracey sensed in her spirit for the region. I live in a neighborhood that is not nearly as oppressed as the neighborhood the church is in. When I would get off the expressway and go toward the church, I felt as if I were driving into a cloud of heaviness. When we went back to the church for Sunday morning worship, We exited the expressway and drove toward the church, and the oppression dissipated as we drove. Instead we were driving into Glory. Even this morning (Mon.) we drove the way of the streets, and Pastor Tammi said, “Either they cleaned the streets and the neighborhood, or the Glory from the burn is beautifying the area with salvation”.

I think that really says it all.

Thanks to Pastor Sean and Tammi, all of the local worshipers, the Burn wagon crew, and those that came out to contend for their region for making our first 24 Hour Burn a HUGE BLAZING SUCCESS.

We are thinking of doing 12 hours on July 11th… shout out if you are IN.

HUGE blessings on EVERYONE!

Burn Buffalo

Lest you think I am a saint, let me tell you I am not. The closer I get to God inwardly the more I am aware of just how far I am from Him outwardly. I fail God, I hurt people, I stumble, I lurch awkwardly, but I am gripped inwardly to the point of mad desperation for more of Christ’s life, power, and presence in my life. I am hungry, SO hungry, and the pursuit of Him that results from this hunger ONLY serves to make me hungrier still. The last six months have been marked by this mad seemingly never ending cycle of hunger and pursuit. My truest identity is found not in my Church, or my workplace, or in my family, but in the moments I spend with God in the hidden places by a lake, or in a forest, or perched on some rocky outcrop. I find myself living more and more for these times and desiring more and more for the reality behind the veil. I was told in a dream at the end of 2007 that the surest word of prophecy is, “Christ in YOU the Hope of Glory.” That can be better translated as, “Christ in you, the confident expectation of His Glory being released through your life.” Yes and Amen.

I am writing this tonight because I KNOW I am not alone in my hunger. I know there are many people just as hungry and desperate for God’s presence. SOME of you are pregnant with the promise of God for your city and region. It’s the promise you have been feeding all of these years. It’s the promise that has grown just as your hunger has grown, and the desperation you sense for Him is like that of a woman about to give birth. DESTINY is about to come forth through you.

“Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.” (Psalm 107:8-9)

There are GOOD THINGS coming forth in and through YOU.

Blessings,

Burn Buffalo

6am – 6am 24 Hour Worship
12pm – 4pm Outreach
6pm – 8pm Worship Jam Log Pile
8pm – ??? Healing Prayer

There will be a team from Burn 24-7’s Summer Burn Wagon Tour participating in this event. We ask everyone to seriously consider sowing something into this mobile Tabernacle of David. You can get more information and give online at http://www.burnwagon.com/

If you think you would like to have the Burn Wagon crew visit your Church or ministry on June 14th please contact me at markk@theburn247.com They would like to hit UB if anyone has any ideas.

All Nations House of Prayer will be hosting and providing food and accommodation for the 17 people on the Burn Wagon. Anyone wishing to give towards helping All Nations bless this team while they are here can send checks to:

All Nations House Of Prayer
104 West Ferry
Buffalo, New York 14213
In the memo portion just write, “Burn Wagon Food”

CONTACT ME IF YOU WANT TO TAKE A 2 HOUR SET.

Recently I have gone through some transition with my personal life, my spiritual life, and my Burn life. It was pretty yucky, full of the kind of stuff that made me feel like I just wanted to take a nap for about 8 days. Little issues, led to big issues, and then to bigger issues. It was the emotional equivalent of pulling a little string and watching the moon fall from the sky. OUCH.

There was a man named Abram that was taken into a time of transition by the Word of the Lord. He was 75 years old, in his homeland, comfortable, set in His ways, probably had a nice routine going, liked his neighbors, liked the view from his home, at peace among the familiar things of His life.

And then Lord speaks to him and says, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

Transition had found Abram in Haran.

But here is the take way for us, found in what God says next.

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

You can be sure that God ordained transition ALWAYS leads to BLESSING.

Transition is the process of getting you from where you are to where the blessing will be. It can be ugly, messy, painful, filled with mistakes, missteps, and still so totally God you will thank Him for it when you come out the other side. Oh yes, sometimes you have to go THROUGH some things to make a transition. At these times it is best to remember that the Bible promises that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Some of YOU are about to make a transition.

Take a deep breath. It will be over soon enough.

See you when you land.
Mark
Burn Buffalo

Do to circumstances outside of our control we are canceling the 24 Hour Worship Furnace scheduled for April 17th and 18th at the Prayer Tower of Full Gospel Tabernacle. We wish to thank Full Gospel Tabernacle and Pastor Tommy Reid for the opportunity provided us to reschedule an event at the Prayer Tower in the future. We thank everyone for their support of Burn Buffalo, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We are hurriedly planning another Burn event for the last weekend of April and we will have the exact details of what that event will look like and where it will be hosted in the very near future.

In the meantime make sure that you take some time every day to Burn with Jesus. ~Whoosh

Grace and peace,

Burn Buffalo

Thanks for coming out to the Preview and Burning with us. It was amazing. We are continually undone by the PRESENCE of God in our midst when we gather. I just see Him smiling. There were about five minutes there that I thought we were all going to be translated, the sound, the presence, it was INTENSE.

I am sure you have noticed the changes to the BLOG as Burn 24-7 has updated the website. Hopefully we will get ALL the kinks out in no time.

God loves your BURNING hearts for Him.

MORE later.

Blessings,

Mark

OH MY GOODNESS!!! For those of you who showed up tonight just to hear more about Burn and to jam all I can say is THANK YOU GOD!
I feel like we had a little sample platter of what God is getting ready to release in the region and I can’t help but feel like a kid who has sneaked a peek at his presents before Christmas. GLORY!!!!
I feel compelled to start sounding alarm bells in the region as it seems like many have NO idea or inkling of what the Lord is about to do in this region. Get low! Get low! Get VERY low!

Many claim to know what the Lord is doing, or have a plan, or an agenda, or a design, some have even already prepared a nice little box thinking that when He moves they will be able to capture God’s presence.
I am telling you that MANY are chasing after WIND. ~Whoosh!
On my way home tonight from the Burn Band Jam the Lord said to me VERY clearly.

“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1

Selah on that for a minute or two today because the moment you start thinking you are building anything FOR God in the region you are in trouble.

Our next Burn Preview in the 28th @ 7pm at Full Gospel Tabernacle (Prayer Tower) 3210 Southwestern Boulevard, Orchard Park, NY 14127 and start praying NOW as we plan to take the Burn to Victory Christian Church next month.

Come and be NOTHING with us so that He may be EVERYTHING in our midst!

I LOVE you Jesus, have YOUR way in Western New York.

Burn!

Burn Buffalo