Keith Collins - Samuels Arising: Waking Up to Gods Prophetic Call

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Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Samuels Arising: Waking Up to Gods Prophetic Call

Copyright 2019 by Keith Collins.

PO Box 620084

Charlotte, NC 28262

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

For information or permissions contact:

Generation Impact Ministries

https://www.GenerationImpactMinistries.com

Cover design and editing by JJ Weller https://www.JJWellerMedia.com

ISBN: 9781543978780

First Edition: July 2019

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By Dr. Michael L. Brown

Thirty years ago, when Leonard Ravenhill penned the foreword to my first revival-themed book, The End of the American Gospel Enterprise , he began with these words: There is not much that has been written in recent years that has stirred me. This book stirred me. I read it with great profit. It is vibrant and has an anointing. Thats exactly how I felt as I read this book. In fact, it not only stirred me. It convicted me to press into God afresh for a deeper personal encounter with the Lord. Oh, that all of us might burn passionately for Him!

I have known Keith Collins since 1997, first as a student in the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry , where he joined us with years of ministry experience already in his background, then as a member of our faculty and leadership team. Since then, he has served as the pastor of our congregation and the director of our ministry school, both appropriately named FIRE .

During these years of serving together, I have watched him mentor a generation of students and witnessed his pastoral heart in action in the church, so you can be sure that he is motivated by love as he speaks and writes. But it is that same love that burns within him as a prophetic voice and revivalist; a love that will not allow him to be silent when so many of Gods people are asleep in the light. No! He must raise his voice like a trumpet and sound the alarm. As he says so clearly in this book (and as I have said in the past) we need a rude awakening.

In the pages that follow, Keith will help you to identify areas of compromise and sleepiness in your own lifenot to condemn you but to encourage and empower you to turn to the only one who can bring lasting change in your life. And he will set before you a glorious vision of just how the Lord Jesus can use you to make a radical impact on this generation. Isnt it time?

May you be among a multitude of Samuels who awaken today with a deep sense of prophetic destiny. This book will help show you the way.

Dr. Michael L. Brown, host of the Line of Fire radio broadcast and president of FIRE School of Ministry Online

By Evangelist Daniel Kolenda

I had a strange experience recently at a large conference our ministry hosted in Europe. When I arrived to preach, my driver took me to a back stadium entrance reserved for the speakers. Security was tight. A special badge was required to enter through that door, but my team assumed I wouldnt need one. After all, we were hosting the event. I was on the platform each night and easily seen on the large screens by all in attendance. Your face is your badge, they told me. But the guard stationed at the door had a different opinion. He worked for the venue. He was not one of our team members. He didnt know me, and he was adamantI could not enter without a badge. It was a comical sight. Inside the stadium, the people were waiting for me to preach. But I was stuck outside, unable to get into my own event!

In Revelation 3:20, Jesus said, Behold, I stand at the door and knock (ESV). As an evangelist, Ive occasionally referenced these words in my evangelistic appeals. As powerful as this invitation is to the unsaved, its important to remember that in the original context, Jesus was not speaking to the lost. He was speaking to His own people. Somehow, even in the earliest dayswhile the ink of the New Testament was still wet Jesus was already outside the door of His own church knocking. Its a scene that would be comical if it werent so sad. I believe this is the tragic picture Jesus wanted us to see. He is the hostthe church is Hisyet He is on the outside looking in. His words to them were unequivocal and severe. I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked (Revelation 3:16-17 ESV).

Its a distinctive characteristic of human nature that we are ever like sheepprone to stray. Many understand the words of Come Thou Fount by eighteenth-century poet Robert Robinson :

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love

It is exactly this propensity for backsliding that makes the prophets voice so important for every generation. This is why God continues to raise voices who will speak prophetically to His people. Though separated by time, culture, language, and geography, the prophetic voices are remarkably similar.

In the Old Testament, Isaiah prophesies to Judah and Jerusalem: Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes (Isaiah 1:16). The word of the Lord to Jeremiah was like a fire and a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces (see Jeremiah 23:29). Hosea implored his backslidden people to return to the Lord to be healed and revived (see Hosea 6:1). Ezekiel tells Israel to repent and live (Ezekiel 18:32 NASB). Similar exhortations are found from all the Old Testament prophets.

Opening the New Testament, we immediately encounter John the Baptist crying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2 ESV). Jesus takes up this theme in His own ministry, calling the people to repent and raising the bar for every prophet to come.

This tradition did not end with the close of Scriptureit has continued down through the centuries into modern times. Men like John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Charles Finney famously preached repentance with a fervor and passion that continues to provoke us today. And still, in our own generation, God has called men and women to communicate His heart to His people.

One of the many similarities between these prophetic voices is that in almost every instance, they were largely ignored or rejected by the people of their day. As Stephen asked before his martyrdom, Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? (Acts 7:52 ESV). It is very tempting to ignore the prophetic call to break up our fallow ground and return to the Lord. It is very easy to ignore Jesus knocking at the door of our hearts as He longs to come back into the center of His own church. That is why I appreciate the book you are reading so much. Samuels Arising is a back-to-the-basics reminder of whats important. I believe that in these pages, Keith Collins has stepped into the role of a prophet, calling Gods peopleyou and meback to our first love. As I read the powerful words on page after page, I felt a re-alignment happening in my own life. I could feel the passion coming through the text and stoking the fire in my own heart. What a precious gift!