The glory of God filled the sanctuary. The priests retreated from their places of ministry. King Solomon dedicated the new temple with a display of God’s approval. Then Solomon offered this prayer. “May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself” (1 Kings 8:57-58).
Jesus Christ answers Solomon’s prayer. First, the great Christian confession is simple. “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9). Second, Jesus came into the world to be God with us. “‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us’” (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23).
Third, after His death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven to sit on the throne of God, Christ pours out His Holy Spirit “that He may incline our hearts to Himself.” The Holy Spirit gives us what we need, a whole new disposition and attitude of heart. He pours God’s love into our hearts (Romans 5:5).
This love, produced by the Sprit, is a new inclination of heart. We experience the power and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We freely embrace the good things of God. We freely serve others. “Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power” (Psalm 110:3).
Click here to listen to the message called, “Hearts Disposed to Love.”
For a Christian not to be Spirit-filled is a downright sin. If you are not filled with the Spirit then you are living in sin. God commands us in Ephesians 5:18: “Be filled with the Spirit” and if you do not obey then you sin by neglect (James 4:17).
By indifference to the Word of God, by apathy to His commands, by spiritual laziness and carelessness, by a sluggish and lukewarm response to God’s great command to be filled with the Spirit, the church has been filled by the world, by the flesh and by the devil with sinful, half-hearted, lukewarm, semi-saved, half-saved, pseudo-saved and even unsaved poor imitations of the real thing.
We, Christians, are in a full-scale war, but we do not seem to be doing much fighting! The church is being attacked by the powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:13). Deception, sin and worldliness are crippling and undermining church outreach and growth. Worse still, we do not seem to be aware of it. All of us have friends and family who are under the attack of the evil one. We have family members chained by the devil, friends trapped in addictions and sinful habits and the church has sheep who are being carried away captive by the false prophets and filthy demons of hell (Isaiah 42:22). Secular humanists are deceiving, distracting and deluding Christians.
Satanists and occultists are undermining and assaulting the leaders and the work of the church by incarnations, hexes and subtle spiritual warfare. By tempting, blinding, deceiving and deluding Christians to engage in false priorities, embrace false doctrines, adopt false agendas, employ human solutions, become ensnared in sinful habits and addictions, by keeping Christians from the Bible and hindering us from prayer, the devil has tragically rendered whole congregations ineffective. Many have accepted a false god, a false gospel and a false mission.
The devil is waging an all-out war against the forces of Jesus Christ and many seem to be confined to barracks, tamely singing choruses and enjoying fun and fellowship.
Napoleon once said as he looked over the vast expanse of China: “There lies a sleeping giant – let him sleep; for if he wakes, he will shake the world!” Today the devil could be saying the very same of the church: “There lies a sleeping giant… if he wakes, he will SHAKE THE WORLD!”
We can liberate the world for Christ (1 John 5:4). We can reach every tribe, tongue and people for Christ in this generation (Mark 9:23). Christianity without Christ’s mighty Holy Spirit is dry, dull, powerless, inept and ineffective. Christianity in the power of the Holy Spirit is dynamic, fresh, spiritual, powerful, invincible, earth-shaking, history-making!
The greatest power in the universe is the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
There is no limit to what God can do in and with and through you (Mark 10:27), if He is not quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19), No limit!
It was said of the Christians of the first century that they “turned the world upside down” and that is exactly what true Christianity, in the power of the Holy Spirit, always accomplishes! Read through the Book of Acts and notice the incredible impact that the Christian lifestyle and message had on the Roman Empire. Whenever the Gospel was proclaimed in the power of the Spirit there was either a Revival or a riot! Indifference was impossible to such a radical message and such an invincible power (Roman 15:18-19).
Are you dissatisfied with your present spiritual experience? Are you frustrated by the inroads that the world and the flesh have made into the church? Do you long to see Christians making a greater impact on society? Is it a burden of your heart that the evangelisation and discipleship of the whole world in this generation becomes a reality?
If you determine to stop quenching and resisting the Holy Spirit and humble yourself and pray and seek His face and turn from your wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14); if you seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness with a thirsty heart (John 7:37-38), then as you ask, seek and knock, God promises to fill you (Luke 11:9-13) with supernatural power from above and vibrant spiritual vitality and life. God promises. He assures us (Matthew 5:6). He stakes the honour of His Name (John 14:16) on these promises, stating that as we fulfil the simple conditions, He will work miracles and endue us with power from on high (Luke 24:49).
What, then, do we need in order to turn this world upside down, right side up, back to God? What is needed for us to reclaim the nations for Christ?
Well, firstly we need dedicated Christian disciples whole-heartedly committed to Christ (Acts 20:24) and freed from the chains of sin, selfishness and worldliness (Hebrews 12:1). We need Christians filled with the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, we need these Christians to be able to be led by the Spirit into God’s will (Romans 8:14) to do and to say the right things, at the right time, to the right people, in the right place. God gives the very best to those who leave the choice to Him. For God’s master strategy of freeing this world from satan and turning it to Christ, we need Christians Master controlled so as to know the most appropriate word or effective action to do or to say to the most prepared person, at the most crucial time, for the greatest effect and the best results (Romans 12:1-2). We need Christians led by the Spirit!
Thirdly, we need Christians who will pray in the power of the Spirit (Jude 20). God acts in answer to prayer and if we do not pray then we cannot expect God to act. Prayer releases the power of God. The only foundation for spiritual work is prayer. Prayer is our priority. A prayerful life is always a powerful life. A prayerless life is always a powerless life. Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer, except that which is beyond the will of God. When we pray in the Spirit (John 15:7) then we are releasing the greatest power in the universe. The Church needs Christians who will pray in the Spirit.
Fourthly, we need Christians endued with supernatural power to win the spiritual war at present raging (Acts 1:8). There are far too many of our friends, families and churches that are being undermined, chained and crippled by the forces of evil (2 Corinthians 4:4). The time has come to rise up and go out in the power of God’s Spirit and annihilate wickedness and worldliness. We must set the prisoners free (Isaiah 61:1). We must win the victory (Romans 8:37). We must win our world for Jesus (1 John 5:4) and in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the Name of Jesus we shall, we must, we will prevail.
In order to set free the prisoners of sin and satan the Lord has given believers power to bind evil (Matthew 12:19). We can restrict, limit and oppose the powers of rebellion, doubt, unbelief, sin, perversion, slavery and hatred (Matthew 18:18). We have power to overcome the gates of hell, to storm the very strongholds of evil (Matthew 16:18-19) and to set the prisoners free (Luke 11:22). To announce liberty to the captive (Luke 4:18). As the Lord Himself declared: “I have given you authority so that you can walk on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of the enemy and nothing will hurt you.” Luke 10:19
Even the demons must obey us when we give them a command in Jesus Name (Luke 10:17; Acts 16:18; Mark 16:17). This is because, as we place ourselves in submission to the power of God, we are able to resist the lesser power of the enemy (James 4:7). “Greater is Him who is in us, than him who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4
The Church of Jesus Christ needs dedicated Christ centred, Bible based, prayerful Christians endued with God’s supernatural power in order to win this spiritual world war and turn people back to God.
As John Wesley said: “Give me one hundred men who love God with all their hearts and who fear no one but God and who hate nothing but sin and I will change the world.”
We need:
Christians who will love God with all their hearts (Mark 12:30).
Christians who fear no one but God (2 Timothy 1:7).
Christians who hate sin (Proverbs 8:13).
Christians who will make an impact on this world (Acts 19:6).
This is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), for to be filled with God’s Spirit is to be filled with the very nature of God (Ephesians 3:19) which is to be filled with Christ (Colossians 2:9, 10), which is to be filled with love, wisdom and knowledge (Ephesians 3:17-19). They are synonymous and inseparable. To be filled with God’s power (Acts 1:8) is to be filled with His love, knowledge and wisdom (Romans 5:5) and the power of that love and wisdom of Christ’s Holy Spirit shows itself in dynamic action, that moves the world, back to God.
The mark of a Christian is love (John 13:15).
The mark of love is action (1 John 3:18).
He is able to do far more abundantly above all we could ask, or think, or dream of, by the power of His love working in us (Ephesians 3:20).
We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit!
How do we receive the fullness of power in our lives?
The Spirit of God is received through the Word of God. As we expose ourselves to the Word of God, as we submit to its authority, we open ourselves to the powerful working of God’s Spirit who works through the Word of God (Galatians 3:2).
As we submit ourselves to the Word of God (James 1:21), we open ourselves to the work of God’s Spirit (John 16:13).
The Bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit fills clean vessels in response to surrender and faith.
It is the Word of God that cleanses us (John 15:3).
The Word of God imparts and builds up faith within us (Romans 10:17).
The Word of God accomplishes the purposes of God (Isaiah 55:11).
That is why 1 Thessalonians 2:13 teaches us that God is at work in them who believe and receive God’s Word in faith.
As we surrender to the Son of God we will receive faith from the Word of God (Galatians 3:14).
We will find that the more we get into the Word of God, the more the God of the Word gets into us.
To summarise: As we accept, believe and submit to the Word of God, we simultaneously receive cleansing from the Word and the infilling of Faith which leads to the fullness of God’s Holy Spirit. The more we are filled with and under the influence and control of the Bible, the more we are filled with the Spirit, coming more and more under His influence and control (Galatians 5:25).
Now, this infilling is both a process and a crisis. You are responsible for the process of being continually filled with God’s Spirit, by continually receiving and applying God’s Word. “But his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in His Law, he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” Psalm 1:2-3
God will respond at times with a crisis, where you have a spiritual encounter and experience with God’s Holy Spirit in order to prepare you either for some work or some hardships, some task or some responsibility by doing a work within you, renewing your minds, effecting inner healing, preparing you for ministry, endowing you with a gift, empowering you for witness, anointing you in worship or in prayer, or calling you for some task.
This could be called the overflowing of God’s Spirit. When you are faithful to the process of being filled with God’s Spirit you will find time and again occasions when the Spirit overflows from within you (John 7:38).
The fruit (or evidences) that this fullness of the Spirit produces is to be seen in any life surrendered to God and thirsty for His Word. It is real love, overflowing joy, deep peace of mind and heart, exceptional patience, real kindness, true goodness, invincible faithfulness, genuine humility and great self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
Jesus said that we will know a person by his fruit (Matthew 12:33). The Spirit shows His presence through love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Love is seen through actions. These actions are the type that make an impact that change our world and accomplish God’s will.
A Christian filled with God’s Word is filled with faith and love and power. Such a Christian is able to be directed and guided by God into His perfect will to accomplish His mighty purposes. Such a believer who is filled with God’s Word finds that as he prays sincerely from his heart (John 16:24), according to the Scriptures cherished in his mind, he has a vital contact with and union in Christ. “If you abide in Me and My Words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7
As the will of God – as revealed in the Scriptures and the desires of the Christian – as transformed by the Scriptures (Romans 12:2) meet and harmonise together they make combined contact with God’s prayer answering power and God’s purposes are accomplished. “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of Hosts.” Zechariah 4:6
This is spiritual dynamite! Actually, this is spiritual nitro-glycerine! This is praying in the Spirit! It releases that mighty power of God that is needed to transform our lives and change our world.
Fire, Wind and Water
Three of the greatest natural forces in the world are fire, wind and water. These three forces reveal something of the power of the Creator. On the Day of Pentecost, the fire of God, the wind of the Holy Spirit and the living waters of Jesus Christ moved in great power and the Church was born.
Search Your Heart
Do you know what it is to have the fire of God’s Word burn within you? Do you what it is to have the wind of the Holy Spirit lead and guide you? Do the living waters of Christ flow from your heart?
Power for living, power for guidance, power for prayer, power for missions. Your world needs this power. Your church needs this power. You need this power. “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Colossians 3:16
“Be filled with the Spirit…” Ephesians 5:18
“Pray without ceasing…” 1 Thessalonians 5:17
“Go ye therefore…” Matthew 28:19
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:17-21
“If.” Then this is not a matter to be taken for granted concerning every one of the human race. “If”—then there is a possibility and a probability that some may not have tasted that the Lord is gracious. “If”—then this is not a general but a special mercy; and it is necessary to ask whether we know the grace of God by inward experience. There is no spiritual favor that may not be a matter for heart-searching.
But while this should be a matter of earnest and prayerful inquiry, no one ought to be content while there is any such thing as an “if” about his having tasted that the Lord is good. A jealous and holy distrust of self may give rise to the question even in the believer’s heart, but the continuance of such a doubt would be an evil indeed. We must not rest without a desperate struggle to clasp the Savior in the arms of faith and say, “I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.”1
Do not rest, believer, until you have a full assurance of your interest in Jesus. Let nothing satisfy you until, by the infallible witness of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with your spirit, you are identified as a child of God. Do not trifle with this. Do not be satisfied with “perhaps” or “if” or “maybe.” Build on eternal truths; really build upon them. Let your anchor be cast into that which is within the veil, and see to it that your soul is linked to the anchor by a cable that will not break. Get beyond these dreary “ifs”; stay no longer in the wilderness of doubts and fears; cross the Jordan of distrust, and enter the promised land of peace, where the land ceases not to flow with milk and honey.
One of the greatest college football games ever played took place on November 23, 1984: Boston College vs. Miami at the Orange Bowl. The game went back and forth the whole way and came down to one legendary play, a 65 yard Hail Mary pass from Doug Flutie to Gerald Phelan for a 47-45 Boston College victory.
What followed was a scene of total chaos and sheer pandemonium. No one could believe what had just happened. People were running wildly all over the field. Players were experiencing both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Reporters were trying to process and make sense of what they had just witnessed.
Brent Musburger, the lead announcer for CBS, didn’t see who caught the winning touchdown. No one in the booth could figure out who caught it either. They had to have someone in the production truck tell them that it was Gerald Phelan. Not even Doug Flutie saw who caught his game-winning pass. He knew someone must have caught it because all of his teammates were jumping up and down like crazy. Only later in the locker room did Flutie find out that it was his best friend and roommate, Gerald Phelan.
You won’t hear stories like this right after an epic game or monumental event occurs. These are the kinds of stories that get passed on later as people try to figure out what actually happened. In the immediate aftermath, there is all of the motion, emotion, and commotion of the moment. No one is quite sure what is going on. It takes time for the personal stories and individual accounts to surface and take shape.
The same goes for the resurrection appearances of Jesus in the Gospels. At first blush, the details seem chaotic, confusing, perhaps even contradictory. There are worried women, multiple Marys, disbelieving disciples, fearful followers. Jesus is appearing and disappearing, showing up on the road, walking through walls. Where are they now? In Galilee? In Judea? What’s going on?!
Let’s take a step back and think for a minute. If this is indeed the central event in all of human history, if the cross and empty tomb stand at the very crux of the cosmos, if the Risen Christ is ushering in a new kingdom and a new creation, then maybe we shouldn’t be surprised to see some earth-shaking and mind-blowing things taking place. Maybe we should actually expect some strange and supernatural events to occur. Also, if the stories had a vanilla quality about them and all sounded exactly the same, the whole thing would reek of collusion. The truth is, each Gospel writer had their own unique perspective based upon eyewitness accounts of the people who were there and experienced the resurrection firsthand.
No, the Easter stories don’t always fit nicely into our 21st century way of thinking and understanding. But if we read the Gospel accounts carefully, we begin to realize that the story of the resurrection has a real ring of truth to it, an air of authenticity, a vibrant veracity.
CS Lewis famously wrote in Mere Christianity, “Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion that you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up. It has just that odd twist about it that real things have.”
God has a funny way of taking our expectations and presuppositions and turning them on their head. His mysterious ways always seem to turn the things of this world upside down and inside out, kind of like Miami’s defense before that famous “Hail Mary” pass. They didn’t think that little Doug Flutie could throw the football that far. They were wrong, just like the devil and all the powers of darkness. They didn’t think Jesus had the power to rise from the dead. They were wrong. And the rest…is history.
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared also to me” (1 Cor 15:3-8).
Is there anything that can really make us different, that can shake us out of our apathy and anxieties? That can inject enthusiasm and joy, confidence and courage into our lives?
Come with me to the events of Pentecost that we read about in Acts chapter 2. It was six-weeks after Jesus’ resurrection. Three questions emerge.
What happened? When the day of Pentecost came, the disciples were together in an upper room in Jerusalem. ‘Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came… Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them… All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.’
Pentecost is the Jewish festival celebrating the giving of the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 19:18 we read that violent wind and tongues of fire had enveloped Mt Sinai at the time God gave Moses the law. However, as Israel’s prophets had said, the law failed to change the world because the law failed to change people.
Now at Pentecost some twelve hundred years later, God was coming with fire and wind, not to impart more law, but to impart his Spirit. The mighty wind symbolised the power of Jesus; the fire symbolised his purifying and cleansing work; and speech pointed to the good news of Jesus reaching every nation.
Luke, the author of Acts focuses on speech. He tells us: Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. … And everyone was bewildered because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each (2:5).
The crowd came from the Caspian Sea in the east to Rome in the west; from modern Turkey in the north to Africa in the south. ‘How is it?’ they asked, ‘That we can understand them in our own native language?’
The cynics in the crowd mocked, saying the disciples were drunk. But Peter wasn’t silenced: ‘The bars aren’t open yet,’ he said. ‘It’s only nine o’clock in the morning’. This was the ultimate Author of speech reversing Babel.
The disciples, previously demoralised and defeated, had a new enthusiasm, confidence and joy. Peter, who had denied Jesus, was no longer a coward but a courageous preacher. What made that difference? It was the Spirit, ‘Another Helper’ whom Jesus had promised.
For many, Christianity is little more than a moral code they must struggle to observe, or a creed recited mindlessly every week. But in John 14 Jesus had spoken of ‘a Companion’ who would enable his people to experience a life-changing personal relationship with him.
What did it mean? The Holy Spirit was turning cowardly disciples into intrepid apostles. From verse 22 Luke records Peter’s speech: “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. …And you, …put him to death …but God raised him from the dead, …”
People today mock the idea of Jesus’ miracles. Yet first-century historians such as Josephus, agreed that Jesus was a miracle-worker. Peter called the miracles signs. Just as a sign-post points to the road we might follow, so Jesus’ works pointed to the power and authority he wielded. “If I by the finger of God cast out demons,” Jesus had said, “then the kingdom of God is come upon you.”
The climax of his speech is in verse 36: “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this, God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Peter had a logically developed progression of ideas – not a frenzied set of phrases. He explains that Jesus’ cross and resurrection reveal God’s extraordinary love. The Son of God had put aside the glory of heaven and come amongst us, giving his life as the one perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Human authorities had judged Jesus a threat and guilty, and nailed him to a cross. From his supreme court, God overturned that judgement and raised Jesus to life.
Does all this matter? It happened so long ago. Peter’s hearers were cut to the heart…, “Brothers, what should we do?” they asked (2:37f). Peter’s words cut through to their hearts. They were utterly ashamed. Previously they had mocked the dying Jesus. Now they knew the truth. God’s Spirit was at work.
Peter’s response is one we all need to hear: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven (Acts 2:38). He didn’t tell his hearers they needed to turn over a new leaf and start living moral lives. Rather, he focused on their relationship with Jesus. Repent. ‘Come to your senses about Jesus,’ Peter is saying. ‘Turn to him and ask him for his forgiveness.’
Three thousand responded to Peter’s call that day. God’s Spirit was taking up the work of Jesus the Messiah in the world, opening blind eyes and changing hearts.
Significantly Peter continued: And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him (Acts 2:38f). From now on God’s Spirit would come into the lives of all God’s people (see also Romans 8:9).
What God did that day, and what he has been doing ever since, matters. God’s delight is to draw men and women from all over the world, from every culture and walk of life – people like you and me – into a personal, living relationship with himself.
And we have a part to play. Let’s not be fearful. Rather, let’s pray for the Spirit’s strength and wisdom to take up opportunities we have, to introduce people we know to Jesus. Why not invite a friend to join you in exploring John’s Gospel through ‘The Word One-to-One’? It is available online free of charge at: www.theword121.com.
Predictions about the future return of Jesus have spawned so many bizarre distortions of religion that we have witnessed a severe overreaction among many Christians to our future hope. Some of us live as if Jesus Christ is not coming back. We gild the past and try to freeze the present. But the present is made crucial because of the future. It is because Jesus is coming back that we know that what we are doing in the present counts.
Martin Luther thought Jesus was coming back in his day. Jonathan Edwards thought He was near in the eighteenth century. Both of these titans were wrong. Yet the time of His return is years closer than it was in Luther’s day. Each day that passes makes the return of Jesus closer. It may well be very soon.
When Jesus comes, I want to be ready. I want to be like Elizabeth and Mary, like Simeon and Anna, people who were ready and watching for the appearance of Christ, people who are vigilant, people who watch for the signs of the times and have a hope that will not embarrass them. They long for the vindication of Christ. They yearn for the triumph of His kingdom. They labor with the certain knowledge that their labor is not in vain.
Coram Deo
As you labor today in behalf of the kingdom, remember that your work is not in vain.
What gets into serial killers and rapists? Are they uncontrollable, unmanageable, and incorrigible? “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Romans 8:6-7).
The word “mind” does not refer to our thinking apparatus. It relates to our bent of mind. It concerns our inclinations. It refers to our mindset. The mindset of the flesh, the attitude leaning away from God, takes us further from God and thus closer to eternal death. Such a disposition is antagonistic toward God. It is actually at enmity with God. Such a bent of mind does not submit to the Ten Commandments. It is unable to do so. It cannot because it will not.
We all have such a bent of mind, although it may not be as aggravated as that of the serial killer. We need a mindset inclined to follow the Holy Spirit speaking in the Bible. God can exercise power over us. The Holy Spirit can change our attitudes and make us willing to follow God. “Your people shall be willing in the day of Your power” (Psalm 110:3). Oh God, please make me willing.
To help you with this topic, click here and listen to the message, “Holy Dispositions, Evil Attitudes.”
David Day has begun the MLB Outreach, preaching at the Biscuits Mini League Baseball hames in Montgomery, AL. David is preaching on behalf of SFOI and his ministry All That may Know Him.Org.
May 15th
The Lord is kind to give such a great opportunity to speak of all we’ve seen and heard concerning Him. I believe about 14 people came out to evangelize which is amazing! Many heard the Truth, that Paul’s words are true.
“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” 1 Timothy 1:15
One refection that I’m left with from this evening is something that evangelism always seem to remind me of. It is those we witness to are not the only ones in need of Christ more, it is for me too. That I need to constantly be looking to Him as well, running from sin and finding rest in Christ. He shows His goodness to give us this work not only to bring glory to Himself, or that sinners may be saved, but for our sanctification. Praise the Lord!
May 16th
Great isn’t it, that is seeing people out and about and being able to introduce them to Christ!
Great crowds this Saturday night at Riverwalk Stadium. Thankful for my brother Nolan Moody who was able to come and witness alongside of me.
The message was, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” John 3:18
The boundless realms of His Father’s universe belong by right to Christ. As “heir of all things,”1 He is the sole proprietor of the vast creation of God, and He has admitted us to claim it all as ours, by making us His fellow heirs. The golden streets of paradise, the pearly gates, the river of life, the transcendent bliss, and the unutterable glory are all, by our blessed Lord, made ours for an everlasting possession. All that He has, He shares with His people.
The royal crown He has placed upon the head of His Church, granting her a kingdom, and calling her sons a royal priesthood, a generation of priests and kings. He uncrowned Himself that we might have a coronation of glory; He would not sit upon His own throne until He had procured a place upon it for all who overcome by His blood. Crown the head, and the whole body shares the honor.
Here then is the reward of every Christian conqueror! Christ’s throne, crown, scepter, palace, treasure, robes, heritage are yours. He deems His happiness completed by His people sharing it. “The glory that you have given me I have given to them.”2 “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”3
The smiles of His Father are all the sweeter to Him because His people share them. The honors of His kingdom are more pleasing because His people appear with Him in glory. More valuable to Him are His conquests since they have taught His people to overcome. He delights in His throne because on it there is a place for them. He rejoices in His royal robes since they cover His people. He delights all the more in His joy because He calls them to enter into it.
I’ve been ministering for around fourteen years and when I first got out there one of my first thoughts was, “why isn’t everyone out here doing this? The church is definitely falling short of what they should be doing”. People like me started to realize, I need to be going out preaching the Gospel! I need to be sharing the Gospel with my neighbours. When people realize the importance of that, they then wonder; “what’s wrong with everyone else”? And then you start trying to fix everyone around you that are christians, even those that are mormons.
The body of Christ has all different members for all different parts of it. If we were all the mount then we would not function as the body of Christ. I used to say things to people, get angry at people whilst out on the street, for not understanding what I was saying and for not understanding that they were sinners. The church were not really being about evangelism so for me, it was a real struggle at that point all those years ago because I didn’t really know how to weigh all that stuff out in my mind.
In time, and by being around more mature believers who have been preaching longer, you start to see how immature you’re being about it all. You’re zealous but in a sense, too zealous at times and then you start to hurt people’s feelings and causing problems. I once told a pastor I really loved that I couldn’t understand how he justified just having a couple of people in his church doing street evangelism, and through that I ruined a relationship that was really important to me.
You do think, in those early days, people need to be out on the streets, but you have to realize that not all of us are to be, that’s no what all of us are called to do. This is something you learn by being around more mature believers. This is something that really stands out with me more than anything else from the lessons I’ve learned. I’m still learning from people like my brothers Joe Toy, Mark Yoho and Bill Adams.
You can really hurt other believers without meaning to by accusing them of not being about what God would have them be about because maybe their calling isn’t preaching. Don’t just grab a scripture out of the Bible, throw it out there and have it be whatever it is you want it to be. You have to understand the word of God. For instance, I would go to the mall with a small evangelism team in the winter. I would have a conversation with a muslim called Abdul that would come back every year. This guy was blown away by my knowledge of the Word, and also some of my knowledge of Islam. When you talk to people who can see that you truly know what you’re talking about, that goes a long way with them. Abdul explained that he had Christians come up to him in the past saying “you need Jesus”, and when he asked them why he needed Jesus, they were not able to provide an answer. We have to know what it is we are talking about, we can’t just go out there acting like we have all the answers.
If you don’t have the answer, be mature enough to say, I don’t know, that’s a good question, give me your number and I’ll look it up and get back to you. It shows people you don’t have all the answers and you’re not afraid to say it. We all go through the same zealousness, we all go through thoughts of “I have it all figured out, why doesn’t everybody else”? But God is with us through these times, it’s all part of the learning.
SFOI ARCHIVE 