Recently a famous white comedian made some racial comments to a couple of young black men in his audience. It shows the old demon of racism is still around. Here's a sermon that expresses my biblical convictions on this subject. I hope in some small way this will help with this problem in our country.
Overcoming Racial Strife
Scripture: Acts 10: 1-48 11:1-18. I love this passage of scripture. Notice 11:2 where the leaders of the church in Jerusalem went from "contending with the Apostle Peter/criticizing him" to v. 18 "quieting down and glorifying God." Peters' heart was changed; the leaders of the church in Jerusalem had their hearts changed, and God was glorified. And that is a real key to overcoming racial strife--A Changed Heart.
The Jewish people at this time history were taught apartheid. They thought the world was divided into two ethic divisions: Jews & Gentiles, Circumcised & Uncircumcised, and Saints & Strangers. In fact the Jews used racial slurs and refereed to the Gentiles as 'dogs' and believed that all dogs went to hell. We know only cats go there! j/k. Remember the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10? The amazing thing most people miss in that story is that it's all about racial reconciliation. Jews hated Samaritans and the Samaritans hated the Jews. They would go way out of their way to avoid going through Samaria. Jews saw the Samaritans as half-breeds. In John 4 we read the story of the woman at the well. V. 9 "How is it… For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans."
Unfortunately that mindset was still with the Jewish Christians. They saw themselves in one room and all others in another room with a great big thick wall of separation between them. Christian Jews needed a REVEALTION that all human beings were made by God "of one blood" (Acts 17:26). The Apostle Peter and the leaders of the Jerusalem church needed their minds cleansed. And none of them needed to be cleansed more than a rough fisherman from Galilee.
RACISM KEEPS PEOPLE APART.
The Jerusalem church leaders made a judgment about Peter and the Gentiles in Caesarea. They concluded that the Gentiles could not be real/legitimate followers of Jesus. To them they were pagans and Peter was wrong for associating with them. It's sad but true—the Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles were kept apart by the racist sins of their leaders. It's still that way today. Some people are taught to stay away from "other so called Christians" because they are not like us. We need to be careful of our opinions of other Christians. Because God says what I have cleansed don't call dirty (10:28).
When we speak of racism it is important to understand that most whites and blacks & ethnic groups think differently about this. There are contrasting views. Most white Americans think of racism as something overt done by one individual to another. They see racism as something an individual chooses to do. For ex: if an apartment manager decides not to rent to blacks or any ethnic person, then that manager is guilty of the sin of racism.
Whites/Anglo Americans often want relationships & warm feelings but do not always the need for social justice. Often it is because justice involves painful change & personal involvement. Many times I think whites are just blind to the injustices/racism of our society, don't think it exists or are just insensitive to what is going on.
However, black Americans & other ethnic groups view racism more often as structural. Of course there are individual acts of racism but they understand how society can perpetuate racism even when individuals in that society do not intend to be racist. For example, public schools are funded largely thru property taxes. So schools in wealthy neighborhoods are able to put more money into their schools & those students get a better chance at a quality education than students who live in poor neighborhoods where the tax base is smaller. So personal racism is not the blame but the blame is on the social structures of our society. People of ethnicity usually understand these kinds of things better than whites do.
The secular way of dealing with racism is thru four basic models: Colorblindness, Anglo-Conformity, Multiculturalism, White Responsibility. We know they all come up short and I agree with him that the church has the answer and we can demonstrate it daily. Just say this about prejudice/racism/divisions/bigotry: it is part of the human heart. That is why we need Jesus in our hearts—to change our hearts! -This I know-- Prejudice/racism even keeps Christians apart.
A CHANGE OF HEART IS REQUIRED TO GET RID OF PREJUDICE/RACISM.
(This is the supernatural solution to racism). Notice 11:17 The Apostle Peter had his heart changed. He was prejudiced against Gentiles. God gave him a vision that dissolved his prejudice/racial attitudes. He was reluctant to do what God said (10:14). But his God given REVELATION broke through his reluctance! He responded to the vision, he obeyed; when the Gentile men from Caesarea came he went with them! (10:23). After he saw God pouring out the HS on the Gentiles, his mindset, his heart changed, he said in 11:17 "who was I, that I could stand in God's way?" Let me guarantee you this, if you are serious about following Christ: He will show you your prejudices racist feelings, then He will give you the opportunity to let go of them. And we all need our hearts cleansed.
I just experienced racism on my flight from Japan to here…Racism keeps people apart—the only hope is changed hearts. There are other observations from this text but I want us to look at John 4:1-42. This encounter of Jesus with the woman of Samaria is one of the most insightful teachings in the NT in regards to culture, truth & unity. Another key to overcoming racial strife is found here and that is—true unity & love for one another. Changed hearts & true love… {Read some of John 4} Need to understand a bit of historical backdrop to this conversation between Jesus this Samaritan woman at the well.
About 700 years BC the Assyrians invaded the Northern Kingdom of Israel and took many of the people captive. There were also many Assyrians who settled into the Northern Kingdom. Intermarriage began to take place and a new group of people came into being called the Samaritans. The Jewish people had been taken captive by the Persians but were allowed to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple when Artaxerexes was king of Persia? Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer. But there were people living in the land of Israel who did not want to see the city of Jerusalem rebuilt because of their racial hatred of the Jews. Those people were the Samaritans (mixed breed of Assyrians & Israelites) you can read about it in Neh. 2, 4, 6. The reason for this hatred was because the Jews would not allow the Samaritans to participate in the rebuilding process. A feud started that continued into the days of Jesus. Knowing this will help you understand that when Jesus journeyed through Samaria He was making it clear that He was willing to go beyond His own culture with love and compassion. He was not patronizing them—he was there to demonstrate the power of God's life changing love.
My observations of this text:
FIRST, HE ESTABLISHED COMMON GROUND. Vs. 6-7. He stopped at Jacob's well & built a bridge of communication by starting with what He & the Samaritan woman could agree on. Both the Jews & Samaritans loved Jacob, who was the father of both groups. This shows that Jesus rejected the racial attitudes of his day. This is why the woman asked him in v. 9, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." She could not believe Jesus was asking her to let Him use her cup. That was an act of fellowship and acceptance. How did she know he was a Jew? Perhaps he looked like a Jew or had a Jewish accent, we don't know. But I want you to see something. He did not stop being a Jew, but neither did He let His culture stop Him. That's it. We cannot let our culture keep us from people. And neither did Jesus rob this woman of her culture. He established common ground with her, and that is what we need to do today. What is our common ground? Our common ground is our LOVE FOR JESUS CHRIST that gives us love for one another—true love.
Jesus said in John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." The bonus to all this would be that the world would see our unity as we work together cross-culturally. As a church, as an individual believer, we need to 'establish common ground', we need to reach out, and you need to reach out to someone that culturally is different than you. Jesus did and so should you & me. Another principle for biblical unity & love is that Jesus refused to allow culture to interfere with the truth of God's Word.
DO NOT ALLOW CULTURE TO INTERFERE WITH GOD'S TRUTH.
When the Samaritan woman allowed her cultural background to cloud her correct understanding about God, Jesus rejected her cultural commitment. He said to her very directly, "You worship what you do not know" v. 22. His point was clear: Whenever there is a conflict between culture and God's truth, culture must always submit to the truth of God's Word! Our cultures must be controlled by our commitment to Christ. I am not a white Christian. You are not a black Christian, or an Asian Christian, Latino Christian. We don't modify the noun 'Christian' by an adjective—black, white and so on. In other words we don't modify our Christianity by our culture. The facts are--OUR CHRISTIANITY SHOULD MODIFY OUR CULTURE!
I am a Christian who happens to be white. You are a Christian…Important to understand this—as Christians we must always, inform, explain, and if necessary, CHANGE OUR CULTURES—never the reverse. Culture can be a wonderful thing but it not sacred. KINGDOM CULTURE is above all our cultures. Just with a 75 yr old man who understands and appreciates culture—every time he was asked to pray he would say, "Lord thank you for this wonderful world we live in."
Look at v. 35; Jesus said they were to stop making excuses for racial hang-ups! It was harvest time and they needed to see people on God's terms. Illus: Carolina Football Coach note…
Let's not allow culture to interfere with God's truth. Amen?
RECONCILIATION LEADS TO RENEWAL.
(Satan loves to polarize people but God loves to…) A spiritual revival took place in Samaria. V. 39. Jesus even spent the weekend there. V. 40. Because Jesus sought unity and bridged the gap of racial prejudice many Samaritans came to faith. VV 41-42. Want to say this—it doesn't matter if others around you, even your own family won't reach out cross-culturally. You should. God expects you to, and in fact demands that we do it. It is a real key to lasting revival/renewal.
CONCL: If the world can see us as Christians reaching out to other brothers and sisters cross-culturally they will believe. Jesus made a powerful statement in John 13:35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
The Biblical Answer to Racism is GENUINE LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER, demonstrated by our unity and HAVING OUR HEARTS TRULY CHANGED BY GOD. These are some real keys to Overcoming Racial Strife—and it is a Technical Foul (worst kind of foul in the game of basketball—can cause your team to lose).
From Acts 11 we see two spiritual truths:
Prejudice keeps Christians apart (and God wants us to be in unity-Satan loves to build walls, God loves to tear them down). A change of heart is required to get rid of prejudice/racism (something spiritual needs to take place). The Lord is saying, 'let your heart be changed.' And from John 4 we see: Establish common ground. You need to reach out to someone that is culturally different than you. Even if your family doesn't. Cannot let our cultures interfere with the truth of God's Word. We are not white Christians, etc. we are Christians. Culture bows to the Kingdom of God. Reconciliation leads to renewal. Personal and cooperate.
I want to sincerely apologize to every person of ethnicity in this fellowship and especially our African American brothers and sisters who have experienced racism at the hands of a white person. I apologize for the way, we the majority, the whites, have historically and even now socially& structurally impose unfair treatment to any black person or any person of color. I repent of white privilege (repeat) and pray that all Americans of any race will experience the God given freedoms of this land we call the United States of America. I give you my personal word that I will stand with you to fight any social injustice you may ever face. I have done this before and will do it again as any need arises. Just say, no Christian who is black should ever play the 'black card' or any person of ethnicity should ever play the 'ethnic card' to get out of personally responsibility or their own sin but again I will stand with you, personally, in any legitimate grievance or concern if you ever need me. I promise. I want to say especially to any black man who has been embarrassed in front of his wife or children because of something said or done by a white person—I say to you I am truly sorry—may God give you the grace you need and may God change that person (s) heart.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Prayer--Connection with God
From: Saturday, January 13, 2007
Prayer Thought...
I read a story today of a factory worker who was new on the job. She worked in clothing factory. Over her machine there was a card that read, "If your threads get tangled, send for the foreman."
Wasn't to many days and her threads got tangled. She thought she would try and fix it herself and… Finally she called the foreman and when he came he said, "You have been working on this haven't you?" She said, "Yes, I did my best."
He said, "No, you did not do your best. Your best is to call for me."
That illustrates how we need to turn our situations over to God in prayer! Here's some observations about prayer that will help us tonight as we do our best:
+ Prayer reaches up. (I John 5:14,15) The truth is, we reach heaven when we pray!
+ Prayer reaches in. (Isaiah 30:15) It draws the power of God into our lives. It is a spiritual magnifying glass. We catch God's rays, His power and focus it upon our hearts and our spirits can spontaneously burst into flames. Our hearts can be set on fire! It unleashes power in the life of the one who prays. 3.
+Prayer reaches out. (Acts 13:1-3 ) No limit to how far or how fast prayer reaches out. We know light travels 186,000 miles in one second! Wow! But prayer is faster! When we pray, the message goes immediately to God, and by faith, we know the answer is immediately on its way. How many times have you been unable to go to someone but you were so burdened for them. You prayed and knew immediately God was working!!!
+Prayer reaches through. (Acts 12:5-19 ) There are no barriers that can withstand the power of prayer. No obstacles can withstand the powerful thrust of prayer. It doesn't matter the difficulty—doesn't matter if there is a situation that seems to be hopeless—seems to be no resolution---remember PRAYER REACHES THROUGH!!!
CONCL: Praise God! The best we can do is pray. Not just talk about prayer. But really pray. The more we pray, the more power we will have. Little prayer, little power. Much prayer, much power.
Let's not try and untangle things ourselves. Let's call for the foreman. That is the best we can do! And that is a prayer thought
Prayer Thought...
I read a story today of a factory worker who was new on the job. She worked in clothing factory. Over her machine there was a card that read, "If your threads get tangled, send for the foreman."
Wasn't to many days and her threads got tangled. She thought she would try and fix it herself and… Finally she called the foreman and when he came he said, "You have been working on this haven't you?" She said, "Yes, I did my best."
He said, "No, you did not do your best. Your best is to call for me."
That illustrates how we need to turn our situations over to God in prayer! Here's some observations about prayer that will help us tonight as we do our best:
+ Prayer reaches up. (I John 5:14,15) The truth is, we reach heaven when we pray!
+ Prayer reaches in. (Isaiah 30:15) It draws the power of God into our lives. It is a spiritual magnifying glass. We catch God's rays, His power and focus it upon our hearts and our spirits can spontaneously burst into flames. Our hearts can be set on fire! It unleashes power in the life of the one who prays. 3.
+Prayer reaches out. (Acts 13:1-3 ) No limit to how far or how fast prayer reaches out. We know light travels 186,000 miles in one second! Wow! But prayer is faster! When we pray, the message goes immediately to God, and by faith, we know the answer is immediately on its way. How many times have you been unable to go to someone but you were so burdened for them. You prayed and knew immediately God was working!!!
+Prayer reaches through. (Acts 12:5-19 ) There are no barriers that can withstand the power of prayer. No obstacles can withstand the powerful thrust of prayer. It doesn't matter the difficulty—doesn't matter if there is a situation that seems to be hopeless—seems to be no resolution---remember PRAYER REACHES THROUGH!!!
CONCL: Praise God! The best we can do is pray. Not just talk about prayer. But really pray. The more we pray, the more power we will have. Little prayer, little power. Much prayer, much power.
Let's not try and untangle things ourselves. Let's call for the foreman. That is the best we can do! And that is a prayer thought
The Midnight Hour
From: October 31, '06
[Spinning record by Wilson Pickett "Gonna wait till the midnight hour"
Matthew 25:1-6 "At midnight the cry rang out:…"
Romans 13:11-12 CEV "You know what sort of times we live in, and so you should live properly. It is time to wake up. You know that the day when we will be saved is nearer now than when we first put our faith in the Lord. [12] Night is almost over, and day will soon appear. We must stop behaving as people do in the dark and be ready to live in the light."
One translation of verse 11 says, "The hour is come to wake up for the end is near…" And it says of our text in Mt. 25:6 "A cry went out at midnight, the bridegroom is coming…"
I believe we are living in the hour before Jesus returns. He is coming again. We need a personal revelation/conviction that JC is coming again—will keep you pure! There are some events in the Bible that happened at midnight and then put ourselves in those places as we think about the coming of the Lord:
Judges 16:1-3 Here we see Samson sleeping in enemy territory – he was sleeping in Gaza. But it says at midnight he woke up. It is time to wake up and rip out the gates of the enemy and do some exploits for God. It's 11:59 and time to do some exploits for God!
Acts 16A Paul & Silas in jail and they did what? That is an exploit when things are going bad for you to… Need to live our lives like it is 11:59.
Ruth 3: 1 Story of Ruth – awesome story—beautiful story & picture! Again, I want us to see the church here – you and me. It's time to do our best for Jesus! Boaz redeems Ruth and takes care of her. But in verse 8 it says concerning Boaz "Now it happened at midnight that the man [Boaz] was startled, and turned himself; and there, a woman was lying at his feet [Ruth]." Boaz had been good to Ruth & she wanted to show her love—she wanted to show her appreciation for what he had done for her. In verse 7 it says she came in "softly" or "quietly" as not to disturb Boaz. In other words she wanted to do her best – she wanted to show her love by doing her best! What time is it? -- 11:59. Everybody knows you play your best in the 4th quarter and you study your best. Time to do your best!!
1 Kings 3:16-20 Story of two women (actually harlots/prostitutes) who gave birth to one son each in the same house. It says one of the sons died because the mother laid on him in the night (talk about sad). They have come before Solomon for a judgment because of what happened. One of the ladies is speaking to Solomon and says in verse 20 says, "So she arose in the middle of the night (at the midnight hour) and took my son from my side, while I slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom." Sounds like something that would make it on the Jerry Springer show! Bizarre! Want you to see this –at the midnight hour one woman deceived another. You do realize we live in time of great deception – don't you? It's time to be free from deception. Walk out of your…
The Apostle Peter reminds us, "Be on your guard and stay awake. Your enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack." 1 Peter 5:8 CEV. Jesus was speaking to his disciples in Mt. 24:4 NIV and he says to them, "Watch out that no one deceives you." And in verse 5 he says, "For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, and will deceive many." In Matt. 13:24-30 Jesus gives the parable of the wheat & the tares (weeds). Jesus says, "…The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat,…" This is a picture of what is happening at the midnight hour –what is happening today. There are some weeds in the church
The devil is the one who puts weeds in the church –they are in my church and they are in your church. People who can sing like angels on Sunday but live like the devil during the week—they are weeds. People who have one foot in the church and the other foot is in the bar! Really going to find great people there – especially at the single bars…
Luke 11:5-9 Great searching for bread here at midnight. This man was bold to go to a friend at midnight – he persisted and because of it he got what he needed. And in the same way there is a great searching for truth at this midnight hour. In John 6 Jesus says He is the Bread of Heaven—Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. This is a great word for us – Jesus/truth will not be found by the causal – by those who are just wanting to get by –we have to seek him with all our hearts—day by day, everyday! It's time to seek Jesus w all our hearts… Won't find the truth/Jesus by accident – have to seek for it. Prov. 2:2-4 NLT says, "Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight and understanding. Search for them as you would for lost money or hidden treasure." Look at those verbs!!!!!!!!
Concl: You can attend church, be involved, sing, and still go to hell. You can be religious but do you know Jesus in your heart? If we could do a countdown – 60, 30, 20, 10, 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 –and an alarm clock went off and the midnight hour came – How would you be living? What do you need to change? What time is it? 11:59 At midnight it is too late.
[Spinning record by Wilson Pickett "Gonna wait till the midnight hour"
Matthew 25:1-6 "At midnight the cry rang out:…"
Romans 13:11-12 CEV "You know what sort of times we live in, and so you should live properly. It is time to wake up. You know that the day when we will be saved is nearer now than when we first put our faith in the Lord. [12] Night is almost over, and day will soon appear. We must stop behaving as people do in the dark and be ready to live in the light."
One translation of verse 11 says, "The hour is come to wake up for the end is near…" And it says of our text in Mt. 25:6 "A cry went out at midnight, the bridegroom is coming…"
I believe we are living in the hour before Jesus returns. He is coming again. We need a personal revelation/conviction that JC is coming again—will keep you pure! There are some events in the Bible that happened at midnight and then put ourselves in those places as we think about the coming of the Lord:
Judges 16:1-3 Here we see Samson sleeping in enemy territory – he was sleeping in Gaza. But it says at midnight he woke up. It is time to wake up and rip out the gates of the enemy and do some exploits for God. It's 11:59 and time to do some exploits for God!
Acts 16A Paul & Silas in jail and they did what? That is an exploit when things are going bad for you to… Need to live our lives like it is 11:59.
Ruth 3: 1 Story of Ruth – awesome story—beautiful story & picture! Again, I want us to see the church here – you and me. It's time to do our best for Jesus! Boaz redeems Ruth and takes care of her. But in verse 8 it says concerning Boaz "Now it happened at midnight that the man [Boaz] was startled, and turned himself; and there, a woman was lying at his feet [Ruth]." Boaz had been good to Ruth & she wanted to show her love—she wanted to show her appreciation for what he had done for her. In verse 7 it says she came in "softly" or "quietly" as not to disturb Boaz. In other words she wanted to do her best – she wanted to show her love by doing her best! What time is it? -- 11:59. Everybody knows you play your best in the 4th quarter and you study your best. Time to do your best!!
1 Kings 3:16-20 Story of two women (actually harlots/prostitutes) who gave birth to one son each in the same house. It says one of the sons died because the mother laid on him in the night (talk about sad). They have come before Solomon for a judgment because of what happened. One of the ladies is speaking to Solomon and says in verse 20 says, "So she arose in the middle of the night (at the midnight hour) and took my son from my side, while I slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom." Sounds like something that would make it on the Jerry Springer show! Bizarre! Want you to see this –at the midnight hour one woman deceived another. You do realize we live in time of great deception – don't you? It's time to be free from deception. Walk out of your…
The Apostle Peter reminds us, "Be on your guard and stay awake. Your enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack." 1 Peter 5:8 CEV. Jesus was speaking to his disciples in Mt. 24:4 NIV and he says to them, "Watch out that no one deceives you." And in verse 5 he says, "For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, and will deceive many." In Matt. 13:24-30 Jesus gives the parable of the wheat & the tares (weeds). Jesus says, "…The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat,…" This is a picture of what is happening at the midnight hour –what is happening today. There are some weeds in the church
The devil is the one who puts weeds in the church –they are in my church and they are in your church. People who can sing like angels on Sunday but live like the devil during the week—they are weeds. People who have one foot in the church and the other foot is in the bar! Really going to find great people there – especially at the single bars…
Luke 11:5-9 Great searching for bread here at midnight. This man was bold to go to a friend at midnight – he persisted and because of it he got what he needed. And in the same way there is a great searching for truth at this midnight hour. In John 6 Jesus says He is the Bread of Heaven—Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. This is a great word for us – Jesus/truth will not be found by the causal – by those who are just wanting to get by –we have to seek him with all our hearts—day by day, everyday! It's time to seek Jesus w all our hearts… Won't find the truth/Jesus by accident – have to seek for it. Prov. 2:2-4 NLT says, "Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight and understanding. Search for them as you would for lost money or hidden treasure." Look at those verbs!!!!!!!!
Concl: You can attend church, be involved, sing, and still go to hell. You can be religious but do you know Jesus in your heart? If we could do a countdown – 60, 30, 20, 10, 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 –and an alarm clock went off and the midnight hour came – How would you be living? What do you need to change? What time is it? 11:59 At midnight it is too late.
North Central University
From: Wednesday, November 1, '06
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
On the grave of Ezekiel Aikle in East Dalhouise Cemetery, Nova Scotia: Here lies, Ezekiel Aikle, Age 102, The Good, Die Young.
In a London cemetery: Here lies Ann Mann, Who lived an old maid, But died an old Mann, Dec. 8, 1767.
In a Ribbesford, England cemetery, The children of Israel wanted bread, And the Lord sent them manna, Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife, And the Devil sent him Anna.
In a Georgia cemetery: "I told you I was sick!"
OK, here are some famous last words from 'famous last words.com'
* What does this button do?
* So, you're a cannibal.
* Are you sure the power is off?
*Which wire was I supposed to cut?
* I wonder where the mother bear is?
* What duck?
Last words are important. Old Testament—blessings. Here are some of the last words of Jesus Christ. Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you and you shall be my…" This is what has made the biggest difference in my life; next to my salvation is the Holy Spirit Baptism. I have seen so many people after they have given their lives to Christ, when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit it changed their lives.
Need to understand there is more. HS baptism will give you greater intimacy with Jesus and will give you greater power. Some say when you get saved you get the whole ball of wax. Used to be a great preacher, J. Vernon McGee, would teach thru the Bible and say in his Southern drawl, "Friends, when you get saved you get the whole ball of wax. But the Bible teaches different. I have a friend who was telling me about a preacher's wife and her friend that would attend his church for special meeting. She was taught when… One time he was leaving church and they cornered the pastor in the parking lot. He went thru the whole thing with them again. All of a sudden it got cloudy and lighting struck a light pole just a little ways from them. He started moving and they followed him crying and speaking in tongues! She had just said while she was driving that day. Just say, God does not need to send lightening, in fact don't… Just believe the Scriptures! It all comes down to trust—just believing God & the Bible!
There was a Baptist Greek Scholar who was taught that if you learn another language that was the gift of speaking in tongues. He was taught everything supernatural was natural. But he started studying Greek and became a Greek Scholar. He discovered was not dialetos, a language learned—it was gloss (glows) alalia –a language given! Now he is a Baptecostal! How many of you have heard, "Hang on!" Or "Let Go!" What are you suppose to do? Hang on or let go? Well, it's different for everybody:
Some need to let go ad some need to hang on. You will find in the Book of Acts it was different in each case. But one thing is that they spoke in tongues—languages given.
a). Lay hands on… b). At altars c). On own at home. Ned to understand God did not send you here just to…there is more! . Need to understand there are some requirements.
a. Got to be born-again.
b. Desire/thirst. Why not get all you can? Mt. 5:6 hunger… shall be filled (Mark 11:24)
c. Got to believe. Some have to get over prejudice. Maybe tradition.
Here's what I really want to talk about today: Need to understand we can have a 4 Dimensional Relationship with the Holy Spirit. First, before you were saved the Holy Spirit was WITH you. (Gen. 6:3) spirit not always strive with man. Just say if you are praying for people realize. Second, The Holy Spirit comes to reside IN (within) you as a believer. 1 Cor. 3:16 "…you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you…" (1 Peter 1:11 John 14:17). If you say the Holy Spirit is IN you—you are absolutely correct! The minute you accepted Jesus. How does Jesus get in your heart? —Thru the Holy Spirit. Third, We are to be LED BY the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:14 …. OT, cloud & fire. NT, peace & integrity!) Fourth, another dimension of your relationship with the Holy Spirit is that He wants to come UPON you. These are the last words of Jesus Christ! Acts 1:8 In the Greek it is F-Hou-mos. It is a different word than IN or WITH or LED BY. Obviously, the Holy Spirit is not UPON every believer. WITH every person and IN every believer but not…
Jesus said, "You shall receive power (might & ability) when the Holy Spirit shall come UPON you…" When we talk about the Baptism of Holy Spirit we are not just talking about the Holy Spirit being WITH you or being IN you—we are talking about the Holy Spirit coming UPON you.
We have to understand that we are vessels of the Lord. If a vessel is left alone the water IN it will evaporate. There is a big difference between getting filled up and leaving the water flowing. You can be a cup and get some water in you, so to speak or you can put your cup under the water and be a blessing! Holy Spirit wants to come UPON you in power. Lots of benefits to this: 1 Cor 14:2,4 edification, Rom. 8:26-27 able to pray in line more effectively with perfect will of God & can even pray for the unknown. Jude 20 will stimulate your faith! Isa. 28:12-12 spiritual refreshing.
Some of you want this but you want this 'without' the tongues. Somebody told you to be careful you might get a demon! Got a Greek word for that—dumb, really dumb! Luke 11:11-13
So how do you receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit?
+Have to be active. Have to do something. Faith without works is dead. Can't receive passively. "Well if God wants… like saying, 'If God wants to save me.'' Mt. 5:6 Hunger & thirst…
+Have to believe. God wants you to have this; the HS wants to come UPON… But everything we receive we receive by faith. Devil will tell you: a) You are making it up b). It's not real c). It's just you. Yes, it may sound foolish to your intellect but you have to believe. The way to believe is to obey. Eph. 5:18
1. Ask.
2. Praise Ps. 22:3 says, "God inhabits.." The more you praise Him the more His presence will increase in you. Eventually you won't know what to say in your own language.
3. Now just speak in tongues. God will give the utterance—but you do your part—you speak! Ps. 81:10 Open mouth… Yield you voice to the Spirit!!!
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
On the grave of Ezekiel Aikle in East Dalhouise Cemetery, Nova Scotia: Here lies, Ezekiel Aikle, Age 102, The Good, Die Young.
In a London cemetery: Here lies Ann Mann, Who lived an old maid, But died an old Mann, Dec. 8, 1767.
In a Ribbesford, England cemetery, The children of Israel wanted bread, And the Lord sent them manna, Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife, And the Devil sent him Anna.
In a Georgia cemetery: "I told you I was sick!"
OK, here are some famous last words from 'famous last words.com'
* What does this button do?
* So, you're a cannibal.
* Are you sure the power is off?
*Which wire was I supposed to cut?
* I wonder where the mother bear is?
* What duck?
Last words are important. Old Testament—blessings. Here are some of the last words of Jesus Christ. Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you and you shall be my…" This is what has made the biggest difference in my life; next to my salvation is the Holy Spirit Baptism. I have seen so many people after they have given their lives to Christ, when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit it changed their lives.
Need to understand there is more. HS baptism will give you greater intimacy with Jesus and will give you greater power. Some say when you get saved you get the whole ball of wax. Used to be a great preacher, J. Vernon McGee, would teach thru the Bible and say in his Southern drawl, "Friends, when you get saved you get the whole ball of wax. But the Bible teaches different. I have a friend who was telling me about a preacher's wife and her friend that would attend his church for special meeting. She was taught when… One time he was leaving church and they cornered the pastor in the parking lot. He went thru the whole thing with them again. All of a sudden it got cloudy and lighting struck a light pole just a little ways from them. He started moving and they followed him crying and speaking in tongues! She had just said while she was driving that day. Just say, God does not need to send lightening, in fact don't… Just believe the Scriptures! It all comes down to trust—just believing God & the Bible!
There was a Baptist Greek Scholar who was taught that if you learn another language that was the gift of speaking in tongues. He was taught everything supernatural was natural. But he started studying Greek and became a Greek Scholar. He discovered was not dialetos, a language learned—it was gloss (glows) alalia –a language given! Now he is a Baptecostal! How many of you have heard, "Hang on!" Or "Let Go!" What are you suppose to do? Hang on or let go? Well, it's different for everybody:
Some need to let go ad some need to hang on. You will find in the Book of Acts it was different in each case. But one thing is that they spoke in tongues—languages given.
a). Lay hands on… b). At altars c). On own at home. Ned to understand God did not send you here just to…there is more! . Need to understand there are some requirements.
a. Got to be born-again.
b. Desire/thirst. Why not get all you can? Mt. 5:6 hunger… shall be filled (Mark 11:24)
c. Got to believe. Some have to get over prejudice. Maybe tradition.
Here's what I really want to talk about today: Need to understand we can have a 4 Dimensional Relationship with the Holy Spirit. First, before you were saved the Holy Spirit was WITH you. (Gen. 6:3) spirit not always strive with man. Just say if you are praying for people realize. Second, The Holy Spirit comes to reside IN (within) you as a believer. 1 Cor. 3:16 "…you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you…" (1 Peter 1:11 John 14:17). If you say the Holy Spirit is IN you—you are absolutely correct! The minute you accepted Jesus. How does Jesus get in your heart? —Thru the Holy Spirit. Third, We are to be LED BY the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:14 …. OT, cloud & fire. NT, peace & integrity!) Fourth, another dimension of your relationship with the Holy Spirit is that He wants to come UPON you. These are the last words of Jesus Christ! Acts 1:8 In the Greek it is F-Hou-mos. It is a different word than IN or WITH or LED BY. Obviously, the Holy Spirit is not UPON every believer. WITH every person and IN every believer but not…
Jesus said, "You shall receive power (might & ability) when the Holy Spirit shall come UPON you…" When we talk about the Baptism of Holy Spirit we are not just talking about the Holy Spirit being WITH you or being IN you—we are talking about the Holy Spirit coming UPON you.
We have to understand that we are vessels of the Lord. If a vessel is left alone the water IN it will evaporate. There is a big difference between getting filled up and leaving the water flowing. You can be a cup and get some water in you, so to speak or you can put your cup under the water and be a blessing! Holy Spirit wants to come UPON you in power. Lots of benefits to this: 1 Cor 14:2,4 edification, Rom. 8:26-27 able to pray in line more effectively with perfect will of God & can even pray for the unknown. Jude 20 will stimulate your faith! Isa. 28:12-12 spiritual refreshing.
Some of you want this but you want this 'without' the tongues. Somebody told you to be careful you might get a demon! Got a Greek word for that—dumb, really dumb! Luke 11:11-13
So how do you receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit?
+Have to be active. Have to do something. Faith without works is dead. Can't receive passively. "Well if God wants… like saying, 'If God wants to save me.'' Mt. 5:6 Hunger & thirst…
+Have to believe. God wants you to have this; the HS wants to come UPON… But everything we receive we receive by faith. Devil will tell you: a) You are making it up b). It's not real c). It's just you. Yes, it may sound foolish to your intellect but you have to believe. The way to believe is to obey. Eph. 5:18
1. Ask.
2. Praise Ps. 22:3 says, "God inhabits.." The more you praise Him the more His presence will increase in you. Eventually you won't know what to say in your own language.
3. Now just speak in tongues. God will give the utterance—but you do your part—you speak! Ps. 81:10 Open mouth… Yield you voice to the Spirit!!!
My recent fall and hospitalization
From: Monday, January 14, 2008
For My Friends,
I slipped on the ice in front of my house on Dec. 17th and ended up being in the hospital for 3 days with BPPV (vertigo). Missed preaching one Sunday and then had to use a cane on Dec. 30th but am doing much better now. Instead of dizziness I just have the "wave thing" going on. Am excercising and trustting God for total healing. If you are suffering in some way or no someone who is, I hope this article helps.
Bless you all, Papa G.
Being ill/injured has really reinforced some life lessons for me this Christmas that I want to pass on to you:
1. It gives you a new compassion for the sick and afflicted. Certainly none of us ever want to just go through the motions and do ministry. Even when people seem to drive us crazy at times, we never want to lose our compassion for the hurting and needy. Compassion is something we need to ask the Lord for so we can keep our ministries real. I never want to minister with dry eyes—my prayer is that all of us do our ministries with 'moist eyes.'
2. It gives you a deep appreciation for all health care workers. I received great care at Provena Hospital from every doctor, nurse, tech person and staff member. Dr. Todd Kiskadden, one of the doctors of our church even came to visit me Sunday morning and prayed for me—I was so incredibly touched. Hats off to health care workers who express kindness, patience and tenderness for the sick and afflicted in our communities. They have disciplined themselves to learn, study, and be equipped to serve others. I cannot say enough about the great care given me by Dr. Frank Wrestler and a host of nurses and hospital staff. I am so grateful and thankful.
3. It makes you thankful for simple acts of human kindness. As I was being wheeled down different hallways at Provena, people were patting me on the shoulder and saying things like 'praying for you pastor,' 'love you pastor' and receiving phone calls, visits and gifts from so many from our wonderful leadership team and church family made me so thankful. Kindness is such a force of power and when you are laid low by illness or injury it gives you such hope and encouragement which absolutely builds your faith.
I think sometimes we think we shouldn't say things like, "if you need anything" or "if there is anything I can do please let me know."—but the truth is those words are incredible powerful, helpful and full of healing! Of course anytime we say that and someone contacts us for help we need to make sure we follow through and do what we promised. But so many said those kinds of things and it strengthened me greatly.
God is with us this Christmas. And just as He is helping me and encouraging me through this time in my life, I am confident that "We are well aware that God works with those who love him, those who have been called in accordance with his purpose, and turns everything to their good." Romans 8:28 NJB
Everyone needs encouragement and hope. You might even forward this note on to people you care about. May God bless you and your family.
For My Friends,
I slipped on the ice in front of my house on Dec. 17th and ended up being in the hospital for 3 days with BPPV (vertigo). Missed preaching one Sunday and then had to use a cane on Dec. 30th but am doing much better now. Instead of dizziness I just have the "wave thing" going on. Am excercising and trustting God for total healing. If you are suffering in some way or no someone who is, I hope this article helps.
Bless you all, Papa G.
Being ill/injured has really reinforced some life lessons for me this Christmas that I want to pass on to you:
1. It gives you a new compassion for the sick and afflicted. Certainly none of us ever want to just go through the motions and do ministry. Even when people seem to drive us crazy at times, we never want to lose our compassion for the hurting and needy. Compassion is something we need to ask the Lord for so we can keep our ministries real. I never want to minister with dry eyes—my prayer is that all of us do our ministries with 'moist eyes.'
2. It gives you a deep appreciation for all health care workers. I received great care at Provena Hospital from every doctor, nurse, tech person and staff member. Dr. Todd Kiskadden, one of the doctors of our church even came to visit me Sunday morning and prayed for me—I was so incredibly touched. Hats off to health care workers who express kindness, patience and tenderness for the sick and afflicted in our communities. They have disciplined themselves to learn, study, and be equipped to serve others. I cannot say enough about the great care given me by Dr. Frank Wrestler and a host of nurses and hospital staff. I am so grateful and thankful.
3. It makes you thankful for simple acts of human kindness. As I was being wheeled down different hallways at Provena, people were patting me on the shoulder and saying things like 'praying for you pastor,' 'love you pastor' and receiving phone calls, visits and gifts from so many from our wonderful leadership team and church family made me so thankful. Kindness is such a force of power and when you are laid low by illness or injury it gives you such hope and encouragement which absolutely builds your faith.
I think sometimes we think we shouldn't say things like, "if you need anything" or "if there is anything I can do please let me know."—but the truth is those words are incredible powerful, helpful and full of healing! Of course anytime we say that and someone contacts us for help we need to make sure we follow through and do what we promised. But so many said those kinds of things and it strengthened me greatly.
God is with us this Christmas. And just as He is helping me and encouraging me through this time in my life, I am confident that "We are well aware that God works with those who love him, those who have been called in accordance with his purpose, and turns everything to their good." Romans 8:28 NJB
Everyone needs encouragement and hope. You might even forward this note on to people you care about. May God bless you and your family.
REAL FREEDOM
REAL FREEDOM
NCU Chapel – December 5, 2006
I want to talk about the difference Jesus makes in our past, present and future. Jesus made an incredible profound statement in John 8. He said, [32]"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make your free. [36] "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." You will really be free, He said. What was Jesus talking about? What does He set me free from?
He wants to set you free the Pain of Your Past/Yesterday.
So many people are stuck in the past and it makes them so unhappy. They hold on to hurts—reacting to the past. Discovered from working with people that there are two basic kinds of things people have a hard time getting over: resentment and regret. Resentment over the way people have hurt them. Regret over the way they have hurt other people or themselves. Jesus wants to set you free from both of them. That is really a good thing! Isaiah 43:18-19 NCV "The Lord says, 'Forget about what has happened before. Do not think about the past. Instead, look at the new thing I am going to do.'" You say, "I would really like to do that, but I can't. They hurt me so deeply. What they did hurts so bad, I can't forget what they did. I just can't let it go."
You are right—that is why you need Jesus! Humanly it is impossible to forget the past. You need supernatural power, you need God's love/power in your heart—never get free from the past until God is really working in your life (may be visiting here today and…). Where is God when you hurt? He is close to you. But you have to be plugged in—God is not distant—you just have to be plugged in. There are so many people who feel like Humpty Dumpty, "Nothing could put me back together again." Friend, you are wrong. God specializes in freedom! Freedom from the past.
Jesus also wants to set you free from the PRESSURES OF TODAY.
This I know about pressure—when it's on you need two things: strength & stability. God offers them both to you. "God never grows faint or weary…He gives power to the those who are tired and worn out." Isaiah 40:28-29 NLT God says I want to give you power when you are worn out. The reason so many are tired all the time is because they were never meant to live life simply on their own power. God designed you to have a relationship with Him, to be plugged in to Him, to get power from Him! I was working on my laptop one time and it kept shutting down because the battery was drained. So I plugged it in the wall but about every two minutes it would shut down on me. I would restart and reboot but it kept shutting down. After 3 or 5 times I finally figured out that I had plugged it into the wall but it wasn't plugged properly into my laptop. I was running off a drained battery. Life can be like that. You keep shutting down when your battery's drained—when your emotional, physical, spiritual battery is drained, you will shut down. But when we build our lives on Jesus Christ, when we make Him the center of our lives—then we can handle anything… And that is the truth.
One more thing —Jesus Christ wants to set you free from pessimistic about TOMORROW.
Lot of pessimistic people today. People have lost faith in a lot of things. But when you really get down to it, most people are discouraged about personal issues:
a.People lose hope when they face situations that need to be changed but they just don't seem ...
b. Another reason we lose hope and become pessimistic is when we don't know the purpose that God made us for. Bible is very clear that we were all created for a purpose, a reason. The sad thing is that so many people go thru life never discovering (a) a relationship with God, or (b) the purpose God put them on earth for.
Have you ever wondered, "What does God think of me?" The Bible is clear what God think about you. "I know what I am planning for you," says the Lord, "I have good plans for you, not plan to hurt you, I will give you hope and a good future." Jer. 29:11 NCV. That is what God is thinking about you. He has plans for you—good plans, filled with hope—and we all have to have hope—have to have hope to cope. Can live without food for 40 days, 3 days without water, 8 minutes without air, but you can't live one second without hope. The moment you lose hope you are no longer living, you are just existing—that's when get pessimistic. We are living in a time of rapid change—everything seems to be up in the air. Need what Alvin Toffler calls "islands of stability."—something that never changes in your life, some emotional and spiritual anchors that hold you down when everything else is flying apart.
Do you have spiritual anchors? Do you have a real relationship to God? Psalm 125:1 LB "Those who trust in the Lord are as steady as Mount Zion unmoved by any circumstance."-This I know, God has a gift for you through Christ—it is freedom, freedom from the pain of your past, the pressures of today and being pessimistic about tomorrow.
NCU Chapel – December 5, 2006
I want to talk about the difference Jesus makes in our past, present and future. Jesus made an incredible profound statement in John 8. He said, [32]"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make your free. [36] "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." You will really be free, He said. What was Jesus talking about? What does He set me free from?
He wants to set you free the Pain of Your Past/Yesterday.
So many people are stuck in the past and it makes them so unhappy. They hold on to hurts—reacting to the past. Discovered from working with people that there are two basic kinds of things people have a hard time getting over: resentment and regret. Resentment over the way people have hurt them. Regret over the way they have hurt other people or themselves. Jesus wants to set you free from both of them. That is really a good thing! Isaiah 43:18-19 NCV "The Lord says, 'Forget about what has happened before. Do not think about the past. Instead, look at the new thing I am going to do.'" You say, "I would really like to do that, but I can't. They hurt me so deeply. What they did hurts so bad, I can't forget what they did. I just can't let it go."
You are right—that is why you need Jesus! Humanly it is impossible to forget the past. You need supernatural power, you need God's love/power in your heart—never get free from the past until God is really working in your life (may be visiting here today and…). Where is God when you hurt? He is close to you. But you have to be plugged in—God is not distant—you just have to be plugged in. There are so many people who feel like Humpty Dumpty, "Nothing could put me back together again." Friend, you are wrong. God specializes in freedom! Freedom from the past.
Jesus also wants to set you free from the PRESSURES OF TODAY.
This I know about pressure—when it's on you need two things: strength & stability. God offers them both to you. "God never grows faint or weary…He gives power to the those who are tired and worn out." Isaiah 40:28-29 NLT God says I want to give you power when you are worn out. The reason so many are tired all the time is because they were never meant to live life simply on their own power. God designed you to have a relationship with Him, to be plugged in to Him, to get power from Him! I was working on my laptop one time and it kept shutting down because the battery was drained. So I plugged it in the wall but about every two minutes it would shut down on me. I would restart and reboot but it kept shutting down. After 3 or 5 times I finally figured out that I had plugged it into the wall but it wasn't plugged properly into my laptop. I was running off a drained battery. Life can be like that. You keep shutting down when your battery's drained—when your emotional, physical, spiritual battery is drained, you will shut down. But when we build our lives on Jesus Christ, when we make Him the center of our lives—then we can handle anything… And that is the truth.
One more thing —Jesus Christ wants to set you free from pessimistic about TOMORROW.
Lot of pessimistic people today. People have lost faith in a lot of things. But when you really get down to it, most people are discouraged about personal issues:
a.People lose hope when they face situations that need to be changed but they just don't seem ...
b. Another reason we lose hope and become pessimistic is when we don't know the purpose that God made us for. Bible is very clear that we were all created for a purpose, a reason. The sad thing is that so many people go thru life never discovering (a) a relationship with God, or (b) the purpose God put them on earth for.
Have you ever wondered, "What does God think of me?" The Bible is clear what God think about you. "I know what I am planning for you," says the Lord, "I have good plans for you, not plan to hurt you, I will give you hope and a good future." Jer. 29:11 NCV. That is what God is thinking about you. He has plans for you—good plans, filled with hope—and we all have to have hope—have to have hope to cope. Can live without food for 40 days, 3 days without water, 8 minutes without air, but you can't live one second without hope. The moment you lose hope you are no longer living, you are just existing—that's when get pessimistic. We are living in a time of rapid change—everything seems to be up in the air. Need what Alvin Toffler calls "islands of stability."—something that never changes in your life, some emotional and spiritual anchors that hold you down when everything else is flying apart.
Do you have spiritual anchors? Do you have a real relationship to God? Psalm 125:1 LB "Those who trust in the Lord are as steady as Mount Zion unmoved by any circumstance."-This I know, God has a gift for you through Christ—it is freedom, freedom from the pain of your past, the pressures of today and being pessimistic about tomorrow.
Healthy Ministries/Churches
From: Tuesday, May 29, 2007
One of the joys of my life is mentoring young men and women in the ministry. That is why my blogs are usually in outline form so they (you) can re-use the teachings in your own ministires. Here is subject close to my heart. We need to have healthy ministries. This is a teaching I did in Nebraska last year and if it is a blessing, please give me some feedback and use it!. Passing the baton, Gary Grogan/alias Papa G.
PASTORS RETREAT..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Theme: 'Choices and Changes' that come our way. Keeping a right attitude in the journey. (Sometimes really tough to do.)
TS: In this first session we want to look at the 'Essential….'
SESSION #1: ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF A HEALTHY CHURCH and use Acts 2:40-47 as a …
-Acts 2 outline: [a] Fire of Pentecost-HS [b] Fuel of Pentecost-Word [c] Friendship of Pentecost—Cultural of Relationships.
-Want to be clear that church health & church growth is not a numbers game, it is about fruitfulness and durability. In other words a ministry that produces fruit and that fruit lasts! And PLEASE remember we are not called to "how many" but "who!"
1. There is a commitment to prayer. Jer. 33:3
-We don't just believe in prayer or just talk about prayer but we really pray. Corporately and individually. Easy to run a service but a challenge to run a prayer meeting and not go to extremes! Dull or crazy!
-Share insight from Dr. Terry Tekyl based on his book the Presence…
Þ Insight: Presence Based Church
-He says there are basically two types of churches. In Martha churches people are at the center and Jesus is kind of… Calls this a 'head' church. Busy, worried, activities, programs.
-In Mary church he says Jesus is at the center and people are right here… These are presence-based churches. Greatest desire is the presence of God, people of the presence, listen to His Word.
+Wilkerson: David and Solomon Church.
-Leonard Sweet, Methodist-- C'ville seminar that pleaded with us to be the church in town where people could come and be wowed, not with a program but with God's presence.
-Only way that can happen is if we are people of prayer.
Insight: With so many models & ideas have you ever really thought about 'What Makes a Great Church'? Many things for sure, but it seems to me there are three basic things…
A. A place where the truth is proclaimed. Jesus saves…
B. Relationships are built. In order to build a culture of relationships some things we need to know about how groups function in the church world.
1. Large group mtgs—where life decisions are made. 2. Small groups—life process takes place. 3. Medium size groups—is usually where ministry takes place. Choir,etc.
C. Needs are met. Got to have systems and policies in place to help people or you will get your budget/yourself in trouble.
2. There is simple/functional organization and structure
-Of course organization is important --Mark 6:30-44 -- Feeding of 5,000
-Unhealthy churches are overly organized for their size. Healthy churches have simple organization
-Some have mtgs after mtgs to decide basic things. Have to have an amendment to constitution (act of congress) to get anything done.
-Believe in the 'set man principle'. Theocracy…
Þ Insight: Structure helps or hinders health! (This is big boys & girls!) J Churchsmart!
1 Cor. 12:28 "And God has appointed these in the church: first apostle, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, (we like all that but some how blink when we read the rest) helps, administrations, varieties of tongues."
-Service/helps and things properly ordered can bring the blessings of God!
3. The leadership understands its role is to equip people for ministry.
-Ephesians 4:11-16 Unhealthy churches don't recruit new people very good.
-Our vision as leaders will determine the future of our churches! Wow! We see what others don't always see—we see the invisible.
-Healthy churches have leaders who become possessed with a cause greater than they are [that is the why of missions!].
-As a pastor my passion is to see our people grow in X. How can I get them to grow in X.
4. There is a desire to grow.
-Acts 2:47 [read text GW]
-Another reason we are committed to Great Commission. Mat. 28:19-20.
-And if we are going to going to grow we have to 'challenge the process.' Andy Stanley has a great teaching on 'Challenging the Process.' He says leaders like change, growth, increase, etc…people like sameness… If we are going to grow, then he says we have to challenge the process, then we change, and then we grow.
5. There is a Biblical commitment to Purity/Holiness.
-Hebrews 12:14 Ron Auch gives an interesting interpretation of this verse.
-One of the diseases of an unhealthy church is that it tolerates known sin.
-We have to gracious deal with known sin. Ö Married couples living together Ö Living Together, A Guide To Counseling Unmarried Couples by Jeff VanGoethem –Kregel Academic & Professional Publishers. Ö Ministries Today Magazine, July/Aug. '05 issue,
www.ministriestoday.com
Insight: Healthy churches practice Matthew 18:15-17
Conclusion: I want to be healthy & have a healthy church, don't you? Guess we could say an unhealthy church has a disease or diseases. 1. No commitment to prayer. 2. Horrible structure & organization. 3. No equipping of the saints. 4. Little desire to change so there can be growth. 5. No real practical commitment to purity/holiness.
-Could call this the 5 diseases of an unhealthy church. Let's pray for healing! I still believe in healing, let's pray for healing!
Application:
What qualities of personal and cooperate health do you need to work on? *
Write down some 'health' goals for this year*:
Recommended readings:
·The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scarzzero – Zondervan Press
·The ABC's of Natural Church Development by Christian A. Schwarz. 32-page booklet for only $2 each. ChurchSmart@compuserve.com Get one for every one of your leaders and have them read it, discuss it, etc. They have LOTS of helpful, simple stuff!
·The Presence-Based Church by Dr. Terry Tekyl – Powerpointpress.com
* Sample of personal & cooperate 'health goals':
MY DETERMINATION GOALS
Philippians 3:10
1. I am determined to know the Lord Jesus intimately.
2. I am determined to be filled & flooded with all of God.
3. I am determined to appropriate all of God's power/grace so I can be continually transformed.
4. I am determined to let Christ make my experience practical.
UAG '06 GOALS
"…I AM WITH YOU … I WILL STRENGTHEN YOU, YES I WILL HELP YOU. I WILL UPHOLD YOU …" Isaiah 41:10
1. Plan sermon themes & team preaching more in advance.
2. Constitution & By Law Changes. Train new deacons & elders.
3. Name change/signs.
4. Real financial health—cash flow—improvements. [a] $ In savings for Jan/June/Oct. [b] Department accountability [c] Raise $300,000 in Fall
5. Finish MA classes and papers.
6. The year of mission's trips!!!!!!!!!
7. Discovering Life is A#1 priority.
8.Choir problems solved.
9. See ISF truly a vibrant & effective ministry!
"Godly patterns are forward, one decision at a time." J. Oswald Sanders
One of the joys of my life is mentoring young men and women in the ministry. That is why my blogs are usually in outline form so they (you) can re-use the teachings in your own ministires. Here is subject close to my heart. We need to have healthy ministries. This is a teaching I did in Nebraska last year and if it is a blessing, please give me some feedback and use it!. Passing the baton, Gary Grogan/alias Papa G.
PASTORS RETREAT..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Theme: 'Choices and Changes' that come our way. Keeping a right attitude in the journey. (Sometimes really tough to do.)
TS: In this first session we want to look at the 'Essential….'
SESSION #1: ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF A HEALTHY CHURCH and use Acts 2:40-47 as a …
-Acts 2 outline: [a] Fire of Pentecost-HS [b] Fuel of Pentecost-Word [c] Friendship of Pentecost—Cultural of Relationships.
-Want to be clear that church health & church growth is not a numbers game, it is about fruitfulness and durability. In other words a ministry that produces fruit and that fruit lasts! And PLEASE remember we are not called to "how many" but "who!"
1. There is a commitment to prayer. Jer. 33:3
-We don't just believe in prayer or just talk about prayer but we really pray. Corporately and individually. Easy to run a service but a challenge to run a prayer meeting and not go to extremes! Dull or crazy!
-Share insight from Dr. Terry Tekyl based on his book the Presence…
Þ Insight: Presence Based Church
-He says there are basically two types of churches. In Martha churches people are at the center and Jesus is kind of… Calls this a 'head' church. Busy, worried, activities, programs.
-In Mary church he says Jesus is at the center and people are right here… These are presence-based churches. Greatest desire is the presence of God, people of the presence, listen to His Word.
+Wilkerson: David and Solomon Church.
-Leonard Sweet, Methodist-- C'ville seminar that pleaded with us to be the church in town where people could come and be wowed, not with a program but with God's presence.
-Only way that can happen is if we are people of prayer.
Insight: With so many models & ideas have you ever really thought about 'What Makes a Great Church'? Many things for sure, but it seems to me there are three basic things…
A. A place where the truth is proclaimed. Jesus saves…
B. Relationships are built. In order to build a culture of relationships some things we need to know about how groups function in the church world.
1. Large group mtgs—where life decisions are made. 2. Small groups—life process takes place. 3. Medium size groups—is usually where ministry takes place. Choir,etc.
C. Needs are met. Got to have systems and policies in place to help people or you will get your budget/yourself in trouble.
2. There is simple/functional organization and structure
-Of course organization is important --Mark 6:30-44 -- Feeding of 5,000
-Unhealthy churches are overly organized for their size. Healthy churches have simple organization
-Some have mtgs after mtgs to decide basic things. Have to have an amendment to constitution (act of congress) to get anything done.
-Believe in the 'set man principle'. Theocracy…
Þ Insight: Structure helps or hinders health! (This is big boys & girls!) J Churchsmart!
1 Cor. 12:28 "And God has appointed these in the church: first apostle, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, (we like all that but some how blink when we read the rest) helps, administrations, varieties of tongues."
-Service/helps and things properly ordered can bring the blessings of God!
3. The leadership understands its role is to equip people for ministry.
-Ephesians 4:11-16 Unhealthy churches don't recruit new people very good.
-Our vision as leaders will determine the future of our churches! Wow! We see what others don't always see—we see the invisible.
-Healthy churches have leaders who become possessed with a cause greater than they are [that is the why of missions!].
-As a pastor my passion is to see our people grow in X. How can I get them to grow in X.
4. There is a desire to grow.
-Acts 2:47 [read text GW]
-Another reason we are committed to Great Commission. Mat. 28:19-20.
-And if we are going to going to grow we have to 'challenge the process.' Andy Stanley has a great teaching on 'Challenging the Process.' He says leaders like change, growth, increase, etc…people like sameness… If we are going to grow, then he says we have to challenge the process, then we change, and then we grow.
5. There is a Biblical commitment to Purity/Holiness.
-Hebrews 12:14 Ron Auch gives an interesting interpretation of this verse.
-One of the diseases of an unhealthy church is that it tolerates known sin.
-We have to gracious deal with known sin. Ö Married couples living together Ö Living Together, A Guide To Counseling Unmarried Couples by Jeff VanGoethem –Kregel Academic & Professional Publishers. Ö Ministries Today Magazine, July/Aug. '05 issue,
www.ministriestoday.com
Insight: Healthy churches practice Matthew 18:15-17
Conclusion: I want to be healthy & have a healthy church, don't you? Guess we could say an unhealthy church has a disease or diseases. 1. No commitment to prayer. 2. Horrible structure & organization. 3. No equipping of the saints. 4. Little desire to change so there can be growth. 5. No real practical commitment to purity/holiness.
-Could call this the 5 diseases of an unhealthy church. Let's pray for healing! I still believe in healing, let's pray for healing!
Application:
What qualities of personal and cooperate health do you need to work on? *
Write down some 'health' goals for this year*:
Recommended readings:
·The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scarzzero – Zondervan Press
·The ABC's of Natural Church Development by Christian A. Schwarz. 32-page booklet for only $2 each. ChurchSmart@compuserve.com Get one for every one of your leaders and have them read it, discuss it, etc. They have LOTS of helpful, simple stuff!
·The Presence-Based Church by Dr. Terry Tekyl – Powerpointpress.com
* Sample of personal & cooperate 'health goals':
MY DETERMINATION GOALS
Philippians 3:10
1. I am determined to know the Lord Jesus intimately.
2. I am determined to be filled & flooded with all of God.
3. I am determined to appropriate all of God's power/grace so I can be continually transformed.
4. I am determined to let Christ make my experience practical.
UAG '06 GOALS
"…I AM WITH YOU … I WILL STRENGTHEN YOU, YES I WILL HELP YOU. I WILL UPHOLD YOU …" Isaiah 41:10
1. Plan sermon themes & team preaching more in advance.
2. Constitution & By Law Changes. Train new deacons & elders.
3. Name change/signs.
4. Real financial health—cash flow—improvements. [a] $ In savings for Jan/June/Oct. [b] Department accountability [c] Raise $300,000 in Fall
5. Finish MA classes and papers.
6. The year of mission's trips!!!!!!!!!
7. Discovering Life is A#1 priority.
8.Choir problems solved.
9. See ISF truly a vibrant & effective ministry!
"Godly patterns are forward, one decision at a time." J. Oswald Sanders
Brisbane, Australia trip
From: Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Wow, life has been busy. Since my last Blog my wife Bonnie and I have been to Brisbane, Australia and now we are in Branson, MO! Besides all the busyness of what is happening at our beloved UAG church we have been 'hitting the road jack.' (cheese ball, I know).
Anyhow, it was my privilege to minister at the World Tongan Conference in Brisbane and I wanted to attached below a teaching I shared with the precious Tongan people back in the Island country of Tonga in 2004--hope you enjoy it!
Leadership for Change
Tonga – April 2004
Isaiah 43:18-19 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."
The theme of this conference is "Leadership for Change." That is a perfect definition of a healthy church leader—someone who welcomes change, someone who can bring about change, someone who is a change-agent, someone who is FOR change.
[Bonus; Key to healthy churches = healthy church leaders! And that is a combination that causes a church/ministry to grow!]
This is what Jesus Christ did; He brought about great change! And this is what God has called us as leaders to do—bring about change.
1. As leaders we are FOR change.
2. We are not against change. We do not resist change.
3. We recognize the power of change.
4. We understand creating change is part of our divine calling from God.
5. Healthy church leadership does not vote against change but welcomes and prays for change.
Why is 'change' such a part of a leaders calling? Because without change nothing moves forward –it only dies.
-Leaders realize that doing things the same way and expecting different results equals madness.
-We don't change things just to become healthy – when we are healthy we change things! Some people have the idea…
TS: OK, here are some lessons that will help us be the type of leaders that are FOR change and that of course will help us be healthy church leaders and that will produce healthy churches –which is the key to reaching people for Jesus! {and that is what we all want to do!}
1. Leadership FOR change is all about ATTITUDE. Phil2;5NIV
-Attitude is so very important. You are blessed if you really understand this.
-85% of what draws you to a person is their attitude.
-Yet most people are more concerned about their abilities…
-You can have great talent, but if you have a lousy attitude you won't get far in life.
-You might not have not incredible talent, but if you have a great attitude, that will make you succeed in life.
To be a healthy church leader we must realize that:
1. A good attitude in life is your choice.
a. Can't always change situations around you but you can change the way you see things.
b. Some people just have a negative attitude. They will not go far. Higher in any organization the better… In fact the higher you want to go the better of an attitude you must have!
ILLUS: Attitude change is something you control. Like American man who worked in a factory. Had the same sandwich for lunch every day. Started complaining. One of his fellow workers said, "Why don't you tell your wife to change it?" I can't. Why? Cause I always make it! J He could have changed his daily lunch but…
2. Second, you have got to realize you're a. will affect the outcome of what you do more than anything else.
3. Third, it is your attitude that helps you to get along with people. Most important lesson you will ever learn is to get along with people. Just won't go far with a negative attitude.
-Attitude is the MAJOR difference between success & failure.
+I can predict your future in 60 seconds. Not because I'm a physic, but…
^I am first to admit that attitudes don't stay perfect all the time. Got to work at it. I.e. Like the farmer who said the trouble with cows is that they don't stay milked! J
^ Dr. Martin Luther King "When you're a. slips, your view of people begins to get lower, relationships get strained and you become critical and negative." True isn't it?
-Just say, if you are going to be a healthy leader/a leader who is for change your … Attitude will make or break you.
2. Leadership FOR change is all about WORK.
John 17:4 (true Lord's prayer) "I have glorified You on the earth, I have finished the work which You have give Me to do."
a). Do you realize God is glorified thru hard work?
b). What did God design Adam and Eve to do in the garden? "Till/work the earth." We think work only came after the Fall.
c). Healthy ministry is not about waiting around to see what is going to happen. We are called to get up, go to work, make plans, get things done.
ILLUS: Some people think life is all about breaks. Rena Day and practice.
d). Laziness and ministry do not go together.
Takes work to organize an effective meeting. Takes work to pray, to prepare a message, to grow a church, to grow a ministry. It just does not happen.
3. Leadership FOR change is all about FUN (JOY).
2 Cor. 1:24 'helpers of your Joy' 'fellow workers for your joy.'
- Can lose your joy in Xtian service. I have.
- First flower Satan cuts is joy.
a. Joy is a Xtian virtue. Gal. 5:22 If HG is moving in your life, one of evidences will be joy.
b. Joy is what keeps your salvation experience real and simple.
Isa. 12:3 'Therefore w joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.'
c. Joy is our strength. Neh. 8:10
-Not just merely an emotion. It is a force. It can do things!
-I don't know about others pastors, but where I serve I need strength.
-Lose strength and you can't fight. Illus: Knocked out a NCU
d. Rekindle your joy by responding to the Lord's presence. Facts are when we don't serve the Lord with Joy, we serve our enemies. Duet 28: 47-48
e. Joy is sometimes a sacrifice. Ps. 27:6 Therefore I will offer the sacrifice of joy (joyous shouts) in the His tabernacle.`
4. It is all about BALANCE.
Prov. 11:11 "A false balance is an abomination to the Lord."
Lev. 19:36 "You shall have just balance" Measuring tool but…
Avoid ditches. Basically two: Legalism and Liberalism.
-Huge temptation to get out of balance. We are Pentecostal but…
Illus: A car won't run very well if tires are out of balance or your front end is out of alignment. Will wear your tires out.
-This is huge – can't even walk right if you are out of balance.
-Impossible to do effective ministry if…
5. It is all about FAITHFULNESS.
Prov. 28:20 'A faithful man shall ABOUND with blessing.'
-Leadership gurus say it's all about success. Or it's all about faith. I believe the key to success and the key to faith is faithfulness.
"Who can find a faithful man' 'A faithful woman.'
CM Ward "All it takes for a miracle to happen is for you to show up.
Ps. 85:10 "Love & faithfulness meet together."
* If love will be faithful and if you will be faithful your love will grow.
6. It is all about RELATIONSHIPS.
Eccl. 4:11-12 This is what makes a great ministry, a great church.
-Follow Mt. 18 in dealing with strained relationships. Worldwide most don't
7. It is all about STEWARDSHIP.
-Only place in all of Bible where we are told to prove God is in the area of stewardship. Mal. 3:10 'prove me'
-Three things I talk about in pre-martial counseling. In-laws, communication, finances.
-I learned the most about giving in Bible School. EM Clark. Illus. Missions pledge.
8. It is all about PURITY.
First Cor. 6:18 "Flee sexual immorality, commit against own body. Means you destroy God's plan for your life.
-May struggle in many areas but…
9. It is all about the SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES.
-Paul told Titus 1:8 that an overseer/elder/pastor/church leader must be self-controlled, holy & disciplined.
-Door way. My favorite spiritual discipline is praying in tongues. Ro. 8:26 praying according to perfect will of God.
10. It all about GRACE.
-Grace is the bottom line. Active force within giving you the power and. Phil 1:6 Bible definition of grace!
-Faith is what we do, grace is what God does.
11. It is NOT about CONFRONTATION.
-Prov. 20 verse 3, "it is to a man's honor to avoid strife."
-Listened to a tape one time and guy said this and I agree.
-Of course there are times. Apostle Peter in Gal. 2 with Paul.
12. It is not about being the Messiah.
We are to point people to the Messiah. John the Baptist anointing. God spoke to (v. 2), thru (vv. 3-4) and beyond (vv. 15-16) Luke 3
Concl: Leadership FOR change is a healthy leader. A healthy leader produces a healthy church. And a healthy church reaches people for JC and that is what we all want to do.
Application: What has God spoken to you about? In a minute we will write it down. Now we will come and pray…
Wow, life has been busy. Since my last Blog my wife Bonnie and I have been to Brisbane, Australia and now we are in Branson, MO! Besides all the busyness of what is happening at our beloved UAG church we have been 'hitting the road jack.' (cheese ball, I know).
Anyhow, it was my privilege to minister at the World Tongan Conference in Brisbane and I wanted to attached below a teaching I shared with the precious Tongan people back in the Island country of Tonga in 2004--hope you enjoy it!
Leadership for Change
Tonga – April 2004
Isaiah 43:18-19 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."
The theme of this conference is "Leadership for Change." That is a perfect definition of a healthy church leader—someone who welcomes change, someone who can bring about change, someone who is a change-agent, someone who is FOR change.
[Bonus; Key to healthy churches = healthy church leaders! And that is a combination that causes a church/ministry to grow!]
This is what Jesus Christ did; He brought about great change! And this is what God has called us as leaders to do—bring about change.
1. As leaders we are FOR change.
2. We are not against change. We do not resist change.
3. We recognize the power of change.
4. We understand creating change is part of our divine calling from God.
5. Healthy church leadership does not vote against change but welcomes and prays for change.
Why is 'change' such a part of a leaders calling? Because without change nothing moves forward –it only dies.
-Leaders realize that doing things the same way and expecting different results equals madness.
-We don't change things just to become healthy – when we are healthy we change things! Some people have the idea…
TS: OK, here are some lessons that will help us be the type of leaders that are FOR change and that of course will help us be healthy church leaders and that will produce healthy churches –which is the key to reaching people for Jesus! {and that is what we all want to do!}
1. Leadership FOR change is all about ATTITUDE. Phil2;5NIV
-Attitude is so very important. You are blessed if you really understand this.
-85% of what draws you to a person is their attitude.
-Yet most people are more concerned about their abilities…
-You can have great talent, but if you have a lousy attitude you won't get far in life.
-You might not have not incredible talent, but if you have a great attitude, that will make you succeed in life.
To be a healthy church leader we must realize that:
1. A good attitude in life is your choice.
a. Can't always change situations around you but you can change the way you see things.
b. Some people just have a negative attitude. They will not go far. Higher in any organization the better… In fact the higher you want to go the better of an attitude you must have!
ILLUS: Attitude change is something you control. Like American man who worked in a factory. Had the same sandwich for lunch every day. Started complaining. One of his fellow workers said, "Why don't you tell your wife to change it?" I can't. Why? Cause I always make it! J He could have changed his daily lunch but…
2. Second, you have got to realize you're a. will affect the outcome of what you do more than anything else.
3. Third, it is your attitude that helps you to get along with people. Most important lesson you will ever learn is to get along with people. Just won't go far with a negative attitude.
-Attitude is the MAJOR difference between success & failure.
+I can predict your future in 60 seconds. Not because I'm a physic, but…
^I am first to admit that attitudes don't stay perfect all the time. Got to work at it. I.e. Like the farmer who said the trouble with cows is that they don't stay milked! J
^ Dr. Martin Luther King "When you're a. slips, your view of people begins to get lower, relationships get strained and you become critical and negative." True isn't it?
-Just say, if you are going to be a healthy leader/a leader who is for change your … Attitude will make or break you.
2. Leadership FOR change is all about WORK.
John 17:4 (true Lord's prayer) "I have glorified You on the earth, I have finished the work which You have give Me to do."
a). Do you realize God is glorified thru hard work?
b). What did God design Adam and Eve to do in the garden? "Till/work the earth." We think work only came after the Fall.
c). Healthy ministry is not about waiting around to see what is going to happen. We are called to get up, go to work, make plans, get things done.
ILLUS: Some people think life is all about breaks. Rena Day and practice.
d). Laziness and ministry do not go together.
Takes work to organize an effective meeting. Takes work to pray, to prepare a message, to grow a church, to grow a ministry. It just does not happen.
3. Leadership FOR change is all about FUN (JOY).
2 Cor. 1:24 'helpers of your Joy' 'fellow workers for your joy.'
- Can lose your joy in Xtian service. I have.
- First flower Satan cuts is joy.
a. Joy is a Xtian virtue. Gal. 5:22 If HG is moving in your life, one of evidences will be joy.
b. Joy is what keeps your salvation experience real and simple.
Isa. 12:3 'Therefore w joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.'
c. Joy is our strength. Neh. 8:10
-Not just merely an emotion. It is a force. It can do things!
-I don't know about others pastors, but where I serve I need strength.
-Lose strength and you can't fight. Illus: Knocked out a NCU
d. Rekindle your joy by responding to the Lord's presence. Facts are when we don't serve the Lord with Joy, we serve our enemies. Duet 28: 47-48
e. Joy is sometimes a sacrifice. Ps. 27:6 Therefore I will offer the sacrifice of joy (joyous shouts) in the His tabernacle.`
4. It is all about BALANCE.
Prov. 11:11 "A false balance is an abomination to the Lord."
Lev. 19:36 "You shall have just balance" Measuring tool but…
Avoid ditches. Basically two: Legalism and Liberalism.
-Huge temptation to get out of balance. We are Pentecostal but…
Illus: A car won't run very well if tires are out of balance or your front end is out of alignment. Will wear your tires out.
-This is huge – can't even walk right if you are out of balance.
-Impossible to do effective ministry if…
5. It is all about FAITHFULNESS.
Prov. 28:20 'A faithful man shall ABOUND with blessing.'
-Leadership gurus say it's all about success. Or it's all about faith. I believe the key to success and the key to faith is faithfulness.
"Who can find a faithful man' 'A faithful woman.'
CM Ward "All it takes for a miracle to happen is for you to show up.
Ps. 85:10 "Love & faithfulness meet together."
* If love will be faithful and if you will be faithful your love will grow.
6. It is all about RELATIONSHIPS.
Eccl. 4:11-12 This is what makes a great ministry, a great church.
-Follow Mt. 18 in dealing with strained relationships. Worldwide most don't
7. It is all about STEWARDSHIP.
-Only place in all of Bible where we are told to prove God is in the area of stewardship. Mal. 3:10 'prove me'
-Three things I talk about in pre-martial counseling. In-laws, communication, finances.
-I learned the most about giving in Bible School. EM Clark. Illus. Missions pledge.
8. It is all about PURITY.
First Cor. 6:18 "Flee sexual immorality, commit against own body. Means you destroy God's plan for your life.
-May struggle in many areas but…
9. It is all about the SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES.
-Paul told Titus 1:8 that an overseer/elder/pastor/church leader must be self-controlled, holy & disciplined.
-Door way. My favorite spiritual discipline is praying in tongues. Ro. 8:26 praying according to perfect will of God.
10. It all about GRACE.
-Grace is the bottom line. Active force within giving you the power and. Phil 1:6 Bible definition of grace!
-Faith is what we do, grace is what God does.
11. It is NOT about CONFRONTATION.
-Prov. 20 verse 3, "it is to a man's honor to avoid strife."
-Listened to a tape one time and guy said this and I agree.
-Of course there are times. Apostle Peter in Gal. 2 with Paul.
12. It is not about being the Messiah.
We are to point people to the Messiah. John the Baptist anointing. God spoke to (v. 2), thru (vv. 3-4) and beyond (vv. 15-16) Luke 3
Concl: Leadership FOR change is a healthy leader. A healthy leader produces a healthy church. And a healthy church reaches people for JC and that is what we all want to do.
Application: What has God spoken to you about? In a minute we will write it down. Now we will come and pray…
Avoiding The Dark Side
From: Thursday, January 25, 2007
{Pardon my French in regards to my mood.} But here they go again--some pious witchhunter from Minnesota sent an email letter to my denominations Lead Pastors (at least in Illinois) slaming Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church Model, Bill Hybels and others...blah, blah, blah.
I have resigned to the fact that these "we are only ones right and everybody else is wrong" type Christians will be with us until Jesus comes. Even when they die there seems to be new ones popping up all the time! Earl Crepes calls these sicko's "erasers" in his excellent book, Off-Road Disciplines. He calls them this because "they wipe away anything we accomplish with our own lives."
Also, two minister friends of mine have recently co-authored a book titled The Jesus Sensitive Church--one has never been a Lead Pastor and the other one is relatively new at it. For years he traveled full time and like the majority of intinerants they are both experts at what is wrong with the church and what the church needs. I haven't read the book yet because I know it will just make me mad--one of my associate pastors has read part of it and he says, "it will tick you off!"
The sicko from Minnesota I do not know but the two brothers bashing what God is doing I have known for many years. It is so easy for any of us to cross over to the Dark Side. It grieves me to know they have crossed over to the Dark Side. I know I have done it too but I certainly hope I can avoid it in the latter part of my life and ministry.
"Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out." Proverbs. 20:5 NKJV
"Someone's thoughts may be as deep as the ocean, but if you are smart, you will discover them." Proverbs 20:5 CEV
"Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man? The righteous man walks in his integrity: his children are blessed after him" Proverbs 20:6-7 NKJV
Will a faithful and just person walk on the dark side? Obvious answer is 'no.' Yet, there are those who proclaim their own goodness as verse 6 says and the truth is, they are on the dark side—their speech betrays them.
There are those, especially among the Pentecostal ranks who live on the dark side—their lives and words are absolutely negative. One of the things about us Pentecostals, that really bugs me—unless you have friends outside of Pentecost who will be honest with you, you will never see this—
-There are those in our ranks that act very spiritual and generally have a 'prophets complex' but in reality they are not persons of understanding. In fact, often after someone has had a season of success and blessing it seems they move towards the dark side.
Illus: Give you some examples of what I mean: [a] Email from James Sundquist, Director of Rock Salt Publishing and, [b] Charisma article by Steve Hill
This has always been around:
[a] Small groups are leading the church astray.
[b] Different translations have watered down the gospel.
[c] Having prayer meetings with non-Pentecostals is compromise.
[d] Psychology and psycho-therapy is evil and …
[e] Too much education will cause you to lose your fire.
[f] Leaving out Hymns will cause our theology to be shallow.
TS: Here is my response to this kind of stuff:
1. It is hyper-spiritual, which is evidence of huge pride! "He gives more grace…. " James 4:6-8 And what comes before a fall? Pride!
2. It is overly critical—it is really a critical spirit manifested under the guise of spirituality. That is what we call narcissism, which means you see everybody else's weakness but cannot see your own!
-This is the way the Pharisee's were! I have a new scripture, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday…and so are the Pharisees!"
-Full of half-truths and things they believe are true that are not the case.
(i.e.) Rick Warren does not preach repentance! Stupid!
3. It is divisive in nature. Ephesians 4:31-32 LB "Stop being mean, bad-tempered and angry. Quarreling, harsh words, and dislike of others should have no place in your lives. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ."
-What I have noticed is that usually the higher you go in the food change the more positive people are. Reasons why some people never get ahead!
Illus: Just came back from a week at SPN with Jack Hayford! He had nothing bad to say about anybody!!! Everybody is his friend!
4. It borders on witch hunting. We have not been called to hunt witches! Usually these types of people become paranoid and see a witch in every bush. Especially if you are successful and God blesses your ministry the dark side prophets think you are doing something wrong or leaving something out.
-Whether we agree with someone methods or not doesn't mean they are preaching a false gospel. Illus: My son called me. One TV guy bashing Rick Warren's book and the very next week the guy's son bashing the opening of a new church that had 30,000!
-Listen to what Paul said in Phil. 1:15-18 "Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from good will: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will (continue to) rejoice."
5. It totally ignores the ministry of encouragement. Barnabas and Saul in Acts 9:26-30! Dark side guys in this text were afraid/did not trust him.
-These Dark Side Prophets throw out the baby with the bath water.
"Let's agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help each other with encouraging words don't drag them down by finding fault." Romans 14:19 Message
-Amazing amount of verses that tell us we should encourage one another:
-Heb.3: 13 "but exhort (encourage) one another daily while it is called 'Today.' Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." NKJV Want you to know encouragement is a weapon in spiritual warfare. We build up what the enemy tries to tear down!
+Some ways we can encourage one another:
A. Give words of affirmation & praise. This is not flattery—you are just acknowledging some godliness you see in someone else.
"I enjoy being with you, it motivates me to spend more time alone with…"
B. Express appreciation. When people express their love & appreciation it builds our own worth and value.
-Thank you for the time you spent preparing that meal… in preparing that lesson! THANK YOU two words that spell power!
C. We can express encouragement thru a caring touch. Not use it as an opportunity for the flesh! Sometimes all that is needed for someone to be encouraged is…. Illus: Clare Doan's mom.
-Discouragement is a tool of the devil and we can defeat with this weapon of warfare—encouragement.
Concl: There seems to be three groups that go down this road to the Dark Side: [a] Young men/women who have a heart for God seemed to often be influenced by these Dark Side Prophets.
-I will warn you that once you go down that road it is hard to turn around.
-All you see is bad – it is easier to be negative than positive!
[b] And there seems to be those who get frustrated for whatever reason and they…
[c] Then there are those who have had good ministries but something happens in their latter days and they develop this 'prophet mentality' that their calling is to protect the faith. What a way to be
remembered! {Sic}
Applic: Articles by Keith Green and Bill Gothard (who is bit like this, sad huh?)
-So what can you do to avoid the Dark Side?
a. Make sure you understand the Ministry of Encouragement.
b. Pray to be used in this great gift!
Bonus: #7. Of course there are times we confront because of our love.
"…If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted" Galatians 6:1 NIV
-I am not advocating we just accept and affirm everything and everybody just as they are. When wrong is done, we have to …
Insight: We will all error and I chose to error on the side of GRACE!
{Pardon my French in regards to my mood.} But here they go again--some pious witchhunter from Minnesota sent an email letter to my denominations Lead Pastors (at least in Illinois) slaming Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church Model, Bill Hybels and others...blah, blah, blah.
I have resigned to the fact that these "we are only ones right and everybody else is wrong" type Christians will be with us until Jesus comes. Even when they die there seems to be new ones popping up all the time! Earl Crepes calls these sicko's "erasers" in his excellent book, Off-Road Disciplines. He calls them this because "they wipe away anything we accomplish with our own lives."
Also, two minister friends of mine have recently co-authored a book titled The Jesus Sensitive Church--one has never been a Lead Pastor and the other one is relatively new at it. For years he traveled full time and like the majority of intinerants they are both experts at what is wrong with the church and what the church needs. I haven't read the book yet because I know it will just make me mad--one of my associate pastors has read part of it and he says, "it will tick you off!"
The sicko from Minnesota I do not know but the two brothers bashing what God is doing I have known for many years. It is so easy for any of us to cross over to the Dark Side. It grieves me to know they have crossed over to the Dark Side. I know I have done it too but I certainly hope I can avoid it in the latter part of my life and ministry.
"Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out." Proverbs. 20:5 NKJV
"Someone's thoughts may be as deep as the ocean, but if you are smart, you will discover them." Proverbs 20:5 CEV
"Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man? The righteous man walks in his integrity: his children are blessed after him" Proverbs 20:6-7 NKJV
Will a faithful and just person walk on the dark side? Obvious answer is 'no.' Yet, there are those who proclaim their own goodness as verse 6 says and the truth is, they are on the dark side—their speech betrays them.
There are those, especially among the Pentecostal ranks who live on the dark side—their lives and words are absolutely negative. One of the things about us Pentecostals, that really bugs me—unless you have friends outside of Pentecost who will be honest with you, you will never see this—
-There are those in our ranks that act very spiritual and generally have a 'prophets complex' but in reality they are not persons of understanding. In fact, often after someone has had a season of success and blessing it seems they move towards the dark side.
Illus: Give you some examples of what I mean: [a] Email from James Sundquist, Director of Rock Salt Publishing and, [b] Charisma article by Steve Hill
This has always been around:
[a] Small groups are leading the church astray.
[b] Different translations have watered down the gospel.
[c] Having prayer meetings with non-Pentecostals is compromise.
[d] Psychology and psycho-therapy is evil and …
[e] Too much education will cause you to lose your fire.
[f] Leaving out Hymns will cause our theology to be shallow.
TS: Here is my response to this kind of stuff:
1. It is hyper-spiritual, which is evidence of huge pride! "He gives more grace…. " James 4:6-8 And what comes before a fall? Pride!
2. It is overly critical—it is really a critical spirit manifested under the guise of spirituality. That is what we call narcissism, which means you see everybody else's weakness but cannot see your own!
-This is the way the Pharisee's were! I have a new scripture, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday…and so are the Pharisees!"
-Full of half-truths and things they believe are true that are not the case.
(i.e.) Rick Warren does not preach repentance! Stupid!
3. It is divisive in nature. Ephesians 4:31-32 LB "Stop being mean, bad-tempered and angry. Quarreling, harsh words, and dislike of others should have no place in your lives. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ."
-What I have noticed is that usually the higher you go in the food change the more positive people are. Reasons why some people never get ahead!
Illus: Just came back from a week at SPN with Jack Hayford! He had nothing bad to say about anybody!!! Everybody is his friend!
4. It borders on witch hunting. We have not been called to hunt witches! Usually these types of people become paranoid and see a witch in every bush. Especially if you are successful and God blesses your ministry the dark side prophets think you are doing something wrong or leaving something out.
-Whether we agree with someone methods or not doesn't mean they are preaching a false gospel. Illus: My son called me. One TV guy bashing Rick Warren's book and the very next week the guy's son bashing the opening of a new church that had 30,000!
-Listen to what Paul said in Phil. 1:15-18 "Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from good will: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will (continue to) rejoice."
5. It totally ignores the ministry of encouragement. Barnabas and Saul in Acts 9:26-30! Dark side guys in this text were afraid/did not trust him.
-These Dark Side Prophets throw out the baby with the bath water.
"Let's agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help each other with encouraging words don't drag them down by finding fault." Romans 14:19 Message
-Amazing amount of verses that tell us we should encourage one another:
-Heb.3: 13 "but exhort (encourage) one another daily while it is called 'Today.' Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." NKJV Want you to know encouragement is a weapon in spiritual warfare. We build up what the enemy tries to tear down!
+Some ways we can encourage one another:
A. Give words of affirmation & praise. This is not flattery—you are just acknowledging some godliness you see in someone else.
"I enjoy being with you, it motivates me to spend more time alone with…"
B. Express appreciation. When people express their love & appreciation it builds our own worth and value.
-Thank you for the time you spent preparing that meal… in preparing that lesson! THANK YOU two words that spell power!
C. We can express encouragement thru a caring touch. Not use it as an opportunity for the flesh! Sometimes all that is needed for someone to be encouraged is…. Illus: Clare Doan's mom.
-Discouragement is a tool of the devil and we can defeat with this weapon of warfare—encouragement.
Concl: There seems to be three groups that go down this road to the Dark Side: [a] Young men/women who have a heart for God seemed to often be influenced by these Dark Side Prophets.
-I will warn you that once you go down that road it is hard to turn around.
-All you see is bad – it is easier to be negative than positive!
[b] And there seems to be those who get frustrated for whatever reason and they…
[c] Then there are those who have had good ministries but something happens in their latter days and they develop this 'prophet mentality' that their calling is to protect the faith. What a way to be
remembered! {Sic}
Applic: Articles by Keith Green and Bill Gothard (who is bit like this, sad huh?)
-So what can you do to avoid the Dark Side?
a. Make sure you understand the Ministry of Encouragement.
b. Pray to be used in this great gift!
Bonus: #7. Of course there are times we confront because of our love.
"…If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted" Galatians 6:1 NIV
-I am not advocating we just accept and affirm everything and everybody just as they are. When wrong is done, we have to …
Insight: We will all error and I chose to error on the side of GRACE!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
PRACTIAL KEYS FOR YOUNG MINISTERS TO USE IN MINISTERING THE HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM IN TODAY’S CULTURE
“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, even as the Spirit was giving them to declare.” Acts 2:4 A.S. Worrell Translation
In his footnote on this verse, Dr. Worrell states: “This gracious experience—whether considered as an immersion in the Holy Spirit, or a filling with, or the gift of the Holy Spirit, is the privilege of every true believer, (v. 39), and his duty, (Eph. 5:18).” Yet how do we teach this privilege and duty in our post-Christian culture?
My conviction is that the Lord wants to baptize every believer in the power of the Spirit. For that to happen, He wants to teach us, as He has faithfully done in every age of every culture, how to communicate this wonderful experience in fresh new ways that will reach people instead of turning them off and driving them away.
Let me suggest some practical ways to minister the Holy Spirit baptism in today’s culture:
1. Decide it is a blessing and not a curse. Missional leaders work very hard to connect and communicate with the cultures in which God has placed them. The last thing they want to do is drive people away! Because of that, some develop a real apprehension toward preaching or teaching on the baptism in the Holy Spirit.[1] No one needs to feel condemned; it is a legitimate concern, especially for those who are reaching people from diverse backgrounds.
What I am asking is that you decide in your heart of hearts that the Holy Spirit baptism is biblical and that it is a viable experience for your church today. With some creativity and intentionality, you can see your people come into this life-changing experience without scaring them away or freaking them out.
More and more, younger ministers are walking away from Pentecostal circles because they have become convinced “tongues”[2] was no longer theologically correct. It is too bad there was not some mentor available to help them along the way. In many cases, their struggle is really with past methodologies and not so much with the theology at all. The truth is, everyone that I have known who has walked away spoke in tongues in their own private prayer times, and now instead of leading others into this joyous experience they are robbing others of this great gift. That is grievous and unnecessary.
The Holy Spirit baptism is a valid, biblical experience that Jesus administers Himself,[3] and I am asking, no matter the hang-ups, that with integrity you simply say, “OK, it’s Bible.” This is where we must start. Pentecost is not a cultural thing that turns us off; it is a Jesus thing, a Bible thing, and a relevant thing for today!
2. Be creative with this subject just like you are with everything else! Never has there been a more creative, educated, and talented group of ministers in our history. I love the creativity and innovation of this generation. So be creative in teaching this great truth. You guys and gals can do this—use that God-given creativity and make it fun and powerful! Mark Batterson, pastor at National Community Church in Washington DC says part of being God-like is being creative. I agree. Be God-like in proclaiming the truth of the Holy Spirit baptism.
For example, I used a Pentecost Sunday sermon series written by Ron Bontrager, pastor of Lakeview Christian Center in Indianapolis, IN entitled “Power-Aid.” My young creative ministry team put more than a hundred bottles of Power-Aide on our stages. Each week, drinks were given away, and it was a simple but fun way of dealing with the Holy Spirit baptism. After the third message, we came around the front and worshiped, and many experienced their own prayer language for the first time. It was fun, contemporary, and easy. For weeks after, people e-mailed us and testified that they had received their language while reading their Bibles at home, and one guy while driving to work!
3. Be intentional. Schedule a stand-alone or short series in the spring of the year around Pentecost Sunday. If you will do this instead of ignoring the subject, it will force you to make it work in the culture of your church and community. Consider scheduling a Holy Spirit retreat at the end of your Alpha course, or start a class, a seminar—whatever it takes, but resist the temptation to do nothing. I know of a Lutheran church in St. Paul, MN that teaches on the Holy Spirit baptism through classes, seminars, retreats and all kinds of creative ways—more than most Pentecostal and Charismatic churches do.
Part of missional leadership is doing the things we know are right but would rather not do. For me, it is preaching on money—I don’t like it, but, when I do, people and our church are blessed because of my obedience. Pastoring would be easy if all we had to preach on was grace, but it’s not!
Resist the temptation to ignore this great truth. Resist the subtle temptation to wait until you have this all figured out. Does anyone have it all figured out? It is simply our job as leaders to teach our people and lead the way. We must provide opportunities for growth, and we do that by being intentional. We must make plans and then work those plans like we do with so many things.
4. Avoid the ditches of legalism and liberalism. It is not right to just neglect and log-off in regards to ministering the Holy Spirit baptism to our people. We want what is best for them and do not want our neglect to hinder their walks with God in any way. The truth is, if we just leave out teaching on the Holy Spirit baptism it can lead to criticalness, being judgmental and into the ditch of liberalism. By liberalism I mean out of balance. It is a whole lot better to drive down a road than it is to run off a road and into a ditch. People can get hurt, our vehicles can get damaged and at the very least we can delay the journey for ourselves or someone else. It is good to be reminded that our calling is to faithfully “preach the Word”[4] and of course we want to do that like a good missionary in culturally relevant ways. This wonderful experience of the Holy Spirit baptism will greatly enrich the lives of our people as it has each of us so we need to avoid this ditch of indifference.
We also need to avoid the ditch of legalism. Legalists are never happy regardless of what is said or done and they are certainly out of balance. They equate Pentecost with certain styles of preaching, singing and other methodologies to numerous to mention. There is a spiritual smugness about them and they have a tendency to reject anything they do not understand or is not like them. Somehow a legalist Pentecostal wandered into our church on a day I was teaching on the Holy Spirit baptism. I did so in a conversational way and then had a simple time of worship and prayer around the altars that probably only lasted ten minutes or so. There were around twenty people that morning who began to speak in a prayer language for the very first time including Miss America 2003, Erika Harold! Anyhow, this Pentecostal legalist almost accosted me after the service and said, “There is no way those people were really baptized in the Holy Ghost.” I asked why she felt that way and she actually said, “Because it wasn’t loud enough and there was no real emotion in it.” She was stuck in the ditch of legalism.
In order to stay out of both these ditches we need to remember that none of us can save anyone, so why do we think we can get anyone Holy Spirit filled? In both cases we just teach the Word of God and create the atmosphere, then God does His thing. Just preach salvation, and you will get people saved. Preach Holy Spirit baptism, and you will get Holy Spirit-baptized believers. We get what we preach.
In order to stay out of the ditches you also need to free yourself from the pressure of thinking you always have to have an “altar service.” Train people to be on prayer teams and have them available to pray with people who want to make a public commitment to Jesus and for those who want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is not necessary to have a Billy Graham-type appeal to see people saved, and it is not necessary to have a camp meeting-style appeal to see people Holy Spirit baptized. Today’s audiences will not process old methodology, and it may even cause them to freeze up or perhaps walk out.
People do not always respond immediately to a message of salvation. It is the same way with the Holy Spirit baptism. There will not always be an immediate response, but eventually some will respond. We just have to be faithful.
5. Pray your people will be Holy Spirit baptized. There is no real gift of praying people through to the baptism as some think. We just teach God’s Word in creative ways, learn to connect with culture and not to alienate people, and then we just pray our heads off for the Lord to save and baptize people. I want to encourage young pastors/leaders to sincerely and consistently pray: “Jesus, I need you to baptize these people in the Holy Spirit. You said you would, and I am asking you to do it.” Then go ahead and pour out your concerns to Him about people getting weird, demonstrative, and spooky; ask Him to take care of those things for you.
I am in a city with a huge university that has people from every conceivable walk of life coming to our services. Like you, we try to do things with order and excellence. I want people to connect with God through salvation and the Holy Spirit baptism, but I do not want Pentecostal cultural things to chase them away. I have told the Lord that I am not ashamed but that He has to help me make all this work in our setting. In the past, many Pentecostal churches have left out the baptism as they have grown or have regulated it to Sunday or Wednesday nights. With the huge cultural shifts we have seen and with the dissolution of Sunday nights, it is imperative that we learn how to teach this in relevant ways on Sunday mornings, in our youth or young adult meetings and other primary meetings.
6. Admit your fear and do some defragmenting. Paul said to young Timothy, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (fear), but of power, love and sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Just like a computer needs to be defragmented once in a while, so we need to do the same. We need to get rid of junk like fear that slows us down and keeps us from doing what know we should do. We cannot afford to give in to our fears and apprehensions. This I know: desire overcomes fear and intimidation! If we will simply have the desire and ask the Lord to really help us, He will. If we will be faithful, He will be faithful and believers will be Holy Spirit baptized!
You don’t have to lose your mind and put on some kind of gospel freak show to teach the truth on the Holy Spirit baptism. But you do have to be willing “to preach the message, to insist upon proclaiming it (whether the time is right or not), to convince, reproach, and encourage, as you teach with all patience”[5] like you promised to do when you were licensed and/or ordained to full gospel ministry. As men and women of integrity, we have to do what we promised the Lord we would do. We need to be like Jet Li, the warrior in the movie Fearless. His family name was shamed, and he regained honor for his family by defeating the best warriors in the land. We need some young, fearless ministers to show us how to do this in post-Christian culture.
I am not saying you have to preach on the Holy Spirit every week, but you have to be willing to preach it. Perhaps a stand-alone or short series around Pentecost Sunday would be sufficient. If there is no sin in preaching on the great truths of the incarnation and resurrection only around Christmas and Easter, why do some hyper-Pentecostals (who are on spiritual Ritalin) think we’ve lost it if we only deal with this once a year? Like I said, don’t let those legalists ruin it for you! You can mention it in your teaching once in a while and say things like: “Some of you need to search out the claims of the Holy Spirit just like you did the claims of Christ. See if it’s true or not. This is a Bible church, and I promise you I would not teach on it unless it was in the Word. See if God has a prayer language for you.” Of course I believe He does, but the way we say things will either free people or freeze them. As missional leaders, we are trying to connect with and reach people, not run them off!
We also talk about this at the end of prayer meetings when people are around the altar. I will put a quick outline on PowerPoint and go through the basics of Holy Spirit baptism in just a few minutes, and almost every single time there are people who receive for the first time and start praying in a language they have never learned.[6] The atmosphere in a prayer meeting, many of which are at night, seems to be totally different than Sunday mornings, when those exploring or window-shopping Christianity seem to show up. It’s not that I’m embarrassed being Pentecostal or anything like that. It is just a matter of trying to be wise and reach as many people as possible for Christ. After all, that is the primary reason Jesus told us to receive this promise of the Father, that we might be His witnesses.[7]
There are probably more people than we want to admit who get their ideas of Pentecost from movies like The Apostle or the crazy TV evangelists our culture makes fun of. Because of these very real obstacles, I think many simply fear teaching and praying for people to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. De-fragment your fear and go ahead and teach the baptism in a way that does not violate your personality or the culture of your local church. Styles that work at camps, retreats, and conventions don’t usually work on Sunday mornings, and that is OK.
Wrap up
I want to sincerely apologize to our younger generation of ministers/leaders who sometimes feel abandoned. Forgive me and my generation for not being better spiritual fathers. Forgive us for making methodology and programs sacred. And please avoid the mistakes we have made and embrace the baptism with the Holy Spirit. My word to our younger ministers is: “…desire earnestly to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues” (1 Corinthians 14:39 A. S. Worrell Translation).
I used to hear that those baptized in the Holy Spirit had more power and ability to do the works of God. But in many of our communities, the churches really reaching the lost are not Pentecostal or Charismatic churches. That does not negate the truth of the power of the Spirit, but it does show that we have not contextulized to our cultures what the Lord has made available to us.
I love praying in a language I have never learned; it helps me so much. There have been so many times when I have not known what to do and I simply began to pray in the Spirit and the Lord faithfully gave me a word of wisdom, prophecy, or insight to bring healing and help needed to the person or situation. Some of those I personally know and love who are honesty trying to reach the unchurched absolutely they need the Holy Spirit’s fullness to help them. Whether it is Joel Gross in the Minneapolis uptown area, Brad Riley at the University of Colorado in Bolder or Terry Austria at the University of Illinois in Urbana—they each realize without the help and work of the Holy Spirit they cannot reach people in their unique cultures.
The truth is, none of us can afford to leave the Holy Spirit baptism out—we must in veritable ways learn to do things better and de-bunk Pentecostal myths.[8] The baptism with the Holy Spirit truly is a tremendous blessing to everyone who receives—and so I am asking my young minister friends to simply be creative, intentional, stay out the ditches, pray the Lord will baptize your people in His Spirit and do some de-fragmenting of your fears. We all struggle and I know this is a real struggle for many young leaders but please know you are loved, believed in and given leeway to figure things out. Let’s not walk away from each other—let’s embrace one another as we journey together. I am passing the baton to you.
Appendix A
6 Steps to Receive the Holy Spirit Baptism
1. Thirst—Matthew 5:6; Mark 11:24
2. Ask—Matthew 7:7
3. Look to Jesus—Acts 1:8
4. Receive—Galatians 3:14
5. Praise—Psalm 22:3
6. Speak in unknown language (tongues)—Psalm 81:10
[1] I use these terms interchangeably but prefer “Holy Spirit baptism.”
[2] I prefer to use the phrase “speak in a language never learned” because “tongues” has so much emotional and theological baggage associated with it.
[3] Luke 24:49
[4] 2 Timothy 4:2
[5] 2 Timothy 4:2 Good News Translation
[6] See Appendix A for this outline.
[7] Acts 1:4, 8
[8] For a complete discussion, request my paper Ministering the Holy Spirit Baptism in a post-Christian culture.
In his footnote on this verse, Dr. Worrell states: “This gracious experience—whether considered as an immersion in the Holy Spirit, or a filling with, or the gift of the Holy Spirit, is the privilege of every true believer, (v. 39), and his duty, (Eph. 5:18).” Yet how do we teach this privilege and duty in our post-Christian culture?
My conviction is that the Lord wants to baptize every believer in the power of the Spirit. For that to happen, He wants to teach us, as He has faithfully done in every age of every culture, how to communicate this wonderful experience in fresh new ways that will reach people instead of turning them off and driving them away.
Let me suggest some practical ways to minister the Holy Spirit baptism in today’s culture:
1. Decide it is a blessing and not a curse. Missional leaders work very hard to connect and communicate with the cultures in which God has placed them. The last thing they want to do is drive people away! Because of that, some develop a real apprehension toward preaching or teaching on the baptism in the Holy Spirit.[1] No one needs to feel condemned; it is a legitimate concern, especially for those who are reaching people from diverse backgrounds.
What I am asking is that you decide in your heart of hearts that the Holy Spirit baptism is biblical and that it is a viable experience for your church today. With some creativity and intentionality, you can see your people come into this life-changing experience without scaring them away or freaking them out.
More and more, younger ministers are walking away from Pentecostal circles because they have become convinced “tongues”[2] was no longer theologically correct. It is too bad there was not some mentor available to help them along the way. In many cases, their struggle is really with past methodologies and not so much with the theology at all. The truth is, everyone that I have known who has walked away spoke in tongues in their own private prayer times, and now instead of leading others into this joyous experience they are robbing others of this great gift. That is grievous and unnecessary.
The Holy Spirit baptism is a valid, biblical experience that Jesus administers Himself,[3] and I am asking, no matter the hang-ups, that with integrity you simply say, “OK, it’s Bible.” This is where we must start. Pentecost is not a cultural thing that turns us off; it is a Jesus thing, a Bible thing, and a relevant thing for today!
2. Be creative with this subject just like you are with everything else! Never has there been a more creative, educated, and talented group of ministers in our history. I love the creativity and innovation of this generation. So be creative in teaching this great truth. You guys and gals can do this—use that God-given creativity and make it fun and powerful! Mark Batterson, pastor at National Community Church in Washington DC says part of being God-like is being creative. I agree. Be God-like in proclaiming the truth of the Holy Spirit baptism.
For example, I used a Pentecost Sunday sermon series written by Ron Bontrager, pastor of Lakeview Christian Center in Indianapolis, IN entitled “Power-Aid.” My young creative ministry team put more than a hundred bottles of Power-Aide on our stages. Each week, drinks were given away, and it was a simple but fun way of dealing with the Holy Spirit baptism. After the third message, we came around the front and worshiped, and many experienced their own prayer language for the first time. It was fun, contemporary, and easy. For weeks after, people e-mailed us and testified that they had received their language while reading their Bibles at home, and one guy while driving to work!
3. Be intentional. Schedule a stand-alone or short series in the spring of the year around Pentecost Sunday. If you will do this instead of ignoring the subject, it will force you to make it work in the culture of your church and community. Consider scheduling a Holy Spirit retreat at the end of your Alpha course, or start a class, a seminar—whatever it takes, but resist the temptation to do nothing. I know of a Lutheran church in St. Paul, MN that teaches on the Holy Spirit baptism through classes, seminars, retreats and all kinds of creative ways—more than most Pentecostal and Charismatic churches do.
Part of missional leadership is doing the things we know are right but would rather not do. For me, it is preaching on money—I don’t like it, but, when I do, people and our church are blessed because of my obedience. Pastoring would be easy if all we had to preach on was grace, but it’s not!
Resist the temptation to ignore this great truth. Resist the subtle temptation to wait until you have this all figured out. Does anyone have it all figured out? It is simply our job as leaders to teach our people and lead the way. We must provide opportunities for growth, and we do that by being intentional. We must make plans and then work those plans like we do with so many things.
4. Avoid the ditches of legalism and liberalism. It is not right to just neglect and log-off in regards to ministering the Holy Spirit baptism to our people. We want what is best for them and do not want our neglect to hinder their walks with God in any way. The truth is, if we just leave out teaching on the Holy Spirit baptism it can lead to criticalness, being judgmental and into the ditch of liberalism. By liberalism I mean out of balance. It is a whole lot better to drive down a road than it is to run off a road and into a ditch. People can get hurt, our vehicles can get damaged and at the very least we can delay the journey for ourselves or someone else. It is good to be reminded that our calling is to faithfully “preach the Word”[4] and of course we want to do that like a good missionary in culturally relevant ways. This wonderful experience of the Holy Spirit baptism will greatly enrich the lives of our people as it has each of us so we need to avoid this ditch of indifference.
We also need to avoid the ditch of legalism. Legalists are never happy regardless of what is said or done and they are certainly out of balance. They equate Pentecost with certain styles of preaching, singing and other methodologies to numerous to mention. There is a spiritual smugness about them and they have a tendency to reject anything they do not understand or is not like them. Somehow a legalist Pentecostal wandered into our church on a day I was teaching on the Holy Spirit baptism. I did so in a conversational way and then had a simple time of worship and prayer around the altars that probably only lasted ten minutes or so. There were around twenty people that morning who began to speak in a prayer language for the very first time including Miss America 2003, Erika Harold! Anyhow, this Pentecostal legalist almost accosted me after the service and said, “There is no way those people were really baptized in the Holy Ghost.” I asked why she felt that way and she actually said, “Because it wasn’t loud enough and there was no real emotion in it.” She was stuck in the ditch of legalism.
In order to stay out of both these ditches we need to remember that none of us can save anyone, so why do we think we can get anyone Holy Spirit filled? In both cases we just teach the Word of God and create the atmosphere, then God does His thing. Just preach salvation, and you will get people saved. Preach Holy Spirit baptism, and you will get Holy Spirit-baptized believers. We get what we preach.
In order to stay out of the ditches you also need to free yourself from the pressure of thinking you always have to have an “altar service.” Train people to be on prayer teams and have them available to pray with people who want to make a public commitment to Jesus and for those who want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is not necessary to have a Billy Graham-type appeal to see people saved, and it is not necessary to have a camp meeting-style appeal to see people Holy Spirit baptized. Today’s audiences will not process old methodology, and it may even cause them to freeze up or perhaps walk out.
People do not always respond immediately to a message of salvation. It is the same way with the Holy Spirit baptism. There will not always be an immediate response, but eventually some will respond. We just have to be faithful.
5. Pray your people will be Holy Spirit baptized. There is no real gift of praying people through to the baptism as some think. We just teach God’s Word in creative ways, learn to connect with culture and not to alienate people, and then we just pray our heads off for the Lord to save and baptize people. I want to encourage young pastors/leaders to sincerely and consistently pray: “Jesus, I need you to baptize these people in the Holy Spirit. You said you would, and I am asking you to do it.” Then go ahead and pour out your concerns to Him about people getting weird, demonstrative, and spooky; ask Him to take care of those things for you.
I am in a city with a huge university that has people from every conceivable walk of life coming to our services. Like you, we try to do things with order and excellence. I want people to connect with God through salvation and the Holy Spirit baptism, but I do not want Pentecostal cultural things to chase them away. I have told the Lord that I am not ashamed but that He has to help me make all this work in our setting. In the past, many Pentecostal churches have left out the baptism as they have grown or have regulated it to Sunday or Wednesday nights. With the huge cultural shifts we have seen and with the dissolution of Sunday nights, it is imperative that we learn how to teach this in relevant ways on Sunday mornings, in our youth or young adult meetings and other primary meetings.
6. Admit your fear and do some defragmenting. Paul said to young Timothy, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (fear), but of power, love and sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Just like a computer needs to be defragmented once in a while, so we need to do the same. We need to get rid of junk like fear that slows us down and keeps us from doing what know we should do. We cannot afford to give in to our fears and apprehensions. This I know: desire overcomes fear and intimidation! If we will simply have the desire and ask the Lord to really help us, He will. If we will be faithful, He will be faithful and believers will be Holy Spirit baptized!
You don’t have to lose your mind and put on some kind of gospel freak show to teach the truth on the Holy Spirit baptism. But you do have to be willing “to preach the message, to insist upon proclaiming it (whether the time is right or not), to convince, reproach, and encourage, as you teach with all patience”[5] like you promised to do when you were licensed and/or ordained to full gospel ministry. As men and women of integrity, we have to do what we promised the Lord we would do. We need to be like Jet Li, the warrior in the movie Fearless. His family name was shamed, and he regained honor for his family by defeating the best warriors in the land. We need some young, fearless ministers to show us how to do this in post-Christian culture.
I am not saying you have to preach on the Holy Spirit every week, but you have to be willing to preach it. Perhaps a stand-alone or short series around Pentecost Sunday would be sufficient. If there is no sin in preaching on the great truths of the incarnation and resurrection only around Christmas and Easter, why do some hyper-Pentecostals (who are on spiritual Ritalin) think we’ve lost it if we only deal with this once a year? Like I said, don’t let those legalists ruin it for you! You can mention it in your teaching once in a while and say things like: “Some of you need to search out the claims of the Holy Spirit just like you did the claims of Christ. See if it’s true or not. This is a Bible church, and I promise you I would not teach on it unless it was in the Word. See if God has a prayer language for you.” Of course I believe He does, but the way we say things will either free people or freeze them. As missional leaders, we are trying to connect with and reach people, not run them off!
We also talk about this at the end of prayer meetings when people are around the altar. I will put a quick outline on PowerPoint and go through the basics of Holy Spirit baptism in just a few minutes, and almost every single time there are people who receive for the first time and start praying in a language they have never learned.[6] The atmosphere in a prayer meeting, many of which are at night, seems to be totally different than Sunday mornings, when those exploring or window-shopping Christianity seem to show up. It’s not that I’m embarrassed being Pentecostal or anything like that. It is just a matter of trying to be wise and reach as many people as possible for Christ. After all, that is the primary reason Jesus told us to receive this promise of the Father, that we might be His witnesses.[7]
There are probably more people than we want to admit who get their ideas of Pentecost from movies like The Apostle or the crazy TV evangelists our culture makes fun of. Because of these very real obstacles, I think many simply fear teaching and praying for people to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. De-fragment your fear and go ahead and teach the baptism in a way that does not violate your personality or the culture of your local church. Styles that work at camps, retreats, and conventions don’t usually work on Sunday mornings, and that is OK.
Wrap up
I want to sincerely apologize to our younger generation of ministers/leaders who sometimes feel abandoned. Forgive me and my generation for not being better spiritual fathers. Forgive us for making methodology and programs sacred. And please avoid the mistakes we have made and embrace the baptism with the Holy Spirit. My word to our younger ministers is: “…desire earnestly to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues” (1 Corinthians 14:39 A. S. Worrell Translation).
I used to hear that those baptized in the Holy Spirit had more power and ability to do the works of God. But in many of our communities, the churches really reaching the lost are not Pentecostal or Charismatic churches. That does not negate the truth of the power of the Spirit, but it does show that we have not contextulized to our cultures what the Lord has made available to us.
I love praying in a language I have never learned; it helps me so much. There have been so many times when I have not known what to do and I simply began to pray in the Spirit and the Lord faithfully gave me a word of wisdom, prophecy, or insight to bring healing and help needed to the person or situation. Some of those I personally know and love who are honesty trying to reach the unchurched absolutely they need the Holy Spirit’s fullness to help them. Whether it is Joel Gross in the Minneapolis uptown area, Brad Riley at the University of Colorado in Bolder or Terry Austria at the University of Illinois in Urbana—they each realize without the help and work of the Holy Spirit they cannot reach people in their unique cultures.
The truth is, none of us can afford to leave the Holy Spirit baptism out—we must in veritable ways learn to do things better and de-bunk Pentecostal myths.[8] The baptism with the Holy Spirit truly is a tremendous blessing to everyone who receives—and so I am asking my young minister friends to simply be creative, intentional, stay out the ditches, pray the Lord will baptize your people in His Spirit and do some de-fragmenting of your fears. We all struggle and I know this is a real struggle for many young leaders but please know you are loved, believed in and given leeway to figure things out. Let’s not walk away from each other—let’s embrace one another as we journey together. I am passing the baton to you.
Appendix A
6 Steps to Receive the Holy Spirit Baptism
1. Thirst—Matthew 5:6; Mark 11:24
2. Ask—Matthew 7:7
3. Look to Jesus—Acts 1:8
4. Receive—Galatians 3:14
5. Praise—Psalm 22:3
6. Speak in unknown language (tongues)—Psalm 81:10
[1] I use these terms interchangeably but prefer “Holy Spirit baptism.”
[2] I prefer to use the phrase “speak in a language never learned” because “tongues” has so much emotional and theological baggage associated with it.
[3] Luke 24:49
[4] 2 Timothy 4:2
[5] 2 Timothy 4:2 Good News Translation
[6] See Appendix A for this outline.
[7] Acts 1:4, 8
[8] For a complete discussion, request my paper Ministering the Holy Spirit Baptism in a post-Christian culture.
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