My Friends:
Today we continue with our series on Back to the Basics. After Jesus came out of the grave and walked the Earth He met with the disciples. In Acts 1:4 Jesus tells His disciples "Wait" in Jerusalem. He does not tell them how long to wait but to wait upon the Holy Spirit. Why? In Acts 1:8 we see why. "But, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you shall receive power!" Why? Read on! "to be witnesses of His Gospel to all the world." Where is that in today's Church? Where is that in your life? When was the last time you saw or felt the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. Last night my lovely wife had a dream of going to heaven. She did not know if it was her time, the rapture, or what. But, as she entered the porthole to heaven a hand stopped her and told her the time is near, very near and harvest is ripe and the fields need gathering. She will fill you in on the rest.
My point here is that the Dunamis is a witness that what we preach is true. It is the power on Earth behind our words. The Dunamis empowers us to be bold and speak the truth with signs and wonders showing the world Jesus Christ is alive and well and wants to save your soul. Do you have the Dunamis in your lives? The Greek is a force, power, ability to perform miracles, miraculous power. Is this your life?
Mary and I are starting a time of fasting and prayer. We will be seeking as the Apostles did in Acts 4:23-31 fill us with Your power to do Your will! Read verse 31 Acts 4:31 (NLT) 31After this prayer, the building where they were meeting shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And they preached God's message with boldness. That my friends this is why we are here! Not to build a building to meet in, not to buy land so we can have a monument to ourselves, not to drill a water well to drink from, not to start a church to worship from, not to have pastor conferences to teach from, not to feed orphans, not to be popular, NO!, we are to work in the harvest of souls. Remember what Jesus said: John 14:25-26 (NLT) 25I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26But when the Father sends the Counselor as my representative-and by the Counselor I mean the Holy Spirit-he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I myself have told you. I guess I do not know why we need all these things if we believe the words of Jesus. The Holy Spirit will teach us EVERYTHING!
This weeks Where the Rubber Meets the Road program is "Windows into the will of God Part 1. Here is the Link. http://www.hiswillministry.org/this_weeks.html
Basics 101 Part 3
Dunamis --Are we missing something?
Ephesians 1:19-23 (NLT) 19I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. 21Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come. 22And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church. 23And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence.
One of the most important things I see missing in the modern day church is power. The power of God to change things. The power of faith to believe in things not seen rather than the things we can lay our hands on. Today I want to give you part of my great adventure to where I am today and what I believe. I will be sharing some of my good times and my hard times with the Lord during this series. Some of these times I have told you before. Some will be new. But, my point is that we must remember the great things our God does for us to go forward. We need to be a powerful movement for our Lord in these end days not a stagnant monument! 1 Thessalonians 1:5 (NLT) 5For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know that the way we lived among you was further proof of the truth of our message.
As a child my parents took me to church once. It seems I was too noisy for the group and my parents found an excuse not to take me back. During a particularly tough time in my young life I happened into a second hand store and found a 50 cent King James Bible. It was tattered, battered and rough around the edges like me, but it's words still held life. I devoured that Bible until I saw Jesus was real. As a young Christian I grew up in a fundamental Bible thumping and hell preaching non-denominational church. At the time I did not notice that the one thing missing was the power of the Holy Spirit. They had come to the "theological" decision that the gifts of the Holy Spirit had passed away with the original Apostles. I was brought up in the fundamental Christian church. We had no head but Jesus, we had no central conference, we answered to no mother church or denominational group. We believed the word of God but, with all that we were still flawed by our beliefs. We had decided that the gifts of the Holy Spirit were no longer for Christians. I was so dogmatic that I even taught that the gifts had died away. God Forgive me! Jesus said it I believe it. Mark 16:14-18 (KJV) 14Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Ok as a young Christian I had a real hard time with this. Could I be wrong and these signs were to follow us who believed? Jesus did not say "and these signs shall follow only my original 12!"or " you only get them until the 'perfect' is complete!" Nope Jesus just stated a fact "And these signs shall follow them that believe;" ! Look again at today's scripture! Ephesians 1:22-23 (NLT) 22And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church. 23And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence. Do, can or will you see what Paul said? "he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church." If our Father in heaven gave this power to Jesus to benefit the Church, then why is there no power in the church? Could it be we just don't believe?
You see one of the cop outs that the "cessationalist's" use is that these gifts died out with the original Apostles. Ok, then how do we explain the words of Jesus? "And these signs shall follow them that believe;" The Greek here means simply to have faith in. So I was in a quandary as to what was going on here? If this was right I just did not have faith in Jesus and God's word? Could such a thing be true? Going deeper the Greek roots mean to be convinced or convicted. Going even further means to have confidence, persuaded and trust. Oh boy, was I in trouble now. Something, was fishy here! Was I living a lie? I mean this young Pastor was living by "If Jesus said it I believe it and it is true!" theology. I praise the Lord that He kept me from going though man's Bible colleges, seminaries and religious education. Just this little snippet of man's doctrine was about to send me over the deep end. The Lord has taught me to live day to day by His word and the Holy Spirit. James told us: James 4:13-16 (NASB) 13Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." 14Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." 16But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Jesus said and I believe it: John 14:25-26 (KJV) 25These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Hum! No mention by Jesus on the need for man's religious training to understand. So it was time to find out what was going on.
The following is an example of how we humans can create a false doctrine without meaning to. We just simply inject our thoughts because a scripture or idea of the Lord just does not fit our little box we put God in! During the 1800's over two hundred years ago at a fundamental Baptist revival the gifts of the Spirit were being manifested but one young man and pastor could never seem to have that out pouring in his life. Night after night Raccoon John Smith watched as the revival continued and people were being baptized by the Holy Spirit and he could not "get the feeling" so to speak. There were signs and wonders happening, people being saved, people being healed but John Smith just could not get the feeling. He could not find that old time religion so to speak. So instead of spending time alone with the Lord and seeking His face he did what most humans do. He created a belief system and then justified it with one or two scriptures. In short because Raccoon John Smith and a few others like him, good Christians but wrong, could not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit at that revival over 200 years ago. So he along with several other frontier Christian preachers decided that the Baptists were a group of emotional whacked nut cases and what they were feeling was not true. The result was that over 200 years later my hell and damnation Christian church did not either. Sad but some still see me as an emotional whacked nut case because I fully know that the gifts of the Spirit of God are just as much for you and me if only as Jesus said we would "believe". You see even though this young preacher was in a Non-denominational independent Hell and damnation preaching Christian church it was still steeped in man's straight from Hell doctrine. To use the terminology of the time "this blew my mind, dude!"
So the natural thing was to seek the Lord and His word on this one. Hebrews 6:4-6 (NKJV) 4For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. This is one of those verses the once saved, always saved crowd hate but that is a someday teaching. Back to our current teaching. As a young pastor this one really put me in a tail spin. "have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come" So to be a partaker in the Holy Spirit in the Greek means to "share" the Holy Spirit. So how do we share the Holy Spirit if all He does is teach us and help us remember? Wouldn't it be more correct a term if we were sharing the power or gifts of the Spirit. So we could easily write it "have shared the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit." This of course is open to opinion but the second half of the verse is not. "The powers of the age to come." The Greek here is äýíáìéò dunamis doo'-nam-is or force (literally or figuratively); specifically miraculous power Ok now as a young pastor I am in real trouble. This Greek word is the same used in the beginning of Acts. Acts 1:8 (KJV) 8But ye shall receive power (dunamis), after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Ok, here we are back to Jesus said it therefore I believe it! Time to seek the Lord on this one I thought. This young pastor spent a lot of time in prayer and fasting over this. If I was wrong I wanted to know. Let's face it the author of Hebrews told us that it was impossible to restore someone who had partaken or shared these things. He was not talking of theory saying if it was possible it would be then be impossible, HUH? Sounds like some of the theology teachers I have heard. No! the author of Hebrews was stating a fact, "it is impossible!" But, if they died out with the apostles then why would it be necessary to give us this warning. There would be no more Dunamis or "powers of the age to come" to share or partake of, right?
Ok so let's go on with the rest of the story. Here is young pastor A. J. confronted with a very serious question. Do the full gifts of the Spirit really still exist as the Word of God indicates or is all the religious dogma correct? I went on a search of God's word and on a personal search for a direct answer from the Lord. You see my friends, I have learned that when in doubt the best answers come directly from the source. Yes, the Lord still speaks to us lowly humans in that still small voice. But, we must be willing to come to His feet and wait. We must be willing to drop all our preconceived ideas, our ideas of the exact box our God fits in and open our hearts and minds to the fullness of God. We humans just love that God in the box trick. We create a safe and controlled God by putting him in our own created box. Whether that box is created for us by our doctrinal errors or our own errors it is wrong! I have learned the closer you come to the will of God and His heart like David, the bigger He becomes and the harder it is to fit Him in our personal box.
As most of you are aware Mary and I have 5 kids. Three good and then there are our twins who seem to always be in trouble of one form or another. During my time of seeking the face of the Lord we were going through one particularly bad time with them. We had taken them into the desert to camp and have some family time. All they wanted to do was go to the mall. Sadly, it was not to shop but to shop lift. On our final day in the desert I wandered away from everyone and found a lonely canyon to pray in. It was a beautiful spot, small stream running by, a few trees for shade and only one way in or out as the walls were too steep to climb. It was one of those spots you could picture the Lord with His disciples just relaxing and talking about the events of the day. Mary and I had been studying everything we could find on the power of the Spirit so this just seemed the perfect spot to stop. I was on my knees against the canyon wall crying out to the Lord. I do not remember exactly what I was praying but I was totally involved with my conversation with the Lord. But, I do remember today as clear as the day it happened, feeling a hand upon my shoulder. I did not react for some reason, maybe it was because of the comfort that came from the touch. Deep down inside I knew I was alone, deep down inside I knew no one could approach my location without me hearing them coming. Yet, at that moment there seemed absolutely nothing wrong with this hand upon my shoulder in this lonely place. But, what happened next caught me totally off guard. As I continued to pour out my heart, as clear as day I heard "It will be all right my son!" Ok, this young pastor came out of his skin, I was up on my feet looking for that voice. The way I jumped you would have thought I was some trained ninja or something. But, there was no one there. Once the exhilaration wore off I had a total peace and headed back to where I left the family. Apparently, I was gone so long they were getting ready to send out a rescue party. Jesus said it Matthew 28:20 (KJV) 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. For the first time in my life as a Christian I truly understood what Jesus meant by being with us until the end. But greater than that His words
John 14:27 (KJV) 27Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. I for the first time fully understood, that peace that passes understanding.
But, much to my sadness and dismay I am like many humans the cares of the world and the family crept in and tried to rob me of that joy. But, I kept my hand to the plow and kept on my course to fully understand the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now my friends you must understand that this was not an overnight transition for this old Pastor. It took years for the Lord to teach and show me what I need to know to fully comprehend the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit. As Mary and I faced another trial in our lives, again I do not even remember what it was, but I will never forget the moment in time. Mary and I again headed out to our desert retreat. We took our old beater Jeep and went into the back country. I parked the old jeep and left my love in the jeep as I climbed to the top of a local ridge. Again I was far from any human contact and I sat down on a rock and poured out my heart to the Lord. I am sure He must have been thinking what a silly human being, didn't I just encourage him. I have no idea how long I sat there. It was a clear day, no clouds, no wind just beautiful blue sky. To be honest it could have been raining and I would not have noticed. I was at the feet of Jesus crying out about wanting to work and serve Him and not be dragged down by the world and it's silly cares. As I continued in prayer a wind came down upon me. I cannot really put it into words but the wind seemed to have a life of its own. I tried to ignore it but I could not. It was as if it touched my chin and pulled my head up. I opened my eyes to realize that none of the plant life around me was being blown by this strange but refreshing wind. It was only swirling around me. The wind started at my head and swirled around to my feet. It lifted me to my feet and at that moment every care I ever had in the world was removed and I was filed with the Spirit of God. I immediately started to sing every hymn and praise song I knew and a few new songs I did not know to praise my Lord. You see my friends at that moment I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with power Jesus spoke of. Since that time I have seen the lame walk, the terminally ill healed, preached in a language I did not even know, given words of knowledge and known the joy unspeakable that cannot be shaken. I have had all the gifts of the Holy Spirit work through my life but, raising the dead. I am just waiting on that. Back to our story. After this happened I turned and saw the wind, yes I saw this wind, head down the hill. All I could do was sing songs of praise to the Lord. Little did I realize that the wind of the Holy Spirit fell upon Mary that day also. When I saw the wind head down the hill it was going to her. When I came down the hill she did not hear me singing but heard what she described as a choir of heavenly voices.
Acts 1:8 (KJV) 8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Jesus said it and I believe it! His Will Ministry has touched over 100 nations around the world. You decide for yourself, is this old pastor a whacked nut case or a real life example of some one who left his preconceived ideas of God behind and found just how big my God is. Problem with the church today, no power of the Holy Spirit because most of the church has God in their little doctrinal box sitting on an altar. The church today lives so far below what God wanted for it. Your choice my friends, break your little box you keep your God in and see just how big and mighty our God is or sit in your pew each Sunday worshiping your impotent little box missing out on the great things Jesus has for you. I receive e-mails each day with ministries around the world with great power touching lives and ones that are barely surviving. Do you know the difference? POWER! Mark 16:14-18 (KJV) 14Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Our choice my friends.
