God Expresses His Love Through Acts of Power

 In Philippians 3:10, the Apostle Paul says that He wants to “know Christ, and the power that flows out of His resurrection.” The phrase “to know” in our English Bibles, is translated from the Greek word ginosko. With this word, Paul is saying that he wants to enjoy the deepest level of intimacy possible with Christ. Paul does not just want to know about Jesus, but interact with Jesus in a loving relationship.  We know that the core of God’s nature is a selfless love that is poured out to everyone that will receive it. God loves to love and be loved–God is love.

But Paul says that he not only wants to know Christ, but also wants to know, be intimate and interact personally with, the power that comes from Christ in His resurrection (the Amplified Bible says here that he wants “in the very same way” that he knows Christ, to know the power of the resurrection).

It is an odd thing in modern Western Christian culture, that the two ideas of knowing Jesus, and knowing His power, have somehow become separated. Many Christians give themselves whole-heartedly to their salvation in terms of loving God, reading their Bibles, and following Christ in moral values, but want nothing to do with the Holy Spirit who inspired the Bible and empowers us to live a moral life. But in the early church, Christ, His love for people, and acts of power that manifest that love, all went hand in hand.

Had you told the woman with the issue of blood that she should just accept Jesus as her savior, but not bother Him for healing, I think she would have thought you were nuts. Do you think that the blind, the lame, the demon possessed people that Jesus healed understood that God loved them more prior to their being healed or after? God’s love for people is often manifested in some dramatic way that serves to cut through a person’s religious or secular, arguments against Him. God healing a sick person can do more to communicate His love, and drive both fear and shame out of their hearts, than anything else.

I read an article recently in which several foreign missionaries were being interviewed. Every one of them said that they had yet to see a person from a non-Christian culture accept Christ on the basis of western apologetics, (a reasoned argument for the truth of the Bible) but they had seen multitudes of people accept Christ after being healed or delivered from demonic activity. In other words, trying to convince them of our doctrine through logical arguments was a total failure until God showed up in power. Then they were ready to listen to the gospel message, which pointed them to a Christ that they already knew was real and alive.

They were all quick to say that they value the Bible highly, but Christianity is simply not just about doctrine, it is about knowing the Living God. Since we Christians were commissioned to reach the world as Christ’s witnesses, and since we were empowered with the Holy Spirit for the purpose of carrying out that mission, we should expect the power of God and the Word of God to work together just as they did in the Book of Acts.

Our role on earth is not just to carry a message about Christ, but to actually carry Christ. Spiritual growth is much more than simply learning more doctrine or experiencing greater self-control. It is the process whereby the Christian learns to steward the presence of God so that he can release Jesus to hurting people in everyday life. A growing awareness of the presence of God upon us, and a growing sensitivity to what He wants to do for people around us, should be the focus of our lives.

Holy Living

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no-one will see the Lord. See to it that no-one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Hebrews 12:14, 15)

If I were to ask you to make a list of your ten favorite Bible topics, ten things that you like to read about, study, or hear teaching on, would holiness be on that list? If it was, I think you would be in the minority among contemporary Christians. Holiness is simply not a popular subject with most believers today. I believe that there are two primary reasons for that. First, most believers have the mistaken idea that holiness is something that God is expecting of you, and that our lack of holiness makes us a continual disappointment to God, so we would rather just not think about it. Second, I think that people equate holiness with some specific outward look, or mannerisms, that they simply can’t relate to. Holiness does not always look like the SNL “Church Lady.”

Most people, if asked, would prefer to hear about the grace of God than holiness. A message on God’s grace usually reminds us that God is forgiving, He is on our side, He has provided something for us that enables us to have a great relationship with Him–and all of that is true. But what we fail to understand is that the grace of God and holiness are inseparable partners, not opposite sides of God’s personality.

The verses above show us that the Scripture prioritizes both the grace of God and holiness. These New Testament, this side of the cross, Christ centered, verses tell us that holiness is absolutely essential for anyone to ever see the Lord. That makes holiness a pretty significant concept! But in the next breath, the Holy Spirit reminds us not to miss the grace of God. Why? Because the grace of God, entering into relationship with the Father based on the free gift of salvation through Jesus, is what leads us to and produces, holiness in us. Holiness is not something God is requiring us to do, it is the expression of His nature through us as we live in relationship with Him by grace.

Take a look at Titus 2:11-14:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Let me explain something right here; holiness has two components to it. Holiness first means to belong uniquely and exclusively to God. It means you are His unique and prized possession. I know that being someone’s “possession” can have a negative connotation in human terms, but think about it in terms of love.  We might use that kind of poetic terminology when we think of a young man that loves his bride so completely that “he must have her, possess her for himself” so that he can love her forever – romantic huh? Well, God loves you so much that He simply had to have you. He made a way for that to happen through the cross of Christ. When you accept Christ of your own free will, you become His – this is holiness, sanctification, separation from the world, the devil, and the flesh, and separation to God.

The second aspect of holiness has to do with God-like behavior, so yes, some behaviors are holy and others are not. But listen, behavioral holiness is not something you achieve by trying to clean up your act; it is the beauty of God’s nature expressed through your life. As we live in grace, live in the love that God has for us, get a revelation of the position of righteousness and acceptance that He has given us, His nature begins to be seen in our lives–that’s holiness.

I’ll give you one example, and then leave it for today. In teaching us about righteousness (which is a position of acceptance that every believer has been given by God) my pastor used to use this illustration. He said that when you understand what God has done for you, and see yourself as God sees you, it is as if you have put on a new, clean, bright white suit. He would make the point that when you see yourself wearing that clean white suit, you don’t crawl under the car in those clothes and begin to change the oil (he said “owe-l” because he is a Texan, nevertheless…). The point is, that when we know WHO we are in Christ, we start to live differently. We don’t have to try not to sin, it just isn’t in our nature to sin, so we progressively live a more holy life.

Now, my wife would argue that I have many times come home from work or church, not dressed in a white suit by any means, but dressed in my nicer clothes, only to crawl under the car and begin to drain the oil. But see, the reason I do that is because I know that I am so good, that I can get away with it without getting a spot of oil on my good clothes. I just want to get it draining, and then I can go in, change clothes, eat lunch, and come back out to finish the job. Seriously, I convince myself of this over and over, and invariably I get my good clothes dirty. It’s the same with Christians and sin. Why do we tell ourselves over and over that just this once we can hold a grudge? Or think we can watch that movie and the sex and violence won’t get into our hearts? Or we can hang out with this group, in this place, and it won’t leave any stain on our faith? Why do we think that?

We are God’s! We belong to Him. We live by grace and faith, and His Spirit lives in us. Our nature is His nature, and therefore it is unnatural for us to live in sin. It leaves a stain every time. It’s just not who we are. So plunge into grace, ponder how much God loves you, think about your position in Him, know that you are uniquely and wonderfully His, and let the beauty of His nature shine through your life–that is holiness.

No Fear!

(2 Timothy 1:7) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

When I was in grade school, there was one particular kid that I was afraid of. He was the older brother of one of my best friends, and for several years I let him push me around. He was older than me by a few years, much bigger and stronger, and he had a nasty disposition–no excuses, just facts.

This was a family that my family knew for many years. They were ranchers that ran cattle and horses. Later on they moved closer to where we lived and opened up a stable. The dad’s primary love was horses, so it was a good fit. The horses that we had from time to time all came from them, and I spent a lot of time down at their place riding and working in the fields and stables. The other members of the family were tough individuals, but the oldest boy, Jody, just had a bit of a mean streak. He kept a lot of us younger kids intimidated at all times. You just never knew what to expect from him, so you tried to keep your distance. He seemed to get a perverse joy from hurting or embarrassing us. If we had something he wanted, he would try to take it, and we would end up in the dirt.

Jody was a bully. I don’t use that term in the modern sense. These days it seems that any time one kid says or does anything that an adult finds even slightly out of line, the term bully comes out, the counselors flood in, and much hand-wringing ensues. Don’t get me wrong, I am not condoning genuinely bad or dangerous behavior, but when I was growing up, we were taught that the only way to get a bully off your back was to stand up to him. Please understand, no one brought a 9mm to school in those days, and I know that many of you live in a very different world. In those days, two kids having it out on the playground after school was not all that unusual. In fact, I can remember a couple of the male teachers supervising a scuffle or two, just to be sure that it didn’t get out of hand, and that it was “a fair fight.” Can you imagine the litigation that would bring today? The lawyers are licking their chops!

Anyway, I can remember, like it was yesterday, the very day that the whole situation with Jody turned around. I think I was about 11 years old by then. I don’t remember exactly what we were doing, but Jody’s younger brother who was one of my best friends, their much younger brother Newton, Jody, and I, were all outside their house messing around at something. As I recall, we were all having a good time, I said something, and Jody decided to hit me. I don’t think I even deserved it that time, but I could be wrong. I was sitting on a swing; he came in very suddenly and punched me hard in the mouth knocking me down. This was the moment that I had feared for years. I had sort of grappled with him several times, but he was so much bigger that it never lasted very long and I always lost. But I will never forget that moment; it was the first time I had really gotten hit by a full fist right in the face. Two things happened at once; I hit the ground, and I realized that after all this time, after all the backing down, hiding, staying out of his way, getting hit really didn’t hurt that much.

Now mom’s, you have to believe me here; this is a realization that every young man needs to have at some point in his life. It often comes in the same form it came to me, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. This is an important moment; the moment that you learn that what you have feared is nowhere near as debilitating as living under the fear itself.

It took just a second for me to realize that I would never be afraid of Jody again, and another second for me to launch off the ground and come back at him. I was going to take every minute that he had kept me down in all those years right out of his hide. I guess he could see it in my eyes, because he turned and ran as fast as he could and literally hid inside behind his mother. We were all scared of her, so I went back outside. Jody never ever bothered me again. I learned another lesson that day–bullies (real bullies, not kids that give another kid a dirty look) are cowards at heart.

Now, given our modern, fluffy, sensitive society, you may not like my story. But here is the point. The devil is nothing but a bully. He is a defeated enemy that has no right, no authority, and no power to steal from your life. But if you let him, he will push you around, keep you tied up in fear, and rob you blind at every turn.

Job discovered, after everything dear to him had been taken away, that the reason it happened was because he allowed fear into his life. He said, “The thing that I have so greatly feared, has come upon me (Job 3:25).” You see, it wasn’t God wreaking havoc in Job’s life, or the devil under God’s instructions. Job gave the devil access through fear. Fear attracts demonic activity like blood attracts sharks.

Don’t let it happen to you! When you find fear in any form, intimidation, worry, anxiety, sleepless nights, trying to creep into your life, pull out the name of Jesus and the Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit, and let the devil have it. The bible says that if we submit to God, and resist him, he will flee in stark terror from us. A bully is a bully. They are all the same. You can live your life with no fear!

Incline Your Ear

For the last several days, the phrase “incline your ear to the Lord” has been circulating in my heart and mind. The Scripture says a lot about inclining our ears and inclining our hearts to God. For example, Proverbs 2:1-5 says, “My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God.” And, Proverbs 4:20 says, “My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.”

The term “incline” here means, to pay close attention to, to mark well, to regard, and to heed or obey. God is telling us to keep an ear tuned to Him at all times. He says that whenever we realize that He is saying something to us, we should pay close attention to it, find out what He is trying to communicate to us, and treat His words and instructions like something important and precious. We are encouraged to take a heart posture of readiness to move and obey, the instant that we hear the Lord speak.

Without getting off track from today’s point, let me say that we “hear God speak” in many ways. Many times we discern the voice of God as a sense of peace, or a lack of peace in our hearts about a situation, decision, or person in our lives. For example, if I notice that a specific member of our congregation keeps coming to mind, I will take time to pray for them, and many times contact them to see what is going on. I recognize in that instance that God may be trying to get my attention. Sometimes, a Scripture stands out to me, or I sense the Lord impressing a certain thought on my heart–this too is often the voice of the Holy Spirit. I am writing this article today, because this particular phrase from Scripture kept coming to mind, appearing in my reading, and coming up in some teachings that I was listening to. After a few days of that, being the brilliant light that I am, I figure out that God has a message for me, and for you as well, so I pay attention and follow up.

Sometimes we get frustrated with ourselves, or with God, because we just can’t figure out how to apply a verse like this in “real life.” Hopefully, by now, most of us have developed that habit of having a daily time in God’s Word and prayer. But when we leave that special time, how do we keep our ear inclined to the Lord? How do we live a busy life in a busy world, and still hear God?

It isn’t as hard as you might think. Actually, you probably do this all the time already. You probably have your ear inclined to something a lot of the time and you don’t even realize it. Here are a couple of examples:

I grew up driving air-cooled Volkswagen Beatles. That air-cooled engine ran REALLY hot by design, so you had to keep good oil in it, and you had to run it at some pretty high RPM’s by American standards, or you would blow it up. Driving those cars in the mountains of Colorado was an art, and I learned early to keep my ear tuned to that engine. Any new noise was noted, processed, and tracked down. During those years, I was also flying hang gliders. There is no airspeed indicator on a hang glider; instead you learn to sense your airspeed by the sound of the air going over the wing and the feel of the glider. Especially on launch and landing, it is essential that you do not stall, but keep the wing moving at a proper speed through the air. Again, you learned to keep an ear tuned to the machine while you were making important decisions and thinking about other things.

In all of that, I became a listener. When I am going down the road, I may be having a conversation with someone, or listening to a podcast, or thinking about the route or my destination, but at the same time my ear is always inclined to the machine. If a new sound appears, I tend to hear it immediately.

Sometimes someone will drive up to where I am standing, or I will get in their car, and I will immediately notice an odd sound coming from the engine or transmission. A belt is squealing, a pulley is whining, a bearing or bushing is rumbling, the valves sound like an old Singer sewing machine because the car is 2 quarts low on oil, etc. I will usually, ask something like, “Wow! What is that?” Many times the startled driver looks at me with a blank expression and says. “What?” They haven’t had their ear inclined to their car at all, and they have not heard the noise. This noise, that is often warning them that something is about to break, has just become background noise to them–part of the clutter of life.

My Mom always had her ear inclined toward the kids. She could have the vacuum cleaner running and the TV on, and if we were fighting in a room on the other end of the house, she heard us. And, if it got too quiet, she would stop what she was doing and ask what we were up to. It was amazing!

So in our busy days, as we are going along, we can train ourselves to have a listening ear–an ear inclined to the Lord. We can be doing other things, but there is always a part of us that is attentive, watching, waiting for God to speak. I will say it again; this is a learned behavior! A Discipline. At first you will need to train yourself to listen for the nudges of the Spirit, but over time, it will become second-nature. This is much easier to do once you begin to treasure input from God. When you are convinced that He is only, and always, good, and that He has the best in store for you, it is easy to keep your ear inclined to the Lord.

Let me wrap this up with one final verse, Isaiah 55:3 says, “Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you-- The sure mercies of David.” Isn’t that awesome?

As New Testament believers, we can couple this verse with John 10:10 and say, “When I incline my ear and come to Him, I will walk in an everlasting covenant with Him, experience His sure mercies, and receive life and life more abundantly from Him.” That’s just good stuff.

God Is Big - Really Big!

God is big–Really Big!

Two weeks ago, we started our first winter course at the RMCM School of Ministry. Each of these courses is designed to equip believers to carry the love, life, and power, of God out into their world. Our current course is called “Praying With Power.” We are talking about the kind of prayer that releases on earth what Jesus has already provided for us through the cross. We believe that God wants to bring His will to pass on earth in the form of miracles (setting people free from the destructive power of sin in all its forms) and in the form of His dreams and purposes for lives of people. You could say we are studying prayer that addresses our problems, and prayer that brings our dreams into fulfillment.

In order for us to pray with confidence, there are a few of things that we need to get straight in our thinking and believing. These principles must become more than just classroom ideas to us; they must become personal revelation from God.

One of those ideas is simply that God is good and He has a good plan for our lives–“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV.

Another important truth is that we are not praying to try to get God to do something new. The New Testament is filled with scriptures that tell us that through the work of Jesus on the cross, God has already made provision for every kind of problem that human beings can experience. God is already completely in favor of us receiving what He purchased for us with the blood of Jesus. He needs no convincing. But we do need to pray the kind of prayer that partners with God and releases that provision on earth. In many cases, the Lord leads us into prayers that incubate His plans and purposes here on earth, and then birth those purposes. The key here is that Christians pray out of a sense of fullness, a sense of confidence and excitement, about what God has already done in Christ, not a sense of lack driven by the needs that we have or see.

Finally, we pray knowing that God is MUCH bigger than our biggest problem and MUCH bigger than our biggest dream. Sometimes we get so consumed with our problems, or with the feeling that the dream in our heart is just too big, too outrageous, and too impossible. We must remember that God is infinite. Did you get that? Infinite! I read this statement the other day from an author named Mark Batterson, and it has stuck with me. He wrote, “To the infinite, all finites are the same size.” That means that to God, cancer and the common cold are the same size problem to solve. Needing a sandwich and needing a million dollars for your business are the same size. You get the idea. God is bigger than your biggest need and your biggest dream.

One final thought. So often, our doubt is not about God, but about ourselves, or about God’s view of us–His willingness toward us. To address that issue would require an article of its own, but let me say this: Just as God is bigger than our problems, His love, mercy, and grace toward us, is also bigger than our mistakes. He loves you; He has a great plan for you, and has wrought a great deliverance for you. Plunge into Him. Let Him reveal Himself and His plans to you. Think big, dream big, pray big, and live big!

God is big–Really Big!

Don't Eat Your Seed!

DON’T EAT YOUR SEED!

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever.” Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. (2 Corinthians 9:6-10)


The passage above is yet another one of my favorite portions of Scripture. In it, God communicates His dedication to our well-being, and gives us some very practical instruction about how to apply His principles to our lives in a way that will produce abundant blessing and equip us to live generously. He then underscores that instruction with a promise to release a flow of His grace through our lives that will cause the already powerful principle of seedtime and harvest to produce in an even greater way.

It seems that recently we have been involved in a lot of discussions about finances. The last three years have been very difficult, to say the least, here in our area. I know that many of you have been challenged to believe God for provision to a greater degree than ever before. We have been praying for people’s jobs, praying over the ability to pay mortgages, helping people with food, clothing, shelter, even giving away free oil changes. I can look right across the road from our property and see a sign that says “4.8 Acres For Sale. Bank Owned.”

A couple of local businessmen purchased that land and began to develop it right about the same time we started trying to acquire the church property. They had big dreams and, to my knowledge, didn’t go about their plans in a foolish manner. But the sudden halt of work and commerce in the area took them out. It really breaks my heart to think about it.

One thing Karen and I have been reminded of as we pray through our own set of financial challenges right now, is the Biblical instruction to plant financial seed. I believe that the passage from 2 Corinthians means that every time God brings increase into our lives, whether from work, a gift, or a windfall, some of that increase is seed and some of it is bread. One of the worst things you can do when facing financial hardship, is to allow yourself to begin to eat your seed. We eat our seed anytime that we choose to use that portion of our income that either belongs to God, (I believe that is the tithe) or that He has asked us to give into His kingdom, (an offering over and above the tithe) to pay our bills or spend on ourselves.

In times of shortage, we are all tempted to eat our seed. We tell ourselves it’s just temporary, we say, “just this time.” But the eating of seed eliminates a future harvest in finances just as surely as it does in a field of corn or wheat.

The only reason to eat seed is because we have become convinced that God is unable or unwilling to provide both seed and bread. Yet, that is exactly what He has promised to do. Most of the time, we don’t ask Him what portion of our income is seed, and what is bread; we just compare income with bills and pay the bills first. Instead, we need to pray over income, follow instructions carefully, sow our seed first, and adjust our lifestyles to fit the bread we have to eat. As time goes on, we will experience the increase that comes from grace coupled with wise sowing and reaping–more seed, more bread, more provision for ourselves and others, and more thanksgiving going to God (2 Corinthians 9:11-15).

I want to strongly encourage you, whatever your financial standing at this time, NEVER allow yourself to start eating your seed. Oh, and by the way, this same principle applies to every area of life. Time, money, relationships, career, the list is endless. You are blessed today to be a blessing to someone else. Live that lifestyle with all your heart and watch the grace of God abound toward you, that having all you need all the time, you will be equipped to give into every good work. Make 2012 the year that you sow your seed first, and eat only what God has designated as bread.

The New Testament Pattern

After a recent bible study, a woman raised her hand and asked if there was a pattern that we could find in the Bible relating to people being born again, and baptized in the Holy Spirit. She wondered if you had to be born again before you could be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I was so glad that she asked that question, because it gave me the opportunity to share what I have found to be one of the most liberating truths in the New Testament. The answer to her question, also answers one of the most common questions, or misconceptions, that I have found among Christians when discussing the topic of the Holy Spirit. That question, which we have partially answered in earlier articles, goes something like this; “Why would I need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit? I thought I got the Holy Spirit when I was born again.”

In earlier articles, we dealt with this subject, so I am not going to repeat all of that information here. The short answer is, yes you did receive the Holy Spirit when you gave your life to Jesus. But Jesus taught, and the New Testament confirms over and over, that there is a second, deeper, aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry to Christians that comes in the form of what Jesus Himself called “being baptized in the Holy Spirit.” The difference between the ministry of the Holy Spirit received at the new birth, and that received at the baptism in the Holy Spirit is summed up in one word – power.

(Acts 1:4, 5; 8) On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit… …But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

To answer the question that was raised at our Bible study, yes, there is a pattern established in the New Testament concerning being born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit. Not only is there a pattern established, but there is only one pattern on this topic that can be found in the New Testament. Therefore, I would submit for your consideration, that possibly the only reasonable course for the Christian who wants to orient their understanding of God and the course of their life to the Bible, is to accept and follow this pattern. Today I will lay it out for you in very simple terms and pray that you will follow up with some Bible study and honest prayer. I am not going to print out all of the verses involved, because these are verses you need to look up, read, pray over, obey, and know well enough to share with others. I will give you the concept, and the references; the rest is up to you.

Stated simply, the New Testament, particularly in the Gospels and the Book of Acts, repeats a pattern over and over for us. That pattern is that a person needs to first accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. That means we stop trusting in any form of good behavior, church affiliation, community service etc., to make us good enough or acceptable enough to spend eternity with God. Instead, we accept the death of Jesus on the cross as full payment for our sin, and accept the free gift of salvation and right relationship with God that He offers. When any person does that, believes in their heart that Jesus died for their sins, and confesses with their own mouth that He is Lord, they are saved, born again, and the Holy Spirit comes to live inside them.

Being born again is the door, the entryway, and the necessary first step into the fullness of everything that God has in store for us. After we take that first step, another step becomes available to us. Just as God does not force us to accept His provision of a Savior, He does not force us to accept this next step–being baptized in the Holy Spirit. God loves freedom and choice. He wants real relationship with us that is chosen by us. But Jesus said, to His own disciples who had already received Him as Lord, “wait for the gift my Father promised… in a few days, you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.” Just a side note, there were about 500 followers on the day that Jesus said to wait a few days and be baptized in the Holy Spirit, but only 120 waited. Almost 80% rejected the offer. I think those numbers are probably pretty consistent today.

On the Day of Pentecost, the promised baptism came in a dramatic form. You can read it for yourself in Acts chapter 2. Immediately, we see supernatural power begin to work in and through the disciples. For example, they were no longer hiding behind closed doors in fear, but out in the streets proclaiming the wonderful works of God. They proclaimed those works in languages that were foreign to the speakers by the power of God. Their words carried a power to influence other people, and 3000 came to Christ that day. As the story continues, power to heal, power to prophesy, power to evangelize, power over the enemy in every form marks the church and points people to a living, active God. All of this began with the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

So we have this pattern: accept Jesus, be born again, then receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and see various manifestations of God’s power begin to flow through our lives, all bearing witness to the fact that Jesus is Lord. Let me give you several other references that establish this as the pattern of normal New Testament living.

1. As we have discussed, the disciples of Jesus were born again, and “they received the Holy Spirit” in John 20:22. The Greek there says the Holy Spirit came “into” them. Later, in Acts chapters 1 and 2, Jesus tells the very same disciples, who were already born again and had the Holy Spirit living in them, to wait to be baptized in the Holy Spirit (He said the Holy Spirit would come “upon” them) so that they could be empowered to be witnesses. This is fulfilled in Acts 2, and the result is recorded through the rest of the New Testament. The pattern: born again and the Spirit comes into them, baptized in the Holy Spirit, power displayed in ways that other people could see or hear.

2. Acts 8:12-18 – Philip the evangelist goes to Samaria and tells people the good news about Jesus. The Scripture says that they believed (were born again) and were water baptized. Later, the apostles heard about the salvations that had occurred and came to pray for them to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit because, although they were saved, “the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon them.” So, they were born again by hearing the Word of God, then later filled with, or baptized in the Holy Spirit. Then, something happened, the Bible doesn’t say what, that a man named Simon could see so that he knew they had been filled with the Holy Spirit.

3. Acts 9 – A man named Saul, AKA the Apostle Paul, had an encounter with Jesus while he was on the road pursuing Christians to have them imprisoned or executed. During this encounter, Paul was born again. While the Bible doesn’t say that in plain language, we have two good indicators. First, Paul refers to Jesus as “Lord,” and second, Ananias calls Paul his “brother” a term used between believers. Later, when Ananias comes to visit Paul, he prays for Paul and Paul is filled with the Holy Spirit. We see the power of God flow through his life from that time forward. Born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, power demonstrated.

4. Acts Chapter 10 is a wonderful story for all of us non-Jewish believers. In this chapter, the Lord sends Peter to the home of a gentile to tell him about Jesus. I wish we had space here to discuss the historical and cultural significance of that. But as Peter is speaking to the gentiles, the Holy Spirit “fell upon” them as they believed, and they began to speak in tongues and magnify God. Again, people believed when they heard the Word of God, accepted Jesus and, in this case immediately, the Holy Spirit came upon them with the result that the power of God began to flow through them in a way that could be seen or heard.

I need to add one thing here. Often people say, “If God wants me baptized with the Holy Spirit, He will just do it.” Well, sounds good, but there are only two instances in the Bible where that happened. Both instances were the very first introduction of the Holy Spirit into a culture–once for the Jews, and once for the Gentiles. After that, everything else flows with what Jesus said in Luke 11:13, “…how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” Ask, and you will receive.

5. Acts 19:1-6 – Paul found some people who had received the form of water baptism that John the Baptist preached. John’s baptism was merely a baptism of repentance that pointed people toward the Savior, Jesus. Paul told them about Jesus, they received Him as Savior, and were again baptized in water, now in the name of Jesus–they were born again. Next, Paul laid hands on them and prayed, the Holy Spirit “came upon” them, and they began to speak in tongues and prophesy. Born again, baptized in the Holy Spirit, power in evidence that could be seen or heard.

I believe that what we just laid out constitutes God’s only pattern for normal New Testament living. While He does not force us to receive either Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, the Bible clearly portrays Biblical Christianity as the acceptance of both. I pray that you will dig into these verses and allow the Lord to show you that being born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, and living life in the power of God, is His will for every Christian.

I welcome your thoughts, comments and questions. Just place them in the comment box below this article.

DO YOU WANT EVERYTHING THAT GOD HAS FOR YOU?

That seems like a simple question doesn’t it? Do you want everything that God has for you? The answer actually depends a lot on your understanding of God’s nature–His character. If you trust that God always has the very best in mind for you, and that He gives nothing but good gifts, then the answer is probably a resounding YES!

When Jesus was talking to His disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit, He addressed the very issue. He knew that it was essential that people understand that the Father only gives good gifts so that they could easily receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when He arrived.

In Luke 11, Jesus says, “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! ” (Luke 11:11-13 NIV).

Luke also records this statement from Jesus in the Book of Acts – “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit’ ” (Acts 1:4, 5 NIV).

Jesus presented both the Holy Spirit Himself, and “the baptism in the Holy Spirit,” as a good gift from the Father. If this is true, doesn’t it make sense to want everything the Father has for us?

So, if you are a person who has never received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, it might be a good idea to ask yourself, and to ask the Lord, Why? Has something frightened you about this whole topic? Have you simply never been exposed to this part of the Bible, and therefore don’t really understand what the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is? Have you seen or heard things that struck you as very weird, and had people tell you that the Holy Spirit did those things? Whatever the case, I encourage you today to go back to a place of trusting Jesus, trusting the Scriptures, and ask your Father to help you understand and accept everything that He has for you.

Now, you may be saying, but I am a Christian and I already have the Holy Spirit. Right you are. Assuming that you have accepted Jesus as your savior by faith, you are born again, and indeed the Holy Spirit lives in you right now. However, the Bible teaches that there is another, deeper aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry that is available to you. Jesus called it “being baptized in the Holy Spirit.” Stay tuned, because this will be the topic of our next blog.

Can I Trust The Holy Spirit

In this second article about the Holy Spirit and His gifts, I want to briefly address the issue of trusting the Holy Spirit. It may seem like an odd question, “can I trust the Holy Spirit,” but I find that many people are very nervous about the whole topic of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and supernatural things in general. As I have ministered to people over the years, I have found that until they are ready to trust the Holy Spirit the same way they trusted Jesus, they will not receive Him or His ministry.

You might ask, why would someone that believes in a God that they can’t see, and has entrusted their eternal security to the Son of God whom they have never met in person or seen in the flesh, have an issue with the supernatural? Good question. I think it is because the work of Jesus is sometimes perceived as something that happened a long time ago, rather than something that is ongoing and spiritual. Of course, the Bible actually presents the work of Jesus, not as just what happened on the cross, or what He did historically during His time on earth, but as an “eternal” work. That means that the work of Jesus had no beginning and has no end. What He did on the cross is expressed in terms of an action that occurred, but that has an eternal, ongoing, effect. Actually, to get technical, the Bible teaches that the work of salvation was completed from God’s point of view before man ever sinned. But that is probably more than we need to get into here.

For the last few hundred years, since about the time of the French Revolution, Western Culture has embraced a way of thinking that defines truth as only that which can be measured, reproduced in a lab, and obeys the laws of math and physics. Anything that is unexplainable is deemed to be suspect at best, and probably false. This line of thinking, called “modernism,” has had a dramatic effect on the way people read the Bible. Many people simply discount the bible stories of the supernatural; like the miracles of Jesus and those that occurred continually through His followers as they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They write these recorded supernatural acts off as the perspective of people that didn’t understand science. Because of this trend, many streams of Christianity today simply do not expect God to do the things that we read about in the New Testament. They essentially live in the moral principles of the Bible, but ignore the possibility of the miraculous in a contemporary setting.

There is much we could say about this, but I will assume that if you are still reading, you are at least open to the idea of trusting the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to move in and through your life in a more powerful way than you may have experienced up to this point. Let me say again, with little comment, and a promise of dealing with it in the future, that if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you have already experienced some of the power of the Holy Spirit. All I am saying is that there is more for you.

As to trusting the Holy Spirit, here is one thing that helps me; Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever (John 14:15, 16).” Jesus also said that even we human beings with all of our faults, give good gifts to our children, and that the Father will give the Holy Spirit as a good gift to those who ask Him (Luke 11:11-13).

The first reference above says a lot more in the original language than comes out in English. Jesus said that the Father was going to give us “another” counselor. That word “counselor” can also be translated as comforter, advocate, coach etc. In other words, He is not just a therapist, but one who walks through life with us daily. The word “another” comes from a Greek word that means another of the EXACT same kind. In Greek, there is an entirely different word that is used to describe something that is similar, but not exactly the same. Like if I gave you an apple, and you asked for another piece of fruit, so I gave you an orange, I would be giving you another piece of fruit, but a different kind.

Jesus did not use that word to describe the Holy Spirit. He used the word that tells us that the Holy Spirit is EXACTLY like Jesus. He has the same personality, and the same intent for your life, but He is another person. This fits with the rest of the Bible that tells us that God exists in three persons that are all one, but still three. I know, it makes my brain hurt too, but that’s what the Bible says.

So If you can trust Jesus with your life, you can trust the one He personally sent to you, right? If the Father only give good gifts to His kids, and He gives us the Holy Spirit, we can trust that He is a good gift from our Father, right?

And finally, Jesus says in John 16:7, that it is actually better for us that He goes away and sends the Holy Spirit. Wow! Imagine how hard that was for His disciples to believe. But, Jesus never lies to us, so it was true for them, and it is true for us. Jesus actually does everything He does in our lives today through the Holy Spirit.

So if you, for whatever reason, have been nervous about the subject of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts, please take time to read these passages and think about them deeply. Pray, ask Jesus what He would say to you about this subject. Begin by trusting Jesus, and be open to Him encouraging you to also trust the Holy Spirit.

If you have questions or comments, I would love to hear them. You can post comments below this article, or you can email them to me at pastor@rmcmchurch.org.

Immersed In The Holy Spirit part 1

I have found in recent days, that the Lord has been reigniting in me a deep hunger to see Christians receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It’s odd to think that in my seemingly short tenure as a Christian, I have watched the church in America awaken to the baptism in the Holy Spirit, begin to embrace the host of benefits that come with it, only to slowly drift back to sleep in regard to this great gift. Sadly, there are still huge portions of the church today that deny the present day work of the Holy Spirit, and become very nervous at the mention of the gifts. I find that so odd given the amount of time Jesus Himself gave to instruction on the subject, and the fact that the entire New Testament is filled with references to the Holy Spirit’s powerful work in and through His people.

I am fully aware that even as I write this blog, there are those that will feel uncomfortable with the subject for any number of reasons. There are those who have been confused by misinformation, those that have seen some genuinely weird behavior attributed to the Holy Spirit and decided they wanted no part of it, and those who grew up around genuine God-loving people that denied the present day manifestation of the Holy Spirit. There are even some who are just not comfortable with the idea of supernatural things. To all of these I say, please give me a chance to address some of your questions. I don’t intend to cover this in one article, but there are several specific things I believe the Lord has put on my heart to address over time. All I am asking is that you hear me out, take what is written here to Jesus, pray about it, look up the Scriptures, and let Jesus influence your heart. You and I can certainly agree that Jesus will not lead you astray, right? You can trust Him, even if you’re not too sure about me at this point. Fair enough, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

In this article I want to begin to address one foundational issue; what is the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and is it for us today? First of all, Jesus, not some wacky chandelier-swinging preacher, coined the term “baptized in the Holy Spirit.” You can find this in your Bible in Acts 1:5. If you read John’s gospel, chapters 14, 15, and 16, you can’t miss the fact that, at the very end of His earthly ministry, when time was short and only extremely important issues were being discussed, Jesus spent a lot of that precious time preparing His disciples to receive the Holy Spirit. In our passage in Acts, after He had gone to the cross and been raised from the dead, He refers back to those discussions and again talks about the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Now, I want you to think about whom Jesus is addressing in Acts 1. He is talking to His disciples. These are men who have already believed on Him as Lord and Savior. We will go into this in more detail in a future article, but suffice it to say, these are people who are already following the risen Savior. They have received Him as Lord; we would say that they are already born again. These are the very ones that Jesus is about to release to carry the message of salvation to the whole world. They know Him; they have eaten with Him, walked with Him, even ministered along side Him. And, they already have the Holy Spirit residing in them because they are born again (see John 20:21, 22). To these people Jesus says “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Notice, the Holy Spirit lives in them, but Jesus wants them to be baptized, that means immersed in and saturated with, the Holy Spirit.

Just one more thought today; if this was the only New Testament example of people who are already born again receiving this second aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry, called by Jesus being “baptized in the Holy Spirit,” maybe we could write it off as an anomaly. But we will examine multiple references that ALL follow this same pattern throughout the 30 year period recorded in the Book of Acts. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is something that Jesus Himself gave to His own disciples to equip them for the Christian life and ministry. I believe it is for every Christian. Thanks for reading, and I hope you will watch for upcoming articles.

God Measures by Potential

When we moved into our house 15 years ago, there was a little Blue Spruce out in the front yard just off the deck. It was just a few feet high, and we wondered if it would survive the harsh winters and dry summers when some unnamed person neglects the watering.

A couple of winters later, the tree was badly mauled by vicious Rocky Mountain rabbits with big buck teeth. The poor thing was pretty deformed, but finally recovered. Then, one year on June 10th, it snowed a foot and froze hard the next morning. Of course, the silly tree, thinking that June indicated summer, already had its sap up and the tips of all its branches died from the frost. This led to another several years of deformation, and our wondering again if it would survive.

Today, that tree is around 15 feet tall and 8 or 10 feet across at the bottom. It has gotten so large that it crowds one of our parking places in the driveway, and threatens to overtake the deck. It has become very evident that whoever planted that tree did not take into account its potential size when they chose a place in the yard for it.

This begins to get to my point. We tend to measure things by their size. As a culture, we disdain the small things, and admire the big things. The bigger the better. Big means powerful, strong, healthy. We are drawn to crowds. Big concerts, big games, big churches, big companies – we assume that if it is bigger, if more people are there, then it must be better.

There are a couple of problems with this line of thinking. First, as far as big crowds go, it is simply not always true. People are drawn to all kinds of things, some healthy, some not so much. Jesus at times did specific things to challenge the crowds that followed Him. The result was that those who were following His popularity, or following for a show, left and those who were really committed to Him stayed. In this way, Jesus thinned the crowds that followed Him and increased the overall level of devotion in His followers.

Another flaw in our bigger is better mentality is the fact that although people measure things by size, God measures things by potential. Examples? Here are just a few: God looks at the heart of a person, and weighs the invisible motivations of the inward man when He evaluates our actions. Sometimes, in our haste, we only look at the outward part of a person, a life, a community, and misjudge it.

Another example – God designed the earth to work on a seedtime and harvest principle. Seeds by nature are outwardly unimpressive in comparison with the fruit and multiplied harvests they can produce. If we judge a seed by its size, we might never put it in the ground and receive the benefit of its inward life. Within every tiny kernel of corn, there are many fields of abundance–the same is true of human lives.

This principle works in reverse too. Many times we allow seeds, whether thoughts, ideas, attitudes, habits, or influences to enter our hearts because they look so small and innocuous. We will go to movies, read books, have conversations that sow negative seeds into our hearts.

The Bible also tells us specifically that bad company corrupts good character, and yet we will build relationships with “bad company” at times because it doesn’t feel like a big deal.

The point is that God does not measure things by size, but by potential. When He looks at you and I, He does not merely see what we are today; He sees our potential in Jesus Christ. Did you get that? Not just our potential, but our potential IN JESUS CHRIST. That is an entirely different picture than we get when we look in the mirror. This is why He gives us such a big vision, why He encourages us to big things, Why He believes in us so much more than we do. He isn’t just looking for big, but for multiplied harvest from the life that He Himself has sown in us.

So when we look at one another, when we choose places to go and things to do, it is always wise to look for the long-term potential outcome of a choice. What can the small decision I make today do in the long run? Like that Blue Spruce, the little choices that we are making today will probably be with us for a very long time. They will grow and take over more of our lives. What are we allowing to be planted, who are we hanging out with, what priority are we giving to the various aspects of our lives? Potential – it’s a big deal.

Everyone Needs A Good Soaker Now And Then

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to go out for a short mountain bike ride early in the morning before work. It had been a week or two since I had gotten out on our local trail system at Hartman Rocks. The last time I was out, the weather had been hot and dry for some time and the trails showed it.

With our rocky, sandy, soil, it doesn’t take very many days of hot dry weather to cause the trails to get very loose and dusty. Loose soil makes for poor traction. Each little steep uphill section becomes a challenge to ascend without your rear wheel spinning out. And, the downhills become a slalom ride that feels at times like you are riding on marbles.

On this particular morning however, we had just enjoyed about three days of monsoon moisture. The summer monsoons bring thunderstorms to our mountains in the afternoon, and often just a nice steady rain through the evenings and into the night. That morning the valley and the surrounding peaks were draped in fog and low clouds. It was cool, damp, and green, and the air was filled with the smell of wet sage. I noticed immediately that the trails had tightened up. All it takes is a little soaking to consolidate the surface of the trail, and restore traction. Damp trails become tacky, making climbing and descending a joy. The more important benefit is that the land gets a drink, everything is rejuvenated, and the danger of wildfire is eliminated.

I couldn’t help but think that we too need that kind of drenching in God’s Word and Spirit on a regular basis. The Scripture says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10, 11 NIV).

Life itself tends to dry us out, and we can become scattered and scratchy. We can easily lose direction and focus when we just do the daily grind day after day. We need to develop the simple habit of spending a little time with God and His Word every day. It doesn’t have to be a huge deal, but we do need to make a connection with His Spirit around His Word. But then, once in a while, we need a good soaking. We need some extended time to allow the Lord to really penetrate our dry spots and heal us up. We try to have that kind of time during worship every week here at RMCM. But I think we, as individuals need to build in special extended times of worship, prayer, and soaking in the Word.

The good news is that it’s so easy to do these days. The hardest part is setting aside the time and actually getting off by yourself or with your family for a time with God. Like anything else in your life, if you don’t schedule it, it won’t happen. But, we have wonderful, anointed worship music in multiple forms to help us worship. We have the bible on paper, on CD, on MP3, and streaming from the internet to help us soak in the Word.

So I say, plan some time to soak in God. Take a long drive to a favorite secluded spot. Spend both the drive time and the afternoon just soaking in His presence. Or, next time there is an evening thunderstorm, turn off the TV, the computer, and the phone, gather the family up and take some time to worship the Lord and read His Word together. Read the Old Testament stories while the lightning flashes, and talk about the greatness of our God. Or, take the kids on a Saturday afternoon, go somewhere that you can look out at creation, and spend an hour or two thanking God for your blessings, and talking to the kids about real life examples of His faithfulness. Then have s’mores or stop for ice cream - your kids will never forget it.

The main thing is that you will come out of these times refreshed. Those loose, dry areas will be restored. New life will begin to spring up, and the danger of wildfires of the heart will be quenched. You will come out green and healthy, and at peace again. You will gain traction that will propel you into breakthrough. We can’t wait for these times of refreshing to present themselves, or always expect the church to create them for us, we have to schedule them, and make them happen.

I'm Hungry

I’m hungry. It’s close to noon, I swam before coming to work today, had a light breakfast, and a busy morning. I’m really hungry. Those of you who know me well, know that this is not a good thing. When I get hungry, my thinking gets fuzzy (fuzzier than normal) I get grouchy (I believe Colleen Cawthon used to call it “cranky”) I get short with people, and life generally goes downhill until I eat.

Now, you might think that I’m just catering to my flesh. You might say, “snap out of it,” or, “toughen up buttercup.” Yeah well, come over here and say that – wait, no, that’s just the low blood sugar talking. The great spiritual point that I need to make here, is that in the same way that our body needs food to function properly, our whole being needs to feed on the Word and presence of God in order work right.

Every Christian knows that we need to have a steady diet of God’s word and Presence. This isn’t just some religious obligation that we observe; feeding on God is life to us. Jesus said it right? He said that man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. God’s words, the things that He is currently speaking to us on a daily basis, are full of His life. They fill us and energize us spiritually. In fact, the Bible says that God’s word actually brings health to our flesh. It was no coincidence that Jesus used the analogy of food to describe the way the word of God works. Jesus said that His words are spirit and life. When we ingest the word, we ingest again and again, the life of the spirit. In the same way that certain foods carry specific nutrients that our body needs in order to stay healthy, the word of God carries the capacity, the spiritual power, within itself to bring itself to pass.

So, when God speaks to me about mercy for example, He doesn’t just give me a lesson about the meaning of mercy, or tell me that I had better try harder to be merciful, He actually infuses me with a dose of mercy that reproduces itself in me. All of a sudden, a specific aspect of God’s nature that we know as mercy is flowing, not only to me, but through me to others. We call that bearing the fruit of the Spirit. When God speaks to me about healing, His words carry the power to bring healing to me, and at the same time build faith in me toward God for healing. Suddenly, not only am I experiencing healing, but I am a carrier of His healing for someone else. You could say that I am infected with healing, and contagious with healing. I can go out and infect someone else with God’s healing (either that is right, or I really need to eat).

Oh, by the way, God’s Word and God’s Presence always go hand in hand. Well, not always, but we do really terrible things with God’s word when we get it outside of His presence. The Holy Spirit is there to bring the word to life in us, and to keep it in the context of God’s nature. So I love to encourage Christians to spend lots of time in God’s word coupled with His presence. Worship a while, talk to Him a while, read the word a while, meditate the word a while, worship some more, pray some more, listen a lot – like that. That is a great meal that will produce abundant life in and through us.

One last thought. I believe that God is setting a table for us constantly and inviting us to sit down with Him and eat. I think the table is specific to us as individuals, and yet He is generally speaking the same things all over the earth. What’s our part? Simple, come and eat. He won’t force you, but you’ll be so glad you did. If you go to bed hungry tonight, it’s not God’s fault, not a “wilderness experience,” not a “test or a trial,” you just didn’t stop long enough to sit down and eat. Good news – the table is still set, and there is a place with your name on it.

Now, I have got to get some lunch.

Awaken The Sleeping Giant...

There is a giant slumbering inside you. This giant is more powerful than you would imagine. Most of us go through life not even knowing that the giant is there. This giant is the part of you that God designed to be a conduit of His nature and His power - this giant is a unique combination of gifts that only you posses.

Every believer wants to see our world impacted by a powerful expression of Jesus Christ. We want to see our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers enjoying the same life and joy that we know in God. We want to see the wounded heart restored, the sick body healed, the desperate life filled with hope. We need the wisdom of God to bring forth new solutions to the practical problems facing our world.

Many of us are waiting for God to repair our world, not knowing that he is waiting for us to awaken the giant. Jesus said that all authority in Heaven and on earth was given to Him, then He told His followers to go out in His name and do the very same works, and even greater works, that He had been doing. He told us to go heal the sick, raise the dead, and destroy the works of the devil. He wants to use us, He wants to use you. All that is needed is for us to learn how to let Him flow through the gifts He has given us.

This summer at RMCM, we will be gather for some special times of equipping. We will discover together what the Bible says about the different ways in which God has gifted every believer. Then we will learn, even practice, together flowing in those gifts. This will be a very encouraging time that will strengthen your walk with God, and help you to bring Heaven into the world around you.

Watch for more information soon about our summer classes - "Awaken", "Engage", and "Activate".

Pray With Power And Confidence

The earnest, (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. - James 5:16 Amplified

Beginning in James 5:13, James describes a lifestyle that centers around conversation with God. He says that when we are in trouble, we should pray, when we are happy, we should praise, when we are sick, we should receive prayer and be healed, when we sin, we should be open about it, confess to one another, and receive fresh forgiveness from the Lord.

In verse 16, James makes this amazing statement. He says without reservation that the prayer of a righteous man (person) is powerful and effective. That’s great news, because from our end it doesn’t always feel that way. But we don’t build a powerful Christian life on our feelings or on the way things look in the natural, but on God’s Word–right?

So here the Word of God says that your prayers are effective and powerful. You might say, “No, that verse says that the prayers of a righteous person are powerful, but I yelled at my wife, kicked the dog, ran a red light on the way to work, and cheated on my time card today. So much for my prayers.” Well, OK, sounds like a lousy way to start the day, but you’re missing the point.

Remember, righteousness describes our position before God, His acceptance of us, His undying love for us, and faithfulness to us, not our condition of more or less holiness. Righteousness is a position of favor and acceptance that Jesus won for us and gave us as a gift. When I was a little kid, I can remember being at the County Fair with my big brother. We went by one of those booths with a crane in it that can pick up various toys and prizes. There was a miniature camera in there that I wanted bad, but I was too small to even reach the controls, let alone actually work the crane and get the prize. So my big brother stepped up, put his own money in the machine, and got that camera on the first try. I was really excited about what he had done, the Carney seemed less than enthused, but I was really proud of him. Then to my surprise, he turned around and gave me the camera. Just like that–he turned over this precious thing that he had paid for and won to me. No doubt I ruined it within a day, but he didn’t care. He seemed to enjoy my joy over it. Jesus earned the place of righteousness and gave to us as a gift. He wants us to enjoy it.

So, we are righteous all the time, meaning God’s door is always open to us, He never rejects us, and He views us through what Jesus did on our behalf, not based on what we have done. That doesn’t mean that sin doesn’t matter, it matters a lot because it releases death into our lives and messes with our heart’s openness to God.

But, and get this, my prayers and your prayers are making tremendous power available, generating a flow of divine power, not just when our behavior is perfect, but every moment that we are praying with confidence in the finished work of Jesus. Sweet!! Righteousness means I can go to God in a time of need with all confidence. I’m not there to convince Him of my need, He was already convinced of human need, that’s why He gave His Son for us. I’m not there to get Him to do something on my behalf, He already made all provision for me in Christ. I am there to see and hear His heart. I am there to discern what part of the provision that belongs to me in Christ I need to bring into the trouble spot and release. I am there to get any correction, encouragement, or equipment that He says I need for the occasion.

Powerful prayer. It is yours and mine all the time. Let’s use it!

Train Me In Your Ways

Be blessed, GOD; train me in your ways of wise living. I'll transfer to my lips all the counsel that comes from your mouth; I delight far more in what you tell me about living than in gathering a pile of riches. I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you, I attentively watch how you've done it. I relish everything you've told me of life, I won't forget a word of it. Be generous with me and I'll live a full life; not for a minute will I take my eyes off your road.
Psalms 119:12-17 (MSG)

Isn't it an amazing thing to know a God who doesn't just stand apart from His people and give decrees, but actually "trains us in His ways of wise living." Our God is a Father at heart. I know that more and more people have had an earthly Father that never showed them this kind of love. They may have a difficult time with that idea, but it is true - God is a great Dad. He loves every one of His kids, and He takes delight in walking through the stages of life with us, and imparting His own wisdom to us.

Our God is not a God of press releases. He does not just send us a message of counsel, encouragement, or even correction. He leads personally and counsels one-on-one in real time. He is available, He is never too tired to talk, He is ever watchful for our safety and benefit, He is gentle but not a push-over.

The precepts that God gives us to live by, are not like most of the laws and rules we are used to on earth. While many of our laws are there for our benefit, God's laws are not only life-giving, they are reflections of the way God Himself lives. Once you realize that even "The Law" is a window into the nature of God, that all of His Words are full of life, and that He has made Himself available to train you in them, it is easy to take His laws into your heart.

For example, God tells us not to murder, because He is not a murderer and He wants us to live a life that is free from anger and bitterness. He tells us not to commit adultery, because He is a person of absolute fidelity, and He wants us to share that powerful character trait. He tells us not to lie, because He is a person of His word and has no fellowship with lies. He wants us to enjoy the abundant life that comes from honest living.

God is a good God. There is no variance in that. All that He does and says is for our benefit. I strongly urge you to give Him your life-each moment of your life. Feed on His word like it was the best food that you can imagine. Read your Bible not as a book of rules, but as if you were sitting down to a banquet table with your best friend. God will be continuously generous with you, and you will enjoy a full life.

WHAT ARE YOU SAYING ABOUT YOUR CITY?

I don’t know about you, but for me, Spring is one of the most difficult times to live in Gunnison. When most people think of Spring, they think of flowers blooming, gentle breezes through sunlit meadows, and birds chirping in trees full of brand new leaves. But here at 8000’ in central Colorado, its more like frozen brown stalks protruding from the snow, a strong, cold, west, wind driving a hard wet snow, and a couple a Ravens fighting over a piece of road-kill.

We all expect the serious cold in the winter. I think most of us have made some level of peace with that, but when late March and early April roll around, we are ready for a break. I think this it what makes springtime here seem so long and downright unjust.

I have noticed that, even more than in mid-winter, I start to hear a lot of negative talk about this valley at this time of year. Sorry to say, some of it is heard coming from my own lips. But this year, with the combination of “spring weather,” and the economic difficulties that many have been facing, the talk seems to be even worse than normal. I am writing this today as a simple reminder to all, those who live here, and those in other parts of the country, to remember that our words are powerful and we will one day give an account of them to God.

There are two verses from Proverbs that have been rolling around in my heart for the last couple of days. They are: (Proverbs 11:11) “Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.” And, (Proverbs 10:11) “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.”

Our words are very important for several reasons. First, they are an accurate reflection of the condition of our hearts. Sorry, no two ways about it, if I am habitually running down my home, my community, my neighbors, or my nation, no matter what the natural circumstances may be, I have been spending too much time meditating on the negative and not enough time in the Word and Presence of God – period.

Secondly, we are the people of God. We are here to speak blessing over our community, not to join in the chorus of negative talk that you can find anywhere at any time coming from the lips of those who do not regard God. Yes, I know, today is sunny and bright, but tomorrow, and for the next five days, it is supposed to snow. If we let that be a catalyst for spewing criticism, cynicism, and depression into the air, then I guess we had better like living in an atmosphere of criticism, cynicism, and depression.

Third, our faith matters to the life and future of our community. Our words are seeds that will produce a harvest for eternal life, or for death. I have heard a lot of people in recent weeks, many of them Christians, using their words to curse the economy of this county. I don’t know about you, but I am ready to see the Godly prospering in this community. I am ready to hear the victorious shouts of triumph as God’s people enjoy the fruit of believing His promises. If that is what we want, that needs to be what we are speaking, praying, and expecting.

And finally, we are called to be a thankful people. On our worst day, you and I have the privilege of living in one of the most beautiful valleys in this nation. We have a wonderful community, good friends, a strong fellowship of believers, (an amazing pastor/teacher☺), and more in the way of material blessing than 90% of the people on earth. What are we griping about again?

If you will remember to pick three things to be thankful for every day, and keep those things in the forefront of your thinking, you will find yourself living in a different world. Things might be the same, but you will be different, and you will make a difference.

We can do this. Are you with me?

Pastor John

God Conversations

I love the way God speaks to His kids. We all want to know what God is saying, but I think nearly every Christian I have ever known has been challenged by the process of learning to discern the voice of God.

Some believers don’t realize that God actually communicates with His family on a regular basis. Many of them spend their lives looking around at the circumstances of life, trying to interpret from them some kind of message from God. Most become confused and frustrated, and there is little or no biblical foundation for such a practice.

Jesus said in no uncertain terms that, His sheep hear His voice, and the voice of a stranger they do not follow (John 10:1-5). That tells us that, not only is He communicating with us, but He is also communicating with us through words, and in a way that we can identify and understand. Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to live in us–vitally connected to our born-again human spirit so that we can know God’s thoughts toward us on a daily basis. What a deal!

Of course there are several ways that God “speaks” to us. It is way beyond the scope of this little article to cover all of that, but He does speak to us through His written word, the inward voice, and the inward witness. Sometimes a scripture just stands out to us, and we have a deep inner knowing that God is communicating something specific and personal to us at that moment. I would call that a combination of speaking through the written word, and the inward witness–that inward nudge that says, “hey, this is for you!” Sometimes a few words bubble up from our spirit, bringing a fresh understanding, a sense of peace, and instant faith. That too is the Father speaking to us.

I have noticed that most of the time, when God is speaking to me, He starts with a word, and then expands it. For example, my first clue might be that a particular Scripture stands out sharply to me during my prayer time. I always like to prioritize anything that I feel God is saying, so I will immediately begin to ask the Holy Spirit to continue to show me what He is trying to say. I will generally make a note of the verse, and plan to spend time throughout the coming days, or even weeks, thinking about it over and over again. I will usually do a little study, and pull out more verses that pertain to the same subject. I try not to jump to conclusions, or finish God’s thought for Him, but to allow the Holy Spirit to just keep speaking as much or as little as He desires. I am not always successful on that last point, but that is my aim.

For example, the other day during a time of corporate prayer, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, to Karen, and to the others in the meeting, about the fact that He had called us (not just those in attendance, but RMCM in general, and other believers in the valley) here to increase in THIS land, to increase specifically through multiplying ourselves spiritually, and through that process to fill the valley with His presence. He strongly emphasized the word THIS; called to THIS land, meaning this time, place, and in these conditions.

We all prayed this out in a few different ways, and the Lord continued to paint the picture of what He was saying more strongly and clearly on our hearts. I thought that after the meeting, I would go to my office and pick up my study on our current topic for our midweek service. But the word that God had spoken was so strong that I simply could not get away from it. Well, I could, you always have a choice, but I could tell that, and I just don’t know how else to phrase this, the flow of life was on the word about increase and multiplication. So, I abandoned my pre-planned study, and began to seek God further on this subject. To make a long story short, I ended up teaching from that word that came up in prayer both Wednesday night and the following Sunday morning.

I share all of this with you simply as an example of following the leading of the Holy Spirit in your conversations with God. I think most of the biggest mistakes I have made, and the times that I have felt like I couldn’t hear God, were all the result of my deciding to lead the conversation with Him instead of following His lead. Certainly we come at times with a specific need or question for the Lord. He encourages us to seek, ask, and knock. But once He starts to speak, let Him lead! If He begins to talk but it seems to you that He is on a different subject, settle it in your heart–His subject IS the right subject.

One final note. Yesterday I was headed out in the car, so I looked through the podcasts on my iPhone for something to listen to. I found a series by a favorite teacher that had been taught last fall, and I have had for months, but had never heard. The title had nothing to do with what the Lord had been speaking to me about (increase and multiplication). I started to listen, and within moments this man went into all of the exact same scriptures that the Lord had led me to meditate on and teach for the last week. His “repeating Himself” confirmed to me that He isn’t done speaking on this subject, so I will just keep listening. I believe this is the way to lead a long and spiritually healthy life. Just invite and encourage the God conversations.

Freedom or Lawlessness

The other day, I overheard a conversation between two non-Christian men. The discussion was about drug use and abuse in our society, and particularly among young people. They came to the conclusion that while, in their opinion, drug use was a personal choice for teens and young adults that should not be judged by society or regulated by government, there are certainly some negative impacts from it. They posed the question to one another, “Since law never works anyway, can’t we just educate people to the point that they would always choose to use moderation in their drinking and drug use?”

This whole line of thinking really got me thinking about several things. For instance, isn’t it interesting that education is the world’s best solution to all the ills of society? Since they have rejected God, God’s wisdom, and man’s need of a Savior, they have to fall back on something they can do themselves. Since they believe that the mind or intellect is the highest part of man, they neither understand that the root problem is spiritual, nor see the solution.

While education is vital for a number of reasons, it falls woefully short in making any long-term change to our behavior–making us better people. The Bible teaches us that we humans are three-part beings – spirit, soul, and body. Only when the spirit is brought out of spiritual death and darkness, and reunited with the Holy Spirit, can we experience true transformation that first changes who we are, then produces new behavior.

If we choose education, without a relationship with God, as our primary tool for creating better behavior, we are relying on a fallen and broken part of man for positive change. No matter how much we learn about the negative impacts of sin, it is the Holy Spirit, not the knowledge alone, that empowers real, permanent, change. Education alone still relies on the flesh to carry out what we may have learned, and we all know that the flesh and its desires simply do not produce Godly behavior.

I also found it ironic that although both of these gentlemen would absolutely reject the idea that God exists, or that “religion” is a valid choice for anyone (I know this because I have had many discussions with them on the subject), here they were trying to find some way to get people to make better life choices. They reject God’s work in the heart, but then have to go searching for something else because their belief system produces quantifiable bad results. Hmmm….

Finally, both of these men talk frequently about how much they dislike government and law. They see that law alone never seems to actually fix the problem, but they refuse to acknowledge that the real problem with law lies not in law, but in the fallen nature of mankind. Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law, He came to fulfill the law, and to write God’s law on the human heart in the form of a relationship with God.

As I pondered this, it struck me that I agree with these men’s assessment of law. While I know that, because of the sin-nature in mankind, we will always need laws, I also know that they will never solve all the problems on earth. The message of the Gospel is that Jesus came to set us free–free from sin and free from the law. God in Christ has made it possible for us to live a life of transformation that produces Godliness, rather than a life of restraint that will always fall short. So I agree that law, while necessary, is not the real solution to the sin problem.

But here’s the thing; I hear a lot of this talk from people who, on the one hand, want to live in what they call “freedom,” but who do not want to deal with any of the negative consequences of their lifestyle. By “freedom” they mean they want to live a self-determined life. They want to do what they want to do when they want to do it without any responsibility or accountability. They don’t like laws primarily because laws are restrictive for them. They would rather live by a worldview that says there is no such thing as right and wrong, or that just because something is wrong for you, it may not be wrong for me. In other words, there is no such thing as an absolute (which of course is in itself a statement of an absolute).

They want to believe that enough education would eliminate the need for regulation inward or outward. But what is the real motivation behind this distain for law? Is it really that society would actually work better without law? History says otherwise. Or is it that they simply want a social framework that allows them to do what they want to do?

It seems that in many cases the cries for freedom are there, not because living with no moral or ethical framework actually produces better results, but because people don’t want any boundaries on their own behavior. In other words, I will champion freedom, because I don’t want anyone judging or restricting anything I do. Even within Christianity, if I speak of a socially acceptable, but Biblically condemned, behavior as sin, I am often accused being legalistic.

As I pondered all of this, and especially the fact that I fully agreed with these men’s sentiment that you can’t legislate morality, the Lord spoke this simple truth to me. “There is a big difference between avoiding legalism because you love freedom, and avoiding “legalism” because you love lawlessness. Only in Christ is there a freedom from both sin and law, because only in Christ can the human heart become clean and selfless. In Christ, God’s deepest motives, desires, and passions become our own. As a Christian I don’t live under law but under grace. But, the grace of God teaches me to say no to ungodliness, and to live an upright and self-controlled life in Christ (Titus 2:11). Freedom? Absolutely. Lawlessness? Absolutely not.

LIVING WORSHIP

I was standing there in church the other morning enjoying our time of worship. I love gathering with my brothers and sisters in Christ (yes, that does specifically mean people who have believed on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior – John 1:12 – ‘nuff said) and worshiping God together as a congregation. I have some wonderful time in the presence of God on my own, but there is something very special about the gathering of God’s family in worship.

As I walked back and forth and talked to the Lord, I noticed that the music and vocals were absolutely wonderful. Sure, music tastes are personal, and all flavors of music have their place, I guess, (I can think of a couple of exceptions in my opinion, but let’s not get distracted), but I am so grateful to live in a day that allows me to worship with electric guitars, keyboards, awesome drums, and a fabulous sound system. It’s my culture, and I love it.

I also noticed the lights. These days, we enjoy some beautiful lighting in our sanctuaries that, if used skillfully, helps embody the tone of the worship. I also noticed the backgrounds behind the words on the screen. We have some very talented people at RMCM that find and use some beautiful backgrounds that also help direct our attention to God.

Now, I say I took notice of all of this, and this brings me to a couple of points. We have a conviction about worship at RMCM that says worship is not music, it isn’t even about music, but it is often expressed through the vehicle of music. The Bible makes it very clear that worship is an attitude of heart, which can be expressed through actions. While the term worship can speak of an action, it is only really worship if it is an action that comes from a worshipping heart. We can play Christian music all morning, we can sing every song along with the worship leader, we can lift our hands, bow, and lay out before the Lord, but if it is not from the heart, it is meaningless.

It is also important to remember here, that many of our daily expressions of worship are choices that we make, rather than words that we say. For my daily purposes, I think of worship as an outward action that reflects, or expresses, an inward adoration of, and submission to God. In that context, worship can take many forms. Having once had a big problem with alcohol, choosing to drink a coke instead of a beer is an act of worship for me. Choosing to watch an old Andy Griffith rerun, instead of Sex And The City (which, for the record, I have never seen) might be an act of worship for me. Choosing to forgive instead of holding a grudge – worship. You get the picture; any time I choose a life-giving course rather than a worldly course, it is an expression of worship.

Worship is however often expressed through music and song. David was the first person that we know of that designed and built instruments, and gathered gifted individuals to serve as musicians and song writers, specifically for corporate worship. Music stirs the emotions and helps the worshipper express the worship that is in his or her heart. Music, video, images, and lighting, can all help to capture the mood that the worship leader senses from the Holy Spirit. Our goal in corporate worship is simply to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. All of this technology is wonderful and should be enjoyed, but the bottom line remains that worship only exists where there are worshiping hearts.

I say all of this because we live in such a media driven culture that it is really easy for us to become confused about the role of all of these elements that surround worship. We are so used to music videos, concerts, light shows, and musical entertainment, that it is easy for us to think the bigger the show the better the worship. It just isn’t true – the two are not even related. Bad music can certainly distract from a worship experience. Bad lighting could do the same. But good music and spectacular lighting done for the wrong reason can just as easily distract.

This is something that my wife Karen, our Worship Pastor, emphasizes to the team all the time–and I am pleased to say that our team gets it. They know what worship is about. They hone their musical skills, NOT so that they will be noticed, but specifically so that they will disappear and the Lord will be noticed. The members of our light and projection teams all understand this idea. What they work so hard to do is help people see the Lord face to face and not see their art. See, that’s why I had to pause the other morning to on purpose notice the music, the lights, the screen, because they were all being used well. They were not a distraction–what they were doing made it easier to focus on God and express my worship.

I’ve been in “worship” settings where the people on stage are clearly there to show their talent. The quenching of the Holy Spirit’s presence in those settings grieves the heart to no end. Now, to be fair, if I come in with a distracted heart and mind and I don’t get that right with God, any worship setting anywhere can feel distracting to me. If I am used to a different “worship culture,” it might take me a little while to engage, but where hearts are pointed to God I can get there in any setting.

This is one thing I enjoy about our midweek worship. Our midweek service is generally a very small group. Usually we have a short time of worship at the beginning to get our focus out of the busy week and onto God. It is usually just Karen and her guitar. Once in a while we have one or two other musicians involved. The lights are simple, there are usually no words put up on the screen, by modern standards it is bare bones. This is a wonderful time to remember that deep, fulfilling worship does not require much outward support. It comes from the heart, the worshipper gives it freely, and it is about God and nothing else. When we find ourselves unable to connect with God without a full band, it is time to unplug. When we find ourselves put off by a full band and a few lights, it is time to plug in.

So, I am grateful for the worship that we experience together at RMCM. I love our team, I love our atmosphere, I love the worshippers that bring worshipping hearts into church each week and are not afraid to express themselves. I love our loud times, and our quiet times, I love my alone times, I love worship, I love the fact that God meets us every time right in the middle of all our stuff. Worship – living, powerful, engaging worship, filled with the presence of God – what a deal!!