By Joni Eareckson Tada
As Thanksgiving approaches once again, I am reminded of so many people who are learning to be thankful despite their suffering. However I want to encourage them to go one better — I believe we can even learn to be thankful for suffering.
It is a common response to question God's goodness when we endure hardships — whether physical limitations, illness, job loss, the death of a loved one, you name it.
When I hear the question, Where is God? I am reminded of something I've learned through the years. God doesn't say, Into each life a little rain must fall, and then turn a fire hose on the earth to see who gets the wettest. On the contrary, He screens the trials that come at us, always erecting invisible fences around the enemy's fury and bringing ultimate good out of wickedness.
I wonder, how does He pull it off? I realize that we are a world of finite humans trying to comprehend an infinite God. What is clear is that God permits lots of things He doesn't approve of. That fact doesn't sit well with us, but think of the alternative. Imagine a God who insisted on a hands-off policy toward the evil barreling our way. The world would be much, much worse than it is. Evil would be uncontrolled. But thank God He curbs it.
Please know I'm no expert. There are days I wake up and think, I can't do this. I have no resources for this. I can't face another day dealing with total paralysis. But that's when I plead, Lord, you have the resources I lack. I can't do this, but you can. And He does.
The truly handicapped among us are those who start their mornings on automatic cruise control, without needing God. But He gives strength to all who cry to Him for help. So who are the weak and needy? Who are those who need this help? A brief pause in the dark shadows of recent events always allows the point to come home. It's you and me.
These can be scary times in which we live. Never have the lines between the forces of darkness and light, of good and evil, seemed so clear. Never has the world, battered and bruised as it is, seemed so vulnerable, so fragile, so unsafe. In the years since Sept. 11, 2001, and through the last two years of our shaky economy, something has become clear to me. It was something I sensed was just ahead, something that began to appear on the horizon and that grew with each day, with each hug shared, with each word of encouragement spoken.
I'd been given eyes to see . . . an adventure.
In the long shadow cast by my wheelchair —the 43 years of my paralysis —I've been granted the privilege of living at such a time. No greater shadow has ever been cast in earth's history. Today after Sept. 11 and the economic meltdown, humanity seems to have taken an on-ramp to an ever-broadening highway. It is a chance, a mandate, to remember the world's most vulnerable — the disabled —while power brokers shift the planet's levers and gears. It is an opportunity - indeed, a gift - to witness the unfolding plan of a gracious God who draws near to the weak, stays close to the afflicted, and always seems bigger to those who need him most. It is an even larger, greater on-ramp to adventure.
And my wheelchair is taking me there.
God's "no" answer to my physical healing more than 40 years ago was a "yes" to a deeper healing—a better one. His answer bound me to other believers and taught me so much about myself. It has purged sin from my life, it has strengthened my commitment to Him, forced me to depend on His grace. His wiser, deeper answer has stretched my hope, refined my faith, and helped me to know Him better.
So I thank Him, not despite His answer, but for it. For the wiser choice, the better answer, the harder yet richer path. I thank Him for showing me that there are more important things in life than walking.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Is Celebrity Christianity dead?
By Lee Grady
An impressive collection of framed covers of Charisma decorate a hall around the corner from my office. Visitors often stop to admire the nostalgic lineup, which includes a 1975 issue featuring healing evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman and a 1978 cover of South African theologian David du Plessis. These magazines offer a panoramic view of the history of the charismatic movement—warts and all.
I’ll admit that sometimes I wince when I walk down this hallway to get coffee—and I cringe even more when I sort through my stash of old magazines. As much as I love to remember the old days—and to appreciate the spiritual giants we featured at times—it is painful when I realize that some people we wrote about did not finish well.
“Has the egotistical behavior of America’s limousine-driving prosperity preachers nauseated us to the point that we are actually rejecting that entire scene?”
Most of the Christian personalities we have profiled over the years still inspire me. My personal favorite of all time was the cover story we published in 2005 about Brother Andrew, global champion of the persecuted church. I’m also very proud of the cover stories we wrote about Christian heroes such as Episcopal renewal leader Dennis Bennett; Mark Buntain, pioneer missionary to India; author Catherine Marshall; Freda Lindsey, leader of Christ for the Nations; revivalist David Wilkerson; Bible teacher Derek Prince; Vineyard founder John Wimber; Ed Cole, founder of the modern Christian men’s movement; evangelist Reinhard Bonnke; Franklin Graham, leader of Samaritan’s Purse; Messianic leader Joel Chernoff; and Charles Blake, presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ.
Yet when I look through the list of personalities we have focused on during our 34 years of publishing, there are some embarrassments. More than a dozen of them had highly publicized moral failures years after their ministries made them famous. A few of them went to jail, either for tax evasion or for other forms of fraud. Some lost their ministries because of spiritual abuse.
In recent years my staff and I have had long discussions about how to profile Christian leaders without setting them—and us—up for disappointment. We think our subscribers enjoy reading about people who have been successful—pastors, musicians, authors, athletes, businesspeople or missionaries. Yet we are less prone to do such profiles these days if we think there is any chance a celebrity might do something crazy two years from now.
We want to ask you to join in our discussion.
We are currently mapping out our editorial plans for 2010. Not all of our covers will focus on personalities because we know there are key moral and cultural topics that need our attention. But we are planning to feature up to six people on our covers next year.
A few weeks ago I stirred the waters a bit by asking this question on Twitter. The feedback was fascinating because more than half the people who replied said they didn’t want to read about a celebrity at all. Several people said they wanted to read about the faceless persecuted Christians who suffer for Christ in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. Others said we should write about unknown ministers in the United States who feed the poor, run homeless shelters or fight child trafficking.
Of those who suggested a real celebrity Christian, the most votes were cast for California pastor Rick Warren—who is known as being a champion of the little guy. Many suggested evangelical leaders who are not even directly identified with the charismatic movement—people such as Atlanta pastor Louie Giglio or Southern Baptist soul-winner Perry Noble.
Is there a significant sea change happening in our movement? Has the egotistical behavior of America’s limousine-driving prosperity preachers nauseated us to the point that we are actually rejecting that entire scene? And have the excesses of our movement driven people away from flashy preachers and back to evangelical churches that don’t focus on the charismatic experience?
An impressive collection of framed covers of Charisma decorate a hall around the corner from my office. Visitors often stop to admire the nostalgic lineup, which includes a 1975 issue featuring healing evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman and a 1978 cover of South African theologian David du Plessis. These magazines offer a panoramic view of the history of the charismatic movement—warts and all.
I’ll admit that sometimes I wince when I walk down this hallway to get coffee—and I cringe even more when I sort through my stash of old magazines. As much as I love to remember the old days—and to appreciate the spiritual giants we featured at times—it is painful when I realize that some people we wrote about did not finish well.
“Has the egotistical behavior of America’s limousine-driving prosperity preachers nauseated us to the point that we are actually rejecting that entire scene?”
Most of the Christian personalities we have profiled over the years still inspire me. My personal favorite of all time was the cover story we published in 2005 about Brother Andrew, global champion of the persecuted church. I’m also very proud of the cover stories we wrote about Christian heroes such as Episcopal renewal leader Dennis Bennett; Mark Buntain, pioneer missionary to India; author Catherine Marshall; Freda Lindsey, leader of Christ for the Nations; revivalist David Wilkerson; Bible teacher Derek Prince; Vineyard founder John Wimber; Ed Cole, founder of the modern Christian men’s movement; evangelist Reinhard Bonnke; Franklin Graham, leader of Samaritan’s Purse; Messianic leader Joel Chernoff; and Charles Blake, presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ.
Yet when I look through the list of personalities we have focused on during our 34 years of publishing, there are some embarrassments. More than a dozen of them had highly publicized moral failures years after their ministries made them famous. A few of them went to jail, either for tax evasion or for other forms of fraud. Some lost their ministries because of spiritual abuse.
In recent years my staff and I have had long discussions about how to profile Christian leaders without setting them—and us—up for disappointment. We think our subscribers enjoy reading about people who have been successful—pastors, musicians, authors, athletes, businesspeople or missionaries. Yet we are less prone to do such profiles these days if we think there is any chance a celebrity might do something crazy two years from now.
We want to ask you to join in our discussion.
We are currently mapping out our editorial plans for 2010. Not all of our covers will focus on personalities because we know there are key moral and cultural topics that need our attention. But we are planning to feature up to six people on our covers next year.
A few weeks ago I stirred the waters a bit by asking this question on Twitter. The feedback was fascinating because more than half the people who replied said they didn’t want to read about a celebrity at all. Several people said they wanted to read about the faceless persecuted Christians who suffer for Christ in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. Others said we should write about unknown ministers in the United States who feed the poor, run homeless shelters or fight child trafficking.
Of those who suggested a real celebrity Christian, the most votes were cast for California pastor Rick Warren—who is known as being a champion of the little guy. Many suggested evangelical leaders who are not even directly identified with the charismatic movement—people such as Atlanta pastor Louie Giglio or Southern Baptist soul-winner Perry Noble.
Is there a significant sea change happening in our movement? Has the egotistical behavior of America’s limousine-driving prosperity preachers nauseated us to the point that we are actually rejecting that entire scene? And have the excesses of our movement driven people away from flashy preachers and back to evangelical churches that don’t focus on the charismatic experience?
Saturday, September 12, 2009
How to Hear God
By Teresa Seputis
Have you ever thought God was saying something to you, but you weren't sure it was really His voice you were hearing? Have you found yourself thinking, How do I know it was really God I heard and not my own imagination—or worse, the enemy?
God's solution is simple: "'If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him'" (James 1:5, NIV). When we need to know if we are hearing God's voice, all we have to do is ask Him!
We can go to God, tell Him what we think we heard Him say, and then ask Him to confirm it or correct our hearing on the matter. God wants to give us an understanding of what He says to us because He wants to communicate with us. He is eager to teach us to correctly hear His voice.
What are some steps we can take to make sure we're hearing God?
1. Put your faith in the right thing. When I was first learning to hear God's voice, I went overboard in my need to double-check my hearing. I was so afraid I might hear God wrong that I tended to check and recheck my hearing on just about everything. I became very sluggish in obeying God because I spent so much time verifying everything I heard.
My problem was that I had placed my faith in the wrong thing. I was trusting in my ability to hear God—instead of in His ability and faithfulness to speak clearly and to correct and redirect me if I heard wrong.
I used to think that "correction" was the same as "punishment." But God revamped my thinking by reminding me of my old ice skating coach.
I really liked him. He would watch me try to execute a move and then offer feedback, saying something such as: "Your weight is drifting to the left when you turn. You need to keep it balanced over your skating foot."
I knew I had just been corrected, but I wasn't put down or made to feel small or punished. The intent of the correction was to help me excel, and as I applied what he told me, my skating improved.
God told me that I should look to Him as my coach when it came to hearing His voice. He promised that He would let me know when I got something wrong and how to correct it so I could excel in following Him. Suddenly correction became something to be desired instead of something to be feared, and I found out just how faithful and committed God is to the process of teaching us to hear Him.
2. Look for scriptural precedents. It is wise to get into the habit of checking what God says to us against Scripture. God will not say something to us that contradicts what the Bible says. There will be certain "words" we can eliminate immediately as "not from God" when we line them up against what God has already said in the Bible.
At the same time, there are many areas that the Bible does not address explicitly. Still, God is often willing to give us a scriptural precedent for what He says to us. For instance, imagine that you are trying to decide which of two job offers God wants you to accept. You believe He is telling you to take job offer No. 2, one that will put you in contact with hurting people to whom you can minister. But job offer No. 2 is a much lower-paying job than job offer No. 1, so you want to be sure you are hearing God.
You ask Him for a confirmation, and as you're considering your decision, God directs your attention to Matthew 9:12-13: "'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick....For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'" Those words come alive to you, and you realize that you have just received the confirmation you need to take the second job. God will often use such scriptural precedents to help confirm His communication to us.
3. Don't fleece God. We must not give God an ultimatum about how He is to confirm His word to us. That's called "putting a fleece before the Lord," and it refers to the experience of Gideon found in Judges 6:36-40.
God wanted Gideon to lead Israel in battle against the Midianites, but Gideon was not feeling very confident in his calling—or in his hearing from God. So he laid a fleece (a sheepskin) on the floor and asked God to make the morning dew come only on the fleece, and not on the ground around the fleece. God did this for him, but poor Gideon was still unconvinced. The next night he asked God to reconfirm His word by covering the ground with dew but leaving the fleece dry. Once again, God did as Gideon requested.
Based on this passage, some people assume that they can tell God precisely how to confirm or correct what they believe they have heard Him say to them. In essence, they believe they can dictate the "supernatural hoops" through which God must jump to prove He really said what they believe they heard.
God allowed Gideon to fleece Him, but there is no indication that He was setting a precedent for the rest of us to follow. In fact, there is a strong scriptural precedent against telling God specifically what to do.
Jesus Himself refused Satan's suggestion to put a fleece before God by casting Himself off the highest point of the temple. Instead, Jesus said, "'Do not put the Lord your God to the test'" (Matt. 4:7).
When we go back to God for confirmation, we need to allow Him to choose how He will correct or confirm what we heard. It is not our place to dictate how He does this. Instead, we must trust that He will do it in a way that we can clearly recognize as being from Him.
4. Avoid making assumptions. When hearing God's voice, we need to be very careful about making assumptions. God can speak to us very clearly, and we can hear Him accurately.
But we can still go wrong by making an assumption about what God means by what He says, only to discover later that we heard God but didn't understand Him. We have to be very careful not to put words in God's mouth.
Let me give you an example of how this can happen. A close friend of mine had been praying for some time about a deep and painful rift in her relationship with her sister. Then she received a prophetic word from a lady who seemed to really hear from God.
The word had to do with the restoration of a broken relationship in my friend's life. However, the lady proceeded to assume that the relationship in question was between my friend and her husband, and she began to minister to my friend about her marriage (which was, in reality, rock solid).
The prophet had received a very keen word from God about my friend's situation, but the power of that word was almost lost when she assumed the relationship involved was with a spouse. This is an example of how we can accurately hear from God and then make assumptions that mislead others and us. We want to be careful to avoid doing that!
5. Recognize areas of "hearing loss." We need to remember that there are certain areas of our lives in which our hearing is likely to be less accurate. It is more difficult to hear God clearly in areas where we have "big stakes" in the answer, where our hearts are tremendously engaged or where we know we have a history of hearing wrong. We must double-check these areas and ask God to confirm what we've heard.
Here's an example. A friend of mine who hears God pretty well in most areas of her life recently went through a divorce. After a "recovery period" of a few months, she met a single man who seemed to be everything she wanted in a husband. She thought she began to hear God speaking to her about this man, telling her that indeed he was the man He had for her.
I strongly suspected that this was her own heart speaking, not God, and I tried to find a gentle way to tell her this. But she thought God was saying more and more detailed things to her. She thought she heard Him tell her that her Christmas present from this man would be an engagement ring, with the wedding following shortly after that.
She was so sure she was hearing God's voice! But December came and went, and she didn't receive any Christmas present from this man—much less an engagement ring. Later he told her that he considered her no more than a casual friend.
She was devastated not only because the man was not interested in her but also because she had been so wrong in hearing God. She had failed to recognize her own heart imitating God's voice to her. She didn't double-check her hearing with God, because she so desperately wanted to hear what she thought she heard.
6. Be ready to obey. Once we hear God, it's important that we obey what we hear. There are two kinds of obedience: cheap obedience, which is obeying when the stakes are not very high or when it doesn't cost us much to obey; and expensive obedience, which is obeying when significant consequences are involved. The job decision mentioned earlier is an example of expensive obedience because it involved a choice between a low-paying job and a higher-paying one.
But money doesn't have to be the issue. For example, if you believe God is telling you to terminate a relationship because it's unhealthy, that is expensive obedience; if you've heard wrong, you put a relationship that is important to you at risk. You want to be sure you have heard from God before you do something that could require expensive obedience.
On the other hand, if the obedience required is low cost or low risk, then you should always and instantly obey. It may very well be God speaking to you, and you want to be in the habit of obeying God instantly rather than spending a great deal of time double-checking with Him first.
God understands that it can be frightening for us as we begin venturing out in hearing and obeying Him. He knows we need confirmation from Him to be sure we have really heard Him correctly. But God is not only willing—He is also eager to meet us and teach us to hear His voice. All we have to do is ask.
Teresa Seputis is an ordained minister and founder of GodSpeak International, a nonprofit missions and equipping agency dedicated to making disciples. She is the author of How to Hear the Voice of God in a Noisy World (Charisma House), from which this article was adapted.
Have you ever thought God was saying something to you, but you weren't sure it was really His voice you were hearing? Have you found yourself thinking, How do I know it was really God I heard and not my own imagination—or worse, the enemy?
God's solution is simple: "'If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him'" (James 1:5, NIV). When we need to know if we are hearing God's voice, all we have to do is ask Him!
We can go to God, tell Him what we think we heard Him say, and then ask Him to confirm it or correct our hearing on the matter. God wants to give us an understanding of what He says to us because He wants to communicate with us. He is eager to teach us to correctly hear His voice.
What are some steps we can take to make sure we're hearing God?
1. Put your faith in the right thing. When I was first learning to hear God's voice, I went overboard in my need to double-check my hearing. I was so afraid I might hear God wrong that I tended to check and recheck my hearing on just about everything. I became very sluggish in obeying God because I spent so much time verifying everything I heard.
My problem was that I had placed my faith in the wrong thing. I was trusting in my ability to hear God—instead of in His ability and faithfulness to speak clearly and to correct and redirect me if I heard wrong.
I used to think that "correction" was the same as "punishment." But God revamped my thinking by reminding me of my old ice skating coach.
I really liked him. He would watch me try to execute a move and then offer feedback, saying something such as: "Your weight is drifting to the left when you turn. You need to keep it balanced over your skating foot."
I knew I had just been corrected, but I wasn't put down or made to feel small or punished. The intent of the correction was to help me excel, and as I applied what he told me, my skating improved.
God told me that I should look to Him as my coach when it came to hearing His voice. He promised that He would let me know when I got something wrong and how to correct it so I could excel in following Him. Suddenly correction became something to be desired instead of something to be feared, and I found out just how faithful and committed God is to the process of teaching us to hear Him.
2. Look for scriptural precedents. It is wise to get into the habit of checking what God says to us against Scripture. God will not say something to us that contradicts what the Bible says. There will be certain "words" we can eliminate immediately as "not from God" when we line them up against what God has already said in the Bible.
At the same time, there are many areas that the Bible does not address explicitly. Still, God is often willing to give us a scriptural precedent for what He says to us. For instance, imagine that you are trying to decide which of two job offers God wants you to accept. You believe He is telling you to take job offer No. 2, one that will put you in contact with hurting people to whom you can minister. But job offer No. 2 is a much lower-paying job than job offer No. 1, so you want to be sure you are hearing God.
You ask Him for a confirmation, and as you're considering your decision, God directs your attention to Matthew 9:12-13: "'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick....For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'" Those words come alive to you, and you realize that you have just received the confirmation you need to take the second job. God will often use such scriptural precedents to help confirm His communication to us.
3. Don't fleece God. We must not give God an ultimatum about how He is to confirm His word to us. That's called "putting a fleece before the Lord," and it refers to the experience of Gideon found in Judges 6:36-40.
God wanted Gideon to lead Israel in battle against the Midianites, but Gideon was not feeling very confident in his calling—or in his hearing from God. So he laid a fleece (a sheepskin) on the floor and asked God to make the morning dew come only on the fleece, and not on the ground around the fleece. God did this for him, but poor Gideon was still unconvinced. The next night he asked God to reconfirm His word by covering the ground with dew but leaving the fleece dry. Once again, God did as Gideon requested.
Based on this passage, some people assume that they can tell God precisely how to confirm or correct what they believe they have heard Him say to them. In essence, they believe they can dictate the "supernatural hoops" through which God must jump to prove He really said what they believe they heard.
God allowed Gideon to fleece Him, but there is no indication that He was setting a precedent for the rest of us to follow. In fact, there is a strong scriptural precedent against telling God specifically what to do.
Jesus Himself refused Satan's suggestion to put a fleece before God by casting Himself off the highest point of the temple. Instead, Jesus said, "'Do not put the Lord your God to the test'" (Matt. 4:7).
When we go back to God for confirmation, we need to allow Him to choose how He will correct or confirm what we heard. It is not our place to dictate how He does this. Instead, we must trust that He will do it in a way that we can clearly recognize as being from Him.
4. Avoid making assumptions. When hearing God's voice, we need to be very careful about making assumptions. God can speak to us very clearly, and we can hear Him accurately.
But we can still go wrong by making an assumption about what God means by what He says, only to discover later that we heard God but didn't understand Him. We have to be very careful not to put words in God's mouth.
Let me give you an example of how this can happen. A close friend of mine had been praying for some time about a deep and painful rift in her relationship with her sister. Then she received a prophetic word from a lady who seemed to really hear from God.
The word had to do with the restoration of a broken relationship in my friend's life. However, the lady proceeded to assume that the relationship in question was between my friend and her husband, and she began to minister to my friend about her marriage (which was, in reality, rock solid).
The prophet had received a very keen word from God about my friend's situation, but the power of that word was almost lost when she assumed the relationship involved was with a spouse. This is an example of how we can accurately hear from God and then make assumptions that mislead others and us. We want to be careful to avoid doing that!
5. Recognize areas of "hearing loss." We need to remember that there are certain areas of our lives in which our hearing is likely to be less accurate. It is more difficult to hear God clearly in areas where we have "big stakes" in the answer, where our hearts are tremendously engaged or where we know we have a history of hearing wrong. We must double-check these areas and ask God to confirm what we've heard.
Here's an example. A friend of mine who hears God pretty well in most areas of her life recently went through a divorce. After a "recovery period" of a few months, she met a single man who seemed to be everything she wanted in a husband. She thought she began to hear God speaking to her about this man, telling her that indeed he was the man He had for her.
I strongly suspected that this was her own heart speaking, not God, and I tried to find a gentle way to tell her this. But she thought God was saying more and more detailed things to her. She thought she heard Him tell her that her Christmas present from this man would be an engagement ring, with the wedding following shortly after that.
She was so sure she was hearing God's voice! But December came and went, and she didn't receive any Christmas present from this man—much less an engagement ring. Later he told her that he considered her no more than a casual friend.
She was devastated not only because the man was not interested in her but also because she had been so wrong in hearing God. She had failed to recognize her own heart imitating God's voice to her. She didn't double-check her hearing with God, because she so desperately wanted to hear what she thought she heard.
6. Be ready to obey. Once we hear God, it's important that we obey what we hear. There are two kinds of obedience: cheap obedience, which is obeying when the stakes are not very high or when it doesn't cost us much to obey; and expensive obedience, which is obeying when significant consequences are involved. The job decision mentioned earlier is an example of expensive obedience because it involved a choice between a low-paying job and a higher-paying one.
But money doesn't have to be the issue. For example, if you believe God is telling you to terminate a relationship because it's unhealthy, that is expensive obedience; if you've heard wrong, you put a relationship that is important to you at risk. You want to be sure you have heard from God before you do something that could require expensive obedience.
On the other hand, if the obedience required is low cost or low risk, then you should always and instantly obey. It may very well be God speaking to you, and you want to be in the habit of obeying God instantly rather than spending a great deal of time double-checking with Him first.
God understands that it can be frightening for us as we begin venturing out in hearing and obeying Him. He knows we need confirmation from Him to be sure we have really heard Him correctly. But God is not only willing—He is also eager to meet us and teach us to hear His voice. All we have to do is ask.
Teresa Seputis is an ordained minister and founder of GodSpeak International, a nonprofit missions and equipping agency dedicated to making disciples. She is the author of How to Hear the Voice of God in a Noisy World (Charisma House), from which this article was adapted.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The New Evangelical Movement
By Sam RodrÃguez
21st-century agenda must include reconciling transgenerational differences.
The decision by California’s Supreme Court to strike down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage revealed more than judicial activism run amok. Besides usurping the majority’s will, it exposed what is present even in the evangelical church: the differences of opinion between Millennials (those born after 1980) and previous generations on many cultural issues. Current surveys related to the evangelical community all exhibit a division based on one simple factor: age.
Warren Beemer, president of Third Day Generation Youth Network, confirms the ideological divide: “Many young people in the evangelical community between 13 and 25 years of age see same-sex marriage as a civil rights issue and not as a moral issue. From Will and Grace to Madonna and Britney’s kiss to A Shot at [Love With Tila] Tequila—an MTV program about a bisexual woman finding her love partner—[it] all speaks to the deliberate attempt to change the hearts and minds of an entire generation.”
Hollywood isn’t the only propagandist targeting the younger generation. Public education in California, for example, teaches students that the rights sought by gays and lesbians are equivalent to African-Americans’ struggle for civil rights. “Leaders such as Niger Innis from the Congress of Racial Equality, one of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations, repudiate the notion,” says Bob Adams of the Alliance For Marriage. “How one can equate over 200 years of slavery ... to the legalization of a sexual act in the privacy of one’s bedroom is beyond me.”
Other issues similarly expose the generational differences. Though most evangelicals 35 and older regard sanctity of life and traditional marriage as bedrocks for the community, younger evangelicals include alleviating poverty and tackling global warming as integral parts of the evangelical 21st-century agenda. Does this mean the end of the movement as a sociopolitical presence in America? Or do the differences signal the emergence of a new movement with a broader coalition and a distinct DNA?
“We’re at a crossroad where we can either split or understand the importance of our core values and build a broader coalition,” says Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law. “The signs are actually promising to recapture the evangelical base, but it’s about transgenerational communication. ... Without abandoning our core values on marriage and life, we can appreciate the fact that the gospel encompasses ... the poor, aging and God’s creation itself.”
Undoubtedly, America still needs an evangelical movement that will serve as a firewall to the egregious usurpers of our core values. Yet unlike past alliances, we must truly represent the mosaic of God’s church in America.
To build such a firewall to thwart the viruses, Trojans and invaders we have today, the new evangelical movement needs to reconcile the kingdom salvation message of Billy Graham with the social-justice transformational spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. We can win the next generation and launch a new Jesus movement if we defend traditional marriage and simultaneously repudiate homophobia, stand up for life, address poverty, preach the gospel of salvation and incorporate biblical stewardship of God’s creation. It cannot be “either-or”; it must be “both-and.” Only a multiethnic, transgenerational, biblically committed coalition can push back on Satan’s charge in our nation.
21st-century agenda must include reconciling transgenerational differences.
The decision by California’s Supreme Court to strike down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage revealed more than judicial activism run amok. Besides usurping the majority’s will, it exposed what is present even in the evangelical church: the differences of opinion between Millennials (those born after 1980) and previous generations on many cultural issues. Current surveys related to the evangelical community all exhibit a division based on one simple factor: age.
Warren Beemer, president of Third Day Generation Youth Network, confirms the ideological divide: “Many young people in the evangelical community between 13 and 25 years of age see same-sex marriage as a civil rights issue and not as a moral issue. From Will and Grace to Madonna and Britney’s kiss to A Shot at [Love With Tila] Tequila—an MTV program about a bisexual woman finding her love partner—[it] all speaks to the deliberate attempt to change the hearts and minds of an entire generation.”
Hollywood isn’t the only propagandist targeting the younger generation. Public education in California, for example, teaches students that the rights sought by gays and lesbians are equivalent to African-Americans’ struggle for civil rights. “Leaders such as Niger Innis from the Congress of Racial Equality, one of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations, repudiate the notion,” says Bob Adams of the Alliance For Marriage. “How one can equate over 200 years of slavery ... to the legalization of a sexual act in the privacy of one’s bedroom is beyond me.”
Other issues similarly expose the generational differences. Though most evangelicals 35 and older regard sanctity of life and traditional marriage as bedrocks for the community, younger evangelicals include alleviating poverty and tackling global warming as integral parts of the evangelical 21st-century agenda. Does this mean the end of the movement as a sociopolitical presence in America? Or do the differences signal the emergence of a new movement with a broader coalition and a distinct DNA?
“We’re at a crossroad where we can either split or understand the importance of our core values and build a broader coalition,” says Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law. “The signs are actually promising to recapture the evangelical base, but it’s about transgenerational communication. ... Without abandoning our core values on marriage and life, we can appreciate the fact that the gospel encompasses ... the poor, aging and God’s creation itself.”
Undoubtedly, America still needs an evangelical movement that will serve as a firewall to the egregious usurpers of our core values. Yet unlike past alliances, we must truly represent the mosaic of God’s church in America.
To build such a firewall to thwart the viruses, Trojans and invaders we have today, the new evangelical movement needs to reconcile the kingdom salvation message of Billy Graham with the social-justice transformational spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. We can win the next generation and launch a new Jesus movement if we defend traditional marriage and simultaneously repudiate homophobia, stand up for life, address poverty, preach the gospel of salvation and incorporate biblical stewardship of God’s creation. It cannot be “either-or”; it must be “both-and.” Only a multiethnic, transgenerational, biblically committed coalition can push back on Satan’s charge in our nation.
A Passion Deficiency
By Jack Hayford
Whether books, technology or copycat strategies, there’s no substitute for divine discontent.
Leaders in the present North American church are being programmed into a fixation on the notion that what we all need to succeed is to somehow find "a better mousetrap." The mind-set produces a relentless quest that pursues endless avenues, such as scouring Internet Web sites, plowing through leadership material and highlighting slogans in the latest corporate motivational book, near-frantic idea/program-hunting visits to high-visibility churches, labored analyzing of contemporary culture and local demographics and diligently processing "makeovers" on everything from the church's platform arrangement to its parking lot signage.
I have no direct opposition to such sincerely sought, purely motivated quests. However, the majority of the time, they at best prove only temporarily useful, and far too often end in providing little more than a cosmetic for a much deeper need. In short, neither durable change nor spiritual dynamic are likely to ever be gained via the labored means of human ingenuity.
Efforts at finding and doing something beget inevitable weariness with having tried so hard and gaining so little. And a lot of pastors find a net result reading, "disillusionment," and sometimes, "despair."
Naturally, I do believe organization, plans, administration and programs are necessary to lead with wisdom and fruitfulness. But, to be frank, I'm becoming less patient these days with the passivity shown toward what I think is most needed by the majority of thinking leaders today: passion (1) in our personal worship of God (then, in the way we lead the flock to do the same); and passion (2) in pursuing an abiding fullness of His Spirit in our lives (then, in wisely drawing everyone in the congregation toward the same experience).
I will never defend wild-eyed fanaticism. Nor am I arguing for passion as, for example, a license to a carnal indulgence of anger when things don't happen fast enough. My plea is not to give place to the shallow, selfish pushiness of self-will erupting or manipulating to "get things my way—now!"
To argue for passion is not to indulge in a proposition that patience is supplanted, and impatience given a throne in your values or mine. But I have found a law of diminishing return where that order of patience is exercised that becomes so placid, so cooled, so bound by reserve that the status quo is never confronted. Whenever I find myself caving in to difficulties instead of opening to new dimensions of God's grace, I need passion, not patience.
Whenever I find I'm surrendering to the situation instead of making a new surrender to God, I need passion, not patience.
I'm wanting to discern and overcome that so-called "patience" that submits to the subtlety of human fear, doubt, passivity or pride—that lying voice that whispers: "Don't get too excited about God or expect too much of Him. Tough it out. Be patient." Because, in fact, the Bible reveals there are times when a divine discontent needs to motivate me—not a patient passivity.
It is passion, not patience, that moved Jesus through Gethsemane's ordeal and paved the way to Calvary (see Luke 22:39-46).
It is passion, not patience, that brought spiritual breakthrough when effort was made to silence the church (see Acts 4:23-31).
It is passion, not patience, that brought Paul to discover grace sufficient for the satanic battle he was waging (see 2 Cor. 12:7-10).
These Bible examples are a prompting to us all to open the doorway to relive those days when the disciples passionately waited on God for the Holy Spirit.
Let me encourage you: Whatever you are going through or whatever your personal challenge, whatever your family trials or whatever your economic circumstances, whatever your physical pain or whatever your wearied soul's tiredness, let us partner together to passionately pursue this principle: If with all your heart you truly seek Him, you will find Him.
That is an order of wholeheartedness that is at the core of our Lord Jesus' desire to ignite our hearts with the flame of heaven's passion and love: "'He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire'" (emphasis mine; Luke 3:16, KJV).
Decades of leading and teaching God's people have not produced in me a reckless excitability, but I have concluded that whatever else, without passion little will be birthed or broken through. "Cool" Christianity will never successfully resist the bonfires of unbelief that intimidate souls, nor the fiery darts of evil assault that rain from today's skies. We can only fight fire with fire.
Whether books, technology or copycat strategies, there’s no substitute for divine discontent.
Leaders in the present North American church are being programmed into a fixation on the notion that what we all need to succeed is to somehow find "a better mousetrap." The mind-set produces a relentless quest that pursues endless avenues, such as scouring Internet Web sites, plowing through leadership material and highlighting slogans in the latest corporate motivational book, near-frantic idea/program-hunting visits to high-visibility churches, labored analyzing of contemporary culture and local demographics and diligently processing "makeovers" on everything from the church's platform arrangement to its parking lot signage.
I have no direct opposition to such sincerely sought, purely motivated quests. However, the majority of the time, they at best prove only temporarily useful, and far too often end in providing little more than a cosmetic for a much deeper need. In short, neither durable change nor spiritual dynamic are likely to ever be gained via the labored means of human ingenuity.
Efforts at finding and doing something beget inevitable weariness with having tried so hard and gaining so little. And a lot of pastors find a net result reading, "disillusionment," and sometimes, "despair."
Naturally, I do believe organization, plans, administration and programs are necessary to lead with wisdom and fruitfulness. But, to be frank, I'm becoming less patient these days with the passivity shown toward what I think is most needed by the majority of thinking leaders today: passion (1) in our personal worship of God (then, in the way we lead the flock to do the same); and passion (2) in pursuing an abiding fullness of His Spirit in our lives (then, in wisely drawing everyone in the congregation toward the same experience).
I will never defend wild-eyed fanaticism. Nor am I arguing for passion as, for example, a license to a carnal indulgence of anger when things don't happen fast enough. My plea is not to give place to the shallow, selfish pushiness of self-will erupting or manipulating to "get things my way—now!"
To argue for passion is not to indulge in a proposition that patience is supplanted, and impatience given a throne in your values or mine. But I have found a law of diminishing return where that order of patience is exercised that becomes so placid, so cooled, so bound by reserve that the status quo is never confronted. Whenever I find myself caving in to difficulties instead of opening to new dimensions of God's grace, I need passion, not patience.
Whenever I find I'm surrendering to the situation instead of making a new surrender to God, I need passion, not patience.
I'm wanting to discern and overcome that so-called "patience" that submits to the subtlety of human fear, doubt, passivity or pride—that lying voice that whispers: "Don't get too excited about God or expect too much of Him. Tough it out. Be patient." Because, in fact, the Bible reveals there are times when a divine discontent needs to motivate me—not a patient passivity.
It is passion, not patience, that moved Jesus through Gethsemane's ordeal and paved the way to Calvary (see Luke 22:39-46).
It is passion, not patience, that brought spiritual breakthrough when effort was made to silence the church (see Acts 4:23-31).
It is passion, not patience, that brought Paul to discover grace sufficient for the satanic battle he was waging (see 2 Cor. 12:7-10).
These Bible examples are a prompting to us all to open the doorway to relive those days when the disciples passionately waited on God for the Holy Spirit.
Let me encourage you: Whatever you are going through or whatever your personal challenge, whatever your family trials or whatever your economic circumstances, whatever your physical pain or whatever your wearied soul's tiredness, let us partner together to passionately pursue this principle: If with all your heart you truly seek Him, you will find Him.
That is an order of wholeheartedness that is at the core of our Lord Jesus' desire to ignite our hearts with the flame of heaven's passion and love: "'He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire'" (emphasis mine; Luke 3:16, KJV).
Decades of leading and teaching God's people have not produced in me a reckless excitability, but I have concluded that whatever else, without passion little will be birthed or broken through. "Cool" Christianity will never successfully resist the bonfires of unbelief that intimidate souls, nor the fiery darts of evil assault that rain from today's skies. We can only fight fire with fire.
Hearing the Hurting
QUOTE: "It’s important for us [pastors] to be in touch with the people we are speaking to and speak in a way that is understandable and bring the relevant, powerful, life-transforming message of the Word of God to them. It’s just something I have interest in. I want to know what people are thinking, what they are facing, what they are grappling with. … One thing I’ve become very aware of in recent days is just how many suffering people there are out there, people that are hurting. It’s been said that if you preach to people who are suffering, you will never lack for an audience. There certainly is a large audience of people who are in pain today." —Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., on how pain has recently changed his approach to ministry after 20 years of his evangelistic Harvest Crusades. Last July Laurie lost his 33-year-old son, Christopher, who served as art director for the church. "It is the most traumatic event of my life," Laurie says now. "It’s changed everything about me. You can’t help but see everything a little bit differently when somebody this close to you dies unexpectedly, especially your child. A parent never wants to outlive their child. I’ve become aware of how many others out there who have lost children, lost loved ones."
Friday, June 19, 2009
Discovering the Dead Sea Scrolls
by Valerie G. Lowe
Considered the lowest surface area on earth, the Dead Sea lies 410 meters below sea level. Located northwest of its shores is one of Israel’s most spectacular, ancient sites—the Qumran caves. Qumran was home to a sect of Jewish zealots who penned what has come to be known today as the Dead Scrolls. The members buried their precious scrolls deep in the crevices of the caves, where they remained until they were discovered thousands of years later. To see the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, click here to watch two videos.http://www.strangmail.com/sendstudio/link.php?M=2955233&N=4448&L=9015&F=H
Considered the lowest surface area on earth, the Dead Sea lies 410 meters below sea level. Located northwest of its shores is one of Israel’s most spectacular, ancient sites—the Qumran caves. Qumran was home to a sect of Jewish zealots who penned what has come to be known today as the Dead Scrolls. The members buried their precious scrolls deep in the crevices of the caves, where they remained until they were discovered thousands of years later. To see the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, click here to watch two videos.http://www.strangmail.com/sendstudio/link.php?M=2955233&N=4448&L=9015&F=H
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Why I Can't Perform a Same-Sex Wedding
By J. Lee Grady
Go ahead: Call me intolerant. I still believe the church must protect the marriage altar.
This past Saturday I stood on a church stage in Gainesville, Fla., and performed a wedding in front of 100 guests. The bride, Christina, was stunning in her billowing white gown. The groom, A.J., was beaming with delight. Tears flowed freely during the ceremony—especially during communion when a talented singing duo performed "The Prayer," the wedding anthem made popular by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli.
Thankfully there were no awkward moments—no fainting groomsmen, lost rings, squawking loud speakers or candles lighting dresses on fire. It was a picture-perfect moment in June, the month we've come to know as ideal for weddings even though summers in Florida are sweltering. I was grateful that I made it through my sermon without crying—since weddings involving friends or family can choke me up.
"Marriage is a holy institution, and the church should keep it that way regardless of where our culture ends up drifting on this issue."
Later that evening, after the decorations were taken down, the rose petals were swept up and the leftover wedding cake was in the freezer, I had some time to ponder the words I spoke to A.J. and Christina when they stood at that altar. I realized why my voice cracked a few times during my sermon. It was because I could feel God's presence in that church. He was smiling on this occasion.
Wedding ceremonies can come in all shapes, sizes and styles—but in essence they are meant to recreate a scene from the second chapter of Genesis, when God took the woman from man's side and united male and female as one. Without the aid of candles and Italian love songs, God preached the first wedding sermon. The Scripture says: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24, NASB).
That verse provides the biblical pattern for gender, sexuality and family relationships. It has been programmed into the DNA of the human race. Yet today a growing number of people who dismiss the Bible as myth are demanding that our culture exchange God's fundamental truths for a lie. And some mainline churches, swayed by secularist pressure, are opening their altars for same-sex weddings because they don't want to be viewed as intolerant prudes.
While the debate rages over whether states should sanction gay marriage (we can argue about that later), we Christians must cling to three key principles revealed in the first chapters of Genesis:
1. God's nature is revealed through male and female. The true God created men and women because both genders together reflect His image. God's full glory is not evident through men alone, or through women alone. Both are required. That's why Genesis 1:27 says: "So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (NLT).
It is for this reason that gay marriage is totally inconsistent with Christian morality. It is, in essence, a rejection of God's authority as Creator. It is an affront to His holy image. For two men or two women to marry and pretend to enjoy God's blessing on their sexual union is to rebel against created order and to establish an alternative culture without Him.
2. God's kingdom is advanced through heterosexual unions. The Genesis account clearly states that the family consists of a father and a mother (see 2:24). For thousands of years this is how the human race has been perpetuated. It has only been in recent decades that the homosexual community has promoted the acceptance of gay adoption or artificial insemination. And while gay activists may argue convincingly that they can offer compassion and love to children, the Christian community cannot bend heaven's rules to sanction gay or lesbian families. To do so would be another direct attack on the image of God.
3. Marriage was always intended to be monogamous. It's also important to note that Christian morality, at its core, is based on the concept of a committed, faithful, one-man/one-woman relationship. Even though many men in the Bible had multiple wives, the Scriptures never say God endorsed their behavior. Polygamy was never His plan.
Many secularists mock Christians today because, in some sad cases, the same preachers who angrily oppose gay marriage have girlfriends on the side. I would have to agree that a married preacher who is sleeping with his secretary is just as guilty as a man who is involved in a gay affair. In both instances, God's original standard in Genesis has been violated. We need to move past the hypocritical idea that homosexual sin is worse than heterosexual sin. We shouldn't try to excuse either.
Our culture is seeking to redefine marriage in our generation—and they are enlisting politicians to help them. Just last week President Obama wowed many of his supporters by announcing that the month of June—everyone's favorite month for weddings—is now Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. It's sad that our nation's leader—who is modeling faithful marriage—caved in to the pressure to applaud something that God calls an abomination.
Biblical marriage is not two men or two women; neither is it one man and four women (which Islamic law allows), a man and a child or three men and a baby. Marriage is a holy institution, and the church should keep it that way regardless of where our culture ends up drifting on this issue, or what people are allowed to do in a city courthouse. The Christian community must stand on the side of truth, not in a murky middle ground of compromise.
Go ahead: Call me intolerant. I still believe the church must protect the marriage altar.
This past Saturday I stood on a church stage in Gainesville, Fla., and performed a wedding in front of 100 guests. The bride, Christina, was stunning in her billowing white gown. The groom, A.J., was beaming with delight. Tears flowed freely during the ceremony—especially during communion when a talented singing duo performed "The Prayer," the wedding anthem made popular by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli.
Thankfully there were no awkward moments—no fainting groomsmen, lost rings, squawking loud speakers or candles lighting dresses on fire. It was a picture-perfect moment in June, the month we've come to know as ideal for weddings even though summers in Florida are sweltering. I was grateful that I made it through my sermon without crying—since weddings involving friends or family can choke me up.
"Marriage is a holy institution, and the church should keep it that way regardless of where our culture ends up drifting on this issue."
Later that evening, after the decorations were taken down, the rose petals were swept up and the leftover wedding cake was in the freezer, I had some time to ponder the words I spoke to A.J. and Christina when they stood at that altar. I realized why my voice cracked a few times during my sermon. It was because I could feel God's presence in that church. He was smiling on this occasion.
Wedding ceremonies can come in all shapes, sizes and styles—but in essence they are meant to recreate a scene from the second chapter of Genesis, when God took the woman from man's side and united male and female as one. Without the aid of candles and Italian love songs, God preached the first wedding sermon. The Scripture says: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24, NASB).
That verse provides the biblical pattern for gender, sexuality and family relationships. It has been programmed into the DNA of the human race. Yet today a growing number of people who dismiss the Bible as myth are demanding that our culture exchange God's fundamental truths for a lie. And some mainline churches, swayed by secularist pressure, are opening their altars for same-sex weddings because they don't want to be viewed as intolerant prudes.
While the debate rages over whether states should sanction gay marriage (we can argue about that later), we Christians must cling to three key principles revealed in the first chapters of Genesis:
1. God's nature is revealed through male and female. The true God created men and women because both genders together reflect His image. God's full glory is not evident through men alone, or through women alone. Both are required. That's why Genesis 1:27 says: "So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (NLT).
It is for this reason that gay marriage is totally inconsistent with Christian morality. It is, in essence, a rejection of God's authority as Creator. It is an affront to His holy image. For two men or two women to marry and pretend to enjoy God's blessing on their sexual union is to rebel against created order and to establish an alternative culture without Him.
2. God's kingdom is advanced through heterosexual unions. The Genesis account clearly states that the family consists of a father and a mother (see 2:24). For thousands of years this is how the human race has been perpetuated. It has only been in recent decades that the homosexual community has promoted the acceptance of gay adoption or artificial insemination. And while gay activists may argue convincingly that they can offer compassion and love to children, the Christian community cannot bend heaven's rules to sanction gay or lesbian families. To do so would be another direct attack on the image of God.
3. Marriage was always intended to be monogamous. It's also important to note that Christian morality, at its core, is based on the concept of a committed, faithful, one-man/one-woman relationship. Even though many men in the Bible had multiple wives, the Scriptures never say God endorsed their behavior. Polygamy was never His plan.
Many secularists mock Christians today because, in some sad cases, the same preachers who angrily oppose gay marriage have girlfriends on the side. I would have to agree that a married preacher who is sleeping with his secretary is just as guilty as a man who is involved in a gay affair. In both instances, God's original standard in Genesis has been violated. We need to move past the hypocritical idea that homosexual sin is worse than heterosexual sin. We shouldn't try to excuse either.
Our culture is seeking to redefine marriage in our generation—and they are enlisting politicians to help them. Just last week President Obama wowed many of his supporters by announcing that the month of June—everyone's favorite month for weddings—is now Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. It's sad that our nation's leader—who is modeling faithful marriage—caved in to the pressure to applaud something that God calls an abomination.
Biblical marriage is not two men or two women; neither is it one man and four women (which Islamic law allows), a man and a child or three men and a baby. Marriage is a holy institution, and the church should keep it that way regardless of where our culture ends up drifting on this issue, or what people are allowed to do in a city courthouse. The Christian community must stand on the side of truth, not in a murky middle ground of compromise.
Knowing You
[Story behind the song]
A major Christian conference in the UK had circulated a number of songwriters asking them to consider writing specific material to accompany the Bible readings and teaching at their event the following year. The book of Philippians had been chosen, so in order to begin the process of seeking inspiration I began to read through the book meditatively, asking God to draw my attention to anything which might become the seed of a song. I had come to the famous passage where Paul lists his impressive qualifications, and then dramatically sweeps them all aside for the sake of one supreme aim - to know Christ.
At this point my heart was stirred by the theme of knowing Jesus, and in an attempt to make it a personal song directed to him, I began to experiment with the phrase 'knowing you' as the moment of release of the song. Having written the chorus I set out to paraphrase the key verses of the scripture text into a singable form. This is always a great challenge because of course no translation of the Bible rhymes and scans, and there is always a danger that in shaping a lyrical form something is lost. After all this is the Word of God that we are dealing with!
Eventually, and with some editing input from one of our church leaders, plus some private 'road testing'at my home church, the song was finished. I know of several people who have learned the song without realising where it is derived from and have commented "Graham, I found your song in the bible!".
For me one of the most important things about it is the theme of sharing in Christ's sufferings (in the third verse), and of dying and rising with Christ. Perhaps for this reason the song has featured at funerals as well as in regular worship services. It has found its way into wedding services too where couples wish to express their commitment to putting Christ first in their marriage. 'Knowing You' has rapidly risen to be one of the most popular songs in the UK churches, at one time reaching number 5 in the CCLI chart.
All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this
Knowing you, Jesus
Knowing you, there is no greater thing
You're my all, you're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love you, Lord
Now my heart's desire is to know you more
To be found in you and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All-surpassing gift of righteousness
Oh, to know the power of your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like you in your death, my Lord
So with you to live and never die
Graham Kendrick
Copyright © 1993 Make Way Music,
www.grahamkendrick.co.uk
All rights reserved.
International copyright secured.
Used by permission.
A major Christian conference in the UK had circulated a number of songwriters asking them to consider writing specific material to accompany the Bible readings and teaching at their event the following year. The book of Philippians had been chosen, so in order to begin the process of seeking inspiration I began to read through the book meditatively, asking God to draw my attention to anything which might become the seed of a song. I had come to the famous passage where Paul lists his impressive qualifications, and then dramatically sweeps them all aside for the sake of one supreme aim - to know Christ.
At this point my heart was stirred by the theme of knowing Jesus, and in an attempt to make it a personal song directed to him, I began to experiment with the phrase 'knowing you' as the moment of release of the song. Having written the chorus I set out to paraphrase the key verses of the scripture text into a singable form. This is always a great challenge because of course no translation of the Bible rhymes and scans, and there is always a danger that in shaping a lyrical form something is lost. After all this is the Word of God that we are dealing with!
Eventually, and with some editing input from one of our church leaders, plus some private 'road testing'at my home church, the song was finished. I know of several people who have learned the song without realising where it is derived from and have commented "Graham, I found your song in the bible!".
For me one of the most important things about it is the theme of sharing in Christ's sufferings (in the third verse), and of dying and rising with Christ. Perhaps for this reason the song has featured at funerals as well as in regular worship services. It has found its way into wedding services too where couples wish to express their commitment to putting Christ first in their marriage. 'Knowing You' has rapidly risen to be one of the most popular songs in the UK churches, at one time reaching number 5 in the CCLI chart.
All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this
Knowing you, Jesus
Knowing you, there is no greater thing
You're my all, you're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love you, Lord
Now my heart's desire is to know you more
To be found in you and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All-surpassing gift of righteousness
Oh, to know the power of your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like you in your death, my Lord
So with you to live and never die
Graham Kendrick
Copyright © 1993 Make Way Music,
www.grahamkendrick.co.uk
All rights reserved.
International copyright secured.
Used by permission.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Don't Get Trapped in Religion
By R. T. Kendall
What people think is the Holy Spirit is often a cheap imitation. Don't be deceived.
Pigeons and doves are in the same family and look much the same. But the pigeon is not the symbol of peace. It was not a pigeon that came down and remained on Jesus. The turtledove--symbolizing the Holy Spirit--is different from a pigeon in interesting ways.
My friend Pete Cantrell is an expert on pigeons and turtledoves. His observations have amused and gripped me. Their relevance to a study of the Holy Spirit is almost astonishing.
"Do you see that pigeon?" he once asked me. "Watch him, he's getting ready to bully the pigeon next to him because it is perched on the spot he wants for himself." Seconds later, I watched it happen.
"I don't see that happening with turtledoves," Pete added. "Doves don't fight."
It seems to me that many of the claims to the presence of the Dove among us are nothing but pigeon religion--a counterfeit for the Holy Spirit. In my own haste I have presumed the presence of God in my life many times--when it was not the Dove after all. Often it has been a pigeon--not the heavenly Dove--that gave me a "religious" feeling. Here's how you can avoid making the same mistake.
Don't Be Fooled by Appearances
When one is preconditioned for a certain manifestation of the Holy Spirit, it is easy to presume the presence of the genuine Holy Spirit when you see that particular manifestation. Take falling down and laughing as examples.
I happen to believe that the phenomena of falling down and laughing have been the authentic results of God's presence in some places. But when one attends a church where this happens a lot, it's likely that someone could easily fall to the floor after being prayed for and that there could be an entirely natural explanation for it.
Several years ago, because I was sitting on the front row, I felt compelled to come forward when the preacher asked all church leaders to line up for prayer in the front. I sincerely hoped that God would come down on me and do whatever He pleased. Seventy or 80 men and women were lined up ahead of me for prayer.
As the preacher prayed for each person, every one of them fell backward into the arms of the "catcher" waiting next in line. Then the preacher came to me. I stood there like the Statue of Liberty. Nothing happened.
He prayed again, then a third time. Had I closed my eyes and been less conscious of standing straight, I suspect I too would have fallen.
I felt sorry for the preacher and wanted to apologize for his embarrassment when I didn't fall. I wanted to go down--I promise you. But I didn't want to be pushed over by a pigeon!
I'm not saying that the Dove did not come down on some, if not all the other people in that line. But I believe that their expectancy was so high and the preconditioning so powerful that a pigeon could have done the same thing.
Pigeons may be present whenever God shows up in genuine Holy Spirit power. On one night there may be a most awesome sense of God's presence.
You may feel it in the worship, in the preaching and in the time of prayer ministry. People may be shedding tears of joy and repentance and laughing and crying. Scores may be converted and many healed.
You can't wait for the next night. That night the same worship group leads with the same songs and hymns. The same preacher takes his text from God's Word. But God chooses not to show up.
The important issue is this: Will the minister in charge have the integrity not to manipulate the people? Or will he feel that to be successful, that night's meeting must appear to be just like the meeting on the previous night? If he thinks that, it is likely he may practice pigeon religion in order to get the same results.
The genuine Dove is like the wind that blows "'wherever it pleases'" (John 3:8, NIV). If one is truly sensitive to the Spirit, he or she must flow with the Spirit as well. And if one is equally sensitive to His absence, that person will honor God's sovereignty and will not pretend.
It takes a lot of courage to yield to the Spirit when He comes in power. It takes equal courage to be unpretentious when He is absent. Both aspects of the Dove can threaten one's comfort zone.
There is nothing like a large crowd to counterfeit the presence of the Dove. A big group can create an expectant atmosphere. Nothing preconditions a leader or a congregation like a church that's filled with people.
If there is a lack of discernment and sensitivity to the person of the Spirit, which is needed all the more at such a time, a pigeon could come down on the heads of everyone present, and no one would know the difference. I fear this has happened many times--and to the best of people.
The initial similarity of appearance between a pigeon and the Dove can even produce a "bandwagon" effect--everyone becomes excited and wants to be "in" on what is happening. This can continue for some time. But eventually one wakes up and comes to terms with the sobering possibility that it was all hype. It hurts when you realize you were taken in and that there was a fleshly explanation for everything that happened.
This can happen at an individual level as well, whether it be through speaking in tongues or through prophetic words of knowledge. If we convince ourselves that God must manifest Himself, we will settle for almost anything.
It is almost as if one says, "Well, if I can't have the Dove, I'll take a pigeon." But if we believe that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, we ought not settle for the counterfeit.
Don't Manipulate the Spirit
A pigeon can be domesticated, trained and manipulated. A pigeon can be easily controlled and made to conform. Not so with a turtledove.
Nor can the Spirit of God be easily manipulated or controlled: "'The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going,'" (John 3:8). You cannot make the Holy Dove do anything--except when you make it fly away.
Feeling the need to control the Holy Spirit may be one of the greatest abuses of the Spirit. When we begin to feel we can control the will of the Holy Spirit, pigeon religion has moved in. Yet often we continue trying to convince ourselves that it must be the Dove.
The issue is control. Who's in charge? Some people play with the Holy Spirit as if He has no will of His own.
We can fall prey to this when we are praying alone by attempting to do all the talking--thus quenching the Spirit. Or we can read the Bible and do all the thinking. In this way, the Dove does not have a chance to slip in.
The same can happen with public leadership. A powerful leader (even a worship leader or preacher) can sometimes control a crowd with his or her gift and personality. The people out there may not have a clue they are being manipulated.
The problem lies in the fact that one's gift is, in a sense, also one's anointing. God shapes each gift and personality for His glory.
However, not everything that someone with an anointed gift does is Spirit-led. We are under a solemn obligation to follow--not lead--the Holy Spirit. I may have an anointing to teach and preach, but I can get ahead of the Lord. When I do, pigeon religion takes over because I am in control.
Some years ago I talked with a worship leader about his style of leading worship. He admitted he had a gift that enabled him to control an audience.
He could make them do almost anything--clap, jump, sit or weep. When he did this, the people never knew they had been conditioned for a certain response in much the same way pigeons are trained to perform a particular behavior. It is an exceedingly rare worship leader who is utterly sensitive to the Dove and does not get ahead of the Lord.
Pigeon religion is man in control. It is manipulative, usurping the place of the Dove.
The gracious Spirit is gentle and prudent. Like the meek and lowly Jesus, the Dove is neither intrusive (coming when not invited) nor obtrusive (unpleasantly noticeable). He is self-effacing. When He is invited and accepts the invitation, the result takes man out of the picture.
When the Spirit is present, people want to wait on the Spirit. They want to worship, and they let the Spirit do the leading. When this happens, it is an unforgettable experience--one worth waiting for.
The Spirit will not be manipulated. The Dove flutters away as soon as one tries to do this, and the pigeon comes in.
Don't Be Territorial
A pigeon thinks a certain place belongs to him. Pigeon religion is manifested when one instinctively feels he or she has a "corner" on the anointing. This happens when we take ourselves too seriously.
It also happens when we decide we own the franchise on God's enterprise in a particular theological or geographic area. As a result, we struggle against someone else "elbowing in" on our calling, area of expertise or following.
This is a party spirit, a rival or competitive spirit. Because we uphold a particular emphasis, we want to be the sole vanguard for the "party line."
Nothing is more deadly than a rival spirit in the church of God. Take the subject of revival, for example. I think we all agree that there is a heart cry for revival today. I doubt there is any evangelical group or church that is not praying for revival--a sovereign outpouring of God's Spirit that will revive the people of God and result in many conversions.
The problem is, we all want it to come to us! We all tend to see ourselves as having "borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day" (Matt. 20:12). We resent it if God makes others "equal to us"! We want God to bless our efforts, our party line and our denomination.
Therefore we tend to dismiss any report of God's coming down powerfully on anyone but us. We honestly believe it couldn't happen to those who are of a different theological persuasion or ecclesiastical setting.
Not long ago a weekly prayer meeting on the second floor of a civic center in Nairobi, Kenya, centered on revival. A group of a dozen Western missionaries prayed earnestly that God would send revival to Nairobi.
At exactly the same time, 700 Kenyans were praying noisily and worshiping God--and growing rapidly--in the large auditorium just beneath the group of Western missionaries. The irony is, God was answering the missionaries' prayers!
But they could not bring themselves to recognize revival under their noses--for the Kenyans below them didn't represent their party line. Another example of pigeon religion!
None of us has a monopoly on the anointing. Jesus' disciples wanted to stop someone praying in Jesus' name "'because he is not one of us'" (Luke 9:49-50). Jesus stepped in, admonishing, "'Do not stop him...for whoever is not against you is for you.'"
Even Joshua, when he was young and still had a lot to learn, was unhappy when certain people were prophesying without recognized credentials. "But Moses replied: 'Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!'" (Num. 11:29). That is the way God would have us all to reject pigeon religion and pray for the restoration of His honor in the world (rather than just in our own ministries).
The Spirit will do His work--if we don't get in the way. We must not step in where we don't belong or elbow in on the Spirit's territory. For the Spirit to be able to do His work, we must simply be the channel through which He works. If we try to do what He does best, He flutters away.
You may think you are incapable of being deceived by a pigeon. But all of us are as capable of following pigeon religion as we are of following the Holy Dove.
Simon Peter was being led by the Dove when he said to Jesus, "'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God'" (Matt. 16:16). Yet just a few verses later Jesus turned and said to Peter: "'Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men'" (v. 23).
Our best guarantee against following pigeon religion is an ever-increasing sensitivity to the Dove.
Don't Settle for Substitutes
People possess natural qualities that can appear to be fruits of the Holy Spirit. We need to learn the difference.
A pleasant personality can look like the fruit of the Spirit. There are people who are just simply nice. They are sweet, friendly and cheerful. They are the type of people you want to be around all the time. At times their pleasant personalities can put Christians who have been saved for years to shame.
However, sometimes in their case an aspect of God's common grace is substituting for the Spirit's manifestation. Their pleasantness may have nothing whatever to do with the fruit of the Spirit. Actually, they acted the same way before they were converted.
It can be difficult to convince people like this of their own need to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. But sooner or later their self-righteousness will surface if they haven't been convicted of sin. If you recognize this problem in yourself, I urge you to do two things:
* Thank God for giving you your pleasing temperament.
*Pray harder than ever to be sensitive to sin and to the Spirit.
Emotional maturity can look like spiritual maturity. Some people grow up faster than others, and some develop spiritually more quickly than others. There are many explanations for this.
If a person has developed emotionally in a manner that shows fewer psychological problems, it should not be surprising that he or she appears spiritually mature as well. A person like this may or may not be strong in private prayer, worship and Bible reading but will nonetheless appear levelheaded and responsible compared with a neurotic Christian.
Regeneration and sanctification do not necessarily eradicate damaged emotions that come from abuse or neglect as one was growing up. For this reason a Christian who had severely damaged emotions as a child may struggle in areas in which a relatively unspiritual person does not. The latter may appear to be more godly when this is not really the case.
For some people, then, the appearance of the Dove may not be the explanation for their apparent maturity. Yet these same people are often the ones who get voted into positions of church leadership and who go into full-time ministry.
They are not unlike King Saul--they have the influence but not necessarily the anointing. Pigeon religion is widespread in the church.
The problem becomes even more complicated when ordinary Christians--beset with emotional difficulties but nonetheless consumed with a love for God and His Word--think that their church leaders aren't very spiritual. A recent poll showed that the average church leader spends only four minutes a day in quiet time.
Cultural and intellectual tastes can look like theological maturity. Some people have a head start when it comes to upbringing. They are brought up with poise, elegance and a certain aptitude for intellectual things. They go to the better schools. They have a cerebral framework that others do not have.
When people such as this become Christians, they may take to Pauline theology like a cat chasing a mouse. Does this mean they are more spiritual? Possibly, but not necessarily. There could be a natural explanation.
People who are theologically minded are not necessarily more interested in the things of the Spirit. They often think it is far more important to articulate the implications of justification by faith alone than to be personally filled with the Spirit.
At the other end of the spectrum are people who are more interested in things of the Spirit than they are in the intricacies of theological orthodoxy. But these people are not necessarily more spiritual. They may lack theological training and are therefore drawn more naturally to experiential knowledge than to doctrine.
We must resist the temptation to be judgmental about things that are opposed to our own interest levels. Often what appeals to a believer can be explained in natural terms rather than by Holy Spirit-motivated explanation.
What people think is the Holy Spirit is often a cheap imitation. Don't be deceived.
Pigeons and doves are in the same family and look much the same. But the pigeon is not the symbol of peace. It was not a pigeon that came down and remained on Jesus. The turtledove--symbolizing the Holy Spirit--is different from a pigeon in interesting ways.
My friend Pete Cantrell is an expert on pigeons and turtledoves. His observations have amused and gripped me. Their relevance to a study of the Holy Spirit is almost astonishing.
"Do you see that pigeon?" he once asked me. "Watch him, he's getting ready to bully the pigeon next to him because it is perched on the spot he wants for himself." Seconds later, I watched it happen.
"I don't see that happening with turtledoves," Pete added. "Doves don't fight."
It seems to me that many of the claims to the presence of the Dove among us are nothing but pigeon religion--a counterfeit for the Holy Spirit. In my own haste I have presumed the presence of God in my life many times--when it was not the Dove after all. Often it has been a pigeon--not the heavenly Dove--that gave me a "religious" feeling. Here's how you can avoid making the same mistake.
Don't Be Fooled by Appearances
When one is preconditioned for a certain manifestation of the Holy Spirit, it is easy to presume the presence of the genuine Holy Spirit when you see that particular manifestation. Take falling down and laughing as examples.
I happen to believe that the phenomena of falling down and laughing have been the authentic results of God's presence in some places. But when one attends a church where this happens a lot, it's likely that someone could easily fall to the floor after being prayed for and that there could be an entirely natural explanation for it.
Several years ago, because I was sitting on the front row, I felt compelled to come forward when the preacher asked all church leaders to line up for prayer in the front. I sincerely hoped that God would come down on me and do whatever He pleased. Seventy or 80 men and women were lined up ahead of me for prayer.
As the preacher prayed for each person, every one of them fell backward into the arms of the "catcher" waiting next in line. Then the preacher came to me. I stood there like the Statue of Liberty. Nothing happened.
He prayed again, then a third time. Had I closed my eyes and been less conscious of standing straight, I suspect I too would have fallen.
I felt sorry for the preacher and wanted to apologize for his embarrassment when I didn't fall. I wanted to go down--I promise you. But I didn't want to be pushed over by a pigeon!
I'm not saying that the Dove did not come down on some, if not all the other people in that line. But I believe that their expectancy was so high and the preconditioning so powerful that a pigeon could have done the same thing.
Pigeons may be present whenever God shows up in genuine Holy Spirit power. On one night there may be a most awesome sense of God's presence.
You may feel it in the worship, in the preaching and in the time of prayer ministry. People may be shedding tears of joy and repentance and laughing and crying. Scores may be converted and many healed.
You can't wait for the next night. That night the same worship group leads with the same songs and hymns. The same preacher takes his text from God's Word. But God chooses not to show up.
The important issue is this: Will the minister in charge have the integrity not to manipulate the people? Or will he feel that to be successful, that night's meeting must appear to be just like the meeting on the previous night? If he thinks that, it is likely he may practice pigeon religion in order to get the same results.
The genuine Dove is like the wind that blows "'wherever it pleases'" (John 3:8, NIV). If one is truly sensitive to the Spirit, he or she must flow with the Spirit as well. And if one is equally sensitive to His absence, that person will honor God's sovereignty and will not pretend.
It takes a lot of courage to yield to the Spirit when He comes in power. It takes equal courage to be unpretentious when He is absent. Both aspects of the Dove can threaten one's comfort zone.
There is nothing like a large crowd to counterfeit the presence of the Dove. A big group can create an expectant atmosphere. Nothing preconditions a leader or a congregation like a church that's filled with people.
If there is a lack of discernment and sensitivity to the person of the Spirit, which is needed all the more at such a time, a pigeon could come down on the heads of everyone present, and no one would know the difference. I fear this has happened many times--and to the best of people.
The initial similarity of appearance between a pigeon and the Dove can even produce a "bandwagon" effect--everyone becomes excited and wants to be "in" on what is happening. This can continue for some time. But eventually one wakes up and comes to terms with the sobering possibility that it was all hype. It hurts when you realize you were taken in and that there was a fleshly explanation for everything that happened.
This can happen at an individual level as well, whether it be through speaking in tongues or through prophetic words of knowledge. If we convince ourselves that God must manifest Himself, we will settle for almost anything.
It is almost as if one says, "Well, if I can't have the Dove, I'll take a pigeon." But if we believe that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, we ought not settle for the counterfeit.
Don't Manipulate the Spirit
A pigeon can be domesticated, trained and manipulated. A pigeon can be easily controlled and made to conform. Not so with a turtledove.
Nor can the Spirit of God be easily manipulated or controlled: "'The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going,'" (John 3:8). You cannot make the Holy Dove do anything--except when you make it fly away.
Feeling the need to control the Holy Spirit may be one of the greatest abuses of the Spirit. When we begin to feel we can control the will of the Holy Spirit, pigeon religion has moved in. Yet often we continue trying to convince ourselves that it must be the Dove.
The issue is control. Who's in charge? Some people play with the Holy Spirit as if He has no will of His own.
We can fall prey to this when we are praying alone by attempting to do all the talking--thus quenching the Spirit. Or we can read the Bible and do all the thinking. In this way, the Dove does not have a chance to slip in.
The same can happen with public leadership. A powerful leader (even a worship leader or preacher) can sometimes control a crowd with his or her gift and personality. The people out there may not have a clue they are being manipulated.
The problem lies in the fact that one's gift is, in a sense, also one's anointing. God shapes each gift and personality for His glory.
However, not everything that someone with an anointed gift does is Spirit-led. We are under a solemn obligation to follow--not lead--the Holy Spirit. I may have an anointing to teach and preach, but I can get ahead of the Lord. When I do, pigeon religion takes over because I am in control.
Some years ago I talked with a worship leader about his style of leading worship. He admitted he had a gift that enabled him to control an audience.
He could make them do almost anything--clap, jump, sit or weep. When he did this, the people never knew they had been conditioned for a certain response in much the same way pigeons are trained to perform a particular behavior. It is an exceedingly rare worship leader who is utterly sensitive to the Dove and does not get ahead of the Lord.
Pigeon religion is man in control. It is manipulative, usurping the place of the Dove.
The gracious Spirit is gentle and prudent. Like the meek and lowly Jesus, the Dove is neither intrusive (coming when not invited) nor obtrusive (unpleasantly noticeable). He is self-effacing. When He is invited and accepts the invitation, the result takes man out of the picture.
When the Spirit is present, people want to wait on the Spirit. They want to worship, and they let the Spirit do the leading. When this happens, it is an unforgettable experience--one worth waiting for.
The Spirit will not be manipulated. The Dove flutters away as soon as one tries to do this, and the pigeon comes in.
Don't Be Territorial
A pigeon thinks a certain place belongs to him. Pigeon religion is manifested when one instinctively feels he or she has a "corner" on the anointing. This happens when we take ourselves too seriously.
It also happens when we decide we own the franchise on God's enterprise in a particular theological or geographic area. As a result, we struggle against someone else "elbowing in" on our calling, area of expertise or following.
This is a party spirit, a rival or competitive spirit. Because we uphold a particular emphasis, we want to be the sole vanguard for the "party line."
Nothing is more deadly than a rival spirit in the church of God. Take the subject of revival, for example. I think we all agree that there is a heart cry for revival today. I doubt there is any evangelical group or church that is not praying for revival--a sovereign outpouring of God's Spirit that will revive the people of God and result in many conversions.
The problem is, we all want it to come to us! We all tend to see ourselves as having "borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day" (Matt. 20:12). We resent it if God makes others "equal to us"! We want God to bless our efforts, our party line and our denomination.
Therefore we tend to dismiss any report of God's coming down powerfully on anyone but us. We honestly believe it couldn't happen to those who are of a different theological persuasion or ecclesiastical setting.
Not long ago a weekly prayer meeting on the second floor of a civic center in Nairobi, Kenya, centered on revival. A group of a dozen Western missionaries prayed earnestly that God would send revival to Nairobi.
At exactly the same time, 700 Kenyans were praying noisily and worshiping God--and growing rapidly--in the large auditorium just beneath the group of Western missionaries. The irony is, God was answering the missionaries' prayers!
But they could not bring themselves to recognize revival under their noses--for the Kenyans below them didn't represent their party line. Another example of pigeon religion!
None of us has a monopoly on the anointing. Jesus' disciples wanted to stop someone praying in Jesus' name "'because he is not one of us'" (Luke 9:49-50). Jesus stepped in, admonishing, "'Do not stop him...for whoever is not against you is for you.'"
Even Joshua, when he was young and still had a lot to learn, was unhappy when certain people were prophesying without recognized credentials. "But Moses replied: 'Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!'" (Num. 11:29). That is the way God would have us all to reject pigeon religion and pray for the restoration of His honor in the world (rather than just in our own ministries).
The Spirit will do His work--if we don't get in the way. We must not step in where we don't belong or elbow in on the Spirit's territory. For the Spirit to be able to do His work, we must simply be the channel through which He works. If we try to do what He does best, He flutters away.
You may think you are incapable of being deceived by a pigeon. But all of us are as capable of following pigeon religion as we are of following the Holy Dove.
Simon Peter was being led by the Dove when he said to Jesus, "'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God'" (Matt. 16:16). Yet just a few verses later Jesus turned and said to Peter: "'Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men'" (v. 23).
Our best guarantee against following pigeon religion is an ever-increasing sensitivity to the Dove.
Don't Settle for Substitutes
People possess natural qualities that can appear to be fruits of the Holy Spirit. We need to learn the difference.
A pleasant personality can look like the fruit of the Spirit. There are people who are just simply nice. They are sweet, friendly and cheerful. They are the type of people you want to be around all the time. At times their pleasant personalities can put Christians who have been saved for years to shame.
However, sometimes in their case an aspect of God's common grace is substituting for the Spirit's manifestation. Their pleasantness may have nothing whatever to do with the fruit of the Spirit. Actually, they acted the same way before they were converted.
It can be difficult to convince people like this of their own need to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. But sooner or later their self-righteousness will surface if they haven't been convicted of sin. If you recognize this problem in yourself, I urge you to do two things:
* Thank God for giving you your pleasing temperament.
*Pray harder than ever to be sensitive to sin and to the Spirit.
Emotional maturity can look like spiritual maturity. Some people grow up faster than others, and some develop spiritually more quickly than others. There are many explanations for this.
If a person has developed emotionally in a manner that shows fewer psychological problems, it should not be surprising that he or she appears spiritually mature as well. A person like this may or may not be strong in private prayer, worship and Bible reading but will nonetheless appear levelheaded and responsible compared with a neurotic Christian.
Regeneration and sanctification do not necessarily eradicate damaged emotions that come from abuse or neglect as one was growing up. For this reason a Christian who had severely damaged emotions as a child may struggle in areas in which a relatively unspiritual person does not. The latter may appear to be more godly when this is not really the case.
For some people, then, the appearance of the Dove may not be the explanation for their apparent maturity. Yet these same people are often the ones who get voted into positions of church leadership and who go into full-time ministry.
They are not unlike King Saul--they have the influence but not necessarily the anointing. Pigeon religion is widespread in the church.
The problem becomes even more complicated when ordinary Christians--beset with emotional difficulties but nonetheless consumed with a love for God and His Word--think that their church leaders aren't very spiritual. A recent poll showed that the average church leader spends only four minutes a day in quiet time.
Cultural and intellectual tastes can look like theological maturity. Some people have a head start when it comes to upbringing. They are brought up with poise, elegance and a certain aptitude for intellectual things. They go to the better schools. They have a cerebral framework that others do not have.
When people such as this become Christians, they may take to Pauline theology like a cat chasing a mouse. Does this mean they are more spiritual? Possibly, but not necessarily. There could be a natural explanation.
People who are theologically minded are not necessarily more interested in the things of the Spirit. They often think it is far more important to articulate the implications of justification by faith alone than to be personally filled with the Spirit.
At the other end of the spectrum are people who are more interested in things of the Spirit than they are in the intricacies of theological orthodoxy. But these people are not necessarily more spiritual. They may lack theological training and are therefore drawn more naturally to experiential knowledge than to doctrine.
We must resist the temptation to be judgmental about things that are opposed to our own interest levels. Often what appeals to a believer can be explained in natural terms rather than by Holy Spirit-motivated explanation.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The Myths of Faith Healing
By Larry Keefauver
Some believers focus exclusively on faith as the key to healing. Yet Jesus healed many who apparently had no faith. Some were healed because their friends had faith. Others were bound up by demonic spirits and healed by exorcism, even against their wills.
The truth is that God heals. The myth is that God always heals now at the initiative of our faith.
Faith teacher Frederick K.C. Price has asserted: "The seventh method of receiving healing--[which] I believe is the highest kind of faith--is the highest way to receive healing...If you believe you receive it, you will confess that: 'Bless God, I believe I am healed. I believe I have received my healing...I believe that it is so. I believe that I can walk in divine health all the days of my life.' You are reading after one man who will never be sick, and I'm not being presumptuous."
Myth is mixed here with truth. The highest kind of faith is, "I believe in Jesus," not just, "I believe."
It is true that faith must be our initiative. But even our initiative comes through the prompting of the Holy Spirit: "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3). Our faith helps us receive healing, just as the lack of faith hinders healing. But healing does not depend on faith. Healing depends on the Healer.
Healing is the will of God. Canadian evangelist Peter Youngren wrote: "Jesus clearly shows us God's will in healing ... the Word of God declares that 'great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all' (Matt. 12:15). When Jesus healed all, He was obviously doing the will of His Father, because He only did that which the Father wanted Him to do."
Youngren adds: "This is why you can come with boldness asking God for healing. God is on your side. He wants the best for you. He is good."
So, if God wills all to be healed, then can your faith move His hand to heal you? In the words of the Hertz rental car commercial: "Not exactly!"
Your faith moves Him to save you (see Rom. 10:9-13; Eph. 2:8). And in your salvation is your healing: "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses'" (Matt. 8:17; Is. 53:4-6).
But your faith does not effect your healing now. When you are healed rests entirely on what the sovereign purposes of the Healer are.
Consider this biblical example. In John 5 Jesus healed one paralytic at the pool of Bethesda though a multitude thronged that place daily to be healed. Why was one man healed at that moment while others were not?
John 5:19 gives the answer when Jesus confessed, "'Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.'"
Bible scholar Jack Deere correctly observes that the initiative for the miraculous in Jesus' ministry did not begin with Him but with the Father. "He healed only the people He saw His Father healing," Deere writes. "The only firm reason for the healing of the paralytic that we can derive from the context of John 5 is that the Father willed it, and Jesus executed His Father's will ... We are ultimately faced with the conclusion that sometimes the Lord works miracles for His own sovereign purposes without giving any explanation for His actions to His followers."
The second myth about healing is that if you stand fast in faith, you will be physically healed in time and space. Ken and Gloria Copeland have declared that healing will come if we have faith in our hearts and God's Word in our mouths. But, they add: "It may take time for it to manifest in your body. So stand fast in faith, giving thanks to God until it does. Focus on God's Word, not on physical symptoms."
In what do we "stand fast"? The "rock" on which we stand isn't faith or healing but Christ alone--the Healer. In Hebrews 10:23 we are admonished to hold fast to the profession of our faith. But in what is our profession of faith? Certainly, it is not in faith or in healing.
Be careful that your faith is not in faith itself--or, worse yet, in a faith teacher! Just believing hard enough, long enough or strong enough will not strengthen you or prompt your healing. Doing mental gymnastics to "hold on to your miracle" will not cause your healing to manifest now.
So what is faith? It is more than believing in your heart that God heals. The truth is that God is the God who heals. Faith is trusting the God who heals. Faith is a radical, absolute surrender to the God who heals. Faith is not holding on for your healing but holding on to the God who can do the impossible.
The truth is that your healing may manifest in eternity, not in time. If your trust is in God who heals, then when He heals you is secondary to belonging to the Healer. Certainly you will thank Him if He heals you today. But if your healing comes beyond death in eternity, will you praise Him now for that?
Paul did just that: "'O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?' The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:55-58).
The third myth about healing is that if you just confess your healing, you will be healed right now. But you should confess the Healer, not your healing.
In his best-selling book, The Bible Cure, Dr. Reginald B. Cherry encourages us to "speak to the mountain" of our illness when we pray. That is important in prayer. But praying it and saying it won't make physical healing manifest now.
Positive confession does not effect healing. If that were true, anyone who believes in mind-over-matter mental exercises could heal people. Only Jesus heals.
Our confession should be in Him, not in being healed now. Jesus sternly warned: "'Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven'" (Matt. 10:32-33).
It's time we throw out the lies that cloud the truth about faith and healing. It's time we embrace the scriptural truths that shatter shallow myths and bring us freedom to confidently trust God.
Some believers focus exclusively on faith as the key to healing. Yet Jesus healed many who apparently had no faith. Some were healed because their friends had faith. Others were bound up by demonic spirits and healed by exorcism, even against their wills.
The truth is that God heals. The myth is that God always heals now at the initiative of our faith.
Faith teacher Frederick K.C. Price has asserted: "The seventh method of receiving healing--[which] I believe is the highest kind of faith--is the highest way to receive healing...If you believe you receive it, you will confess that: 'Bless God, I believe I am healed. I believe I have received my healing...I believe that it is so. I believe that I can walk in divine health all the days of my life.' You are reading after one man who will never be sick, and I'm not being presumptuous."
Myth is mixed here with truth. The highest kind of faith is, "I believe in Jesus," not just, "I believe."
It is true that faith must be our initiative. But even our initiative comes through the prompting of the Holy Spirit: "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3). Our faith helps us receive healing, just as the lack of faith hinders healing. But healing does not depend on faith. Healing depends on the Healer.
Healing is the will of God. Canadian evangelist Peter Youngren wrote: "Jesus clearly shows us God's will in healing ... the Word of God declares that 'great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all' (Matt. 12:15). When Jesus healed all, He was obviously doing the will of His Father, because He only did that which the Father wanted Him to do."
Youngren adds: "This is why you can come with boldness asking God for healing. God is on your side. He wants the best for you. He is good."
So, if God wills all to be healed, then can your faith move His hand to heal you? In the words of the Hertz rental car commercial: "Not exactly!"
Your faith moves Him to save you (see Rom. 10:9-13; Eph. 2:8). And in your salvation is your healing: "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses'" (Matt. 8:17; Is. 53:4-6).
But your faith does not effect your healing now. When you are healed rests entirely on what the sovereign purposes of the Healer are.
Consider this biblical example. In John 5 Jesus healed one paralytic at the pool of Bethesda though a multitude thronged that place daily to be healed. Why was one man healed at that moment while others were not?
John 5:19 gives the answer when Jesus confessed, "'Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.'"
Bible scholar Jack Deere correctly observes that the initiative for the miraculous in Jesus' ministry did not begin with Him but with the Father. "He healed only the people He saw His Father healing," Deere writes. "The only firm reason for the healing of the paralytic that we can derive from the context of John 5 is that the Father willed it, and Jesus executed His Father's will ... We are ultimately faced with the conclusion that sometimes the Lord works miracles for His own sovereign purposes without giving any explanation for His actions to His followers."
The second myth about healing is that if you stand fast in faith, you will be physically healed in time and space. Ken and Gloria Copeland have declared that healing will come if we have faith in our hearts and God's Word in our mouths. But, they add: "It may take time for it to manifest in your body. So stand fast in faith, giving thanks to God until it does. Focus on God's Word, not on physical symptoms."
In what do we "stand fast"? The "rock" on which we stand isn't faith or healing but Christ alone--the Healer. In Hebrews 10:23 we are admonished to hold fast to the profession of our faith. But in what is our profession of faith? Certainly, it is not in faith or in healing.
Be careful that your faith is not in faith itself--or, worse yet, in a faith teacher! Just believing hard enough, long enough or strong enough will not strengthen you or prompt your healing. Doing mental gymnastics to "hold on to your miracle" will not cause your healing to manifest now.
So what is faith? It is more than believing in your heart that God heals. The truth is that God is the God who heals. Faith is trusting the God who heals. Faith is a radical, absolute surrender to the God who heals. Faith is not holding on for your healing but holding on to the God who can do the impossible.
The truth is that your healing may manifest in eternity, not in time. If your trust is in God who heals, then when He heals you is secondary to belonging to the Healer. Certainly you will thank Him if He heals you today. But if your healing comes beyond death in eternity, will you praise Him now for that?
Paul did just that: "'O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?' The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:55-58).
The third myth about healing is that if you just confess your healing, you will be healed right now. But you should confess the Healer, not your healing.
In his best-selling book, The Bible Cure, Dr. Reginald B. Cherry encourages us to "speak to the mountain" of our illness when we pray. That is important in prayer. But praying it and saying it won't make physical healing manifest now.
Positive confession does not effect healing. If that were true, anyone who believes in mind-over-matter mental exercises could heal people. Only Jesus heals.
Our confession should be in Him, not in being healed now. Jesus sternly warned: "'Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven'" (Matt. 10:32-33).
It's time we throw out the lies that cloud the truth about faith and healing. It's time we embrace the scriptural truths that shatter shallow myths and bring us freedom to confidently trust God.
Making Him Known
By Andy Park
The worship leader is called to educate believers in the wonders of God and to lead sinners into an awareness of His love.
A survey taken in churches in the United States showed that people forget 80 percent of sermons they hear within three days after hearing them. Even the best sermon illustrations are usually forgotten.
What do people remember? The songs! The words of songs stick in our heads because of the memorable melodies, rhymes and rhythms attached to them.
The New Testament hymns, which are woven into the fabric of the gospels, epistles and Revelation, teach many basic doctrines (see Col. 1:15-20; Phil. 2:6-11; 1 Cor. 13:1-13).
The rich theological depth of these hymns sends us a clear message--teaching is an important part of singing hymns. In assembling song sets, we are proclaiming the truth about God's identity and our own identity as His heirs, servants and reconcilers of lost people.
Telling the Story of Jesus. Worship leading is a celebration of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ. The story of Jesus remains constant, and the message is timeless and relevant for all people of all cultures. But in postmodern society, the story is needed more than ever.
Into the spirits of Christians and non-Christians challenged by changing values and beliefs the worship leader injects the unchanging story of Jesus. Songs of worship are a primary means of telling the story of Jesus.
Through singing the story of Jesus we give people a context for living. As we relive the coming of Christ into the world, our own lives make sense. In worship we see ourselves on the continuum of time--we live between the first and second comings of Christ.
This is more than an intellectual review of information. Within the worshiping community, we are formed by Christ in our midst. In worship, we experience the essence of family.
In worship we not only see who God is, but we also see who we are. As rays of revelation stream down from heaven, we say: "Oh yeah! Jesus is alive! He is real; He is here; and He gives me purpose for living. I am not just a carpenter, a doctor, a truck driver, a mother of small children. I am an eternal child of God."
As citizens of heaven, everything we are springs out of everything God is. We are a "chosen race" because we are children of the Chosen One; we are a "royal priesthood" because we are followers of the great High Priest; we are a "holy nation" because we are subjects of the Holy One of Israel (see 1 Pet. 2:9-10).
"Worship is a pathway and the atmosphere for people--the saved and the unsaved alike--to discover their royal calling in Christ, their destiny in life, their fullest personal worth and their deepest human fulfillment." This is Jack Hayford's eloquent explanation of seeing our identity in Christ through worship.
Paradoxically, worship is one of the most humbling yet ennobling activities we can do. It's humbling because we bow before our Creator, and it is dignifying because in it we realize that we are heirs of the highest royalty.
In leading worship, we give people a window to heaven. Our songs are the vehicle of fixing our gaze on things above, not on things on the earth.
Fighting Doctrinal Battles Through Song. Most worship leaders wouldn't think of giving themselves the label theologian. Yet through our songs, we present the truth about who God is. We paint a picture of the personality of God and the way He relates to humanity.
One of the most significant battles over doctrine in the early church was the Arian controversy in the fourth century A.D. The issue in question was the divinity of Jesus. Athanasius led the way in arguing that Jesus was "of one substance with the Father"--that He was not created, but was eternal and infinite along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. His opponent, Arius, a presbyter in Alexandria, argued that the Son was created by the Father and was not equal to the Father.
This crucial doctrinal battle raged for many years. At times, popular opinion was on the side of Arius. This controversy was the main subject of debate at the council of Nicea in A.D. 325.
This episode of church history is relevant to our discussion because the hymns written by Athanasius and Arius were among their most powerful tools in fighting for their beliefs.
Through worship music, our souls are fed with a rich impartation of truth. The worship leader's challenge is to serve good food to the church every week, giving them a nutritious diet of truth, encouragement and exhortation.
Worship as Evangelism. We face our own modern-day Arian controversy, since we live in a culture where the majority does not accept Jesus as God. Our job is not only to explain the nature of God to Christians, but to also present the gospel to the unconvinced.
Tony Campolo, who teaches at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, observes that in past years, the voluntary chapel services were largely neglected by the students. However, in recent years this has changed dramatically, and students are enjoying extended times of worship in chapel.
Campolo writes: "Students are being converted by music. This is surprising to me, because I always thought sermons were the decisive factor in bringing people into a relationship with Christ. But, I am finding that worship can do that even more effectively and deeply. Young people are looking for a relationship with God more than a theology about God. Worship which is truly in the Spirit is giving that to them."
During an outreach, my friend Gary Best met three young men from Morocco. Almost immediately the discussion turned toward a debate over the Bible versus the Quran. So Gary steered the conversation away from the argument and invited the men to a worship service.
At the end of worship, Gary found the three young Moroccan guys that he had met earlier in the day. He thanked them for coming and realized that they wanted to spend some time with the team. When Gary told them the team was leaving the next day, one of the men said: "I want to know Jesus. How can I know Him?"
"You can know Him right now," Gary replied. So three of the team members led the men to the Lord.
These people hadn't been wowed by a concert; they had been struck by the spirit of worship. It wasn't a performance; it was a heart cry.
Christians and pre-Christian seekers are drawn to genuine worship. Today more than ever our cultural climate calls for genuine worship rather than glitzy shows or dry recitations of theological truth. People know the difference between a dead religion and a living relationship. So when they see people deeply engaged in worship, they take notice.
There is something tangible in the air, yet elusive. People aren't just singing to the ceiling; they are actually communing with God. When a pre-Christian who is hungry for God sees this happening, the light begins to dawn.
I see worship as a major factor in bringing people along the continuum from unbelief toward knowing God. With the added factors of hearing biblical truth and having friends who can personally interact with them, worship is a powerful tool for convincing and convicting people of God's existence and His love for them.
Worship leaders have multiple functions--we invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit, and we teach, prophesy and evangelize through the lyrics of our songs.
Seeing worship leading through this multicolored lens heightens our awareness of the breadth and depth of our ministry through song.
Through our music, the Holy Spirit writes on the hearts of men, women and children eternal truths of many colors and hues.
The worship leader is called to educate believers in the wonders of God and to lead sinners into an awareness of His love.
A survey taken in churches in the United States showed that people forget 80 percent of sermons they hear within three days after hearing them. Even the best sermon illustrations are usually forgotten.
What do people remember? The songs! The words of songs stick in our heads because of the memorable melodies, rhymes and rhythms attached to them.
The New Testament hymns, which are woven into the fabric of the gospels, epistles and Revelation, teach many basic doctrines (see Col. 1:15-20; Phil. 2:6-11; 1 Cor. 13:1-13).
The rich theological depth of these hymns sends us a clear message--teaching is an important part of singing hymns. In assembling song sets, we are proclaiming the truth about God's identity and our own identity as His heirs, servants and reconcilers of lost people.
Telling the Story of Jesus. Worship leading is a celebration of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ. The story of Jesus remains constant, and the message is timeless and relevant for all people of all cultures. But in postmodern society, the story is needed more than ever.
Into the spirits of Christians and non-Christians challenged by changing values and beliefs the worship leader injects the unchanging story of Jesus. Songs of worship are a primary means of telling the story of Jesus.
Through singing the story of Jesus we give people a context for living. As we relive the coming of Christ into the world, our own lives make sense. In worship we see ourselves on the continuum of time--we live between the first and second comings of Christ.
This is more than an intellectual review of information. Within the worshiping community, we are formed by Christ in our midst. In worship, we experience the essence of family.
In worship we not only see who God is, but we also see who we are. As rays of revelation stream down from heaven, we say: "Oh yeah! Jesus is alive! He is real; He is here; and He gives me purpose for living. I am not just a carpenter, a doctor, a truck driver, a mother of small children. I am an eternal child of God."
As citizens of heaven, everything we are springs out of everything God is. We are a "chosen race" because we are children of the Chosen One; we are a "royal priesthood" because we are followers of the great High Priest; we are a "holy nation" because we are subjects of the Holy One of Israel (see 1 Pet. 2:9-10).
"Worship is a pathway and the atmosphere for people--the saved and the unsaved alike--to discover their royal calling in Christ, their destiny in life, their fullest personal worth and their deepest human fulfillment." This is Jack Hayford's eloquent explanation of seeing our identity in Christ through worship.
Paradoxically, worship is one of the most humbling yet ennobling activities we can do. It's humbling because we bow before our Creator, and it is dignifying because in it we realize that we are heirs of the highest royalty.
In leading worship, we give people a window to heaven. Our songs are the vehicle of fixing our gaze on things above, not on things on the earth.
Fighting Doctrinal Battles Through Song. Most worship leaders wouldn't think of giving themselves the label theologian. Yet through our songs, we present the truth about who God is. We paint a picture of the personality of God and the way He relates to humanity.
One of the most significant battles over doctrine in the early church was the Arian controversy in the fourth century A.D. The issue in question was the divinity of Jesus. Athanasius led the way in arguing that Jesus was "of one substance with the Father"--that He was not created, but was eternal and infinite along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. His opponent, Arius, a presbyter in Alexandria, argued that the Son was created by the Father and was not equal to the Father.
This crucial doctrinal battle raged for many years. At times, popular opinion was on the side of Arius. This controversy was the main subject of debate at the council of Nicea in A.D. 325.
This episode of church history is relevant to our discussion because the hymns written by Athanasius and Arius were among their most powerful tools in fighting for their beliefs.
Through worship music, our souls are fed with a rich impartation of truth. The worship leader's challenge is to serve good food to the church every week, giving them a nutritious diet of truth, encouragement and exhortation.
Worship as Evangelism. We face our own modern-day Arian controversy, since we live in a culture where the majority does not accept Jesus as God. Our job is not only to explain the nature of God to Christians, but to also present the gospel to the unconvinced.
Tony Campolo, who teaches at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, observes that in past years, the voluntary chapel services were largely neglected by the students. However, in recent years this has changed dramatically, and students are enjoying extended times of worship in chapel.
Campolo writes: "Students are being converted by music. This is surprising to me, because I always thought sermons were the decisive factor in bringing people into a relationship with Christ. But, I am finding that worship can do that even more effectively and deeply. Young people are looking for a relationship with God more than a theology about God. Worship which is truly in the Spirit is giving that to them."
During an outreach, my friend Gary Best met three young men from Morocco. Almost immediately the discussion turned toward a debate over the Bible versus the Quran. So Gary steered the conversation away from the argument and invited the men to a worship service.
At the end of worship, Gary found the three young Moroccan guys that he had met earlier in the day. He thanked them for coming and realized that they wanted to spend some time with the team. When Gary told them the team was leaving the next day, one of the men said: "I want to know Jesus. How can I know Him?"
"You can know Him right now," Gary replied. So three of the team members led the men to the Lord.
These people hadn't been wowed by a concert; they had been struck by the spirit of worship. It wasn't a performance; it was a heart cry.
Christians and pre-Christian seekers are drawn to genuine worship. Today more than ever our cultural climate calls for genuine worship rather than glitzy shows or dry recitations of theological truth. People know the difference between a dead religion and a living relationship. So when they see people deeply engaged in worship, they take notice.
There is something tangible in the air, yet elusive. People aren't just singing to the ceiling; they are actually communing with God. When a pre-Christian who is hungry for God sees this happening, the light begins to dawn.
I see worship as a major factor in bringing people along the continuum from unbelief toward knowing God. With the added factors of hearing biblical truth and having friends who can personally interact with them, worship is a powerful tool for convincing and convicting people of God's existence and His love for them.
Worship leaders have multiple functions--we invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit, and we teach, prophesy and evangelize through the lyrics of our songs.
Seeing worship leading through this multicolored lens heightens our awareness of the breadth and depth of our ministry through song.
Through our music, the Holy Spirit writes on the hearts of men, women and children eternal truths of many colors and hues.
His Presence: The Key to Church Growth
By Larry Keefauver
We run to conferences, flock to seminars and scour bookstores, looking to the church-growth gurus for the latest secrets that will teach us how to maximize our ministries. But the real key has a whole lot less to do with us and a whole lot more to do with Him.
Traveling around the world and speaking at numerous conferences and seminars, I am often asked by pastors, "What is the No. 1 church conference to attend?" As a former editor of Ministries Today and having written for a number of others periodicals, I constantly peruse the newest church magazines. What I see is what you see: page after page of conference ads, all heralding themselves as the best, the premier, the most prophetic or apostolic conference of the year.
Immediately the reader searches the faces of those shining stars pictured in the ads. Depending on the reader's experience and bias, various charismatic speakers carry varying degrees of the weight of glory.
First the heavyweights--those who are in greatest demand. Their books are best sellers. Their appearances at conferences draw the largest crowds. Their offerings reach into the highest levels of sowing and reaping.
Next are the lightweights. They are the emerging spiritual warriors who will definitely open the heavens above a city, although not quite as much glory pours out as when the heavyweights speak. Nonetheless, the reader nods in recognition that the mixture of heavyweights and lightweights could definitely provide the breakthrough needed--especially if early registration is paid, space in the actual conference hotel is booked and the reader arrives early to sit as close to the front as possible.
Obviously, I'm being a bit facetious. But with such a variety of leadership conferences and church-growth models, how do we know which paradigm is best?
Admittedly, I have chased both the rising and falling stars of church-growth experts. Early on, I went to Robert Schuller's leadership events. Then followed John Maxwell, Bill Hybels, Rick Warren and others. All have great insights and inspirational messages. And books...good heavens, do I have the books!
Based on the number of conferences I have attended both as a participant and a speaker--not to mention my education, all the books I've read and 30 years of pastoral experience--I should now have the largest church in my city. But alas, I don't. Hence, I must still be at least one conference short of my breakthrough!
Let me share what I've observed in church-growth paradigms, and then what works. Every model has an upside and a downside save one. Each prototype does offer us some constructive elements but cannot by itself give a total picture.
MINISTRY PARADIGMS
Most church-growth paradigms, as much as they try not to, still have some limitations built into their designs due to cultural biases and the creators' blind spots. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Here are some examples.
1. The past-driven church. The past-driven church tries to drive forward by looking constantly in the rearview mirror. The way things used to be done dictate the boundaries for the present. Glory days are fondly remembered. Pictures and memories from the big events of the past are regularly projected before the people.
Strengths: Much can be learned from the past; past successes build hope for the future; a history gives stability and foundation. Weaknesses: The past limits the present; past successes can become idols; history can become a grave.
2. The policy-driven church. The policy-driven church finds itself driving a certain model built and shaped by pioneers. Like automobiles, churches have makes and models. We have the make called "Lutheran" and the model called "Missouri Synod." Or the make called "Pentecostal" and the model called "Assemblies of God." We even have the make called "interdenominational" and the model called "faith," "healing," "latter rain" or "new wave."
The policies of the pioneers, either as oral or written tradition, govern the directions and thoughts of policy-driven leaders. The policies of the way worship should flow, the style people should preach in, or the way structure or governance must be implemented are all essentials for the policy-driven church.
Strengths: Policies, tested and true, provide firm footing; policies provide for needed accountability; policies provide structures for decision-making. Weaknesses: Policies often take priority over people; policies limit creativity; policies inhibit the new thing God is doing.
3. The personality-driven or pastor-driven church. In the personality-driven church, the present leader-visionary drives all that happens, or a past leader's ghost haunts everything. In a pastor-driven church, it's almost impossible for an outsider to succeed the founder. Only an insider who carefully maintains the vision of the founder can assume the mantle of ongoing leadership.
What often happens in the personality-driven church is that a family member or close associate of the founding pastor takes the reins of succession. If an outsider is brought in, the frequent scenario that unfolds sees the successor become an unintentional interim pastor lasting but a few years. Or, the successor slowly "runs off" the old diehards and eventually after five to seven years takes over the church, which by then essentially has a whole new constituency who never knew the founding pastor. Or, the successor so radically changes things that he either fosters a mutiny or leads one.
Strengths: A strong personality gives vision and leadership; dynamic personalities attract followers; decisions are efficiently made by strong leaders. Weaknesses: Strong leaders often surround themselves with weaker staff and laity; sheep often will follow only one shepherd; laity are rarely released into ministry.
4. The program-driven or people-driven church. This church usually has the well-worn philosophy, "Find a need and meet it; find a hurt and heal it." If the need is youth or children's ministry, then the program-driven church builds the best youth or children's ministry program in the area. If the need is to help hurting people, then the church abounds with self-help and recovery programs.
Whenever a new group of people voices a need or hurt, the leaders promptly find the best program, fund the resources and train the facilitators to get the job done. The church grows by fishing with hooks and bait. The bait is a new program to attract people. They are hooked into the church through taking the program bait.
Strengths: Effective programs meet the needs of many people; programs keep people involved in ministry; people make decisions democratically or through consensus, giving many people a feel of ownership. Weaknesses: Ineffective programs die hard; programs segment a congregation and create program "turf wars"; people not having a program to meet their particular needs leave.
5. The purpose-driven church. This paradigm springs out of a mission or purpose statement that comes from a visionary leader or leadership team. That purpose or mission-vision statement has core values that permeate everything the church does. If a program, position or people group is not on-purpose, then it must change or cease to exist.
Everything in the purpose-driven church fits neatly together like a complete jigsaw puzzle. From the parking lot workers to the greeters, from the part-time volunteers to the full-time pastors, from the Sunday morning bulletins to the new members' packets, everything looks, feels, talks and implements the church's purpose.
Strengths: Everyone and everything stays on-purpose; decisions are facilitated by understanding everyone's purpose and core values; unity and cohesion emerge from team ministry. Weaknesses: Specific purpose or mission statements may tend to exclude some; important decisions may be ignored if their tangency to the purpose is not immediately recognizable; new purpose is difficult to birth.
All of these paradigms have something to contribute to congregational life. Still, no one paradigm encompasses all of these models. Each model tends to exclude the others and demands a church's ultimate loyalty.
However, it is possible to envision all of the above as parts of a car. Each part or paradigm fits as an important part of the whole. The windows might be purpose. The doors might be the programs. The steering wheel could be the personality or pastor. The past could be the body or frame. The policies may be the engine.
But what makes it go? That which powers the vehicle must come from outside the structure. It must constantly flow, be renewed and be replenished.
That power is God's Spirit. It is God's presence continually birthing new people into the kingdom, constantly healing and delivering the hurting and bound, and creatively birthing new purposes that build on the solid foundations laid in the past through biblical principles, persistent prayer, and powerful signs and wonders. This is the presence-driven church.
AUTHENTIC CHURCH GROWTH
The presence-driven church may encompass some or all of the above paradigms. However, God's presence precedes and permeates all other models of church growth. Without His presence, church growth is simply a menagerie of methodologies doomed to temporality. A method may work for the moment, but shouldn't our desire be to do only that which has eternal impact?
Radical? Absolutely! It's time we return to our roots. Church growth is rooted in what God does rather than what we devise. Too often we are so busy with good ideas on how to get people through the door that God's ideas get lost in the shuffle.
Going back to our roots in Scripture, being presence-driven literally derives from Ephesians 5:18, where Paul instructs us to "be filled with the Spirit" (NKJV). The filling referred to here projects the image of a sail being filled with the wind (the ruwach, or wind, of God). The breath of God's Spirit must fill the church, empowering it to move forward into God's destiny.
God's Spirit births every movement of the church. Without being Spirit- or presence-driven, the church sits listlessly in time, like a sailboat going nowhere in a calm sea. We can use our paradigm as paddles and row as hard as we like, but the forward progress is negligible. Or, we can hoist our sails of worship, catch the wind of His Spirit and move forward into His purpose, plans and productivity (fruit) in ministry.
Two concerns dominate our attention in considering what a presence-driven church looks like: (1) the process--by what birthing process does God's presence impregnate us with both the vision and power to bear lasting fruit for His glory? and (2) the proof--what does the DNA of a presence-driven church contain? What genes mark the church that any discerning believer can observe without a Th.D. or a lifetime of pastoral experience? What evidence can we see by which we know that a church's growth is rooted in God's presence?
God's presence always births. From the beginning, God's presence created something out of nothing. God is the only One who creates something from nothing.
His creative process begets that which is radically new (see Is. 43:18-19; 2 Cor. 5:17). As such, we can always expect God to be doing a new thing in our midst. Therefore, the irreducible constant of a presence-driven church is change.
Presence-driven churches are constantly having babies--literally and figuratively. God's presence shows up, and the impossible is birthed.
Remember the example of Abraham and Sarah? They were going to have a baby (see Gen. 16-17). Both laughed. Both tried to birth an Ishmael--their own idea and creation--instead of Isaac, who was God's answer to the future. How many human driven churches find that they are constantly birthing Ishmaels instead of Isaacs?
Let's take a closer look at the process that takes place in a presence-driven ministry.
1. Presence births purpose. Every purpose goes through a gestation process requiring time, trials, tests and tribulations. Birthing never happens immediately after conception.
Human-driven churches, however, are constantly trying to achieve a purpose too soon, and that always results in miscarriage. God's purpose is always for an appointed time (see Eccl. 3:1; John 12:27). Presence-birthed purpose cannot be thwarted or nullified (see Is. 14:27).
Some advocate that God just has one purpose, or one plan, for a church. Such a mind-set limits the limitless God. In a presence-driven church, the church flows in a river of the Spirit moving from one purpose into the next as God's Spirit directs. Each Spirit-breathed purpose builds on the previous one and leads to the next.
A prophetic word may come to a church, discerning a coming purpose. Leadership must be careful to discern the hour of the heralded purpose. To rush into it prematurely can wreak havoc in a church. To procrastinate may bring decay, or even death, to a body. God's given purpose for a particular time requires implementation at the right time, in the right way and with the right motivation.
2. Purpose births plans. The presence-birthed purpose implemented by a church in "the fullness of time" births a plethora of plans. Why? Because of the prodigality of God. God never creates just one star, one wildflower or one snowflake. The God with cattle on a thousand hills always births a purpose explosive with possibilities, potential and an abundance of plans.
Since we humans often defile, destroy or desecrate that which is holy, God has a built-in, fail-safe method of growth for us. We cannot fail because if we "kill" one plan, another immediately replaces it.
Whatever we touch, we can potentially mess up due to our flesh. However, God has such an abundance of plans (see Jer. 29:11; John 10:10) that we cannot fail for lack of plans. Our job is to be persistent in prayer, patient in planning and prepared to apply biblical principles at every turn. Tragically, some churches fail to grow because they give up on God's plans right before a breakthrough.
3. Plans birth productivity. The bottom line for every ministry is fruit (see John 15): people saved, healed and delivered. If a plan ceases to be productive, discard it. When a purpose ceases to birth plans, its season is past. Be still. Rest in God's presence as the new purpose is birthed.
To sum it up, the process in a presence-driven church is God's presence, which births purpose, which births plans, which births productivity.
BEING PRESENCE-DRIVEN
What marks the presence-driven church? Should we examine the matrix of its DNA, what genes would we uncover as proof that, in fact, the Spirit of God is actually driving or propelling the church forward?
What the world and some liberal theologians deem extraordinary and singular or unrepeatable in history is quite the contrary. Acts 1-2 is both normative and indicative of what the presence-driven church looks like in the 21st century. While the various church-growth paradigms mentioned earlier are in operation all around us, they cannot become the foundations on which we build. While they may be the parts of the vehicle, they will never be the power or petrol that drives the vehicle.
So, what are the ingredients of the petrol? Or, what are the genes of the presence-driven church's DNA? The following proposed list is not exhaustive, but it is, at the least, a beginning point for assessing whether or not the church being grown is presence-birthed and on-purpose or simply an Ishmael posing ever so weakly as an Isaac.
These genes mark the church growing in the Spirit for our times. Each gene identified is evidenced in Acts 1-2. The 21 marks of the presence-driven church are:
1. Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Not just a touch, but total immersion in the Spirit.
2. Holy Spirit power. Not just any power, but authoritative power that works miracles.
3. Expectation of Jesus' return. Not just lip service about His presence, but an expectation of His return.
4. One-accord unity. Not just a superficial consensus, but an indivisible covenant.
5. Prayer and supplication. Not just vain repetitions, but intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered.
6. Apostolic leadership. Not just leadership within a local body, but bold leadership for the church in a city or region.
7. Filled with the Spirit. Not just led by the Spirit, but driven and empowered by the Spirit.
8. Tongues with Spirit utterance. Not just a loud cacophony, but a river of language flowing under the Spirit's guidance, accomplishing seemingly impossible spiritual breakthroughs and massive conversions.
9. Signs and wonders. Not just to impress the saved, but to witness to the lost.
10. Prophetic witness. Not ministering the prophetic to the saved, but releasing the prophetic to persuade the lost.
11. Bold proclamation and preaching. Not just preaching to the choir, but proclamation from the Word with boldness to please God, not to tickle human ears.
12. Exalting Jesus. Not just a motivational message, but an exaltation and passionate adoration of Jesus of Nazareth, the risen Lord.
13. Repentance with water baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Not just transfer growth, but true conversion with spiritual babies being born frequently.
14. Many being saved daily. Not just rededications, but the lost daily being snatched from hell by the Good Shepherd through bold, unashamed witnessing. Not just adding to the church, but moving into multiplication (see Acts 6:7).
15. Sound doctrine. Not just teaching for knowledge, but for impartation and equipping the saints to do the work of ministry.
16. Fellowship. Not just meeting as strangers in a service, but body ministry one to another.
17. Breaking of bread. Not just a ritual of the Lord's Supper, but a deep communion partaking of the broken body and shed blood of Jesus.
18. Holy fear of God. Not just reverence and respect, but a holy fear akin to the fear that moved Noah to build an ark of salvation for his whole household.
19. Faith together. Not just faith trusting Jesus as Savior and Lord, but faith together to hear the incredible, see the invisible and do the impossible together as His body.
20. Sharing to meet needs. Not just a benevolence fund, but a substantial sharing that could meet the deepest physical needs of people.
21. Joyful gladness, simplicity, favor and praise. Not just a warm, fuzzy feeling generated by a great service, but a simple, heartfelt joy that praises God no matter what the circumstance.
Should you boldly dare to go where few churches have gone before, prepare yourself for stringent challenges posed not just by the world or the enemy (though their attacks will be furious). First, brace yourself for attacks from within your church. Those wedded to a human-driven model will fight hard to hold on to it. Those professing to be with you through thick and thin may be the first to take flight when the Spirit is given full liberty to change the church from organization to organism, from institution to instituting, and from internal revival to reconciling the world to Jesus.
Where do you start? The transformation from a human-driven to a presence-driven church begins with the pastor, pastoral team and congregational leadership. The presence-driven church emerges from the presence-driven life of a pastor and leadership team who are totally, radically, irrevocably surrendered to following Jesus. Such a presence-driven life says what Moses declared: " 'If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here'" (Ex. 33:15).
We run to conferences, flock to seminars and scour bookstores, looking to the church-growth gurus for the latest secrets that will teach us how to maximize our ministries. But the real key has a whole lot less to do with us and a whole lot more to do with Him.
Traveling around the world and speaking at numerous conferences and seminars, I am often asked by pastors, "What is the No. 1 church conference to attend?" As a former editor of Ministries Today and having written for a number of others periodicals, I constantly peruse the newest church magazines. What I see is what you see: page after page of conference ads, all heralding themselves as the best, the premier, the most prophetic or apostolic conference of the year.
Immediately the reader searches the faces of those shining stars pictured in the ads. Depending on the reader's experience and bias, various charismatic speakers carry varying degrees of the weight of glory.
First the heavyweights--those who are in greatest demand. Their books are best sellers. Their appearances at conferences draw the largest crowds. Their offerings reach into the highest levels of sowing and reaping.
Next are the lightweights. They are the emerging spiritual warriors who will definitely open the heavens above a city, although not quite as much glory pours out as when the heavyweights speak. Nonetheless, the reader nods in recognition that the mixture of heavyweights and lightweights could definitely provide the breakthrough needed--especially if early registration is paid, space in the actual conference hotel is booked and the reader arrives early to sit as close to the front as possible.
Obviously, I'm being a bit facetious. But with such a variety of leadership conferences and church-growth models, how do we know which paradigm is best?
Admittedly, I have chased both the rising and falling stars of church-growth experts. Early on, I went to Robert Schuller's leadership events. Then followed John Maxwell, Bill Hybels, Rick Warren and others. All have great insights and inspirational messages. And books...good heavens, do I have the books!
Based on the number of conferences I have attended both as a participant and a speaker--not to mention my education, all the books I've read and 30 years of pastoral experience--I should now have the largest church in my city. But alas, I don't. Hence, I must still be at least one conference short of my breakthrough!
Let me share what I've observed in church-growth paradigms, and then what works. Every model has an upside and a downside save one. Each prototype does offer us some constructive elements but cannot by itself give a total picture.
MINISTRY PARADIGMS
Most church-growth paradigms, as much as they try not to, still have some limitations built into their designs due to cultural biases and the creators' blind spots. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Here are some examples.
1. The past-driven church. The past-driven church tries to drive forward by looking constantly in the rearview mirror. The way things used to be done dictate the boundaries for the present. Glory days are fondly remembered. Pictures and memories from the big events of the past are regularly projected before the people.
Strengths: Much can be learned from the past; past successes build hope for the future; a history gives stability and foundation. Weaknesses: The past limits the present; past successes can become idols; history can become a grave.
2. The policy-driven church. The policy-driven church finds itself driving a certain model built and shaped by pioneers. Like automobiles, churches have makes and models. We have the make called "Lutheran" and the model called "Missouri Synod." Or the make called "Pentecostal" and the model called "Assemblies of God." We even have the make called "interdenominational" and the model called "faith," "healing," "latter rain" or "new wave."
The policies of the pioneers, either as oral or written tradition, govern the directions and thoughts of policy-driven leaders. The policies of the way worship should flow, the style people should preach in, or the way structure or governance must be implemented are all essentials for the policy-driven church.
Strengths: Policies, tested and true, provide firm footing; policies provide for needed accountability; policies provide structures for decision-making. Weaknesses: Policies often take priority over people; policies limit creativity; policies inhibit the new thing God is doing.
3. The personality-driven or pastor-driven church. In the personality-driven church, the present leader-visionary drives all that happens, or a past leader's ghost haunts everything. In a pastor-driven church, it's almost impossible for an outsider to succeed the founder. Only an insider who carefully maintains the vision of the founder can assume the mantle of ongoing leadership.
What often happens in the personality-driven church is that a family member or close associate of the founding pastor takes the reins of succession. If an outsider is brought in, the frequent scenario that unfolds sees the successor become an unintentional interim pastor lasting but a few years. Or, the successor slowly "runs off" the old diehards and eventually after five to seven years takes over the church, which by then essentially has a whole new constituency who never knew the founding pastor. Or, the successor so radically changes things that he either fosters a mutiny or leads one.
Strengths: A strong personality gives vision and leadership; dynamic personalities attract followers; decisions are efficiently made by strong leaders. Weaknesses: Strong leaders often surround themselves with weaker staff and laity; sheep often will follow only one shepherd; laity are rarely released into ministry.
4. The program-driven or people-driven church. This church usually has the well-worn philosophy, "Find a need and meet it; find a hurt and heal it." If the need is youth or children's ministry, then the program-driven church builds the best youth or children's ministry program in the area. If the need is to help hurting people, then the church abounds with self-help and recovery programs.
Whenever a new group of people voices a need or hurt, the leaders promptly find the best program, fund the resources and train the facilitators to get the job done. The church grows by fishing with hooks and bait. The bait is a new program to attract people. They are hooked into the church through taking the program bait.
Strengths: Effective programs meet the needs of many people; programs keep people involved in ministry; people make decisions democratically or through consensus, giving many people a feel of ownership. Weaknesses: Ineffective programs die hard; programs segment a congregation and create program "turf wars"; people not having a program to meet their particular needs leave.
5. The purpose-driven church. This paradigm springs out of a mission or purpose statement that comes from a visionary leader or leadership team. That purpose or mission-vision statement has core values that permeate everything the church does. If a program, position or people group is not on-purpose, then it must change or cease to exist.
Everything in the purpose-driven church fits neatly together like a complete jigsaw puzzle. From the parking lot workers to the greeters, from the part-time volunteers to the full-time pastors, from the Sunday morning bulletins to the new members' packets, everything looks, feels, talks and implements the church's purpose.
Strengths: Everyone and everything stays on-purpose; decisions are facilitated by understanding everyone's purpose and core values; unity and cohesion emerge from team ministry. Weaknesses: Specific purpose or mission statements may tend to exclude some; important decisions may be ignored if their tangency to the purpose is not immediately recognizable; new purpose is difficult to birth.
All of these paradigms have something to contribute to congregational life. Still, no one paradigm encompasses all of these models. Each model tends to exclude the others and demands a church's ultimate loyalty.
However, it is possible to envision all of the above as parts of a car. Each part or paradigm fits as an important part of the whole. The windows might be purpose. The doors might be the programs. The steering wheel could be the personality or pastor. The past could be the body or frame. The policies may be the engine.
But what makes it go? That which powers the vehicle must come from outside the structure. It must constantly flow, be renewed and be replenished.
That power is God's Spirit. It is God's presence continually birthing new people into the kingdom, constantly healing and delivering the hurting and bound, and creatively birthing new purposes that build on the solid foundations laid in the past through biblical principles, persistent prayer, and powerful signs and wonders. This is the presence-driven church.
AUTHENTIC CHURCH GROWTH
The presence-driven church may encompass some or all of the above paradigms. However, God's presence precedes and permeates all other models of church growth. Without His presence, church growth is simply a menagerie of methodologies doomed to temporality. A method may work for the moment, but shouldn't our desire be to do only that which has eternal impact?
Radical? Absolutely! It's time we return to our roots. Church growth is rooted in what God does rather than what we devise. Too often we are so busy with good ideas on how to get people through the door that God's ideas get lost in the shuffle.
Going back to our roots in Scripture, being presence-driven literally derives from Ephesians 5:18, where Paul instructs us to "be filled with the Spirit" (NKJV). The filling referred to here projects the image of a sail being filled with the wind (the ruwach, or wind, of God). The breath of God's Spirit must fill the church, empowering it to move forward into God's destiny.
God's Spirit births every movement of the church. Without being Spirit- or presence-driven, the church sits listlessly in time, like a sailboat going nowhere in a calm sea. We can use our paradigm as paddles and row as hard as we like, but the forward progress is negligible. Or, we can hoist our sails of worship, catch the wind of His Spirit and move forward into His purpose, plans and productivity (fruit) in ministry.
Two concerns dominate our attention in considering what a presence-driven church looks like: (1) the process--by what birthing process does God's presence impregnate us with both the vision and power to bear lasting fruit for His glory? and (2) the proof--what does the DNA of a presence-driven church contain? What genes mark the church that any discerning believer can observe without a Th.D. or a lifetime of pastoral experience? What evidence can we see by which we know that a church's growth is rooted in God's presence?
God's presence always births. From the beginning, God's presence created something out of nothing. God is the only One who creates something from nothing.
His creative process begets that which is radically new (see Is. 43:18-19; 2 Cor. 5:17). As such, we can always expect God to be doing a new thing in our midst. Therefore, the irreducible constant of a presence-driven church is change.
Presence-driven churches are constantly having babies--literally and figuratively. God's presence shows up, and the impossible is birthed.
Remember the example of Abraham and Sarah? They were going to have a baby (see Gen. 16-17). Both laughed. Both tried to birth an Ishmael--their own idea and creation--instead of Isaac, who was God's answer to the future. How many human driven churches find that they are constantly birthing Ishmaels instead of Isaacs?
Let's take a closer look at the process that takes place in a presence-driven ministry.
1. Presence births purpose. Every purpose goes through a gestation process requiring time, trials, tests and tribulations. Birthing never happens immediately after conception.
Human-driven churches, however, are constantly trying to achieve a purpose too soon, and that always results in miscarriage. God's purpose is always for an appointed time (see Eccl. 3:1; John 12:27). Presence-birthed purpose cannot be thwarted or nullified (see Is. 14:27).
Some advocate that God just has one purpose, or one plan, for a church. Such a mind-set limits the limitless God. In a presence-driven church, the church flows in a river of the Spirit moving from one purpose into the next as God's Spirit directs. Each Spirit-breathed purpose builds on the previous one and leads to the next.
A prophetic word may come to a church, discerning a coming purpose. Leadership must be careful to discern the hour of the heralded purpose. To rush into it prematurely can wreak havoc in a church. To procrastinate may bring decay, or even death, to a body. God's given purpose for a particular time requires implementation at the right time, in the right way and with the right motivation.
2. Purpose births plans. The presence-birthed purpose implemented by a church in "the fullness of time" births a plethora of plans. Why? Because of the prodigality of God. God never creates just one star, one wildflower or one snowflake. The God with cattle on a thousand hills always births a purpose explosive with possibilities, potential and an abundance of plans.
Since we humans often defile, destroy or desecrate that which is holy, God has a built-in, fail-safe method of growth for us. We cannot fail because if we "kill" one plan, another immediately replaces it.
Whatever we touch, we can potentially mess up due to our flesh. However, God has such an abundance of plans (see Jer. 29:11; John 10:10) that we cannot fail for lack of plans. Our job is to be persistent in prayer, patient in planning and prepared to apply biblical principles at every turn. Tragically, some churches fail to grow because they give up on God's plans right before a breakthrough.
3. Plans birth productivity. The bottom line for every ministry is fruit (see John 15): people saved, healed and delivered. If a plan ceases to be productive, discard it. When a purpose ceases to birth plans, its season is past. Be still. Rest in God's presence as the new purpose is birthed.
To sum it up, the process in a presence-driven church is God's presence, which births purpose, which births plans, which births productivity.
BEING PRESENCE-DRIVEN
What marks the presence-driven church? Should we examine the matrix of its DNA, what genes would we uncover as proof that, in fact, the Spirit of God is actually driving or propelling the church forward?
What the world and some liberal theologians deem extraordinary and singular or unrepeatable in history is quite the contrary. Acts 1-2 is both normative and indicative of what the presence-driven church looks like in the 21st century. While the various church-growth paradigms mentioned earlier are in operation all around us, they cannot become the foundations on which we build. While they may be the parts of the vehicle, they will never be the power or petrol that drives the vehicle.
So, what are the ingredients of the petrol? Or, what are the genes of the presence-driven church's DNA? The following proposed list is not exhaustive, but it is, at the least, a beginning point for assessing whether or not the church being grown is presence-birthed and on-purpose or simply an Ishmael posing ever so weakly as an Isaac.
These genes mark the church growing in the Spirit for our times. Each gene identified is evidenced in Acts 1-2. The 21 marks of the presence-driven church are:
1. Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Not just a touch, but total immersion in the Spirit.
2. Holy Spirit power. Not just any power, but authoritative power that works miracles.
3. Expectation of Jesus' return. Not just lip service about His presence, but an expectation of His return.
4. One-accord unity. Not just a superficial consensus, but an indivisible covenant.
5. Prayer and supplication. Not just vain repetitions, but intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered.
6. Apostolic leadership. Not just leadership within a local body, but bold leadership for the church in a city or region.
7. Filled with the Spirit. Not just led by the Spirit, but driven and empowered by the Spirit.
8. Tongues with Spirit utterance. Not just a loud cacophony, but a river of language flowing under the Spirit's guidance, accomplishing seemingly impossible spiritual breakthroughs and massive conversions.
9. Signs and wonders. Not just to impress the saved, but to witness to the lost.
10. Prophetic witness. Not ministering the prophetic to the saved, but releasing the prophetic to persuade the lost.
11. Bold proclamation and preaching. Not just preaching to the choir, but proclamation from the Word with boldness to please God, not to tickle human ears.
12. Exalting Jesus. Not just a motivational message, but an exaltation and passionate adoration of Jesus of Nazareth, the risen Lord.
13. Repentance with water baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Not just transfer growth, but true conversion with spiritual babies being born frequently.
14. Many being saved daily. Not just rededications, but the lost daily being snatched from hell by the Good Shepherd through bold, unashamed witnessing. Not just adding to the church, but moving into multiplication (see Acts 6:7).
15. Sound doctrine. Not just teaching for knowledge, but for impartation and equipping the saints to do the work of ministry.
16. Fellowship. Not just meeting as strangers in a service, but body ministry one to another.
17. Breaking of bread. Not just a ritual of the Lord's Supper, but a deep communion partaking of the broken body and shed blood of Jesus.
18. Holy fear of God. Not just reverence and respect, but a holy fear akin to the fear that moved Noah to build an ark of salvation for his whole household.
19. Faith together. Not just faith trusting Jesus as Savior and Lord, but faith together to hear the incredible, see the invisible and do the impossible together as His body.
20. Sharing to meet needs. Not just a benevolence fund, but a substantial sharing that could meet the deepest physical needs of people.
21. Joyful gladness, simplicity, favor and praise. Not just a warm, fuzzy feeling generated by a great service, but a simple, heartfelt joy that praises God no matter what the circumstance.
Should you boldly dare to go where few churches have gone before, prepare yourself for stringent challenges posed not just by the world or the enemy (though their attacks will be furious). First, brace yourself for attacks from within your church. Those wedded to a human-driven model will fight hard to hold on to it. Those professing to be with you through thick and thin may be the first to take flight when the Spirit is given full liberty to change the church from organization to organism, from institution to instituting, and from internal revival to reconciling the world to Jesus.
Where do you start? The transformation from a human-driven to a presence-driven church begins with the pastor, pastoral team and congregational leadership. The presence-driven church emerges from the presence-driven life of a pastor and leadership team who are totally, radically, irrevocably surrendered to following Jesus. Such a presence-driven life says what Moses declared: " 'If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here'" (Ex. 33:15).
What Is Quiet Time?
Ron Luce
I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. - John 10:14
A quiet time is an intimate, face-to-face, heart-to-heart connection with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. It's the time when you actually build your relationship with Jesus. Specifically, it is a time for you to get up every day and read the Bible and pray and get closer to Him.
A lot of people say to think to themselves: "I prayed a prayer, but I don't feel closer to God; or I felt really close to God when I was at that retreat or camp, but now I don't feel very close to Him."
You're not going to feel close to anybody if you're not spending time with them.
If you were married and didn't spend time with your spouse, the two of you would not grow any closer. Actually, you would move farther and farther apart.
A quiet time is an expression of your commitment to be a true follower of Christ. It's as if you're saying, "Lord, I'm going to make sure that I don't accidentally get farther and farther away from You. In fact, I'm going to use this time to get closer and closer to You.
I'm going to use it as a time to get fed by You and to get filled up with You and to understand more of You." Before you do anything else, start your day with God. Talk to Him, seek Him in His Word and pray through your day. Make it your top priority.
Maybe you've never had a quiet time with God before. Start thinking about what kind of quiet time you want to have and where you want to have it. Think about what time you need to get up in order to have enough time to read your Bible and pray before you start your day with the world.
Your personal relationship with God is the dynamite that it will take to effect this generation. You will begin to spread the gospel as your character becomes like Christ. This transformation process can only happen in direct relationship with Christ.
The more we know Jesus, and look like Him, the easier it will be to lead people to him.
I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. - John 10:14
A quiet time is an intimate, face-to-face, heart-to-heart connection with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. It's the time when you actually build your relationship with Jesus. Specifically, it is a time for you to get up every day and read the Bible and pray and get closer to Him.
A lot of people say to think to themselves: "I prayed a prayer, but I don't feel closer to God; or I felt really close to God when I was at that retreat or camp, but now I don't feel very close to Him."
You're not going to feel close to anybody if you're not spending time with them.
If you were married and didn't spend time with your spouse, the two of you would not grow any closer. Actually, you would move farther and farther apart.
A quiet time is an expression of your commitment to be a true follower of Christ. It's as if you're saying, "Lord, I'm going to make sure that I don't accidentally get farther and farther away from You. In fact, I'm going to use this time to get closer and closer to You.
I'm going to use it as a time to get fed by You and to get filled up with You and to understand more of You." Before you do anything else, start your day with God. Talk to Him, seek Him in His Word and pray through your day. Make it your top priority.
Maybe you've never had a quiet time with God before. Start thinking about what kind of quiet time you want to have and where you want to have it. Think about what time you need to get up in order to have enough time to read your Bible and pray before you start your day with the world.
Your personal relationship with God is the dynamite that it will take to effect this generation. You will begin to spread the gospel as your character becomes like Christ. This transformation process can only happen in direct relationship with Christ.
The more we know Jesus, and look like Him, the easier it will be to lead people to him.
Don't Go It Alone
By Che Ahn
Without transparent friendships, ministers are dangerously vulnerable.
Our world values independence. "Making it on your own" is the "highest achievement," and depending on others is viewed as weakness. That's far from a kingdom mentality.
God, the consummate Being who could run the show alone, valued relationship so highly that apart from the Holy Spirit and Jesus, the Father does nothing—and vice versa. The original picture of ideal interdependence is modeled in the Godhead itself.
As a young believer, some of the earliest teachings I heard were about accountability and being "in covenant." Although some believers have shipwrecked on these concepts through wrongful control, these truths, in balance, are vital.
I wonder how the many leaders who have fallen from grace in the last 10 or 15 years would have fared if had they had a close, wise ear to talk to and a kind heart to glean from, or a small group of covenant peers to offer safe counsel.
Christian leaders face closer scrutiny than the average person. The Bible warns that those who teach "shall receive a stricter judgment" (James 3:1). We see such judgment daily in the media. We are often open targets to anyone except a just Savior. That's why I believe those in ministry—perhaps more than any other field—desperately need transparent, effective friendships and means of accountability.
God designed us for relationship—first with Him, and then with each other. Our success is exponentiall when paired with each other: If one can put 1,000 to flight; then two can put 10,000 to flight (see Deut. 32:30).
In contrast, the Bible says that "he who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment" (Prov.18:1). We become dangerously vulnerable without healthy and insightful relationships.
Our busy schedules make it hard to maintain close contact with others. But such shared time is not a luxury; it is a necessity and a protection. Whatever time we spend deepening trusted friendships is an investment more precious than riches.
I encourage you to seek safe and open relationships on two levels. The first is for your personal growth, edification and safety. The second is for that of your ministry. Webster's dictionary defines safe as "free from damage or the risk of damage; giving protection, trustworthy, prudent." We can all use that kind of protection!
On a personal level, my close, covenant friendships are irreplaceable. We are charged to "submit ourselves to one another" (Eph. 5:21, NIV). Doing so provides both safeguards and insights we lack alone. I believe accountability is a part of that submission. It means we are open to being called into account, and we are willing to present or defer to others as appropriate for decisions and counsel in our lives.
On a corporate or ministry level, I believe God created the apostolic realm of the fivefold ministry to provide a safe place of corporate submission to best encourage the growth of His church. There is a very clear blueprint of this plan in the New Testament. I believe apostolic alignment is key to healthy growth, direction and provision. Just like the solo person, a "solo church" is dangerously poised.
If these areas need shoring up in your life, seek God and establish these foundations. I'm confident you'll treasure the results.
Without transparent friendships, ministers are dangerously vulnerable.
Our world values independence. "Making it on your own" is the "highest achievement," and depending on others is viewed as weakness. That's far from a kingdom mentality.
God, the consummate Being who could run the show alone, valued relationship so highly that apart from the Holy Spirit and Jesus, the Father does nothing—and vice versa. The original picture of ideal interdependence is modeled in the Godhead itself.
As a young believer, some of the earliest teachings I heard were about accountability and being "in covenant." Although some believers have shipwrecked on these concepts through wrongful control, these truths, in balance, are vital.
I wonder how the many leaders who have fallen from grace in the last 10 or 15 years would have fared if had they had a close, wise ear to talk to and a kind heart to glean from, or a small group of covenant peers to offer safe counsel.
Christian leaders face closer scrutiny than the average person. The Bible warns that those who teach "shall receive a stricter judgment" (James 3:1). We see such judgment daily in the media. We are often open targets to anyone except a just Savior. That's why I believe those in ministry—perhaps more than any other field—desperately need transparent, effective friendships and means of accountability.
God designed us for relationship—first with Him, and then with each other. Our success is exponentiall when paired with each other: If one can put 1,000 to flight; then two can put 10,000 to flight (see Deut. 32:30).
In contrast, the Bible says that "he who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment" (Prov.18:1). We become dangerously vulnerable without healthy and insightful relationships.
Our busy schedules make it hard to maintain close contact with others. But such shared time is not a luxury; it is a necessity and a protection. Whatever time we spend deepening trusted friendships is an investment more precious than riches.
I encourage you to seek safe and open relationships on two levels. The first is for your personal growth, edification and safety. The second is for that of your ministry. Webster's dictionary defines safe as "free from damage or the risk of damage; giving protection, trustworthy, prudent." We can all use that kind of protection!
On a personal level, my close, covenant friendships are irreplaceable. We are charged to "submit ourselves to one another" (Eph. 5:21, NIV). Doing so provides both safeguards and insights we lack alone. I believe accountability is a part of that submission. It means we are open to being called into account, and we are willing to present or defer to others as appropriate for decisions and counsel in our lives.
On a corporate or ministry level, I believe God created the apostolic realm of the fivefold ministry to provide a safe place of corporate submission to best encourage the growth of His church. There is a very clear blueprint of this plan in the New Testament. I believe apostolic alignment is key to healthy growth, direction and provision. Just like the solo person, a "solo church" is dangerously poised.
If these areas need shoring up in your life, seek God and establish these foundations. I'm confident you'll treasure the results.
Tongues 101
By Jack Hayford
The church needs to look at tonges as a gift, not as a cause for endless theological debate.
It's been five years since this page contained a column titled, "Why Bother About Tongues?" In it, I wasn't suggesting we not bother, but that we acknowledge the significant number of pastors who do, in fact, see tongues as "a bother." I described my own private practice of daily praying and worshiping—singing and speaking with both "the spirit," and also "with the understanding," as Paul affirmed of his own practice in 1 Corinthians 14:15.
Now I stand on the brink of entering my 52nd year of pastoral ministry, and I still lament the entrapment into which many sincere leaders fall when tongues are discussed. It's called the "initial physical evidence doctrine," or the dogma that asserts (with biblical justification) that if a person has truly received the baptism or infilling of the Holy Spirit, the sign confirming that experience will be that he or she "speaks with tongues as the Spirit gives them utterance" (Acts 2:4, NKJV).
The entrapment, as I describe it, is that equally sincere leaders argue there is equal evidence in the Bible of people being filled with the Holy Spirit without mention of their speaking with tongues. Of course they are correct, which has led to a century-long debate that has driven the focus on when people are filled with the Spirit instead of whether or not they are being filled (as Ephesians 5:18 exhorts). Further, it traps all caught in this doctrinal snare into debating the necessity of speaking in tongues as a proof, rather than examining the blessings of praying with tongues as a benefit or resource.
While I have never opposed the initial physical evidence doctrine, neither have I felt I was charged by God to be a judge and decry the testimony of anyone who said they had been filled with the Holy Spirit but had not—or not yet—spoken with tongues. So while I have always practiced, taught and led people to expect to speak with tongues when they are "baptized with the Holy Spirit" (see John 1:33; Acts 1:5), I have urged that expectation as a welcoming of the Spirit's enablement to enlarge my worship of God Almighty. The result has been that at least 80 percent of the members of the congregation I serve have received the blessing of tongues.
Perhaps the best thing about this approach is that it doesn't encourage the idea that the first experience of speaking with tongues is a climax. Rather, it is seen as a commencement into an abiding practice, not a seal of evidence for a required proof. I have sought to show thousands of pastors and other leaders how to lead people toward this fulfilling entrance to the fullness, flow, liberty and language of the Spirit of God.
So this springtime—at the 101st annual observance of the birth of that remarkable, earthshaking awakening called the Azusa Street Revival, I want to offer three possible resources to pastors interested in this ministry.
The first is The Spirit and the Glory, an 80-minute DVD in which I provide introductory instruction and guidance for believers desiring to receive the fullness of the Spirit. It can be ordered through jackhayford.com.
The second is "A Brief on 'Tongues' and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit." Thousands of pastoral leaders have used this resource to help communicate an even-handed yet biblically passionate pursuit of ministering this truth to people in a way that becomes fruitful, non-divisive and empowering to their personal life of prayer and service. It is also at jackhayford.com and is free of charge.
The third is The Beauty of Spiritual Language, a book presented in a manner that has found a welcome among leaders in every denominational environment. It's still in circulation more than 10 years after its initial release. It can be ordered through conventional outlets.
I want to encourage—at the very least—that pastors explore the matter. I cannot believe the Holy Trinity was dabbling in providing a spectator-sport by "allowing" so dramatic an exhibition as took place in Acts. Since Christ introduced this grace of spiritual language, and caused all who were present to experience it on the day He was introducing His church at its birth, it seems dubious the phenomenon of speaking with tongues was meant to be a one-time curiosity, an endlessly inflammatory debate, or a flamboyant display of heavenly showmanship to impress a crowd.
If the Bible is clear on anything, speaking with tongues is a heaven-designed benefit. Interestingly, Paul is the primary advocate of tongues-speaking as a devotional resource for one's private prayer life. So, after his model, my dealing with the subject is in no way a quest to see the triumph of a doctrine. Rather, it is to see the blessing of congregations with a growing band of people who graciously, unpretentiously and faithfully "pray with the spirit and ... also pray with the understanding." Such a church will be blessed in a way Jesus intended His own to know. And such people will be enabled for worship and intercessory prayer in a way that can enhance every disciple and expand each of our prayer lives.
The church needs to look at tonges as a gift, not as a cause for endless theological debate.
It's been five years since this page contained a column titled, "Why Bother About Tongues?" In it, I wasn't suggesting we not bother, but that we acknowledge the significant number of pastors who do, in fact, see tongues as "a bother." I described my own private practice of daily praying and worshiping—singing and speaking with both "the spirit," and also "with the understanding," as Paul affirmed of his own practice in 1 Corinthians 14:15.
Now I stand on the brink of entering my 52nd year of pastoral ministry, and I still lament the entrapment into which many sincere leaders fall when tongues are discussed. It's called the "initial physical evidence doctrine," or the dogma that asserts (with biblical justification) that if a person has truly received the baptism or infilling of the Holy Spirit, the sign confirming that experience will be that he or she "speaks with tongues as the Spirit gives them utterance" (Acts 2:4, NKJV).
The entrapment, as I describe it, is that equally sincere leaders argue there is equal evidence in the Bible of people being filled with the Holy Spirit without mention of their speaking with tongues. Of course they are correct, which has led to a century-long debate that has driven the focus on when people are filled with the Spirit instead of whether or not they are being filled (as Ephesians 5:18 exhorts). Further, it traps all caught in this doctrinal snare into debating the necessity of speaking in tongues as a proof, rather than examining the blessings of praying with tongues as a benefit or resource.
While I have never opposed the initial physical evidence doctrine, neither have I felt I was charged by God to be a judge and decry the testimony of anyone who said they had been filled with the Holy Spirit but had not—or not yet—spoken with tongues. So while I have always practiced, taught and led people to expect to speak with tongues when they are "baptized with the Holy Spirit" (see John 1:33; Acts 1:5), I have urged that expectation as a welcoming of the Spirit's enablement to enlarge my worship of God Almighty. The result has been that at least 80 percent of the members of the congregation I serve have received the blessing of tongues.
Perhaps the best thing about this approach is that it doesn't encourage the idea that the first experience of speaking with tongues is a climax. Rather, it is seen as a commencement into an abiding practice, not a seal of evidence for a required proof. I have sought to show thousands of pastors and other leaders how to lead people toward this fulfilling entrance to the fullness, flow, liberty and language of the Spirit of God.
So this springtime—at the 101st annual observance of the birth of that remarkable, earthshaking awakening called the Azusa Street Revival, I want to offer three possible resources to pastors interested in this ministry.
The first is The Spirit and the Glory, an 80-minute DVD in which I provide introductory instruction and guidance for believers desiring to receive the fullness of the Spirit. It can be ordered through jackhayford.com.
The second is "A Brief on 'Tongues' and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit." Thousands of pastoral leaders have used this resource to help communicate an even-handed yet biblically passionate pursuit of ministering this truth to people in a way that becomes fruitful, non-divisive and empowering to their personal life of prayer and service. It is also at jackhayford.com and is free of charge.
The third is The Beauty of Spiritual Language, a book presented in a manner that has found a welcome among leaders in every denominational environment. It's still in circulation more than 10 years after its initial release. It can be ordered through conventional outlets.
I want to encourage—at the very least—that pastors explore the matter. I cannot believe the Holy Trinity was dabbling in providing a spectator-sport by "allowing" so dramatic an exhibition as took place in Acts. Since Christ introduced this grace of spiritual language, and caused all who were present to experience it on the day He was introducing His church at its birth, it seems dubious the phenomenon of speaking with tongues was meant to be a one-time curiosity, an endlessly inflammatory debate, or a flamboyant display of heavenly showmanship to impress a crowd.
If the Bible is clear on anything, speaking with tongues is a heaven-designed benefit. Interestingly, Paul is the primary advocate of tongues-speaking as a devotional resource for one's private prayer life. So, after his model, my dealing with the subject is in no way a quest to see the triumph of a doctrine. Rather, it is to see the blessing of congregations with a growing band of people who graciously, unpretentiously and faithfully "pray with the spirit and ... also pray with the understanding." Such a church will be blessed in a way Jesus intended His own to know. And such people will be enabled for worship and intercessory prayer in a way that can enhance every disciple and expand each of our prayer lives.
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