Holiness Unto the Lord conference 1990 #4a

perhaps you'd like to look someplace in your book and find a blank page because I'm not going to do one of the outlines in the book tonight the Lord has put it on my heart to talk to you tonight about preparing the church for the 90s somebody might think it's a little late to begin preparing we're in the 90s and I think that there are many things in the natural that speak of the dynamic changes that are going to occur in the spiritual realm I think business is becoming all too acutely aware that the economy of the 80s is not the economy of the 90s that things have changed dramatically I think politicians are coming to grips with that so we have it not only in the realm of the political but in the economical and I'm sure that every aspect of life is going to be altered in this decade we see enormous change coming already underway not the least of which is the impending revival that that we feel God is already stirring in our midst and it was is bringing to pass even as we gather this week in preparation for the biblical section I want to do an introduction tonight the deals with the two trends that I see the following two trends in my mind are precipitating a need for revival the first is a rise of anti-christian thought and viewpoints which are seen throughout the Western world and are part of not only the American culture but the here in the United Kingdom for many aspects of this and it could be treated much more in depth that I'm going to give it time tonight but I just want to make a few comments about the anti-christian trend that we see first of all that we could begin with the media itself the media's treatment of the church I've been in and out of various parts of the United Kingdom now for over 20 years I've watched numerable television programs depicting various aspects of Christian life here in the United Kingdom whereas on occasion I see very fair treatment of what we might call the the true believers syndrome the those believers that adhere to and are committed to the scripture by and large what I've seen on the other hand is a caricature of a type of Christianity that's perceived by the media as being out of kilter off balance something's that is not proper on the British scene they usually do these shots and do these programs at rallies of various sorts encounters that over social issues that have a moral base such as abortion various kinds of sexual education and this type of thing the interviewers usually provoke the people and the people responded with faces beat red necks swollen eyes bulging the great deal of temper and anger trying to communicate a positive message in a somewhat rigid and angry and otherwise not very appetizing mode and this is depicted as the true believer the believer that is trying to work out the scripture the believer that is standing at some distance from the median or the average or the balanced view which in your culture and as well as ours is highly venerated by the general society so Christians who are attempting to walk in some sort of balance with the scripture who do correct their children who do spank them who do attempt to train them up in the way that God would have them trained are viewed as somebody that's really a little off it's really not in tune with the cultural mores that is someone to be suspect or held suspect as over against someone to be venerated or followed since was seemed to me that in America particularly there's program after program nearly every news presentation where there is any reason to bring up a religious theme this kind of dynamic is put forward and it there's a conscious message going out to the society and that is Christianity true believers are not to be trusted their fringe there on the outside of the balance culture they're not mainline they're not in the center of the culture these are the ignorant people the uneducated people the Bible believing in our culture we have a further more and earned I think loss of confidence in televangelists as a result of the fall of several different people that were very very prominent some of them internationally prominent in the last few years there's been a deep distrust established for people who are on television and our religious whether they're evangelists or not and as a consequence a number of people who had really no reason to be accused or suspect at all have seen a major erosion in the funding and the commitment to their various and respective endeavors and programs on the one hand I think this is an earned loss on the other hand I think that many are being tarred with a rather broad brush and they're being ill-treated and again it's part of the I think a conscious media effort to communicate something that is in my opinion very suspect not true and diabolical in its origin another aspect of the rise of Christianity Christian thought is the controversy surrounding the relationship between pro-life groups in the church I think many very well-meaning Christians have on occasion been enticed and do efforts and activities that have perpetuated this lie that is to say they were trying to do the right thing but they were caught in the process of doing it's possibly the right thing sometimes the wrong way and doing it in such a way is that it was depicted by the media both press as well as television and radio as something less than healthy wholesome law-abiding right the kind of thing that anyone with the right mind would want to identify with the United States we've had a series of court decisions that have eroded the constitutional protection of religion from state encroachment beginning approximately hundred and sixty years ago in the state of Indiana or the first court decision was handed down there's been an ever-increasing intrusion into the privacy of the family life to the point now where the state confidently and under law has the right to dictate the educational processes the health care the discipline and many aspects of child rearing in our society I watched a family that I'm know quite well recently go through a whole series of horrendous interrogations and difficult situations where they ended up in court and went through a nearly a six-month period time where their children were taken from them as the result of the accidental bruising of one child and all of this circumstance could have been avoided in a climate less hostile climate less programmed to finding the parents suspect a climate where people would be recognized for their integrity and for their position in society for indeed this man is a not only a fine Christian man but a prospering businessman a man well respected in his profession and is in the community but because of the climate in the United States this is not an exception but is even becoming more the rule so we see a a continued erosion of the privacy and the right to a man's ability to raise his family as he would see fit the public educational systems increasing hostility and tolerance towards Christian values I mentioned a moment ago discipline but really the issue is morals values in general teaching that it's not only anti-christian but is focused on eroding the confidence of children and their parents and their parents decisions if they hold Christian values and viewpoints education along the line of evolution is the only scientifically reasonable approach to the beginning of things and that Christian Christian views of creationism of course have no value or place in the culture I've gotten a great deal of help from one of your own Leslie nieuwegein in this regard he's written a series of books actually too now I think a third coming out that have been very helpful to me the first being I think it's called it's Greek to me and at least in the United States I don't know what you call it here in which he has a returning missionary looked at the Western culture and made some basically basic assessments concerning its prospect as a field and he talked about what he called the public realm in the private realm and that Christianity or religion in general was now a matter of private realm it's something that's done in privacy of your home in private decisions but it's no longer possible no longer practical no longer right to bring it out into a public arena I thought that was a very astute observation and it communicated beautifully that the circumstances in America I don't know how accurate it is here but I tell you it's very accurate in the United States and people that act try or try to work out as it were their convictions of Scripture in a public realm are often viewed as strange we're fanatically perceived to be people that are not to be trusted related to it all i've kiddingly said a number of numerous times if you in various conferences in the United States if you want to act like a Christian go down and cast out some demons in the cafeteria tomorrow and see how well it goes down with your constituency the truth is primitive Christianity New Testament Christianity a virile vital expression of the love of God in our society would be viewed in a rather negative light in almost every situation or circumstance that I can imagine here in the Western world we are coming into a culture that has not only post-christian in its value systems and it's understandings its mores its practices and viewpoints but it is also anti-christian and we stand on the verge of a period of time where I think persecution of Christians is it will occur in the immediate future we see that in some portions of the Western world already but I'm talking about widespread and not the least of all of this is the rise of the alcohol and I need to tell you anything about that in the UK I've never seen witches bonfires before I came to the UK burning at night on the mountains I never saw and or experienced the amount of witchcraft that I've experienced here in the United Kingdom I've been in some of the darkest countries of Africa and believe me they're much more enlightened than the United Kingdom is today we live in a time in which the rise of the alcohol is a reality all over the Western world and it's something I'm sure all of you are very aware out now I said that there were two trends and the first trend being the rise of anti-christian thought but the second ISM is a what we might call an interior trend that is to say the loss of spiritual vitality in the church while this this thought is rising and while the culture is preparing and being prepared as it were to take anti-christian views the church itself is waning it's becoming less and less powerful less and less vital less and less prominent less and less tuned to an impertinent to an ear the culture generally in the United States we see a loss of mainline church membership in attendance I've been watching it now for three decades every 10 years the reports are more serious and more serious a continuing outflowing of people from church life in America of course I'm aware of the circumstances here I I've had dialog on several occasions with people not only in the Anglican Church but other historic free churches and I know that there are similarities great similarities in the patterns of what I see in the United States is what I see in here but the difference is being is that you started with a less of a base than we did the turn of the century keep in mind that there are still on any given Sunday 85 million Americans in a church somewhere that means that more people go to church each Sunday than watch all the ballgames that occur throughout at any given year America is still highly churched in comparison to any country in Europe and particularly in comparison to the United Kingdom the most generous figures that you could come up with in the United Kingdom would be approximately 15% of the total are in church at any given time and boy we're really stretching the figures to get to that so the truth is we're in trouble the church is declining the spine of the virility in spite of the empowering that's going on in terms of the work of the spirit in spite of what we're experiencing this week the church generally is declining furthermore there's increasing secularization of the various higher schools of higher education trying to get through a theological education in the United Kingdom and still believe the Bible when you're through is almost impossible today in most of the universities [Applause] thank God for those isolated schools that are still holding up the Word of God and doing their job I could mention a few but i know i would miss some and i would feel bad about it so i'm just gonna leave it at that the impact of materialism individualism and privatization on christians on the one hand we've been enticed by the glitter in the of the world we've been drawn into the trying to keep up or with or get ahead of the Joneses we've been buying those bigger houses and looking for those cars and paying what is it four dollars for a gallon for petrol here now and that's at a low ebb it's been higher than that I was told we've been trying to keep up with this trend of towards materialism within the culture all of while knowing when a nagging portion of our minds that it's not right that somehow we're missing it and I thank God for those that have stood up and called us to account for it and have talked about living standards less than what we could afford that we might be able to free more resources for the needs of others but the truth is the larger portion of the church is not hearing that message the church is going headlong into materialism and individualism the the presupposition which that everyone has a right to make their own decisions and them as it were ruined their own life it's my life I can do what I want to it it's my body I can do everything I want to this being reinforced in the United States by Supreme Court decisions that have encouraged this kind of viewpoint which i think is so foreign to the writers of the Constitution that they would be appalled that they were witnessing it today furthermore it's it's foreign to the judeo-christian ethic and the understanding that is established Western civilization and jurisprudence within it and we we're living at a time when we see as it were that break down the possibly the end of Western society as we now know it and it's coming out not only in the in the general quarters of the the larger community but in the microcosm of the church that that is part of it and this this business of individualism you know I preach to what in America is called yuppies I preached to them week after week after week I tell you there's some of the hardest people to preach to in the world it's not so much that they have hard hearts because they're very responsive to God it's that they're so wrongheaded they have built into them so many ideas that are so foreign to the scripture and so foreign to what God wants for them and one of those ideas is this heightened sense of the value of the individual now there's no question that God values individuals he saves individuals doesn't he he converts and brings home as it were brings back to heaven individuals God so loved individuals that he sent Jesus but individualism is something that the scripture does not encourage you see we've been called not only into Christ but we've been called to his church and that means we're to make a commitment yes to Jesus for salvation but also to the vehicle that Jesus is saving which is the Church of Jesus Christ and insofar as we do that we are to make a corporate commitment to a corporate body of people were to become part of the people were to become as it were related to those people learn to grow with and relate to them love them be part of their lives it's one thing to theoretically say I love all of God's people it's another thing to prove it every week by being part of them learning putting up with their shenanigans and learning how to deal and how to relate you see God has called us to Christ but he's called us to Christ Church furthermore as we're hearing this week he's called us to a cause this mic told us this week God has a plan even as he had a wonderful plan for your life he had a wonderful plan for his son's life and part of that plan is about to be enacted everything on the earth below of above and below is going to be subjected under his feet we're coming to a period of time where the preeminence of Jesus is going to be manifest in the world and so we have a call on our lives we have a call to enter into these higher purposes and into this plan of the Father for the son furthermore the sons plan for the father's Mike is shared with you earlier this week and that he wants to take everything that's been given to him ultimately and give it to the Father out of adoration love and appreciation and so individualism just won't go down well in that that's about to happen furthermore the church has been impacted by not only materialism individualism but privatization and we could talk you know we could have a conference on that one but the truth is the church has some repenting to do and I've been informed that this portion of the church has been doing that today aren't you glad and turning from the cultural mores and the things that have been ingrained into you I think by the enemy's plan it's my theory the Prince of power of the air through the various processes available to him doctrines of demons and all teaches cultures programs cultures and that one aspect of your culture is programmed certain kinds of responses that are normative within your culture but are not godly remember last yesterday I think it was or two days ago or ten years I can't remember it seems like I've been preaching for seven years now that's a perfect number I ought to be good by now but it's my my understanding of belief that well I shared this illustration of the the young man that stood up and gave a defense of of skepticism and I said the only problem is that there's no place in scripture where it says your skepticism has made you whole well the same is true with reserve you see if there's any time for anyone to ever get excited it's now if there was ever a time to break out of your reserve it's now [Music] sounds like it's happening [Applause] closely related to the above two ideas the loss of belief in the supernatural and the empowering of the holy spirit as we've become a more secularized society as we've become as it were worshippers at the altar of science ISM we have laid aside our understanding and have been programmed to apathy and unbelief when it comes to the things of the Spirit and it's it's astounding to me how secularized our thinking is and our our perceptions I'm talking about Christian brothers sisters a very very frame of reference that they speak from the way they poisons when they talk about healing or deliverance it shows me they have really no understanding at all of the worldview of the scripture but they've been programmed and they don't know it and when you programmed you don't know it and your perceptions are these are the normal ways to look at things this is right this is correct how do I know that woman everybody agrees with me we must all be right I remember with some somebody use that on me one time as a I'd been an just converted a few weeks and a guy said to me you know you're gonna lose all your friends now that you've got religion I said yeah and he said well aren't you worried about that I said no he said well why not I said well all my friends are going to hell I'm gonna lose them eventually anyway something it's okay with me might as well lose them now is later since I'm gonna lose them later anyway unless they change their minds I thought that was a rather powerful argument and so in the context of this these trends of the anti-christian thought and the loss of spiritual vitality of the church the last part thing I want to point out is this business of the churches loss of prominence in place in the public arena especially as sciencism displaces religion the displacement of Christian and theistic values in the public domain with secular humanism sciencism becoming our primary religion which come to a point now where we're worshipping ourselves the works of our own hands the the product of our own minds the genius of our own technology and we've forgotten that there's a God over all of it and so indeed we're in a very dire circumstance and I wished I had a trumpet fanfare right now because you see me as I look at this whole thing as dreary and as bleak as it is I'm excited tonight I am thrilled because I think there's one that's that's like a voice crying in the wilderness and I don't mean one person I mean a people being raised up that are going to take on the John the Baptist type ministry and they're going to call not only those around them but their whole culture and continent after continent as well as country after country within those continents to repent and I what I see and is even even as I was back in my room this afternoon praying what I see is a period of time that we're about to come into where there's literally going to be wave after wave after wave of revival and we're going to see people all over the earth pummeled in their consciousness with the name of Jesus you see it's in the Bleak times and in the dark times and the times and great need that God shows his hand and I see an Advent and the advent of a prophetic voice calling us to revival I think it's much like the period of time in the 18th century when Jonathan Edwards came forward and spoke out now I'm not a historian and I don't know a great deal about revivals I've had some talks in the past with the J Edwin or who was on the faculty at the seminary where I was occasionally lecturing and I still do and he talked about the pre formation of revival situation he says it's almost always as far as he knows insofar as he'd studied and we felt that he was the expert in America God comes and rescues us in the bleakest of times it almost has to get really bad before we'll deal with it it almost has to come to a place where you can't hardly step out of your door you can't hardly turn on the television because something crude and nasty is going to come at you you can't look at a magazine rack because of them flesh and the filth that's on it you can't listen to a radio program you can't you can't hardly relate or communicate or in any way get out into the community because all around you is sin and fell filth and and just debauchery it's difficult to find a place to take your family for a for a holiday or because of all the drunkenness and the things that are going on you can't go to a ball game or a soccer match without somebody beating somebody up or over the head with something or dear friend of mine was asked to go and speak at a football game in the United States recently and he thought gee that'll be wonderful I'll take my children with me and a series of circumstances happened where he got separated from them and they said understands with seventy eighty thousand people and he did his Chapel C stint and then was coming away and was looking for the kids and couldn't find them they had been erroneously placed in the wrong portion of the stands and the game came and went and he was looking the whole time I mean that many thousands of people it's hard to find two kids and they're obedient kids they thought they were in the right seat so they didn't dare get up then my friend Ken was just frantic looking for those kids going back again and again to the police and the other people that were in charge they're saying has anybody called has anybody turned anybody in has anybody seen them you know describing them again and again and then at the end of the game suddenly this violence that broke out and people were being knifed and beaten and you know it's just a tragic tragic thing and the police were treating it like a commonplace event that's the way ball games in now and the horror of it you know here is it it's two children yes four but the two youngest were there and he was just I mean he's just ripped open in his heart and crying and unabashedly unashamedly in front of the the people trying to you know had moments to pull it back with finally just the tears really where are my children frantic because they were being subjected to the world and its most raw form he's worked so hard to raise those King David homeschooled them and they raised him in there as it were in their own backyard and they've been careful about who the kids played with and they've trained him up in the Lord the kids know the Word of God those kids can pray boy you know if you're sick that's where you want to go those kids will pray for you intercede the heavens open when they pray ken is just frantic in the Lord and his graciousness suddenly puts the the great situation together and he turns a corner and there they are and they're all right flooded with relief grabs him in his arms turns around again and sees the violence that's going on in the vile stuff there in the community and just couldn't get out of that Stadium fast enough and all of his images all of his ideas of gee would it be nice to take the kids to a ballgame gone he'll never think of a game in the same way again his response telling me about this was can you believe it John can you believe it that things are that bad that this is commonplace now armed guards in the parking lot police wagons waiting at the gate at the end of the game because then there's arrests every time ambulances pre parked because they knew they would need them we live in a vile time if we ever needed a champion if we ever needed a savior if we ever needed a revival it's now it's time somebody set up and said Oh God what must be the church's response to this revival call you've been hearing it this week you've been responding to it I know it's getting in your inner being and your spirit I know that that that this is good soil and it's great seed I know that it's gonna blossom but I want to talk for a few minutes tonight about where do we go from here how do we let this thing work what do we do about it one of my favorite texts I'm sure one of yours is second Chronicles 7:14 and it says if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land you see I think the beginning and the first step is a step of preparation we must prepare ourselves and we begin with repentance when we prayed last night for families marriages you begin with repentance when one young man came to me and said but you don't understand it's her fault and then wanted to communicate to me you know the the circumstances and I and I said I understand that your perception and it may well be that you've been you're married to Dracula's sister or something I didn't use that word last night but that's the image that came to mind I mean I don't know who you married to all I know is that there's only one coin of the realm in God's economy and it's forgiveness and the only way you can get that the only way you can buy that is through repentance all I know is if you want to do business if you want to transact if you want to have some sort of a exchange with God it begins with repentance Oh God I repent that my wife's so bad and furthermore Lord I repent for anyway and every way that I've contributed to that situation Oh God show me my sin you see there's not there's no circumstantial Dyer there's no situation so bad it's when a Christian can't get in touch with their sin that's why I think the sin of self-righteousness is so insidious and so commonplace that safe and secure displace that we get to where we are in out of contact with any wrongdoing whatsoever in our being it isn't that we haven't done it it's just that our consciences are so dull and our sensitivities are so though that we can't see that we're not walking in the way we ought to walk and living the way we ought to live and that we're not in tune with and sensitive to an intimate with the Son of God you see it it seems to me that drawing nigh to God would reduce you to brokenness and so it ought to be the characteristic of those that are walking with God to live and continue and perpetual brokenness but it's astounding to me how Christians can transact with God say Oh God forgive me and the turn and be haughty and unforgiving to one another and never have any conscious sense that that's wrong that they've missed it Jesus taught so profusely and so profoundly on this subject about forgiving remember the Lord's Prayer that we forgive in as it were in direct measure were to forgive on the basis of having received forgiveness text after text you know don't bring your offering before God if you have thoughts anyone has aught against you go make it right before you do this and so be ible New Testament Jesus Christianity it has to do with learning to live together being part of one another relating to one another and I tell you that there the sin of self-righteousness is blinding and it leaves us much well you know that the story that Jesus told about the two of us in the in the temple the Pharisee and then and the other brother and the one is as it were weeping and sobbing before God the other you can't even lift his head and the other guys I'm glad I'm not like him I do everything that I ought to do I'm walking the way out of walk it's kind of the prodigal older brother mentality you heard about that a little earlier today and it's so commonplace in the church well my skirts aren't dirty I didn't stab anything I didn't I don't I don't do this I don't do that and we're so profoundly tuned into the things that we don't do but we can't see it all what we didn't to do and by that I mean the things that Jesus is calling us to we didn't show love and forbearance we weren't kind and it all begins with repentance so how do we prepare ourselves if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and humbling means simply all God if things are so bad if the church is slipping so fast if we don't have any kind of communication if there's no one coming to us for counsel there's no one looking to us for direction then there's something really wrong here Lord because we serve that God of heaven creator of heaven and earth we serve the only God the true God and if people aren't coming to us and asking for help it's because they don't believe us therefore there's something wrong and I must be contributing it to it father so take the scales from my eyes Oh God I must be living in some sort of confused state I must not be tuned in Lord there's no one standing in our door on Sunday wanting to get in there's no one hurrying into the building there's no one hungry when we get in there there's something wrong with God I humble myself to you forgive me Lord and show me my sin show me the part that I'm playing and that offends me and so God has a people even as he had a people in that day second Chronicles he has a people today and the people are in a situation where they have to humble themselves or this whole thing's going to come to an end and a big mess and you'll have to use someone else but you see God has had mercy on us and for years now in this country men and women have been standing up insane turn turn turn and if that weren't true you wouldn't be here tonight it's because you have ears to hear that you've come it's because you know something's up I can't tell you how many of you have stopped me in the halls because I've been going through and say something's up God's up to something isn't he God's about to do something isn't he I can feel it I know it's true and then sometimes they've told me about dreams and visions and Scripture that's been highlighted and words that have come in prophecies and tongues and interpretations God is speaking he's speaking through the scripture and he's speaking through his people and those that have ears are hearing it and assembling and ministering to one another so God requires that we humble ourselves so we begin with the preparation of repentance and we continue by pressing into Jesus who is our model of humility and of sacrifice and I think that the two things they're going to characterize the church in the 90s are humility and sacrifice and we've touched on these before but let me touch on them briefly once again in Philippians 2:5 through 11 we have the declaration of of Paul under the unction of the spirit concerning what is called the kenosis or the cannot experience the self emptying experience of Jesus who was with God equal with God and yet didn't cling to it so much that he couldn't humble himself as it were to become in human form fully God fully man but in humanity he entered into the situation the circumstance and became as a consequence servant to all not only servant to the father Oh on whose behalf he came to perform a mission and a work but servant to all mankind and to those that would respond to his generous offer for salvation so Jesus is the ultimate model of humility how left CS Lewis's statement that he that he wrote in mere Christianity and I don't have it in front of me but as I remember it is something the affected that if if a man Jesus can't say he's God and still pull off making you think he's humble he's really done something and it's astounding to me CS Lewis would have much better grammar than I just had ah it's astounding to me that everyone agrees about the humility of Jesus because they all know they all know everyone knows in their spirit they all know who he was who he is so Jesus expressed humility in his entry into the human human situation in Matthew the eleventh chapter verse 29 Jesus tells us that he wants us to take his yoke upon us and learn of him that is to say that that he's done has mama forced that that we're to do we're to enter into the same kind of servitude we're enter into the same kind of obedience we're to learn to do or to learn to walk even as Jesus did and walked I remember one time writing it down in the leaf of one of my Bibles because I knew it was one of those I called him Eureka type moments a PowerPoint if you will an understanding that I knew was like a like a keyhole into heaven I was understanding something in the heart of God and I wrote it down very plainly in large letters I don't write well and I wrote it down in the inside of my Bible I said I think I understand the issue I'm supposed to believe what Jesus believed and do what Jesus did now that may not sound profound to you but I've been trying to work that out now for 14 years that understanding gripped me at a level that I can't tell you how profound and how powerful it was I'm supposed to believe what Jesus believed and I'm supposed to do what Jesus did starting with the lesser works and hoping for and praying for the greater works knowing that only he could do it and as I do it I'm to do it with the understanding and the realization of humility recognizing that it's just by his choice that I can do anything I don't know in the next breath I take I don't even own the next heartbeat but Jesus has provided me life and Jesus has provided this understanding and Jesus has provided this opportunity I've never been more aware of that than I have coming into this week I know that I've done nothing I have nothing I've excelled it no thing that would justify being able to come here this week administer to you but God in His mercy and his charity and in his kindness has given me this opportunity and I consider it one of the greatest honors opportunities I've ever had in my life it may turn out to be the single most important thing I've ever done or participated in and that is to come and announce the immediate return of Jesus Christ and a revival that's already underway and at the end time scenario is about to unfold and that we you know I used to think about this as a young Christian I thought with envy I'd read these New Testament passages I think all those lucky guys they got to be there they got more eyes open they got to Zacchaeus they got to watch him it up there I mean Lazarus wouldn't have been great wonder what you'd like to see Lazarus coming out and I remember oh you know and then every now and then a little thought would would come to my mind how would you like to be in on the end since you couldn't be in on the beginning I thought oh it's just nice to know that it began and maybe I can get watch it from up in heaven in the bleachers but 10 pence seats you know but you know I was wrong we're going to get to see this thing in Matthew 20 verses 26 and 27 Jesus taught humility as a basic requirement for Kingdom work and Kingdom reality and he said whoever would want to be great in God's kingdom must become the servant of all and so God has called us to take a humble place God has called us to - as it were execute a humble service for him and as messengers go and deliver the message and I thank God for the opportunity to participate in this day and at this time furthermore Jesus has offered us opportunity to enter into his suffering you know Jesus came unto his own and his own received him not and many of you are going to experience something very similar in the coming weeks and months as you go with this word communicating to people who otherwise listen to you and responded and see the unbelief in the rejection come as a consequence you're going to know the feeling of austere ization separation that Jesus felt you're going to experience the pain rejection of loved ones you say oh no I have already experienced that I when I got converted I experienced that yes that's true and now you're going to experience it again it's part of the deal it's part of the package it's the way of the cross we have a job to do that job is to make an announcement that job is to make a proclamation it's to communicate a message that God is on the move God is bringing revival repent turn and believe not everybody will hear that message not everybody will respond positively they'll all respond but not all positively we have the privilege but we also have the pain that goes with the privilege there are many models in the New Testament fellowship and the sufferings of Jesus Paul gives his testimony in Philippians the third chapter to turn there with me I'd like to read it got a look at least one text before we finish this message I've got a new Bible and I can't find anything in it everything's on the wrong part of the page and I know somebody got in here and reversed the books chapter 3 verses 4 through 11 pick up in the middle of the fourth verse if anyone else thinks he has reason to put confidence the flesh I have more circumcised on the eighth day the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law a Pharisee asked for zeal persecuting the church asked for legalistic righteousness faultless but whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ now I know that many of you have read that text again and again and I have to but I don't know that I've ever understood it as acutely as I do tonight Paul is talking about everything that his society his culture his parents his family thought was valuable and he laid it all down for the sake of Christ so that he could take a humble place and serve a great god and deliver a message to a people many of which we're going to reject it but some which were going to respond I think tonight that ought to be a consideration in your heart I think tonight there you have to deal realistically with the fact that you're being called not only to humility but to suffering later in his life I've never been exactly sure that a chronology of the New Testament Paul wrote this in first Corinthians the fourth chapter 8 through 13 already you all you want already you have become rich you've become kings and that without us how I wish that you really had become Kings so that you might be Kings with you for it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of procession like men's condemned to die in the arena we've been made a spectacle to the whole universe and to angels as well as to men we are fools for Christ and are weak you are wise in Christ we are weak but you are strong you are honored and we are Dishonored to this very hour we go hungry and thirsty we are in rags were brutally treated and we are homeless and we work hard with our own hands and when we are cursed we bless them when we are persecuted we endure it and when we are slandered we answer kindly and up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth the refuse of the world you still want to enter into an apostolic community you still want to be part of the endtime revival you still want to enter into the service of God in this propitious moment count the cost don't make an emotional decision think through what it means strip you of look at the realities what it meant do you - reputation I mean just think about it this way just being seen in a whimper meeting can produce certain amount of difficulty for more than many of you I had somebody stop me in the hall and want to take a picture and I said great so I took a picture and I said now you're accountable you can't deny it it really happened you were really there they looked at me a little bit puzzled you know I broke my watch and I think I'm running over time am i running over time anybody what time is it it's a quarter to eight praise the Lord because it I'm almost through with the talking part but there's some other things over who wants to do well let me summarize what I'm saying is this tomorrow we'll talk more about it look at Joel's army tomorrow morning God sees the circumstance that we're in he recognizes what's going on in the culture he knows what's going on in the church he's made his appraisals he's made his plans and now he's exposing the plans he's raising up those who will take this prophetic word to the nation's you are now accountable to that word you've been hearing it this week God has called you yes to holiness but he's also called you to a holy endeavor the proclamation endtime reliable the soon coming of the Lord Jesus Christ we believe that two characteristics of this church will be humility and suffering we believe that if we enter into the Apostolic responsibility we will have with it the Apostolic realities humility and suffering they go hand and glove on the one hand we have a great king and Savior to proclaim to the world and we can get on top of the houses and do it and by any means communicate this message to the land but on the other hand we must do it in humility and we will experience suffering I've characterized it with rejection humiliation at the hands of friends but I want you to know it's far more profound than that certainly Paul knew it and we have yet to struggle in the way he did very few of us are hungry of us were voluntarily hungry most of us don't wear rags unless it's to a party many of us do work with our hands and support ourselves but beyond that there's not much in here that we can really relate without some truths but who have humility that is to say that they're teachable will be taught and anointed by God for leadership in the 90s there'll be no place for the proud in the church that's about to emerge and isn't that what you joined them for isn't that what you always wanted weren't you looking for and haven't you expected the mid a little disappointed when you haven't heard it a call that would be worth giving your life to something really worth laying down your other preoccupations for something all-consuming something that would arouse your passions at the deepest level I was I remember when I went to church early on in the my conversion experience and I hadn't been converted very long and and I'd been reading the New Testament and I didn't know the difference between churches and church life today and the New Testament this was back in the early 60s 63 and I went to church one day and we had a lawn out in front and and we'd go to the church service and people would sort of congregate out of the lawn and talk and so I went to church a few times and I watched and and they didn't do what the Bible did you see I I had this idea in my mind that that if you if you you know I read the new like the New Testament if you read the Gospels July Jesus I was hot for her I loved him walked on the water I have a theory you had to do that very fast I mean if I had to try that's the way I would try it get it get a good run I loved it when he when he the fishes in the lows I loved it when there are so many things I mean just I loved it when it gave it to the Pharisees you like it but he doesn't I love it I just like that all I mean I liked it when he healed the sick and he that was hot with it and so I thought that's what they did at church nobody told me and so I went to church you know two or three times they didn't do nothing they've read a bulletin they they stood up they said now and they sang a song they sat down that some guy talked about if some of the guy prayed all-father an old gold I asked my friend I said what's wrong with that guy sound like you've been kicked in the throat by a mule this is all they all sound like that I think they get it at seminary or something I don't you ever been to church and so a few weeks went by and I was standing out on the front lawn and there was a guy there that I liked his name was Wayne and I went up to him and I said when did they do it he was taller than I was and he's looking down at me he says what I said you know the stuff in the book he said what stuff I said you know when they heal the sick and they cast out the demons and they multiply the fish and stuff like that when did they do that I've been here as three or four times they haven't done it I thought maybe the main guys were on a vacation or something [Applause] so I said well when did they do it and he said well we don't do it sometimes we pray about it and we sing about it and we read about it but we don't do it I said wait a minute let me see if I got this straight we don't do it he says no we don't do it I said man I gave up drugs for this we don't do it he says we don't do it sad day we don't do it so I went home and I said Lord how about you and me doing it didn't happen right away although there were some moments we learn how to pray for refrigerators automobiles children money and God rewarded our faith but it was a number of years before he began teaching us to do it and you've heard me talk about it doing the stuff the stuff that Jesus did and you know that's why we're here tonight we've been learning how to do the stuff and now he wants us to do it to everybody [Music] are you up for that my my basic understanding is that when the church was initiated most people point to acts 2 that it was empowered for service and that Jesus in effect counseled the Apostles to tarry wait until they were in dude with power from upon high and they did just that they met in the upper room and at a given point in time there was a sound like wind and something that looked like flames and a phenomena of the power of God came and people were mightily touched now my understanding is that that that initiative experience occurred as it were in every culture from that time until this that wherever the gospel was brought when it was brought that was brought with power and we certainly if we go through the book of Acts we can see other people the Gentiles and others having a similar experience and at least an experience with God that resulted in some of the same kinds of spiritual phenomena such as tongues and prophecy and healing and deliverance and that type of thing my understanding is that as a Christian that I've had the consummate charismatic experience that Christ in me is as is their visa be the Spirit of God the spirit of God when he comes brings everything all of his gifts all of his blessings it's all there I the Spirit of God dwells in me I am the temple of God I am in the body of Christ there's many metaphors and images in the scripture and that the Spirit of God visits and and fills and refills as needed but I think there's a slight difference between an intiative experience people that have never in spite of the fact they've been converted have never had the empowering work of the Spirit for ministry I think there's a slide that was significant I shouldn't say slight difference between that and the ongoing in filling in the aftermath of that initiative experience I believe there are literally hundreds and maybe thousands of people here tonight that have not had that initiative experience you've not been empowered for ministry and I want to tell you something where we're going and what we're going to do is going to require power and I believe that the Spirit of God stands ready to empower you tonight if you've confessors sinned if your record and recognized that that indeed the body of Christ is and is in a dire circumstance if you've repented of that circumstance and you want to partake and participate in the change of the church and a consequent change of the world then I want you to get up and come up here and let us pray for you and let the Spirit of God fill you and empower you for ministry it's okay to move around that side and over here also because there's many more coming we'll wait a few moments till people get down here [Music] [Music] is impressing me to do this and I would be disobedient if I didn't so I'm gonna ask you two to communicate with me and by raising your hand in a moment and I'm what I'm looking for is some registration and I I've never done this before but the Lord has shown me in in a vision just now as you were coming and so I know it's what he wants now listen carefully if you have never as far as you know lead someone to Christ you've never prayed with them to receive Christ in your life I want you to raise your hand just for a moment I've got good news for you okay put it down if you have never in so far as you can measure pray for a sick person and seem them get well I want you to raise your hand okay you've never experienced the phenomena of intercessory prayer where the Spirit of God has fallen on you and you've interceded uncontrollably under his control as it were for a period of time raise your hand I think we got the right group down here you've never had the occasion of teaching whether it's a child an adult a sunday-school class preaching whatever and and felt yourself slip into another gear and suddenly you were speaking things that were not in your notes not in your mind nothing that you'd never seen in a scripture before and it was wonderful you thought I ought to be taking notes on this so I'm really good if you've never had that experience I want you to raise your hand okay if you've never walked into a room and looked at somebody and knew the secrets of their heart raishin I think we got the right group down here you guys need the Holy Spirit this is the work that he does you're to cooperate with this work but you can't engender it you cannot for it to save your life make that happen but he can and he does and he will do that through you but he needs a clean vessel he needs a cooperative and obedient child not childish but a child who will believe and step out on the things that he senses he's being called to do is that where your heart is tonight is that what you want to be you want to be the children of God you want to minister in his power and authority then you must become as a child because the kingdom is given to children not childish ones but those that are innocent pure responsive obedient quick to do bidding and what we're talking about is kingdom power and Kingdom activity this is what the King does through his people [Applause] [Music] now I only listed a few gifts but if you don't have those I got to assume you don't have most of the others either so we're going to go for all of them [Music] and I need I need help it's Paul cane here still can you make your way up along the curtain there Paul but maybe behind the curtain and come around this way I need you to come and help me pray there's a lot of these people here Paul now the reason that I'm asking him to come again is out of obedience now I mentioned a moment ago I saw that time I didn't see I heard get Paul I don't even know what I'm gonna ask Paul to do but I know he has to be up here and I know I have to hold his hand because I felt his hand in mine when he said get Paul that's all I know now I'm telling you that because that's the way you're led as a child of God now see there's no magic formula there's there's no trick in this there's nothing like that it's just a matter of listening and hearing and trying to respond and I'm just being open hearted and sharing with you because I want you to know that this business of following God and moving in the spirit is is its natural to to spiritual all the time it's back and forth okay pretend like you understand even if you don't it'll just make me feel better okay do you have anything in preparation one say to the before it's James forces draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you are drawing near to God he'll draw near to you and that's the operational will of God and every one of you that have come forward with that in mind for you to draw near to him he's already drawing near you and we've been talking a lot lately about the three elements of prayer like just saying prayers and the second element or the second degree of prayer is praying in prayer and then the ultimate is the third degree which is becoming prayer where you can't even separate it from being prayer and John the people I realize start trying to do these works before you ever go overboard for the greater works sometimes we go so strong on that that people think that we're wanting them to just jump right out and do greater works and we're not seeing greater works especially not on a wholesale basis they're seeing them some places maybe the tokens for them but if we could just believe the Lord and be active in occupying and doing whatever he gives you to do just see that you do that and then he'll find you faithful and the scripture that says he that's faithful over a few things they'll make you rule over of anything so if you're faithful and just taking these hands as an extension of the Lord Jesus Christ and putting these hands on people and praying for them just humbly starting out to give the Lord what you have then he'll honor you in that and then come and increase responsibility level and then give you the power to cast out devils and as well as to heal the sick and then there will be the power eventually to raise the dead Johnna don't take much time let me tell you that this is what's going on in parts of Africa day a pastor friend of mine just got back from Africa and he said how many a pastor in Africa said to this pastor here in London he said how many dead people did you raise last week in your church and he said we had an off week we only had two and he said we're we're teaching our young people and our people not to raise the older people from the dead because it may be the Lord's wanting to take them and they have lived a long time said we're teaching them to to race get just the young people from the dead can you imagine that and he said we don't have that problem in Great Britain but don't you wish you did I wish we had that problem here but I as John called you forward I feel like the Holy Spirit is going to come forth as we begin to pray and I wouldn't be surprised if particles of God's importation might come your way so there's are gonna be sailing out there and just put your spiritual antennas up be receptive and and collect anything become a receiver and the Lord will give you these things he'll give you these things you'll give you a word of wisdom a word of knowledge to use and the spirit of counsel a spirit of might and all of these things we're gonna believe for you now and what I want you to do is I did want you to begin by just privately one-on-one with God repenting and calling out to him saying lord I have need of you there's there's no hope for me doing this there's no way I can enter into it unless you do it jesus said if you asked for you will get and furthermore he said it's his father's good pleasure to give the Holy Spirit it's the father's good pleasure to give the kingdom all right so begin seeking the Lord just ask him say Lord I I need your spirit I need the in filling of your spirit I need the empowering of your spirit how can I share this message how can I do these deeds how can I heal the sick and how could I cast out demons how can I know the unknowable how can I know the hearts have been how can I give wise counsel Lord I utterly turn from any other resource or any other authority or any other power and I turn only to you and I ask o God that you would fill me now with your spirit Lord I renounce any other resource you and you alone on my source you and you alone but it's only by your spirit not by any other means but by your spirit these things are done that's it telling whether I come on behalf of these people now and I ask oh God that you would send your spirit even as you've converted them Lord now I ask that you would fill them and empower them Oh God Lord I gladly prefer them above myself Lord I asked that whatever it is you've put on my life that you would multiply it to them that you would bless them mightily Oh God fill them and empower them Lord thank you lord I here it comes it comes in waves and Lord will touch many of you the first wave and it's already starting at the powerful by your spirit Oh God in the name of Jesus they'd come over your whole being head to toe Lord give them more than they can withstand more than they can resist more than they can hold cause them to overflow Oh God hallelujah and here it comes again the Spirit comes and waves here he comes again let it come that's it that's it be filled with the spirit be filled with the spirit be filled with the spirit let it come hallelujah [Music] hallelujah all university hallelujah he will come in ever-increasing power all you have to do is wait just wait your turn you will come an ever-increasing power let it come let it come father power power to heal the sick power to win the lost power to teach the scripture power to cast out demons power to raise the dead power to turn this nation back to God power to turn the church back to God but the power of God prevailed let it come the power that raised Jesus from the dead resurrection power over your whole being let it come let it come let it come now the Lord wants to release some of you in tongues you've never spoken in tongues and I can see your throats moving your lips stammering speaking tongues better come let it out oh you're not avisynth already be able to let it come that's it speak out speak out that's it let it come let it come that's it hallelujah hallelujah let the spirit of prophecy come over you Lord open their eyes that they may see the things of the Spirit open their ears that they may hear the voice of the Lord open their being oh God that they may enter into the things of the Divine but they may do your bidding and work and know your mind Oh God but the spirit of counsel and wisdom come upon them in Jesus name don't worry about that that's just a little darkness it's getting cleaned out when life comes darkness must go but the power come we need more fill up your tanks folks this is the opportunity reach out receive from the lorries here it's moving among you Lord God reach these people touch these people fill these people empower these people Oh God let it come that has come thank you Lord more give them more thank you lord thank you lord thank you Lord let it come thank you Jesus hallelujah sorry that's a work of the spirit but the joy come forth Lord break the oppression break the darkness break the bondage and let joy convoy [Applause] that's it be filled with the spirit be not drunk wine wherein his excess but be filled with the spirit hallelujah let it come over their whole being Oh God capture them Lord take them captive for your purposes Oh God raise up an army for yourself Oh God pure and clean and empowered perfected joined to the body of Christ under Authority in obedience adding diligence commitment and consecration let it come but the Spirit of God come upon you hallelujah let it come let it come look about to see the drawer at the more people in ecstasy people gripped by the power of God even captured in the divine enthralled excited by the word God thank you you keep it Mario hallelujah [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] turn of disorders was both [Music] [Applause] [Music] Chalmers must go

Channel: Ashley Collishaw

Views: 2,132

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: john wimber, holiness, christianity, charismatic christianity, vineyard ministries

Id: JbcgHfErIE0

Length: 96min 17sec (5777 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 17 2018