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Category: Holy Spirit (Page 1 of 14)

GCR’s Theophanies

September 24, 2024 / / 2 Comments

In Acts 4, the early Church is facing cultural opposition and political oppression in Jerusalem. Peter and John have been jailed, interrogated, and ordered to cease speaking and teaching about the resurrected Jesus. So they go “back to their own people,” they gather with the Church, and they pray for God to give them even more boldness to continue speaking about Jesus and they ask God to stretch out his hand to heal and perform even more miracles and wonders to glorify Jesus.

Our God responds to the prayer immediately by shaking the building and filling them all with Holy Spirit courage.

It’s called a theophany. it’s a visible appearance of God. God revealing his presence in a real, physical way you can see or feel.

God did this for Moses at the burning bush. The fire and the smoke got Moses’ attention and our Lord told him, “I am with you.” God said, “I will be with you,” and he gave Moses the boldness he needed to speak to Pharaoh.

God revealed himself this way to his people on Mount Sinai. There’s thunder and lightning, smoke and fire and noise, and the whole mountain is shaking. “I am with you,” God says. “You are my people and I am your God.” His presence gives them the increased courage and faith they need to obey the commands he gives them on the mountain.

Isaiah experiences the same thing. He goes into the Temple and sees our holy God on his eternal throne. There is smoke and noise and the whole Temple begins to shake. God asks, “Who will go for us?” And Isaiah goes from “Woe is me; I am ruined,” to “Here I am! Send me!”

Go and tell the people. I am with you. Go and speak. I’m right here. Go and live. I am with you. Go and proclaim.

It happens to the first Church on the Day of Pentecost. Those 120 disciples of Jesus praying in the upper room are blown away by the noise, the wind, and the fire. God is here with us! All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, Scripture says, both the men and the women, and they began to speak.

I suggest to you that these kinds of things are still happening today if we’ll pay attention and notice. Our spiritual God is still making himself known in physical ways in order to assure us of his presence and fill us with Holy Spirit boldness. We get these theophanies here at Golf Course Road all the time.

In the past 22 months since we launched our vision of transformation and mission–just a little less than two years ago–we’ve had 174 people place membership at GCR. That’s 174 men, women, and children who are jumping in with our church family. And we don’t know how they’re getting here or why they’re coming. With a lot of our new members, there’s no real connection, no personal invitation, or particular event. They’re just showing up and forming relationships and embracing the mission and becoming important parts of what God is doing in us and through us here. It’s a physical reminder that our God is the one who gathers his people and brings them together for his holy purposes. We’re seeing it here. It’s real.

In that same time frame, in a little less than two years, we’ve had 61 baptisms here at GCR. That reminds us that, yes, God is still saving people. God is still at work in people’s lives. God is still rescuing people and snatching souls from hell! We’re seeing it all the time.

Last May, there were about 30 kids at Emerson Elementary who had lunch debt in the school cafeteria  and were about to be cut off. They were going to be served inferior lunches in special bags for the last month of the school year. It would mark these students as different. It would make them stick out. So we paid off their debt. We didn’t ask any questions, we didn’t ask anybody to fill out a form. Did you know you were in debt? How much debt do you owe? Are you trying to pay off the debt? Would you meet us halfway with your debt? No! We didn’t do any of that, we just paid it all off. Just like Jesus. Just like our God in Christ who forgives our debt and pays off our sin and rescues us from bondage. These students and their parents got a physical, tangible, living parable or proof of God’s grace that sets us free.

Those one hundred Mission Agape boxes we provide every Thanksgiving. Our people buy the food and pack the boxes, and we distribute them to families in need in Midland County. That’s physical proof that our God is still providing what people need through our community of faith.

The “4 Midland” worship services with First Methodist, First Presbyterian, and First Baptist. There are always 800-1,000 of us in each other’s buildings, singing with our combined choirs, praying together in our different traditions, loving and accepting one another in the name of Jesus, putting aside our denominational differences to unite for the sake of our city.

That takes Holy Spirit courage! That’s Holy Spirit community! That’s proof that our God is determined to bring all things and all people together in Christ, and he’s doing it in us and through us at GCR! Yes, our God is still stretching out his hand to heal, he is still performing miracles and wonders through the name of his holy servant Jesus! And we’re experiencing it here all the time!

Our spiritual God is constantly making himself known to us in physical ways. We know our God lives inside us and we know his Son is our Lord. So we are not defined by the times. The government does not control how we live our lives. Technology does not define our existence. Postmodernism does not determine how we think. News and entertainment does not account for who we are. We must break the faithless and ignorant habit of letting the journalists tell us what’s doing on. We need to at least give the Holy Spirit equal time!

Peace,

Allan

That They May Live

August 27, 2024 / / 0 Comments

On Sunday we wrapped up our summer-long sermon series from Ezekiel with the familiar vision of the valley of dry bones in chapter 37. With Cassie and Laylan Bundy’s impressive mural behind me, we explored the bones the same way Ezekiel did. As the Lord walked his prophet around and through all those bones, I led our congregation through the scene as best I could. This is complete desolation. Total death. These are not dead bodies–these are bones. Dead, dry, bleached-out bones. There is no life here, no possibility of life, not one flicker. This death valley is filled, not with dead corpses, but with skeletal remains. This is the very essence of dead. No life. No pulse. No organs. No breath. No hope.

God’s people have been utterly destroyed because of their sin. That’s the picture here. The covenant curses have been executed. The people are cut off. No relationship with the Lord. No salvation. No possibility. Just miles and miles of dead, dry, lifeless, hopeless bones.

And God asks, “Can these bones live?”

I’ve got to believe Ezekiel’s first thought is, “No! Of course not! These bones can’t live! They’re bones!”

But then Ezekiel remembers to whom he is speaking. This is Almighty God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. So he says, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

That’s when God causes the bones to come to life. The Lord God breathes his Holy Spirit into the bones and they do come to life. The bones connect together, bone to bone, tendons and muscles, and they’re covered with skin, and they live!

Ezekiel knows that God has the power to make the dry bones come to life. Now, Ezekiel knows that God will make the dry bones come to life! Of course God can. Praise the Lord, yes, God will!

“You will come to life!”

Today, 2,600 years after Ezekiel’s vision, I see dead people. And you do, too. I feel like sometimes I’m walking right through the middle of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones. There are dead men and dead women and dead teenagers everywhere. Spiritually dead. Cut off from God because of their sins. No relationship with the Lord. No salvation. No life. No hope. I see dead people, And you do, too.

Your son has left the Lord. Your daughter is no longer a member of a faith community, she hasn’t been to church in years. Your husband has never submitted to the lordship of Jesus. Your grandchild has never been baptized. Your niece is living in sin. Your nephew doesn’t even believe in God.

Can these bones live?

The Word of the Lord says, “You will come to life! I will put breath in you and you will come to life!”

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the sermon, we took time for everyone in our church to write down the name of someone they know who is spiritually dead. A close relative. A former college roommate. A friend at school or work. Someone they love. Someone who is living far away from the Lord. We wrote down the names of those people and placed them on the dry bones mural on the Worship Center stage.

I believe our God looks at the spiritually dead people that you love and he sees life. He sees it.

We all have people like these in our lives. We grieve. We agonize. Our hearts are broken every day. The biggest and most powerful and most effective thing we can do is to give these people to our God. Hand them to God in prayer and by faith in him to bring them back to life by breathing his Holy Spirit into their souls.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not sure, but I believe every person in the room walked down to the front and placed at least one name on that painting. Older people from the back of the sanctuary, helping each other up and down the steps. Young families with their kids. The whole youth group. It didn’t take long, because we all have those people in our lives. We know exactly who they are. We think about them and pray about them and grieve over them all the time. We all have these people and we all want so desperately to do something about their condition. You would die for this spiritually dead person in your life right now if it would do any good. So if writing their name on a sticker and placing it on a painting in the Worship Center as a symbolic act of prayer, a symbolic act of giving these people to the Lord, is what is asked… Well, everybody did it. No hesitation. Lots of tears. Lots of names. Lots of hugs around that painting.

One of our shepherds, Marc McQueen, led us in a congregational prayer and lifted every one of those names up to the Lord. He begged our God to breathe his Holy Spirit into these “bones” that they may live. More tears. More hugs.

I look at that massive mural this morning–we don’t know what we’re going to do with this thing–and I am reminded that every one of us has these people in our lives. It’s important to give voice to the pain, to publicly acknowledge the grief for loved ones who have rejected our God and are living outside of his will and his eternal Kingdom. It’s also important to tangibly, physically, do something about it. We can feel so helpless. It’s important to be reminded that we are not alone in our pain–every person in the room is carrying a similar burden.

It’s important to be reminded that God alone can make the “bones” come to life. We know this is God’s will. We know this is what he wants. He will bring our loved ones to life. And when he does, in his way and in his time, then, as he says, we will know that he is the Lord.

Peace,

Allan

Letters From Christ

October 25, 2023 / / 0 Comments

The Arizona Diamondbacks, huh? You know, since Genesis 3 the serpent’s head is meant by God to be crushed. The Rangers are poised to proclaim the Gospel!

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Old letter writing 2 | Stock Video | Pond5

“You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.” ~2 Corinthians 3:4

Jesus’ greatest gift to us as we wait for his triumphant return is the power of his presence through the Holy Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit is alive and powerful and real. And he lives inside all who confess Jesus as Lord and put their faith for salvation in God through Christ.

He lives inside us.

Did you catch that part? The Spirit is within us, a holy being inside unholy humans. It’s amazing. It’s like science fiction. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to comprehend. The presence of God is not given to us in the clouds somewhere. It’s not at the top of a smoking and shaking mountain. It’s not hidden away in a chapel or a church building. God’s Spirit is not above us or beside us. He’s within us. He dwells inside us.

And he’s authoring a masterpiece. He’s writing a classic for the ages. In fact, what he’s writing is going to be read by everybody you know. They won’t find this masterpiece at Barnes and Noble. They can’t download it off Amazon. They read this divine work of art when they come in contact with you.

You are that Holy Spirit masterpiece, authored by the true and living God. Yes, it’s you! Look in the mirror! Don’t get distracted by the funny ears and the blemished skin. Don’t allow your height or your weight to keep you from recognizing it. Do not dare minimize what God is doing in your life. It’s not about you and me. It’s about the Spirit of God changing you, changing us, into his majestic handiwork. It’s about us living by his Spirit as a display, a massive banner, proclaiming his power and love to all we meet.

Peace,

Allan

Prophesy: Discern the Word They Heard

May 27, 2023 / / 3 Comments

“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophesy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. But everyone who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and comfort.” ~1 Corinthians 14:1-3

What do you do when that person shows up and says, “I have a word for you from the Lord?” You didn’t expect it, you weren’t asking for it, but a brother or sister in Christ says, “God told me to tell you…” or “God put it on my heart to say…”  How do you discern the word they heard? Let me suggest four questions to ask about the message this well-meaning Christian gives you. How do you know if it’s really from God?

Well, does it lift up Jesus as Lord? The Holy Spirit of Christ will always point to the lordship of Christ.

“No one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” ~1 Corinthians 12:3

Remember, there’s more than one voice out there seeking your attention. Any word from anyone that diminishes Jesus or questions his deity or his humanity, any word that reduces the sufficiency of his atonement, any word that questions his uniqueness as the one and only way to the Father – that message is not from God. The voice of God will always exalt his Son as Lord.

Does it hold up Jesus’ Gospel of grace? This is a very important question. Some people want to share words of encouragement or teaching with you, but these words speak to a form of legalistic slavery. The church in Galatia was being upset and divided by a word that was confirming Jesus as Lord, but was also wanting to add circumcision to the Gospel. Any news that undermines the Good News of grace and freedom in Christ, any news that puts an emphasis on human works and rules over freedom and grace in Jesus – that is not from God.

Does it flow from a Christ-like life? No matter how gifted the person might be, the Bible never exalts giftedness over character. A person who hears and speaks words from Jesus should bear the fruit of Christ in his or her own life.

“Watch out for false prophets… By their fruit you will recognize them… A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” ~Matthew 7:15-17

If someone tells you they’ve got a word from the Lord for you, and your first thought is, “I don’t know about that,” because of the kind of person he or she is, you’re on to something. If that person is a known liar or a gossip, if that person is a busybody or lacks self control, if that person is divisive or ungrateful, that person is not speaking for our God.

Finally, does it build up the Body of Christ? Remember, prophesy is given to us by God to strengthen, encourage, and comfort his people, the Church. Prophesy is not about discovering the mysteries of the end times or predicting the future. It’s not for judging or condemning anyone. It’s intended by God to build up disciples of Jesus. So any words that discourage, insult, criticize, or divide should not be excused with the “God told me” trump card. And they shouldn’t be considered as potentially from the Lord.

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit.” ~Ephesians 4:29-30

Interesting, huh? 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 says you’re quenching the Spirit when you tell people they can’t speak words from God. Ephesians 4 says you grieve the Spirit when you speak words that are ugly or hurtful and claim that God gave them to you.

We need to take care of God’s gifts. And the Bible says one of his greatest gifts is prophesy.

Peace,

Allan

Prophesy: Shutting It Down

May 26, 2023 / / 2 Comments

“Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophesies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.” ~1 Thessalonians 5:19-21

We know that one of the ways we hear God is through other people. Other Christians, indwelled by God’s Holy Spirit, receive a word, get a nudge, feel a call, or otherwise hear a message from the Lord and then feel compelled to share that message with you or with me. What a blessing from God! What a great joy and benefit for all of us, to receive and to give strength, encouragement, and comfort straight from the Lord (1 Corinthians 14:3).

So why do we need the warning? If prophesy is such a blessing to the Church, why does Paul say, “Do not treat prophesies with contempt?” Don’t scoff at prophesy. Don’t blow it off. Why?

Because the sad reality is that when the gift is misused, we shut the whole thing down.

Yes, it’s true that some people will use “God told me” or “The Lord has placed it on my heart” as the ultimate trump card to push their own agenda. “The Lord told me…” How do you respond to that? Or push back? Sometimes people use God’s name to promote their own name or their own agenda. They use “God has placed this on my heart” to give more weight or credibility to their own personal opinions.

We’ve seen the abuse. I think about Oral Roberts who told his church and a national TV audience in 1987 the Lord told him he needed to collect $8-million dollars or he would die. “I’m asking you to help extend my life. We’re at the point where God’s going to call Oral Roberts home.” He collected $9.1 million in a matter of weeks. Of course, that approach doesn’t really work in Churches of Christ. If the preacher’s life is on the line, we’d be taking money out of the plate.

We’ve seen this kind of abuse. Maybe you’ve experienced something like this first hand.

But here’s the mistake we make. Whenever somebody abuses a freedom or gift from God, our tendency is to overreact and shut it down. We’re not going to use that gift or engage that practice anymore. We’ve done that with all kinds of things.

There are ways to dance that are lewd and crude and altogether unholy. So lots of Christians have decided that all dancing in sin. Nobody can dance. Even though the Bible says there is a time to dance. There’s a time to dance just for the sheer joy of it. There are ways to dance that express gratitude and serve as a worship and praise to God.

Lots of people drink too much and get drunk and make a mess of their families and even the community in which they live. So lots of Christians have said it’s wrong to drink any kind of alcohol in any amount in any circumstance. Period. Even though the Bible is clear that wine is a gift from God.

If we see the misuse of a gift from God or we experience the abuse of one of God’s freedoms, a lot of the time we will come up with rules so we don’t use that gift at all. Scripture never tells us to do that. The Bible never corrects abuse by commanding disuse. The Bible corrects abuse by teaching proper use. Every time.

The most obvious examples are in 1 Corinthians.

The Christians in Corinth are not sharing their food at the Lord’s Supper. Some people are getting drunk while other people are going hungry. The rich people are getting stuffed and the poor people are getting left out. But Paul doesn’t say stop eating together. He says when you eat together, do it like this…

Some women in the church are disrupting the service, interrupting the speakers and not taking turns. But Paul doesn’t tell the women to praying and prophesying in the assembly. He says when women pray and prophesy during worship, do it this way…

Same thing with tongues. He doesn’t say stop. He says when you speak in tongues, you should do it like this…

Same thing with prophesy.

“Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.” ~1 Corinthians 14:29

You should not be offended if you’ve heard something from the Lord and, when you share it with somebody, they want to carefully consider whether it really is from God. That’s what they’re supposed to do!

But just because somebody shares a word from the Lord and we don’t know if it really is a word from the Lord doesn’t mean we need to get rid of all prophesy. Whatever you call it, the receiving and sharing of messages from God is a gift from God to “strengthen, encourage, and comfort” the Church. So how do we do it in a healthy, God-honoring way?

A word of prophesy should always be given humbly.

“We know in part and we prophesy in part” (1 Corinthians 13:9).

Don’t say, “God told me to tell you such-and-such, thus saith the Lord!” Instead, say something like, “I think the Lord might be saying such-and-such. I would encourage you to pray and read the Bible and have a conversation with someone else and seek some confirmation on this from God.”

When you see something brand new in your Bible, something you’ve never noticed before, you pay attention to it. You honor it and thank God for it. When you hear something in a song, when you receive something from a teacher, when you are inspired by something from a sermon or a  book, you thank God for it. When a fellow Christ-follower says to you, “The Lord has told me…” or “God is pushing me to tell you…” don’t ignore it. Don’t scoff at it or blow it off. Don’t hold that in contempt or quench the Spirit’s fire. Receive it. Carefully and prayerfully consider it. And thank God for his wonderful gift.

Peace,

Allan

Prophesy: A Gift to the Church

May 25, 2023 / / 0 Comments

“Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophesies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.”  ~1 Thessalonians 5:19-21

What is the Bible calling a prophesy? And why does the Church need this kind of warning about it? Whatever is happening in this passage, the Bible says it needs to be tested. But it doesn’t need to be disregarded. It needs to be respected.

If we’re going to talk about prophesy and use the word, we should probably define it first. So let me take an honest stab at it here. Paul’s not talking about new and/or authoritative revelation. And he’s not talking about predicting the future. A New Testament definition is something like this: a divine confirmation of God’s will and God’s Word to encourage the Church. This is the way prophesy is described in every single list of spiritual gifts in the New Testament – by the way, prophesy is the only gift that’s mentioned in every list. Prophesy is a message of encouragement that comes from God, delivered through one of his people. That’s what the Bible is talking about in 1 Corinthians 14:

“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophesy.” ~1 Corinthians 14:1

Why does Scripture want us to eagerly desire the gift of prophesy? What’s so great about prophesy?

“For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. But everyone who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and comfort. The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the Church.” ~1 Corinthians 14:2-4

The Holy Spirit gift of prophesy is one of the great blessings of living in these last days. Before Christ, not every man and woman had the gift of the Holy Spirit, not every child of God had the capacity to hear God’s voice and speak truth from God to others. Moses said, “I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29) Well, now we can. All of us. All Christians have the blessed gift of the indwelling Spirit, so all Christians have the capacity to hear God and share with others what we hear.

The key to understanding the gift is knowing that prophesy is intended by God to strengthen, encourage, and comfort the disciples of Christ. It’s not a divine revelation that is equal in authority to Scripture. It is divine exhortation/encouragement that comes from God to build up the Church. Do we still need that today? As old Joe Malone used to say, “Shades of reason, neighbor! To ask the question is to answer it!” (I think he would say it every Sunday.)

Yes! For a Church of Jesus Christ, prophesy is not optional; it is essential.

What are you hearing right now from God? What are you hearing through his Word or during prayer or in worship? What is God saying to you through an article you’ve read or a conversation you’ve had with a friend or a good book you’ve just finished? Now, how are you going to share that with another follower of Jesus to encourage her or to comfort him or give him strength?

That’s prophesy. You might call it something else. Maybe you’re nervous about the word “prophesy” because of how it’s used in other places. But this is how the Bible uses the word and instructs about the gift. Whatever you call it, the Church can’t live without it.

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Oh, yeah, the Stars are playing tonight. Sigh.

Allan

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