Pastor Bob’s Blog

Imagine yourself meeting with Jesus after he was raised from the dead. You’ve seen him being scourged. You’ve watched spikes being driven into his hands and feet. You’ve seen his body hanging on the tree, and have seen him breathe his last breath after crying out, “It is finished!” You’ve watched his body being removed, and you know it was interred behind an immovable stone. And you’ve waited and wondered.

Then you hear that he’s alive again. You run to meet him. He’s alive! Some, including Thomas, have doubted. But there he is. Bigger than life. Bigger than death.

You just want to celebrate. You want to enjoy his company and the company of his other followers. You want to sing a few songs, tell some stories, hear him teach.

But he seems serious, driven, impatient. You’ve seen him like this before. There’s something on his mind. And he starts to speak.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. (Matthew 28:16-20 NKJV)

Jesus did all he did to fulfill the mission the Father gave him. But he left a body behind. His Church. And he sent it on a mission.

Read through the book of Acts. These people went. They gathered in Jerusalem as he told them, just long enough to pick up the power of the Holy Spirit. Then they spread out and made disciples. People were healed and delivered. Jesus spread through them exponentially throughout their world. Why? They had seen him. They had been with Jesus. They’d seen a guy who had been dead, but was raised up and at with them. When he told them to proclaim the good news, that was no problem! They were excited to do it!

We’ve become people who meet, and think that’s all we’re supposed to do. Sunday meetings. Conferences. We have books, CD’s, mp3′s. We fill ourselves with knowledge, and we think it’s enough. It’s not. Jesus didn’t just send his early followers on a mission. Jesus sent us on the same mission. It’s to continue HIS mission.

We’ve even met to talk about going. We’ve sung songs about going. We’ve heard from people who went, and have told us wonderful stories about what it’s like to go. But we’re entering an era in which the Church has to shake off fear and complacency and just GO.

We have a mission. It’s to continue the Master’s mission. But we can’t do it just hanging around the place where we meet. We have to go. Out of our comfort zone. Using the power of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, the love of God, and the Name of Jesus. We have the best good news to proclaim. Let’s get it done!

The word the Lord directed me to deliver for 2011 and beyond makes it clear the Church has to stop being just a meeting place and start being Jesus in our culture.

I’ve been re-studying the book of Acts. People refer to it as the Acts of the Apostles or the story of the early church. It’s really the acts of the Holy Spirit, and the “early church” was just the same Body of Christ we’re a part of but set in an earlier era.

The Church today should operate more like the Church of the early followers of Jesus. They gathered regularly to worship, to be equipped, and to encourage each other. The gifts (manifestations) of the Holy Spirit were present. But those early disciples didn’t just have meetings. They met to be recharged for ministry outside the meeting place. And when they went outside the meeting place to share the good news of Jesus, signs and wonders followed.

Today I see some churches that are filled with lively worship, encouraging and solid Bible teaching, and manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but all of that good stuff stays bottled up in the building. Other churches are passionate about the Great Commission and engaging the culture around them, but they deny that the miraculous workings of the Lord are for today.

We should be seeing both. We should gather for life-changing worship, fiery and encouraging preaching, and manifestations of the Spirit, but we should be taking what we learn, the power of the Spirit, and the good news of Jesus to people we encounter. We should be focused on engaging the culture and being missional, but as in the “early church,” we should expect healings and miracles to manifest in the name of Jesus as we encounter people.

I’m hungry to see the Body of Christ do the greater works Jesus prophesied in John 14:12 – just as our brothers and sisters did in the earliest years of the Church. We can’t do it if we just meet, and we can’t do it if we just go. We need to meet, we need to go, and we need to expect the power of the Holy Spirit to demonstrate signs and wonders as we minister. That is when we will be mirroring the ministry of Jesus, who constantly engaged ordinary people and made Himself available for miracles to occur through Him.

Let’s be the Body of Jesus. Let’s GO in the power of the Spirit!

I was struck today with this question: If the early followers of Jesus came to visit my church, would they recognize it? Would they see it as an extension of the Church they knew?

I’ve read the book of Acts more times than I can count. I’m reading it again. I’m struck by how outward looking, bold, and power-filled those who were devoted to Jesus were.

Think about it for a moment. The leaders of the temple bound and beat them for proclaiming the name of Jesus, and commanded them to stop. They didn’t. Instead, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer persecution for Jesus. They prayed for even greater boldness to proclaim the name of Jesus. They asked for a healing revival to break out. The Lord must have been happy because His power shook the place! Everyone went out and proclaimed the name of Jesus with boldness!

Miracles and healing were expected. Peter and John walked by the Beautiful Gate of the temple, found a lame beggar. They ordered him to get up in the name of Jesus, expecting him to be healed. He was miraculously healed, got up, and danced.

Throughout the book of Acts, we read that thousands were added to the church. And we’re part of the same Church – just a few centuries later.

We should be doing the same things as our early brethren – and more. But we won’t see any of it if we’re inward looking. We won’t see it if we’re paralyzed by fear of failure or criticism. The Church will be weak if we don’t both BELIEVE and DO what the Bible tells us we can and should do.

Let’s really live by faith and not by our senses and experience. Let’s be really evangelical, boldly proclaiming the lordship of Jesus, and inviting people to join us. Let’s believe what the Lord says in Mark 16:17-18. Let’s have some faith in the authority of the name of Jesus, and in that name let’s cast out demons and lay hands on the sick expecting them to be healed. Let’s operate in the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.

Let’s stop entertaining ourselves on Sundays, and secluding ourselves in little enclaves. Instead, let’s break out of our safe houses, go into all the world, and let the Lord use us to minister His love and His power to the world around us – just like He did in the Church years recorded in the book of Acts.

I want my church to be a place the early disciples would recognize and feel comfortable in. How about you?

This past Sunday, we were blessed to have Prophet Jim Stevens, and his wife, Apostle Judy Stevens, minister in the church. Prophet Jim chose 1 Corinthians 13 as his text, and challenged us to look at it as the “prophecy chapter,” and not just the “love chapter.” The message will be added soon to our podcast; I encourage you to listen.

Through the Apostle Paul, most particularly in the 12th, 13th, and 14th chapters of 1 Corinthians, the Holy Spirit admonishes the Church to operate in the gifts (manifestations) of the Holy Spirit. He also instructs us as to how to operate in the gifts of the Spirit in an orderly and powerful way. The Body of Christ needs to heed the admonition of the Holy Spirit!

Let’s all make ourselves available to the Holy Spirit for Him to minister through us. All of the gifts operate by faith, and MUST be powered and led by love. Let’s get to it!