In Matthew 28 and Mark 16, when Jesus told His followers the Father gave all authority to Him, He sent them (and us) to go and make disciples, to lay hands on the sick, to drive out demons – to advance the Kingdom of God. We see the fulfillment in the book of Acts. Those early followers of Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit, left the room where they received power, and began infiltrating the society around them. Wherever they went, the lame walked, the blind saw, buildings shook – the same signs and wonders occurred wherever they went.

Signs, wonders, miracles, healing, and deliverance have always been found in pockets of the church, even here in the United States. From what I’m told and have read, they’re widespread in the African church. But we don’t see much power here. Why not?

I don’t pretend to have even a small fraction of all the answers, but here are a few thoughts.

First, many are preaching that all that stuff passed away with the early apostles, that miracles were for an earlier “dispensation.” When that’s the nonsense Christians hear in church, of course they don’t expect to be conduits for God’s power. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17), so if it’s not preached, believers in the pews can’t develop faith for it.

Second, the American church majors on meetings. Big meetings and little meetings. We have great music, multimedia presentations, programs and clubs for every conceivable part of our churches. We try to coax moves of God with “Holy Ghost Meetings.”

But Jesus didn’t send the Holy Spirit and empower believers so we could meet together and feel goosebumps. Why did He send power? To impact a lost world around us. When will the power of God show up? Just in a meeting of Christians? No! God’s power will flow when it is needed – outside the buildings, during our everyday lives.

God’s power shows up when those who believe, young and old, new and seasoned, of all races, move out of their comfort zone and out of the “church” building to fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28 and Mark 16. He shows up when we GO!

“Me, go? That’s for the paid church staff, right? I’m just supposed to bring people to church so the church staff can minister to them, right?”

No! The Great Commission is for every believer – even the brand new one. All of us need to go, love people, lay hands on the sick expecting them to be healed, and confront and drive out demons in Jesus’ name. We need to share the good news of Jesus and make disciples of the nations, baptize them, and teach them to do what Jesus taught. We need to pray in faith for people, and ask God for boldness just like the early church did. When we take risks to love people in the name of Jesus, that’s when the power of God will be manifest.

You and I can’t let fear paralyze us. God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7).

I’m not writing this about someone else. I’m writing this about me – and about all of us in this nation who have hidden in Sunday meetings and special meetings, but haven’t put shoe leather to the Gospel.

But I’m not scolding. I’m encouraging us all to do things that require some risk. And I’m excited, because I’m seeing a generation that wants to make disciples and to love God and people, to fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, and to be available for God to pour out His power. This could be the most exciting time in the history of the Church.

Let’s not sit on the sidelines. Let’s get outside the walls of buildings and make ourselves available to God to make His power known, and to glorify His name.
Hallelujah!

It seems that many authors must believe that God stopped speaking when their particular denomination or theological tradition was founded. Think about it. Martin Luther was branded a heretic in his day. So were John and Charles Wesley, John Calvin, and William Wilberforce. Even the beloved Billy Graham has been called a heretic. Are we unwilling to acknowledge the possibility that these men received revelation from scriptures, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, that the religious leaders of their day hadn’t received. Are we unwilling to acknowledge that God still speaks, and that when He speaks it can be jarring to the doctrines people construct on the revelation of their forebears?

Let’s bring this back to the founder of our faith – Jesus. The Jewish leaders considered Jesus a heretic in His day. When He stood up in the synagogue to read from Isaiah 61, Jesus told those assembled, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21 ESV). How did they respond? They drove Him out of the synagogue and tried to throw Him off a cliff. But Jesus was bringing fresh revelation from scripture that no one had seen even after centuries of study.

I’ve also read works by Jewish scholars who assert that Jesus took passages from the Tanakh (the Old Testament) and used them out of context. Others have written the same of the writers of the gospels, Acts, and the epistles of the New Testament. Those scholars claim, for instance, that Matthew was “proof texting” each time he wrote that something occurred to fulfill what the Lord spoke through a prophet (e.g. Matthew 2:15).

Did God really stop speaking to people through the scriptures? Can the Holy Spirit not reveal something from scripture – the living Word – that wasn’t revealed to the founder of our denomination or theological tradition? Is God frozen in our doctrine, dogma, and “orthodoxy?”

Have there been excesses and error among preachers of the so-called “prosperity” or “health and wealth gospel?” Of course. But haven’t we seen excesses throughout the history of the Church?

I may deal with some of the scriptural bases for the proposition that God wants to bless His people later. But for now, I just want to know why people from different traditions can’t coalesce around Jesus instead of branding their Christian brothers and sisters as heretics and refusing to have fellowship? What if instead of going on the scholarly attack we actually shared a meal with someone who is expounding something from scripture that we don’t recognize in our tradition, and really considered whether they’re hearing something new and fresh from the Holy Spirit?

What if we treated fellow believers with respect, and gave them the benefit of the doubt that they’re honestly seeking truth? And if indeed there is error in their teaching, what if we offered correction face to face, gently and lovingly, as scripture teaches?

If we did that, we might actually start being the Body of Christ, unified around the Savior. Now there’s a radical thought.

I’m thrilled that this is now part of the agenda for the City. It’s a discussion that should be happening in every neighborhood, village, town, and city in the United States. And those of us who are serious about following Jesus need to be the prophetic voices that bring the issue to the attention of our neighbors and those in authority, and push for a compassionate solution.

Why? Because it’s the heart of Jesus. If we are really the Body of Christ, then we need to react to need as He did – especially if it’s in our own back yard.

What’s this have to do with the Good Samaritan? Remember that the “Good Samaritan” was the third person to encounter the guy in the ditch. Before he got there, the religious leaders – the ones you would expect to act with compassion – had passed by without doing anything to help. The Samaritan, on the other hand, was from a tribe that didn’t have a good relationship with Jews like the guy in the ditch. And when the Samaritan acted, he had to inconvenience himself, spend money on someone he didn’t know, and actually put his hands on a guy who was beaten and bleeding, putting him on his sweet ride (a donkey). That’s loving a neighbor.

So as followers of Jesus, let’s go and do the same thing. Let’s not be paralyzed by fear or indifference. Let’s reach out to people that some of the community – and even people in the church – might think are a little scary. Let’s do it not just by giving money to a ministry to the homeless (though we should do that), and certainly not by just paying our taxes and saying it’s the government’s job. Let’s go out and do something radical – love all our neighbors directly, looking them in the eye and building a relationship, and making sure they have what they need.

I’ll close with a passage from Isaiah 58:6-7 (ESV) that should touch each of us to the heart:

“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Reconciliation is defined as “to make no longer opposed; to become friendly after estrangement or to re-establish friendly relations between two people.”

The greatest act of reconciliation occurred on the cross of Jesus.

Think of the great narrative of mankind’s relationship to God. Adam and Eve had an intimate relationship with their Creator in the Garden of Eden. They sinned by believing the deceiving serpent and transgressing the one “don’t” God had given them. They were driven from Eden, and a separation occurred from God. Isaiah 59:2 puts it this way:

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.

God spent the next several millenia making covenant with people – Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and with the nation of Israel – all to patch the relationship He had with mankind. Although God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy (Psalm 103:8), mankind’s persistent sin kindled God’s just wrath. (Romans 1:18, Romans 2:4-12). And that wrath will be eternal.

But wrath is not God’s best for mankind. In the body of Jesus, on his cross, the penalty for mankind’s sin was paid, and the just wrath of God was satisfied. In the cross, God reconciled Himself to mankind (Romans 5:6-11 NKJV):

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

By the cross of Jesus, God reconciled us to Himself, and for those who receive the gift of salvation, He views us as holy, blameless, and above reproach! He didn’t just reconcile us a little bit, but all the way! Here’s a passage from Colossians 1:19-23 (NKJV):

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

In fact, the Lord tells us in 1 John 4:12-19 that because of that reconciliation, and deliverance from His wrath, those of us who are in Christ Jesus can be bold in the day of judgment! How awesome is that?

So to those of you who are my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, rejoice this Resurrection Sunday in the reconciliation of the cross. Your sin has been nailed to the cross, God’s just wrath and the just requirements of the law have been satisfied, and your God views you as holy, blameless, and above reproach. He isn’t mad at you. Let me say that again. He isn’t mad at you. Instead, He’s taken you aboard His team and made you a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

So stop moping around. Enjoy fellowship with your Father like Adam and Eve did. Talk with Him. Walk around with Him. Listen to Him. Love Him. Enjoy His love. And enjoy His presence.

And fulfill your call – to become a minister of reconciliation!

Unfortunately, to some, the gifts of the Spirit have become entertainment or church building gimmicks. But that’s not what the gifts of the Spirit are for.

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul made it clear that the gifts are to help people, and are always to be exercised in love. The gifts are not spiritual merit badges, and in meetings should only be exercised in decency and order. Like a laser is focused light with great power, so properly exercised spiritual gifts are tightly focused to bring great light and power for the person we’re serving.

From reading the book of Acts, it’s pretty clear to me that the gifts of the Spirit are to be exercised mostly outside the walls of the church, and not with a lot of fanfare. The Holy Spirit will give us a word of knowledge to identify what a co-worker is going through, and a word of wisdom to help her sort through confusing options and make the right decision. A prophetic word will bring encouragement or comfort to a discouraged or distraught neighbor. A hand of healing laid on a complete stranger will bring healing. All of this will help the person we’re serving and bring glory to the Lord.

Let’s be eager for the Holy Spirit to deploy the gifts of the Spirit through us. But let’s also always strive to exercise the gifts in love, for the purpose of serving someone else, to do it in decently and in proper order, and to bring glory to the Lord and not ourselves. If we are so-aligned with His purposes, the Lord can use us to do miraculous things!

I’ve read through the Bible several times (though not as many as my awesome wife!). Each time I’m struck by how the Bible reveals the character of God in splendid and vivid glory.

It’s almost impossible to read through the Bible without sensing that God is not a God of chaos, but a God of order. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 14:33, the Apostle Paul by the Holy Spirit writes that “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.”

Look at how God created the known universe. If you look at pictures from the Hubble telescope, you can see how vast and complex it is, all held together by an exacting order. Or to go the other way, if you look into the minute details of a human cell, you can see the extraordinary order its Creator conceived.

What if the order of our solar system were disrupted just a bit? Earth would either freeze or be incinerated, and all life would perish.

We can see one consequence of the disruption of cellular order. For instance,cancer results when cells careen out of balance.

The dimensions of the temple. The ceremonial and moral laws and commandments. The descriptions of the land to be divided by the tribes of Israel. All of it is exacting to the minutest detail.

So how does this apply to us? As we read through the Bible, we catch both broad and fine brush strokes in the picture of how God wants people to interact with Him, with each other, and with His creation. If all were in order, without sin, the Earth and its societies would flourish.

But even though many don’t want to talk about it, my sin and the sin of all people has disrupted God’s intended order. In fact, that’s where death came from (Romans 5:12). To over simplify, sin is just doing things the way we think is right instead of the way the God who created us and our world says is right.

So lying, stealing, cheating, and greed disrupts order. Disregarding the life of the unborn and the born upsets that order. Making sexual unions – often in serial fashion – outside the order of one man and one woman, in marriage, disrupts order. Oppressing the poor, the weak, and the sojourner disrupts God’s order. The consequences are written in history texts and daily blogs and newspapers, including countless wars, financial crises, physical and mental illnesses, spiritual poverty, and grinding physical poverty. The Bible calls it a curse.

Sin – doing things our way instead of God’s way – disrupted God’s ideal order. Thank God He presented us with a Savior, Jesus, to restore order for those who will believe, proclaim, and follow Him. The result? Release from the penalty of sin, being set aside and made right with God (sanctification and justification), victory over the power of sin by the Holy Spirit, redemption from the curse, and a covenant blessing, that’s what. Not bad.

So what should we do? “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” That’s the ground-zero starting point.

But receiving God’s order in all areas of life as we see in the Bible is also critically important. How shall we live? By faith, and by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

God is the God of order. I just want to fit in my place.

In the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, we read this:

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23-25).

In this time when darkness is becoming darker, and the light in the Church is becoming lighter, and as the time of Jesus’ return grows closer, we need to gather. It’s not just to meet. It’s to fellowship in the Holy Spirit, to encourage each other, to get instruction from the Master, to train for our mission, and then to go be the Church. It shouldn’t just be on Sunday, but it should include Sunday.

I hear so many excuses. “I got hurt in the church.” “I don’t get anything out of church.” “The church is full of hypocrites.” “I don’t have my act together and the people may judge me.” “Sunday is the only day I have to rest.”

Those excuses never really cut it, but especially now, as we see the Day approaching. If you got hurt, forgive the person who hurt you, and get over it. If you’re not getting anything out of church, it’s probably because you’re not putting anything into it. If you’re stunned that the church isn’t full of perfect people, then you don’t understand the gospel – everyone needs a savior, and His name is Jesus. If your act isn’t together, then you’ll be in good company. And if you’re too busy to gather with other believers on Sunday, you’re just too busy.

I’m going to be blunt: I think it comes down to indifference, laziness, selfishness, and a lack of commitment to the Lord and His mission.

To me, it doesn’t matter how many people show up on Sunday. I’m not concerned with numbers. I’m concerned with people being in their place. I just want every believer to be in the local body of believers he or she is called to be in – not just to fellowship, but to roll up his or her proverbial sleeves and work for the Kingdom!

Each Sunday before service, we pray for all the churches in Athens County and for their pastors. We’ll continue to do that. And part of that prayer is that believers will shake off their lethargy, get to church, and become part of a unified Body of Christ. How about joining us in that prayer? And how about encouraging someone who is sleeping or reading the paper or shopping or watching television to get up and go to church with you. Not just our church. But a good church.

As we see the day approaching, let’s meet together – to further the Kingdom of God!

In ministry, if we’re consistent and faithful in small things, the Lord will give us the opportunity to be faithful in big things. In financial matters, if we’re consistent and faithful to tithe, sow, and be a good steward of what we’ve been given, the Lord will entrust us with greater things. In anything the Lord gives us to do, we need to be consistent and faithful.

If we can’t be faithful in even little things, but just yearn for the big things, we’ll never get the opportunity. And the truth is that if we’re not faithful in the little things, we’d be unfaithful and inconsistent if we were ever given the opportunity to do big things.

As we’ve begun our trek through the Bible in a year, we’ve seen how important consistency is. Those who served in the tabernacle received strict instructions from the Lord, and they had to do the same thing, over and over, day after day, month after month, year after year. And it was in that tabernacle that the power of God manifested.

Through my life, I’ve watched people whose lives prospered in all areas because they were consistent and faithful. I’ve seen far more people who encountered great difficulty because they were on and off, in and out, hot and cold – inconsistent and unfaithful.

We all need to take stock of our lives. As for me, Lord forgive me for inconsistency and unfaithfulness, and help me by your grace to grow to be more and more consistent and faithful in everything you give me to do.

For in consistency lies the power.

As Christians, though, every day is love day. And we know there are three main Greek words used to describe different varieties of love the New Testament: eros (erotic/romantic), phileo (brotherly), and agape (selfless, giving, God-like love).

God is love. (1 John 4:8, 16). And love is from God. (1 John 4:7). In both instances, the reference is to the selfless, giving, God-like agape love. It’s the kind of love Jesus modeled when he humbled himself and washed his disciples’ feet. He told them, and us, to be that humble and giving. (John 13:1-17).

As Christians, we’re commanded to love. In fact, right after he washed his followers’ feet, Jesus told then, and his followers now, that love is how people will know we’re really his followers. (John 13:34-35).

Let me say that again. People will know we’re followers of Jesus because of how we love. Not that we carry Bibles. Not that we go to church. Not that we raise our hands and sing. Not that we exercise the gifts of the Spirit. Not that we have a fish or bumper sticker on our car. While all of that is good, it’s not enough. People will know we’re followers of Jesus because of how we love.

The best description of that God-like love I know of is from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 in the Amplified Bible. Let’s measure our love by this, and not by a greeting card or what a talk show host or self-help counselor – or even our best friend – says.

Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. (Not arrogant – ESV). It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end].

The focus of the current political campaign has been “jobs.” Seems reasonable, right? People need work so they can feed their families. Many, even many evangelicals, think that should be the sole focus, and that “social issues” are just side issues obsessively raised by knuckle-dragging, backward-looking, unenlightened, mean-spirited, narrow-minded zealots.

But could righteousness or unrighteousness, obedience or disobedience, and honor of God or dishonor of God, actually determine the course of a nation? Do the words of Jesus express supernatural, spiritual laws as inviolable as the laws of physics? Could a radical return to God actually be the best economic policy the nation could pursue?

Could changing our individual focus from greed and self-satisfaction to concern for the poor, the homeless, the widow, and the orphan advance our nation’s economic interest. Would aligning our view of the value of unborn human life, and of the proper context for sexuality, with God’s plan instead of what we consider “enlightened” change the fortunes of the nation?

In other words, could obedience actually produce prosperity?

I’ll close with the word of the Lord spoken through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 1:18-20 (ESV):

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”