Six Prophetic Words: Message 9
Last Sunday…
• Introduced the ROLE of miracles in demonstrating the Presence of God’s Kingdom
• Showed the PURPOSE of miracles in Jesus’ ministry – compassion, need-meeting, demonstrating of God’s glory
• Introduced the idea that Christians are capable of doing the miraculous works of God!
• Showed how in John 14:12 – Jesus said that we do even GREATER THINGS than He did!
• And we made a CHOICE – a decision of the will – to BELIEVE
Believing that God could do miracles in and through us is a vital step in our maturity in Christ!
In Mark’s Gospel, we hear an amazing statement of Jesus: (Mark 16:15)
“He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” Mark 16:15-18, NIV.
• Jesus speaks to our mission: Bring good news!
• And Jesus speaks to the results of receiving the good news: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved…”
• But salvation isn’t the only thing that happens when we come to BELIEVE: There will be KINGDOM SIGNS that accompany faith – deliverance, tongues, immunity from poison, healing gifts – are but a few!
While this may be not yet be in our own personal experience, it was the normal experience of the early Christians:
• Several times believers were released from prison by angels! (Acts 5:17-25, 12:1-17, 16:25-40)
• Evangelist Philip was transported bodily from Gaza to Azotus – a distance of 24 miles! (Acts 8:39-40)
• Apostle Paul was bit by a deadly snake, but suffered no harm! (Acts 28:3-6)
One of the reasons that we don’t see more of this miraculous activity in the Western World is that somewhere along the road, Christians stopped relying and depending upon God to do miracles, and instead we have learned to rely upon our own personal strengths, intellect, reason, science, medicine. In other words: Christians in the last 100 years have turned away from Holy Spirit power and relaced with Soulish Power.
In the Robert Redford movie, The Natural, his character – Roy Hobbs has used the same bat “wonder boy” for his entire life. At the climax of the movie, in the championship game, his bat shatters. This is the critical moment in his life – when all that he has relied upon comes crashing down. What is he to do? Will he stay in the game? He calls out to the batboy: “Hey, Bobby – go pick me out a winner!” The true test – the beginning of redemption, actually starts when all of our bats break and we can no longer rely upon what we’ve used all of our lives.
The real journey of faith begins when the false self fails!
In my journey as a Christian – I used to believe that with all the right techniques, right programs, right staffing – that the church would grow and increase in numbers. And perhaps some churches do increase in numbers given all the ‘right’ ingredients – but numbers alone does not mean that lives are being changed by Christ!
When we started SUMMIT Church in 1998 – we had ALL the right ingredients – and the church grew in numbers. BUT when we no longer had the resources to keep paying for the right ingredients – then things changed.
This culminated last year when God spoke to me and said: “You don’t need buildings and you don’t need programs – you need Me. TRUST ME. I will build my church, my way.”
God did not change this church to punish it – He changed it to prepare it for greater works!
And what is God’s way? ACTS 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8, NIV.
• God’s way is that we – as believers – will minister in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And as we minister in the power of the Holy Spirit – God will do miracles. That is not my word – it is HIS PROMISE!
All of our bats are broken. Our so-called strengths will fail us – if not now, then later. What is our choice – to quit? – to run and hide? – to white-knuckle it? – or to say: “Hey, Bobby, go pick me out a winner?” “Hey, God, show me your way!”
So – what must we do in order to see this become reality in our lives?
We must be SPIRITUALLY PREPARED.
God isn’t going to do the miraculous in and through you, until He has prepared you. You must go through a process of development, of refining, or retraining. You must allow God to restructure your priorities, your thinking, your activities – so that you can be a suitable tool in His hands.
I am here – as your pastor – to be used by God as a tool of preparation. Ephesians 4 tells us that as a pastor I am to…
“…prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:12-13, NIV.
So – in my desire to serve the Lord and to prepare you – here are some action steps to become spiritually prepared for the miraculous:
Spiritual Preparation for the Miraculous:
1. Fully Investigate What the Bible Says about Miracles.
• If we don’t know what God’s intentions are – than how can we involve ourselves with Him? We have to discover what His Word teaches us about miracles!
• Yet – if it is indeed God’s plan that you be involved with His miraculous work – isn’t that worth putting some effort into? Isn’t it worth studying the Bible, reading what other Christians have discovered in their journey? Isn’t it worthy of your time, energy and effort so that you can know? Which has more value – knowing God’s will or knowing who got sent home on American Idol?
• Fully investigate what the Bible says about miracles!
The Apostle Paul wrote his young disciple Timothy these words: 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16, 17, NIV.
Dig in – read, study, pray. Ask God to reveal His plans for the miraculous! To help you study deeper, both on your own, and in groups – we’ve created a place on the Internet where you can download all of the recent teachings from Sunday’s and from Home Groups – I have finally found a Godly reason for an internet site! www.summitchurchteachings.blogspot.com
A second part of God’s preparation process:
2. Fall Passionately in Love With Jesus.
Miracles, signs, wonders, tongues, prophecies – all serve to point people to Christ! The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help you move closer to Jesus!
• You don’t study the Bible for the sake of knowing the Bible – you study the Bible so that you’ll fall in love with Jesus!
• You don’t seek miracles for the sake of miracles – you seek them so that people will fall in love Jesus!
• You don’t seek signs and wonders for the sake of signs and wonders – you seek them so that people will fall in love with Jesus!
Do you wonder why your life isn’t as effective as you know it can be? Do you wonder why you aren’t experiencing God’s power? Do you wonder why you feel so disconnected with other Christians?
Maybe it is because you haven’t fallen passionately in love with Jesus!
Jesus said:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” John 15:9, NIV.
How much time have you spent – focusing, thinking, enjoying – the love of Christ?
Listen to David’s passion:
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalms 42:1, 2, NIV.
“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalms 63:1, NIV.
“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” Psalms 27:4,
Do you hear the passion? Can you escape his deep passionate love for God? This isn’t about intellect – this is PASSION!
In fact – the passion extends to involve the body…
“Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp.” Psalms 149:3, NIV.
Someone with a passionate love relationship with Jesus isn’t afraid to show it! The Bible talks a lot about believers SHOUTING, SINGING, LIFTING UP OUR HANDS IN PRAISE, DANCING, TREMBLING, KNEELING, FALLING FACE DOWN, JUMPING – Why? Because when you love Jesus passionately – you just can’t hold it in!
Some of you might say: “Well, I’m a quiet reserved person.” – And certainly quiet and reserved people can love Jesus passionately! The most important thing isn’t HOW that love is demonstrated, but that you are growing in your passion for Christ!
Even as we seek for God to work in power – we must first seek Christ.
It is easy to put good things above the best thing.
• It is a good thing to study the Bible. It is a better thing to love Jesus.
• It is a good thing to serve the church. It is a better thing to love Jesus.
• It is a good thing to seek the miraculous. It is a better thing to love Jesus.
Are you passionately in love with Jesus?
Is there an emotion associated with your faith? If there isn’t – something has gone wrong. Your emotions aren’t evil. Your emotions aren’t bad. To cut off from emotions is to be operating at a deficit.
Do we want to fall passionately in love with Jesus? LET’S CRY OUT TO HIM TO DEVELOP THIS IN US!
God – give us a passion for Christ! God – give us Holy Spirit filled emotions for your Son! God – grant us freedom of expression of our passion for Christ!
3. Find Others Who Share Your Passion.
We need others to walk with in order to move into the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot do this alone. We need others who share the same passion to share our lives with.
• Our relationships strength us:
“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17, NIV.
• Our relationships expand us:
“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
1 Corinthians 12:7,
• Our relationships encourage us:
“All the believers were one in heart and mind.” Acts 4:32, NIV.
We need Christian fellowship because our unity of passion helps us to move into God’s Spirit. In fact, if you spend most of your optional time with unbelievers, you’ll be dragged down by them.
Paul wrote:
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” 2 Corinthians 6:14-15
Why? Different passions.
The people in this church who are growing in their passion for Christ are doing so – in large part – because they are connected through home groups with others who hunger for the same thing.
• I call our home groups “laboratories” because there we can experiment in a safe environment with the activity of the Holy Spirit.
• I call our home groups “nurseries” because in them, small steps of faith are recognized, honored, encouraged and celebrated!
CONCLUSION:
Miracles occur when we – God’s people – are willing to surrender our best – in favor of allowing God to do His work in and through us.
We must be prepared.
• We need to know what God’s word says.
• We need to fall passionately in love with Jesus.
• We need to be with each other.
Enough talk about miracles. Let’s ask God to work them.
• Introduced the ROLE of miracles in demonstrating the Presence of God’s Kingdom
• Showed the PURPOSE of miracles in Jesus’ ministry – compassion, need-meeting, demonstrating of God’s glory
• Introduced the idea that Christians are capable of doing the miraculous works of God!
• Showed how in John 14:12 – Jesus said that we do even GREATER THINGS than He did!
• And we made a CHOICE – a decision of the will – to BELIEVE
Believing that God could do miracles in and through us is a vital step in our maturity in Christ!
In Mark’s Gospel, we hear an amazing statement of Jesus: (Mark 16:15)
“He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” Mark 16:15-18, NIV.
• Jesus speaks to our mission: Bring good news!
• And Jesus speaks to the results of receiving the good news: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved…”
• But salvation isn’t the only thing that happens when we come to BELIEVE: There will be KINGDOM SIGNS that accompany faith – deliverance, tongues, immunity from poison, healing gifts – are but a few!
While this may be not yet be in our own personal experience, it was the normal experience of the early Christians:
• Several times believers were released from prison by angels! (Acts 5:17-25, 12:1-17, 16:25-40)
• Evangelist Philip was transported bodily from Gaza to Azotus – a distance of 24 miles! (Acts 8:39-40)
• Apostle Paul was bit by a deadly snake, but suffered no harm! (Acts 28:3-6)
One of the reasons that we don’t see more of this miraculous activity in the Western World is that somewhere along the road, Christians stopped relying and depending upon God to do miracles, and instead we have learned to rely upon our own personal strengths, intellect, reason, science, medicine. In other words: Christians in the last 100 years have turned away from Holy Spirit power and relaced with Soulish Power.
In the Robert Redford movie, The Natural, his character – Roy Hobbs has used the same bat “wonder boy” for his entire life. At the climax of the movie, in the championship game, his bat shatters. This is the critical moment in his life – when all that he has relied upon comes crashing down. What is he to do? Will he stay in the game? He calls out to the batboy: “Hey, Bobby – go pick me out a winner!” The true test – the beginning of redemption, actually starts when all of our bats break and we can no longer rely upon what we’ve used all of our lives.
The real journey of faith begins when the false self fails!
In my journey as a Christian – I used to believe that with all the right techniques, right programs, right staffing – that the church would grow and increase in numbers. And perhaps some churches do increase in numbers given all the ‘right’ ingredients – but numbers alone does not mean that lives are being changed by Christ!
When we started SUMMIT Church in 1998 – we had ALL the right ingredients – and the church grew in numbers. BUT when we no longer had the resources to keep paying for the right ingredients – then things changed.
This culminated last year when God spoke to me and said: “You don’t need buildings and you don’t need programs – you need Me. TRUST ME. I will build my church, my way.”
God did not change this church to punish it – He changed it to prepare it for greater works!
And what is God’s way? ACTS 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8, NIV.
• God’s way is that we – as believers – will minister in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And as we minister in the power of the Holy Spirit – God will do miracles. That is not my word – it is HIS PROMISE!
All of our bats are broken. Our so-called strengths will fail us – if not now, then later. What is our choice – to quit? – to run and hide? – to white-knuckle it? – or to say: “Hey, Bobby, go pick me out a winner?” “Hey, God, show me your way!”
So – what must we do in order to see this become reality in our lives?
We must be SPIRITUALLY PREPARED.
God isn’t going to do the miraculous in and through you, until He has prepared you. You must go through a process of development, of refining, or retraining. You must allow God to restructure your priorities, your thinking, your activities – so that you can be a suitable tool in His hands.
I am here – as your pastor – to be used by God as a tool of preparation. Ephesians 4 tells us that as a pastor I am to…
“…prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:12-13, NIV.
So – in my desire to serve the Lord and to prepare you – here are some action steps to become spiritually prepared for the miraculous:
Spiritual Preparation for the Miraculous:
1. Fully Investigate What the Bible Says about Miracles.
• If we don’t know what God’s intentions are – than how can we involve ourselves with Him? We have to discover what His Word teaches us about miracles!
• Yet – if it is indeed God’s plan that you be involved with His miraculous work – isn’t that worth putting some effort into? Isn’t it worth studying the Bible, reading what other Christians have discovered in their journey? Isn’t it worthy of your time, energy and effort so that you can know? Which has more value – knowing God’s will or knowing who got sent home on American Idol?
• Fully investigate what the Bible says about miracles!
The Apostle Paul wrote his young disciple Timothy these words: 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16, 17, NIV.
Dig in – read, study, pray. Ask God to reveal His plans for the miraculous! To help you study deeper, both on your own, and in groups – we’ve created a place on the Internet where you can download all of the recent teachings from Sunday’s and from Home Groups – I have finally found a Godly reason for an internet site! www.summitchurchteachings.blogspot.com
A second part of God’s preparation process:
2. Fall Passionately in Love With Jesus.
Miracles, signs, wonders, tongues, prophecies – all serve to point people to Christ! The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help you move closer to Jesus!
• You don’t study the Bible for the sake of knowing the Bible – you study the Bible so that you’ll fall in love with Jesus!
• You don’t seek miracles for the sake of miracles – you seek them so that people will fall in love Jesus!
• You don’t seek signs and wonders for the sake of signs and wonders – you seek them so that people will fall in love with Jesus!
Do you wonder why your life isn’t as effective as you know it can be? Do you wonder why you aren’t experiencing God’s power? Do you wonder why you feel so disconnected with other Christians?
Maybe it is because you haven’t fallen passionately in love with Jesus!
Jesus said:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” John 15:9, NIV.
How much time have you spent – focusing, thinking, enjoying – the love of Christ?
Listen to David’s passion:
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalms 42:1, 2, NIV.
“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalms 63:1, NIV.
“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” Psalms 27:4,
Do you hear the passion? Can you escape his deep passionate love for God? This isn’t about intellect – this is PASSION!
In fact – the passion extends to involve the body…
“Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp.” Psalms 149:3, NIV.
Someone with a passionate love relationship with Jesus isn’t afraid to show it! The Bible talks a lot about believers SHOUTING, SINGING, LIFTING UP OUR HANDS IN PRAISE, DANCING, TREMBLING, KNEELING, FALLING FACE DOWN, JUMPING – Why? Because when you love Jesus passionately – you just can’t hold it in!
Some of you might say: “Well, I’m a quiet reserved person.” – And certainly quiet and reserved people can love Jesus passionately! The most important thing isn’t HOW that love is demonstrated, but that you are growing in your passion for Christ!
Even as we seek for God to work in power – we must first seek Christ.
It is easy to put good things above the best thing.
• It is a good thing to study the Bible. It is a better thing to love Jesus.
• It is a good thing to serve the church. It is a better thing to love Jesus.
• It is a good thing to seek the miraculous. It is a better thing to love Jesus.
Are you passionately in love with Jesus?
Is there an emotion associated with your faith? If there isn’t – something has gone wrong. Your emotions aren’t evil. Your emotions aren’t bad. To cut off from emotions is to be operating at a deficit.
Do we want to fall passionately in love with Jesus? LET’S CRY OUT TO HIM TO DEVELOP THIS IN US!
God – give us a passion for Christ! God – give us Holy Spirit filled emotions for your Son! God – grant us freedom of expression of our passion for Christ!
3. Find Others Who Share Your Passion.
We need others to walk with in order to move into the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot do this alone. We need others who share the same passion to share our lives with.
• Our relationships strength us:
“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17, NIV.
• Our relationships expand us:
“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
1 Corinthians 12:7,
• Our relationships encourage us:
“All the believers were one in heart and mind.” Acts 4:32, NIV.
We need Christian fellowship because our unity of passion helps us to move into God’s Spirit. In fact, if you spend most of your optional time with unbelievers, you’ll be dragged down by them.
Paul wrote:
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” 2 Corinthians 6:14-15
Why? Different passions.
The people in this church who are growing in their passion for Christ are doing so – in large part – because they are connected through home groups with others who hunger for the same thing.
• I call our home groups “laboratories” because there we can experiment in a safe environment with the activity of the Holy Spirit.
• I call our home groups “nurseries” because in them, small steps of faith are recognized, honored, encouraged and celebrated!
CONCLUSION:
Miracles occur when we – God’s people – are willing to surrender our best – in favor of allowing God to do His work in and through us.
We must be prepared.
• We need to know what God’s word says.
• We need to fall passionately in love with Jesus.
• We need to be with each other.
Enough talk about miracles. Let’s ask God to work them.
posted by Doug Love at 9:26 AM
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