Have you noticed the changes in the church?
Aug0
Some of you may have heard about or noticed a transition in the church–a “new breed” of Christians that are arising (especially out of the pentecostal type churches). Well, there are actually two transitions: some of the church is beginning to adopt New Age doctrine (the emergent church), others of the church are moving into a greater move of the Holy Spirit (we’ll need this outpouring in order to fight the spiritual battle at hand; Acts 2:17-21).
The two transitions seem alike without prudent discernment of the spirits. Many in the fundamentalist churches are confused or mad about the changes. The high percentage of Christians throughout the denominations, I think, haven’t even noticed.
I want to make it clear that the Lord freed me FROM New Age thinking. As a result, I recognize it seeping into the church more clearly than most, and I’m not about to fall back into that movement. That said, God has power (much more power than the enemy!) and He wants to work through His people as a demonstration of His glory. I’m sure I’ll discuss both sides in more detail in the future.
What the church needs is to be fully opened to the Holy Spirit, and fully closed to the multiple deceptive spirits.
Fortunately we know that when we ask God the Father to reveal Himself to us that we may know and love Him more, He will not give us deceptive spirits but His Holy Spirit in abundance (Mat 7:11, Luke 11:13). As long as we’re plugged into the right God, we’ll have the right Spirit. If you love the Lord, there is no reason to fear what He has for you–He loves you too!
On the other hand, some personalities are so good at being open to new things, that they willingly trust and want whatever friends, family, pastors, etc advertise as being excellent ways to connect to God. When it comes to spiritual matters, we should never trust anything but the Word of God (Psalm 146:3, Jer 9:4-6, Mic 7:5, Acts 17:11, Prov 3:5). There are already many false prophets in the world, so it’s very necessary that we test every spirit to know whether or not it’s from God (1 John 4:1-6 and 2 Cor 11:3-4, 13-15).
Review of Real Church: Does it Exist? Can I find it? by Larry Crabb
Aug0
I don’t recommend Real Church, although the title certainly caught my attention. While Crabb asks very relevant questions with interesting discussion and surprising vulnerability, his vision of the ideal church misses the mark. Despite all the struggling variations of churches, it seems he wants to create yet another one–a better model, perhaps, but still another man-made plan of action.
What it comes down to for me is that church isn’t ‘working’ because the Presence of God (the Holy Spirit) isn’t truly invited. We’ve reduced Jesus and His gospel to what is humanly possible. It isn’t possible for us to walk the way Jesus commissioned us to walk–that’s why we need Him to lead the church. We’ve got to give up our control, stop complaining things aren’t right, and start giving our hearts to the Lord that we may know Him, hear Him and follow Him.
I admire Crabb’s honesty and his fervor to want a desire for the things of God, but his writing doesn’t reflect the leading of the Spirit. Crabb has excellent insights into many of the church’s problems, he just doesn’t connect that the full invitation of the Holy Spirit is the bridge to us walking as Christ intended.
Holy Spirit Conference, ICLV
Jul0
Ben and I returned last night from six days in Las Vegas for the Holy Spirit Conference at the International Church of Las Vegas (ICLV). We had an excellent time. Hundreds of people received physical healing from the Lord.
Although there were many great messages, my favorite speaker was Heidi Baker. Her and her husband, Rolland, are missionaries in Mozambique and have experienced the supernatural side of God’s love and provision in amazing ways. They’ve seen food multiplied, deaf ears opened, the dead raised, the sick healed, and countless other miracles. But more impressively, Heidi carries the Holy Spirit so strongly that He is heard in her words and physically seen in her countenance.
As Heidi spoke, one theme keep coming up: how much do we want to know Him? How much do we want His presence?
“The hungry always get fed”, she said, “how hungry are we?” (Isaiah 55)
The Holy Spirit
Jul0
The Holy Spirit is literally the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 tells us that just as we have a spirit in us that knows the depths of our thoughts, so does God have a Spirit that knows the depths of His being–and that’s the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the same Spirit that resides in God the Father and Jesus themselves. He’s the third person in the trinity God.
Since the Holy Spirit is the inner Spirit of God Himself, He knows all things. This more than qualifies Him to be the Spirit of truth, the Helper, who Jesus promises will teach us all things (John 14:17 & 26) and guide us into all truth (John 16:13).
This is really exciting! And it means that when we ask for more of the Holy Spirit, what we’re getting is the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16)! Even recognizing only the surface level issues of our flesh, we know that the mind of Christ is something we need much more of; we should be diligently pursuing the Holy Spirit so that we can closely partner and connect with God in the way He intended.
Moving without the Spirit?
Jul0
A friend of mine started going to a new church and invited me to check it out with her. It was a pretty charismatic church: passionate speaking, dancing, and singing. The atmosphere was intimate, warm, and intense. I mostly enjoyed myself.
There was one problem: I personally had a really hard time connecting with the Holy Spirit. And I began to realize that just because the people were moving and singing and loudly proclaiming blessings over themselves, didn’t mean that the Holy Spirit Himself was moving through them.
This isn’t to say that it wasn’t a good church (maybe I was having an off day?) or to criticize any type of worship (we have so many personalities and each connect to the Lord best in our own ways). It is important to remember though that when the Holy Spirit moves it happens in the hearts of the people first and overflows in various personalities, so loudness and physical movement aren’t necessarily an indication of His presence.
This blog addresses the 'sticky' topics of Western Christianity in an attempt to shake, refocus, and unite the body of Christ, and to reveal the true gospel message to unbelievers.
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