The Case for being a Charismatic!!

Just found this excellent post on Sam Storm's blog and it's worth a read. It shows what happens when theology and academics are used in the right way to defend what we believe in with regards to life in the Spirit! I must apologise ... he called it "Case for Continuationism" but as I mentioned before, I don't really like that word. I think it's one step away from "functional cessationism". So Dr Storms begins with 12 bad reasons for being a cessationist. Most of them are good but for obvious reasons I took umbridge with this one;

"... a fourth bad reason for being a Cessationist is the belief that to embrace the validity of all spiritual gifts today requires that one embrace classical Pentecostalism and its belief in Spirit-baptism as separate from and subsequent to conversion, as well as their doctrine that speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of having experienced this Spirit-baptism".

There's nothing wrong with classical Pentecostalism and it's belief in Spirit-baptism as seperate from and subsequent to conversion! Just had to state that for the record. This comment kind of reiterates my concern that the Third Wave position is a sort of mediating go-between in an attempt to make the gifts of the Spirit more acceptable to cessationists.

This next point was excellent;

"A sixth bad reason for being a Cessationist is the fear that to acknowledge the validity today of revelatory gifts such as prophecy and word of knowledge would necessarily undermine the finality and sufficiency of Holy Scripture".

I am so grateful to men like Wayne Grudem, Storms himself and Terry Virgo who have devoted a lot of time to proving why a belief in the revelatory gifts DOES NOT undermine the finality and sufficiency of Scripture. And just because we believe in the revelatory gifts as stated in Scripture and accept that as the Scripture says, God can and will speak to His people outside of, but never in contradiction to His Word, that we are moving areas outside of the canon of Scripture. We seek the gifts of the Spirit because 1 Corinthians 14:1 commands us to. Not because we just fancy it.

This next point is key:

"Eleventh, it is a bad reason to be a Cessationist because of the absence of good experiences with spiritual gifts and the often fanatical excess of certain TV evangelists and some of those involved in the Word of Faith or Prosperity Gospel movements (as well as the anti-intellectualism often found in those movements)".

It is my suspicion and fear that many cessationists and ex-charismatics believe the gifts of the Spirit have ceased with the closing of the canon for this reason alone. I've read cessationist book after cessationist blog and without fail you will find after a few paragraphs, "Well I heard Benny Hinn did this ... you won't believe what I heard Kenneth Copeland said ... did you know about the Tortilla Lady that John MacArthur heard about?". I encourage everyone to listen to this podcast of Jesse's. He deals very well with this issue and suggests that using this reason to be a cessationist is to be guilty of the same experientialism as charismatics who say "I did it because it felt good".

Then the 12 good reasons for being a continuationist. The first one is excellent;

"The first good reason for being a Continuationist is the 12 bad reasons for being a Cessationist".

Need more be said? The second reason is worthy of note as well;

"A second good reason for being a Continuationist is the consistent, indeed pervasive, and altogether positive presence throughout the NT of all spiritual gifts".

Another reason that Storms didn't actually cite as a bad one for being a cessationist but one I have heard regularly and even recently is; "Well you only find the gifts of the Spirit in Acts and 1 Corinthians 12-14 - it isn't anywhere else much in the New Testament". Not true! As Dr Storms states, there is an altogether positive presence THROUGHOUT the New Testament of all spiritual gifts. My favourite example of this is:

"This command I entrust to you ... in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that BY THEM you fight the good fight" - 1 Timothy 1:18 (NASB).

By what? By the prophecies made concerning you. The suggestion being if you don't have prophecies made concerning you, or you don't believe such prophecies exist, your fight of faith could be compromised.

Reason 10 is very challenging to me;

"A tenth good reason for being a Continuationist is because the Holy Spirit in Christ is the Holy Spirit in Christians. We are indwelt, anointed, filled, and empowered by the same Spirit as was Jesus. His ministry is (with certain obvious limitations) the model for our ministry (cf. Acts 10:38)".

We mustn't forget that while Jesus was 100% God, He was and is still 100% man (as Luke pointed out so well). His ministry is to be something of a model for ours. "Greater things shall you do". And finally of course;

"The twelfth and final good reason for being a Continuationist is the testimony throughout most of church history concerning the operation of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit".

Amen! So let's continue to earnestly seek them and pursue them (especially prophecy) for the building up of our churches. Scott was speaking to me recently about our hopes for going to Brighton and he said he would really love to be given a spiritual gift and asked me what one to pray for and ask for. I said that if he asked for the gift of prophecy he would be on good Scriptural grounds!

Amazed by the Apostolic ... Again!!

Terry Virgo's latest blog proves yet again what a vital resource his regular writing in this fashion will be to the Church at large. I read his post with interest as to "what he had been up to" as Luke mentioned. But I was dramatically and emotionally touched by something which he felt led to do in the Newfrontiers Northern Europe Conference he had been attending. Before I quote what he wrote, led me share the context as to why this apostolic word so profoundly touched me.

I have had a really rubbish day today. We've just moved out of the house we have been living in Bristol and my flatmate has moved on up to Birmingham whereas I have had to move home with my parents as I haven't got a confirmed job in Birmingham to go to yet - hence I am still nursing down in Bristol. This is quite frustrating as in between night shifts, I have spent a lot of time on the phone trying to impress on Human Resources Departments why I really would like to start work soon! I had to go straight from a night shift to my old house as the estate agents were doing the "check out inventory". I spent all Friday vigorously cleaning the house as I hope to use the deposit money from the house to get our website - Ern Baxter dot com - up and running. The woman was horrid and told me quite frankly she thought I had done a rubbish job and will be recommending the house gets professionally cleaned - hence a loss of deposit - hence no website (yet)! And that on top of a desire I have to give money away to some people and churches I feel deeply about.

So with that day in mind, imagine my excitement and encouragement when I read this:

"I felt impressed by the Holy Spirit to pray for the many present who had walked forward with their offering in serious obedience to the previous evening’s sermon and invitation. I felt that God showed me that as Jurjen had been released from pain, so that they had stepped into a new dimension of confident commitment to giving and that God was dealing with their previously ‘brittle’ faith, imparting new grace and to many the gift of giving (Romans 12:8).

Many stood in response to my invitation and I felt that God told me to declare Paul’s confident promise, ‘My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,’ over them, not simply as a wonderful Scripture (Phil. 4:19) but as a prophetic blessing and affirm that they would go on to experience God’s provision in the same way that our brother had experienced God’s touch.

To my surprise, at that very moment, one lady in the meeting experienced sudden and strange spiritual and emotional distress and cried out publicly. After prayer she felt released and set free. We were later informed that serious financial problems had blighted her life".

Can God use prophetic words from apostles to bless people who weren't at the conference at the time? I am open to being corrected but my feeling is that a vast amount of prophetic promises in the Bible that haven't yet been fulfilled (as Simon Pettit reminded us at Stoneleigh 2000) are of huge encouragement to the church, even though we weren't there when they were originally given! So I feel quite comfortable in welcoming this prophetic word warmly. My finances aren't sorted out yet. The deposit woman didn't suddenly ring me up and relent and ask forgiveness. I haven't seen a cheque come through my parents door covering the set-up fees for Ern Baxter dot com. But I am HUGELY blessed by the promise applied by the prophetic here;

"My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus ... not simply a wonderful Scripture but as a prophetic blessing and affirm that they would go on to experience God's provision in the same way that our brother had experienced God's touch".

What an AWESOME God we serve in, believe in, hope in and trust in! One who is not simply limited to history and to words on a page - but a God who is alive and who intervenes in time and space to pour out countless blessings upon His children - knowing EXACTLY the right time to encourage and to bless! Surely here is another classic example of how blogging can be used to bring about the "charismatic resurgence" that Jesse P spoke of!

Baptism in Spirit Evidenced by Gifts

I had the tremendous joy of listening to all of Jesse's podcasts on "Prophetically Speaking" yesterday while I was preparing the Sunday lunch for my family. If anyone hasn't visited them yet - I urge you to go do it! Of particular interest to me was his session reporting on Brent Detweiler's day at the SG Pastor's College on the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit". It occured to me that since the Charismatic Renewal days of the 1970's - the issue of the baptism of the Spirit seems (to me anyway in the UK) have dropped off the Christian radar. I wonder if it is because of the increasing interest in the Third Wave emphasis on the gifts of the Spirit or maybe a desire for unity with cessationist brethren hence ... "let's not discuss it".

Anyhow I am extremely grateful to Jesse for putting it back on the agenda, and in the interests of our "Charismatic blogging resurgence" I have been reading a book by Professor Howard Ervin called "These are not drunken as ye suppose". I think it's out of print but I found it in a second hand bookshop in Bristol for 10p! There is a lot of vital material in there, and I might post a full book review later but for now I wanted to post this quote because he touches on something quite obvious that I haven't thought of before and it will fit in perfectly with Jesse's slogan; "the conduit of earnest desire". So here's the quote from Professor Ervin;

"We have argued from Scripture that the baptism in, and the fulness of the Spirit are synonymous; and furthermore, that a charismatic dimension is evidence of the Holy Spirit's fulness. Consistency dictates then that the continuing manifestations of this charismatic dimension are abiding evidence of the Spirit's fulness in Christian experience. Consequently the nuture of these charismatic manifestations "edifies", that is to say, maintains the charismatic flow of the Holy Spirit's fulness. Nor have we improved upon Paul's simple formula; "stir up the gift of God, which is in thee through the laying on of my hands".

I think what he is arguing is that while the classical Pentecostal position of "baptism evidenced by tongues" isn't quite accurate - it IS correct to expect that when a believer is baptised in the Spirit he will utter some form of charismatic manifestation - i.e the gift of tongues, prophecy, word of knowledge and so forth. But what struck me about Ervin's quote is that consistency demands that the evidence of continued fulness of the Spirit then surely is - continued exercise of the charismatic gifts that the sovereign Spirit has bestowed upon that believer.

And that makes sense to me! If the Spirit of God gives a gift such as prophecy to the believer to edify the church and if the "gifts and calling of God are irrevocable" then we cannot attribute the downgrading of that gift to anything but slackness and worse, quenching of the Spirit. So the question is - have we received any gifts from God? Have we received the baptism of the Spirit? When was the last time that you or I shared that gift in the local church for their corporate edification? Let's be about it!! And if it has been a while since you or I last prophesied or spoke in tongues or gave a word of knowledge, then let's heed Paul's command in Scripture to "stir up the gift that is within you through the laying on of my hands".

PS: The picture is a very wonderful shirt which I will be buying when I get paid from Jesse's merchandise store! I am thrilled that he has agreed to ship international - so if anyone wants to come in on a bulk buy then let me know! I love it. Let's be proud of our charismatic heritage - but let's make sure it isn't just a heritage but a living, daily experience of God!

A Coming Charismatic Blogging Resurgence?!

One of the things I love about fellow like-minded Christian bloggers is that they frequently express what I have been thinking about and wondering - but perhaps am sometimes too timid to write. Jesse's latest post had me jumping about the room!! (Well I am a charismatic after all ...). It's called "Charismatic resurgence through the blogosphere" and he has this awesome thought;

"... if blogs could contribute to a reformed resurgence, could not the blogosphere also contribute to a charismatic resurgence, particularly by increasing people's faith for gifts such as prophecy, faith, miracles or healing?".

Another thing that constantly amazes me is the similarity in mind and vision between some of the charismatic blog sites that I read - and again with my own train of thought. Pete Day quoted from Terry Virgo's book, "The Tide is Turning" and presented the challenge that faces those of us who long for more of the demonstration of God's power. Note this in particular (quoting Terry):

"On the whole we too have grown up in a generation that has not seen the mighty acts of God as our forefathers did. We have not seen revivals during which thousands flock into the churches to get right with God. Unlike our fathers we have not known whole towns change, with demonstrations of power and incredible manifestations of the glory of God. The majority of our generation knows nothing of these things so we may closely identify with the Israel of Gideon's day".

So it seems to me from what Jesse has written that the challenge is to raise people's faith and expectation in our blogging. To commit to posts that search the Scriptures and the whole host of church history so that we can point anyone who reads what we write and say "Look! This is that ..". But we have a difficult task ahead if Terry Virgo is right. Most of us (and especially Jesse, Pete and my generation) haven't seen the revivals, the miracles that he spoke of. So we do not have personal experience (yet) to draw on.

What then can we do? Here's a few suggestions that came to my mind.

1. Continue to believe in a God who intervenes in time and space.

2. Continue to believe in a Word of God that is applicable today.

3. Continue to pray and fast for the turning of the tide and the coming of the tidal wave of revival.

4. Continue to search church history through the vaults of libraries to find great men of faith.

5. Continue to write on these things and resist the temptation to write controversy that will attract hits and comments just for the sake of it. Pete Day writes quite rightly; "Are we guilty of spending so long defending reformed doctrine at the expense of living in the good of it?".

6. Continue to report on conferences, churches and news that will build faith and "fan into flame the gift that is in you". For example, the awesome Rob Rufus is going to be at the Newfrontiers Prayer and Fasting Weekend in Derby. I imagine it's going to be a pretty significant time and will set the tone for the coming "Together on a Mission" conference in July! By the way - have you booked in yet? You won't get to go to another conference that fires your faith more!

7. Make use of the internet blogs and go read the blogs of people who long for God to move in our day!! My favourites and my daily reading list includes; Pete Day, Jul Morris (Newfrontiers), Jesse Phillips (SGM), Luke Wood (Newfrontiers), Jon Cressey (Newfrontiers), Gavin White (MwB), Mark Heath (Newfrontiers), Janelle Phillips (SGM) and of course Terry Virgo himself. None of them would claim to be any theological heavyweights but the one factor that I love and appreciate about each and everyone of them is that they are HUNGRY!! No, DESPERATE for God! And that alone is faith inspiring!

Here is my contribution for today! It's an interview I have published before but feel I must draw attention to again with the great Dr Ern Baxter and it is on the subject of William Branham. Controversial he may have been - but no one could deny the signs, wonders and miracles. Go read it! These things happened less than 100 years ago!! And they can happen again today!! Here's a quote from the interview to give you a taster;

"Branham had a tremendous word of knowledge. Before praying for a person, he would give accurate details concerning the person’s ailments, and also details of their lives - their home town, activities, actions - even way back in their childhood. Branham never once made a mistake with the word of knowledge in all the years I was with him. That covers, in my case, thousands of instances ... to try to remember or to pick out a few outstanding supernatural occurrences with Branham is somewhat difficult because it was just a parade of the supernatural".

Let me close by agreeing deeply with Jesse's comment:

" ... if those who sense this expectation and anticipation for God to begin to move in more powerful ways through the reformed-charismatic church could begin to perpetrate the blogosphere with faith-filled perspectives on what the Holy Spirit is capable of doing, and wants to do, then we may have a broader influence throughout our churches. That, in turn, may raise people's expectations, and we may begin to see God responding to our faith in a way that scripture indicates He likes to".

Amen!! Let it be so Lord! And let's be about seeing the resurgence come!

Can You Trust Me?

I remain very stirred by a quote that Jesse Phillips posted on his blog from Brent Detweiler;

"This is what we need and this is what we can experience in our day. God, may we see the book of Acts rewritten at the end of the age!”

Yet I don't know about anyone else, but I constantly find my heart switching from faith to fear. I hope so passionately that God will come and move upon our nation in power as I dreamt. But I was walking and praying this week and I heard the still, quiet voice of the Spirit point out that He didn't actually put an impending date on that dream. He went on to ask whether I could allow myself to trust His sovereignity. And here I found myself in the "Charismatic Calvinist" dilemma! Trusting God and His sovereignity - yet "giving Him no rest until Zion is made a praise in the earth".

How do we get the balance right?

I have just transcribed what I think is an God-send article by Bob Mumford called; "When the Heavens Turn to Brass". Once again it shows the sheer value of the New Wine articles that were produced in the late 70's and early 80's. They addressed issues which we are still facing in the church today. He began by echoing the "earnest desire" that Jesse writes of, but notes that so often God is reluctant to use us because of our maturity or lack of. Here's a few quotes;

"The same thing happens in the realm of the Spirit. I say, “God I want that which belongs to me. I want the anointing. I want the power. I want the authority. Lay it on me!”. He says, “Son if I do, its going to get you into trouble”. And I say, “Just try me. Go ahead”. He does and I get into trouble. Proverbs 20:21 says, “An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning, but in the end thereof shall not be blessed”. That is what happened to the prodigal son".

"God is a Father. He knows better than to give us things we can’t protect, which is why His provisions are given to us as promises; Salvation is a promise, healing is a promise, baptism in the Holy Spirit is a promise, deliverance is a promise, financial provision is a promise. 2 Peter 1:4 says we are given “exceeding and great precious promises”. By the time we have the faith to claim the promise, we should have the maturity to protect it’s provision".

I have a holy dread that I will miss out on promises that God has got lined up for me because I won't learn the lessons He wants me to. Let us run away from the charismatic fatalism and the functional cessationism that has characterised too many so-called "Reformed Charismatics" of our day - but let us pursue the greater anointing and power that God longs to pour out on His Church by being responsible sons and daughters - above all hungry and desperate for Him and His Presence!

“When the Heavens Turn to Brass” by Bob Mumford

From New Wine Magazine – August 1986

I once fasted for a long period of time for the gift of miracles. During my fast, I prayed, “Where is the God of Elijah?”. If I ever heard God speak to me, I know it was then. He said, “Where are the Elijahs?”. God had been reluctant to use me and I finally understood why. It was because of my spiritual immaturity. I was no Elijah. God couldn’t use me the way I wanted or even the way He wanted, because it would probably destroy me! The Apostle Paul understood that problem. He stayed in Ephesus for three years, gently opening the Scriptures and teaching the Ephesians the good things of God. In his farewell address he said;

“For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood” – Acts 20:27-28.

Then he began to warn them of trouble ahead;

“For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. And now brethren I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified” – vv29-32.

Paul was saying, “Now that I have taught you all these good things, they are going to get you in trouble!”.

Waiting for Us to Mature.
It is so difficult for Christians to understand that it is the good things that God shares with us that get us into trouble. If we don’t hear anything or know anything, then we are not as responsible. But the minute we begin understanding the fullness of God’s purpose, we face one complication after another. I used to read stories about men like D L Moody and I’d think; “Oh Lord would I like to have what they had! What an inheritance!”. I have since found that God wants to give us such an inheritance – it belongs to us – but if we receive it before we are able to handle it we get into trouble. He holds our inheritance, waiting for us to grow up so we will not abuse it or lose it. In Luke chapter 15, the prodigal son went to his father and said, “Father give me my inheritance. I want that which belongs to me and I want it now!”. The Father could have said, “Son the minute I give you your inheritance its going to get you into trouble”. He probably knew that once he gave his son that which belong to him, he would get into trouble because he was neither old enough nor mature enough to handle it. Sure enough as soon as the prodigal got his hands on the money he began to misuse it.

The same thing happens in the realm of the Spirit. I say, “God I want that which belongs to me. I want the anointing. I want the power. I want the authority. Lay it on me!”. He says, “Son if I do, its going to get you into trouble”. And I say, “Just try me. Go ahead”. He does and I get into trouble. Proverbs 20:21 says, “An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning, but in the end thereof shall not be blessed”. That is what happened to the prodigal son.

Jesus Had to Wait.
At age twelve, Jesus understood the purposes of God for His life, but He had too had to wait on God’s time. When Jesus was thirty, God revealed Himself to Jesus and as He did, Jesus began coming into His inheritance. But before He received it, He spent forty days in the wilderness and was tempted by the devil. Only after that did He get up in the synagogue and say;

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favourable year of the Lord” – Luke 4:18-19.

The scriptural method of receiving our spiritual inheritance is that God comes to us and reveals Himself so that what He wants to give us doesn’t injure us or hurt us. Jesus once said to the disciples, “I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). A good way to shake people up is to say, “I have some things I want to share with you but you are not mature enough to receive them”. We all have the kind of spiritual pride that says, “Maybe others aren’t mature but I am!”. Many Christians insist, “God I want my inheritance now!”. And so they force Him. They fast and pray and claim their inheritance. Sometimes, God gives it to them but then instead of a stable life in Christ, they become what I call a “shooting star”. Three months, six months or a year later they are gone. But that’s not what God wants for us. He wants us to find our place in the body of Christ, grow in our understanding of His will, reflect His glory and keep right on shining.

Grievous Wolves.
The kind of maturity that God is looking for in us is that which will enable us to protect what He has given us. I have heard it said that the wolf only howls at the door where there is food. It’s the same with the powers of hell. They know where the food is. They know where God is moving. They know where things are happening and they come to stir up trouble. Paul told the Ephesians;

“For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them”.

But Paul did not say, “Because I know that I am going to stay here and protect you”. No, he said;

“I commend you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified”.

He was saying, “I have delivered to you your inheritance. Now it’s up to you to learn how to protect and defend it”. One aspect of our inheritance is healing and I have seen many people healed by the power of God. But then after they get home, they call me and say, “I’m sick again”. They got healed on my faith but didn’t have enough maturity to defend their inheritance on their own. Healing isn’t automatic. It must be received from God and then defended and that takes maturity. We have to learn to defend our place in God. We have to learn to defend our calling in God. We have to learn to defend our finances in God. When I say, “Lord I believe You are going to supply”, He does, but then I struggle to keep His provisions.

That happens to us all the time. I give my son his lunch money and he starts out for school. But before he gets there two kids meet him and shake him down. They say, “Boy give us your lunch money!”. So he comes back to me and says, “Dad every time I go to school two boys are waiting for me and they take my lunch money”. I say, “Son one of two things must happen. Either you’ll learn to protect your fifty cents or you will go hungry”. My son has to grow up; he has to get mad enough and bold enough to say, “You’re not going to get my lunch money!”. When Christians finally get provoked enough, they will rise up in holy boldness and say, “Devil get off my back! In the Name of Jesus leave my child alone!”. It happens and then we ask why it didn’t happen a year ago. It was because we weren’t mature enough or bold enough.

Great and Precious Promises.
God is a Father. He knows better than to give us things we can’t protect, which is why His provisions are given to us as promises; Salvation is a promise, healing is a promise, baptism in the Holy Spirit is a promise, deliverance is a promise, financial provision is a promise. 2 Peter 1:4 says we are given “exceeding and great precious promises”. By the time we have the faith to claim the promise, we should have the maturity to protect it’s provision. It isn’t only receiving the provision that counts; we have to protect and defend it. God called me to preach while I was still in the Royal Navy. Being naïve I went to some buddies in the Navy and said, “God called me to preach!”. They almost took my inheritance from me before I even got started. “You? Preach? Who are you kidding?” they scoffed. And I thought, Maybe God didn’t call me after all. But when I got alone with God and asked Him about it, He zapped me with His Holy Spirit!

I then said, “Okay God called me to preach”. I learnt that I needed to protect the word God had spoken to me. God speaks healing, financial provision and spiritual usefulness to us. He says, “If you will obey Me I will bring you into a life of usefulness so that your life will affect others”. But it’s a promise that has to be worked, cultivated, brought to maturity and then defended. As we learn to defend our inheritance, God gives us more. As Jesus had to defend His inheritance in the wilderness, so we have to defend ours through a time of struggle. I heard a story about a man who was sitting on a dock fishing. As he was fishing he saw a cocoon attached to a nearby post, and in the cocoon a butterfly was struggling to get out. After a long time, the butterfly got out two feet and the first section of its wings. But its struggle was so great that the fisherman couldn’t stand it. He took his fishing knife and cut the cocoon all the way open. When he did, out on the wharf fell this little butterfly half born. The first section of his wings and two feet were all fully formed with the colour and all the beauty of a mature butterfly. But the bottom half was all emaciated, the wings still folded back and the legs still folded in. The butterfly staged around on the wharf a little while and then died. I must confess I have cut a few cocoons in my life. I’ve cut some for my own children and when I was pasturing, I cut them for my people.

Some of the gospel we have preached has been the instantaneous kind that says, “Push, push, click, God will do it for you”. He will do it for us. But as He does, don’t complain about elements of the struggle. I have seen too many Christians who have had their cocoons cut for them. Few of them ever come around to the new birth the proper way. When God seems to leave us alone in the middle of a struggle and we have to battle our way through on our own, its because He wants us whole. He hides from us simple because the struggle we’re going through is essential for a proper birth into the realm that God wants us in.

One night a man had a dream that he went to heaven. When he got there he met Paul and Peter and some of the martyrs of the Middle Ages, and John Wesley and D L Moody. Then he woke up. Later he said, “The thing that bothered me was that I didn’t feel like I belonged in the company of men who through great struggle had achieved what they had”. An inheritance quickly gained is not profitable in the end. There is an inheritance that belongs to the Church. But it isn’t something God gives capriciously or without thought, for giving it too soon would get us into trouble. We need to grow up. For us to do that, sometimes God must hide Himself!

“I commend you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all of them which are sanctified”.

TERRY VIRGO IS BLOGGING!!

The title says it all!! My prayers (and the prayers of others I am sure have been answered!!

Terry Virgo has taken to the blogsphere! The blog is part of a larger, extremely professional website - Terry Virgo dot org. For all fans of Terry, it is a treasure trove. There are Bible insights, the blog itself, his diary, resources and frequently asked questions.

Even though the blog has just a few posts, straight away there are awesome posts to ponder on and learn from. Like this;

"While recently in South Africa I was standing in a circle with a group of leaders worshipping God in the open air. My eyes were closed. We were singing songs and I realised that the only unusual sensation I was feeling was that grass was under my feet. I guess it’s unusual for me to be worshipping God with grass under my feet!

I really felt that God started speaking to me about how often He had been worshipped when men had grass under their feet. He was glorified by worship that was in the context of action, not simply in worship that’s in a meeting place with a gathered congregation".

Fellow Terry-fan Luke has some excellent points to say that really accurately sum up my feelings too about this;

"... useful features for those (like me) who both want to be blessed by Terry's ministry, and who have often wondered how they can best pray for their leader (e.g. "I wonder what Terry is up to this week?") ... This blog fosters that sense of feeling involved with the wider mission which only comes through an engagement with those who are going, or have gone ... His blog will turn out to be another arrow in his already-full quiver of resources to affect change. But it will probably be one of the sharpest and furthest-reaching of the lot".

Once again Luke expresses so well what I have been feeling too!

So all in all ... HORRAYYYYYYYYYYY!!

Thanks to Jul for finding this one out!!

Charismatic Calvinists ... Beware!!

I am incredibly interested in following the thoughts and writings of Jesse Phillips - author of "Prophetically Speaking". He is vocalising much of what I have thought, feared and wondered for some time now - quite obviously benefiting from being at the SGM Pastors College. Many cessationists point to our forefathers such as the Reformers and some of the Puritans such as Jonathan Edwards and claim since they believed the gifts of the Holy Spirit had ceased, therefore so should we if we are to be logical reformed Calvinists. So Jesse's question; "Is reformed theology inherently cessationist?" is an excellent one worthy of serious consideration. He concludes:

"Although there is nothing inherently cessationist about reformed theology, given its emphasis on God's sovereignty it's easier for charismatic apathy and functional cessationism to set in ... it is easier for functional cessationism to co-exist with reformed theology than with others (i.e. Armenian)".

I said on his site that I like the term "Functional Cessationism". When I was growing up, my home church moved resolutely away from it's charismatic heritage and became in essence cessationist. In other words, the gifts of the Holy Spirit were not welcome in corporate gatherings. However there was no sermon or published booklet outlining the Scriptural rationale for this revised position on the charismatic gifts. If anyone was to ask the leaders, "Are you cessationist", they would be told "No - God is sovereign and He can do what He wants". But the gifts were not modelled, taught or welcome. Therefore we were "Functional Cessationists".

Jesse goes on to say;

"We can become complacent though certain gifts cease, assuming that if God wanted certain gifts to be given he would provide some sort of sovereign jump-start apart from any human initiative ... but it is certainly easier for this sort of charismatic fatalism to creep in where sovereignty is emphasized. Reformed charismatics must fight for faith so that we do not become apathetic and too quickly credit the absence of certain gifts strictly to God's sovereignty".

I liked and noted two phrases there which are extremely important. "Sovereign jump-start". Very often in theology I hear until I am weary the phrase, "God is sovereign". Indeed He is! But is His sovereignty an excuse not to pray for revival as I have been told? Is His sovereignty an excuse not to step out into a new area of gifting - such as Terry Virgo has been doing with healing? Is His sovereignty an excuse to become functional cessationists because one is not hearing the type of prophetic utterance that was expressed in the Bible? I do think our danger as charismatic calvinists is to wait for this "sovereign jump-start" - which may not actually be coming! God has poured out His Holy Spirit and has given His gifts. There is nothing more coming from heaven to help us complete the mission we are on!

The second phrase I liked but I found chilled me was "charismatic fatalism". I have seen this attitude happen again and again as I have grown up. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones saw exactly the same thing as Jesse has pointed out - he called it "Fear of excess". As a church we heard warnings against all types of charismatic "excess" - a list can probably be found in John MacArthur's "Charismatic Chaos". The illogical thought process was reached that if God was sovereign, surely He would not allow these excessive and shameful things to happen therefore maybe He hasn't given the gifts at all. Surely an honest reading of the New Testament shows that is ridiculous. Paul COMMENDS the Corinthians for the fact that they "came behind in no gift"! I wonder what church today can be commended in that same way? Yet of course he went on to "not command no use instead of abuse but right use" (as Professor Gordon Fee put it).

He closed by quoting from a lecture on the danger of the Third Wave position:

"Given the significance of Acts in recording the first 30 years of the church, if you read it as though it has no application for us today, you end up becoming a functional cessationist and dispensationalists. You may believe that the gifts are available in theory, but that everything supernatural in Acts is unique and has no relevance to us."

To all charismatic calvinists - let us beware! There is no need to downgrade the strength of doctrinal beliefs or the awesome heritage of our forefathers. But surely the call to the Church is to wake up and read the Word of God as it should be read! Or as Brent Detweiler put it:

“This is what we need and this is what we can experience in our day. God, may we see the book of Acts rewritten at the end of the age!”

To Be Single is Better?

I usually tried to avoid as much as possible discussions about marriage/singleness, but in a theological world where biblical manhood and womanhood is a hot topic, it's nigh-on impossible. I guess I always feel as though my hands are slightly tied. After all - I am not married so what business do I have contributing to discussions on marriage? My home church held quite a good position on it I think. My pastor used to tell the men of the church to resist ministry and marriage as long as was humanly possible and if you ended up in it - it was probably of God! Then moving to Bristol and into SGM I found the topic of marriage much higher on the agenda and much more present in the church. I heard some stuff said about getting married which was at best insensative and at worst rude. So I am far from objective in the whole discussion!

Thus I am always thrilled when a hero of calibre like Dr John Piper has something to say. He preached a sermon; "Single in Christ: A Name Better Than Sons and Daughters" at Bethlehem and it was vintage. He said;

"My main point is that God promises those of you who remain single in Christ blessings that are better than the blessings of marriage and children, and he calls you to display, by the Christ-exalting devotion of your singleness, the truths about Christ and his kingdom that shine more clearly through singleness than through marriage and childrearing".

More succinctly;

"To say the main point more briefly: God promises spectacular blessings to those of you who remain single in Christ, and he gives you an extraordinary calling for your life. To be single in Christ is, therefore, not a falling short of God’s best, but a path of Christ-exalting, covenant-keeping obedience that many are called to walk".

So I guess it was quite understandable that someone (probably like me) wrote to him asking; "If what you say about the blessing of singleness is true, then why would one even want to be married?". In true biblical wisdom, Piper responded with the following letter: "Married or Single: For Better or Worse". I really appreciated much of what he had to say about marriage because it backed up a lot of what I have felt deeply. Namely that marriage is intended to: "To display his covenant keeping love between Christ and the church". This has particular bearing on the discussion about the meaning of the Song of Solomon. But Piper's wise conclusion to the question is excellent.

"Marriage may prove to be gloriously happy, or painfully disappointing. Singleness may prove to be gloriously satisfying or painfully disappointing. Only God knows which it will be for you".

Basically it all comes back to faith again. We shouldn't be panicking rushing around looking for the "right" partner, nor should we be rudely rebuffing the clear signs of attraction when it's plainly obvious. If we really do indeed call Jesus Christ our Lord then our marital status rests in His divine hands along with every other aspect of our lives. And what a comfort that is!

Terry Virgo on Faith!

Thanks to Jesse and Julie for the last post and for getting me stirred up to think about "Faith". It seems to me the more I think about it that faith is the key to much! Lack of faith seems to really annoy God - which is something I hope all genuine Christians are keen to avoid. But abundance of faith seems to make the miraculous life possible and real. Here is my greatest living hero - who doesn't just talk about it but who LIVES it - on faith!

"God delights in faith. Jesus seems staggered at the disciples’ unbelief when he asks, ‘How is it that you have no faith?’ (Mark 4:40). In Mark 6:6 it says, ‘He was amazed at their unbelief’ (my italics). In Mark 9:19 he said, ‘O unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?’ Was Jesus having a bad day? Was he demonstrating some true humanity by getting fed up? No! Jesus was innocent and perfect, the exact representation of God. He was wholly consistent with his Father who complained in Numbers 14:27, ‘How long shall I bear with this evil congregation …?’ and ‘How long will this people spurn Me? How long will they not believe Me?’ (Num. 14:11 NASB).

Jesus was weary of his unbelieving followers. He could not be indifferent or complacent. He could not passively accommodate their failure. As J I Packer says, ‘Moral indifference would be an imperfection in God.’ When Jesus rebuked their unbelief it was a revelation of his heart. He was not like an indulgent uncle or grandfather. He expected better from them! He wanted better from them! He found their unbelief unacceptable! His anger was pure, holy and appropriate! If their unbelief was not worthy of his reproach, Jesus would not have given it.Jesus served his Father with red hot zeal and holy passion. He looked for the same in his disciples. When, in Mark 9:28, the disciples asked, ‘Why couldn’t we drive it out?’ Jesus replied, ‘This kind can come out only by prayer’ (Mark. 9:29). Notice that he didn’t say, ‘This kind only comes out if it is God’s will.’ He said that they only come out if you pray.

If you pray it will happen. If you don’t it won’t!"

Terry Virgo - Firstline - Newfrontiers Magazine - Volume 3/Issue 3.

Gifts of the Spirit - Faith or Fear?

My good friends Don and Julie are participating in a fascinating discussion on the most excellent blog, "Prophetically Speaking" that I mentioned last article. The blog is entitled; "Tim Challies and functional cessationism". A brief summary - Jesse noticed that Tim Challies wrote an article here about the gift of healing. Jesse summarised it accurately by saying:

"The main thrust of his argument was that cessationists still believe that there can be miraculous healing, but there is no gift of healing operative in the church".

He noticed something I have picked up on too in my studies of the great charismatic/cessationist divide.

"It is easy to take the approach that says, "Sure, we believe that God can heal. He can do anything, and if he wants to, he will." And yet, we don't strive to cultivate the gift of healing.So, even though we may be 'continuationist' in our theology, it may be hard for an outsider to tell any difference between us and a cessationist like Challies if we are not actively pursuing the cultivation of these gifts".

I've just finished transcribing a document on "Ephesians 4 Ministries" that was ground-breaking when it was preached. The preacher put forward a concrete argument, carefully drawn from Scripture showing how it is inconsistent to believe that the risen Christ has given the gift of the pastor/teacher to the church and yet has withdrawn those of apostle and prophet (and evangelist if you are Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones). Unfortunately the preacher has changed his mind and thinks the apostle and prophet gifts are no longer given so I can't make it available. But I think the same inconsistencies surely apply in the whole realm of spiritual gifts and cessationism.

To me Julie touches on the issue - "Faith". She wrote in a comment on Jesse's post:

"I think this is the main problem in our churches today which is limiting our moving in the miraculous on many levels. Is it faith to believe God has the power to heal or is true faith believing God has not only the power but also the desire to heal? I have recently listed to some excellent sermons on the authoritative command for healing (by Rob Rufus) that radically changed the way I view this whole subject. He points out that there is only one instance where we are instructed to pray for the sick, the passage in James of course. Every other time healings occur it is at command. I rather like the way he says " God is tired of us asking him to do what he's already told us to do".

The challenge facing all of us who call ourselves serious and earnest readers and believers of the Word of God is this: Do we honestly believe that the Word of God categorically says that the spiritual gifts have ceased? Or are our orthodox stomaches turned by some excess we have observed and if we are honest, we don't really have the faith to lay hands on someone and see them healed, or open our mouths and hear a miraculous unknown tongue or a prophetic utterance from God come forth?

It's a challenging and excellent discussion and deserves to be heard. Particularly as the phrase; "raging charismatic fire-brands Larry Tomczak and C J Mahaney" is there somewhere. I like that. I wonder if people call me a "raging charismatic fire-brand". Or has that fire gone out? I think I would rather God told me to calm down from being a raging charismatic fire-brand rather than hear Him say that He is tired of telling me to go and do what He has already told me to do.

I am loving Jesse's heart and burden in what he is writing. I know I am not part of the same group of churches but I think it's one that can be shared in the Church universal in this awesome quote of C H Spurgeon;

"If there were only one prayer which I might pray before I died, it should be this: 'Lord, send thy church men filled with the Holy Ghost and with fire.' Give to any denomination such men, and its progress must be mighty: keep back such men, send them college gentlemen, of great refinement and profound learning, but of little fire and grace, dumb dogs which cannot bark, and straightway that denomination must decline."

Jesse closes that post; "We're only going to continue to advance the kingdom of God if the fire of God's Spirit burns in our hearts and gives us supernatural strength". I agree with his Mum. "Lord may it be!".

"It DOES Matter What We Believe About the Future of the Church”

I have been busy during this week transcribing two New Wine Magazine articles which have an absolutely vital message to the situation within the Church today. They are:

"The Failing-Church Syndrome - It does Matter What We Believe About the Future of the Church” by Bob Mumford from the New Wine Magazine November 1986.

"The Will-of-God Prayer" by Dr Ern Baxter.

Why are they important and why are they related? Well ever since hearing John MacArthur's "Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is a Pre-Millennialist" address to the Shepherds Conference this year, a deep considering of how we view the end-times has been heavy on my heart. Thus it was tremendously encouraging to read Bob Mumford's excellent article where he re-emphasised that our attitude to the end-times is important! Or as Dave Holden put it, "Our eschatology will shape our ecclesiology". Bob Mumford takes a lot of time and effort to show that we are all in danger of seeing the Bible through our favourite "doctrine" - whether it be the Cross, a negative eschatology, economics, covenant and so on. His article makes a tremendous statement for beginning to read those Scriptures that have been there since the Word of God was written - and to begin believing them!

Then secondly Ern Baxter's article on prayer has also helped me. In the run up to Brighton, I asked someone I deeply trusted whether I should go on a 40 day fast and was quite crushed when the answer was a resounding dont-be-so-stupid! It started me thinking through the whole concept of Divine Sovereignity (He is God - if He is going to come in revival then He will whether we pray or not) and Human Responsibility (You don't have because you don't ask - Ask and it will be given to you). Here's two key quotes:

"The point is this: Please don’t demean the gift of tongues. Get into your intercessory chamber and when you are driven past the point that you can intellectually decipher your problems and articulate them, don’t be ashamed to say, “Come Holy Spirit, take hold of these things and articulate them to the Father because I don’t know how or what to pray”

"We have said again and again, “If only God will move”, Jesus said, “I will move but I will move in response to your praying-will-of-God prayers”. This amazes me, because it appears that God has put the government of the world – His ultimate purpose for the Church – in the praying mouths of His followers!! He is saying; “You will govern by prayer. You will release My power in the earth by your corporate praying as the redeemed community. I will respond to your prayer and My response will be My activity in history to achieve My ultimate purposes”.

I do commend both articles to you - even if you aren't a post-millenialist! The issue isn't what eschatology we hold but how we view the end-times.

Finally I must recommend this blog that I have just discovered (thanks to my great friend Don for this!). It is run by an SGM pastors son called Jesse Phillips and it is called "Prophetically Speaking - striving for a significant charismatic dimension". I've read most of the posts and they are excellent. He is taking great strides to deal seriously with the challenge to all who believe the charismatic gifts should be pursued and experienced in church today. He writes academically and is even hosting a resource site specifically called "The Charismatic Resource Centre". This quote particularly encouraged me;

"The lecturer in class today said: "If we are merely teaching without modeling, our teaching will have no effect." ... I thought that the same thing can be said about any practice, particularly the practice of the spiritual gifts. It is not enough that our statements of faith say that we believe the gifts are for today. It's not enough simply to comment on our desire from the pulpit".

Amen! A mere theological discussion isn't enough. Paul said, "Pursue"! So perhaps a bit more pursuing is in order and a bit less talk. Finally he has appointed himself, "self-appointed, unofficial live blogger for Sovereign Grace Ministries" and has written very fully on the recent SGM leaders conference for any who didn't go and are wondering exactly what happened and just how R C Sproul fitted in with people who say they are open to charismatic gifts! I was particularly stirred by a quote from C J Mahaney's single address to the conference;

"We should not gain our understanding of what it means to be charismatic from the charismatic movement, but from Scripture itself ... Scripture does not permit a mere affirmation of the gifts. We are called to experience all the empowering he provides"

Go visit - it's excellent stuff.

“The Will-of-God Prayer” by Dr Ern Baxter.

The Bible uses a number of metaphors to describe the progression of truth, such as milk and meat, or childhood and adult maturity. This principle may be applied to prayer. In its simplest form, prayer is best defined by our Lord Himself as “asking”. However if we gather together all the biblical data on this important topic, we soon discover that although asking is part of prayer’s foundation, there is much more to prayer than merely making requests.

We learn from the apostle James, for example, that prayer may be self-seeking. In his epistle he tells his readers that when they ask, they don’t get what they want because their whole aim is wrong – they only want to satisfy their own desire (4:2-3). His words immediately modify the grand sweep that is often imputed to asking in prayer.

Sometimes we hear people talking about prayer simply in terms of having enough faith, and they leave the impression that there are no conditions to be met for answered prayer. They assume that prayer is simply asking because Jesus said, “Ask whatever you will and I will do it”. Yes, He did say that. But that isn’t all that He said.

One of the dangers of building an entire doctrine on a single text is that we fail to take into considering everything the Scripture has to say on the subject. If we look at only one scriptural text on a subject, we have only a very small part of what God has revealed about that subject. Therefore one of the first principles of sound interpretation is to try to take into account all that the Scripture has to say. It is an oversimplification to say that all we have to do is simply ask, and He will do whatever we say. The book of James is not the only place we find conditions on answered prayer that modify that general statement – the whole Bible has many other modifiers about prayer. Prayer is much more than asking.

According to His Will.
Prayer is not to be self-serving but rather God-serving. In 1 John 5:14-15 we read; “We have an assured confidence that when we ask anything (here comes another modifier for the word ‘ask’) in accordance with His will, He hears us”. That is not just any old thing we care to ask for but anything in accordance with His will.

The strong implication here is that if we don’t ask according to His will, He doesn’t listen to us – and it may be just as well that He doesn’t. I think I am as grateful for the prayers God has not answered as I am for the ones He has. It is on record in the history of Israel that “He gave them the desire of their heart but sent leanness into their soul” (Psalm 106:15). Woe to us if He answers selfish prayers with the result that we turn out to be “lean” toward God!

So we are to pray in accordance with His will and He will listen to us. John goes on in verse 15; “And when we know that He listens to us, then whatever we ask, we have the thing which we have asked from Him”. Here is the promise: Self-serving prayers are not answered. God-serving prayers are always answered. What I call “will-of-God” prayers – prayer according to His will – must be answered. He has said so!

We have two sources for discovering the will of God. One is the infallible Scripture. I have no problem with the infallibility of Scripture because I believe that an infallible God cannot speak a fallible word. Therefore I believe that the Word of God is an expression of the will of God, and when I am praying in line with the revealed will of God in the sacred Scriptures, I am confidently praying according to the will of God.

The Holy Spirit.
One problem however is that we have many requests outside the scope of what the Scriptures have spoken about and we are not sure of God’s will in those matters. How can we be really sure that what we are praying is a will-of-God prayer? The answer lies in the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit has been residing here for two thousand years for one reasons; to accomplish the purpose of God in history. He did not come just to bless me and give me goosebumps and spiritual gifts. He is the governmental agent of the Trinity. Through us and through our intercessory prayer, He intends to bring the kingdom of God, the government of God, to the nations of the earth. The Holy Spirit wants to fulfil the will of God and for that reason His desire is for us to pray the will-of-God prayer.

What is the guarantee that my prayers accurately reflect God’s will? Listen carefully to Paul’s words in Romans:

“The Spirit of God not only maintains hope within us but helps us in our present limitations. For example we do not know how to pray worthily as sons of God but His Spirit is within us actually praying for us in those agonizing longings which never find words. And God who knows the heart’s secrets understands the spirit’s intentions as He prays for those who love God” (Romans 8:26-27).

Often we find ourselves in a place where we don’t know what to say or even how to say it. We need help and it is the Spirit who can help us. I believe that we can be relatively certain we are praying accurately if we are conscious that we are praying in the Spirit.

When I say “praying in the Spirit” I am speaking in the broad sense. When I come to pray, it should not be a matter of simply reciting some things I think God should consider. It should be a matter of coming first into a real relationship with the Holy Spirit in which I become conscious that He is guiding me in my praying. Of course that means that you and I must stay very close to the Holy Spirit. We must cultivate the kind of intimacy with Him in which we are conscious of consistently walking in the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit and praying in the Spirit.

When We Don’t Know How.
From my own experience I must say that praying in the Spirit often includes praying in tongues in situations for which I don’t know how to pray. I believe that when a man prays in unknown tongues, the Holy Spirit within him is making accurate requests concerning both his own circumstances and needs and the broader circumstances and needs of the kingdom of God. He is articulating them in a language that has been provided for that purpose.

That is not to say that praying in the Spirit always has to be by means of glossolalia. I remember times when I have prayed in English and yet I knew I was praying accurately and supernaturally by the Spirit because the supernatural results of the prayers demonstrated that they had accurately expressed the will of God. Nevertheless I could give you illustration after illustration of how I have gotten on my knees with seemingly insoluble problems to try to articulate my prayers rightly – but they just dribbled down my chin. I didn’t know how to pray; I didn’t know what to pray; I only knew I was up against a blank wall intellectually. The problem seemed to have no answers. But it was then when I “shifted gears” to glossolalia. It was then that I began to pour out my heart in that blessed gift God has given me by His Spirit and as I prayed in an unknown tongue I became aware that there was a great lifting in my spirit and that somehow the Holy Spirit was articulating with guaranteed accuracy the nature of the concern and the Father was hearing it and answering it.

The point is this: Please don’t demean the gift of tongues. Get into your intercessory chamber and when you are driven past the point that you can intellectually decipher your problems and articulate them, don’t be ashamed to say, “Come Holy Spirit, take hold of these things and articulate them to the Father because I don’t know how or what to pray”.

Prayer and God’s Purpose.
As we seek to pray according to the will of God, we must eventually ask one all-important question: What is the place of prayer in God’s ultimate purposes? To answer this question we can look in the last part of the gospel of John at a portion of revelation which is not recorded in the other gospels. It is the very intimate conversation that our Lord had with His disciples before He went to His death. The last words of any man are usually considered very important; they are a distillation of years of study and thought. We should expect to hear the climax of Jesus wisdom in those closing moments of His time on earth.

Jesus had tried to teach His disciples for three and a half years but He had found them for the most part dull and unresponsive. Now He had come to these last solemn moments and He had some truths He had to share with them, even though they obviously were unable to grasp exactly what He meant. Among the things He shared with them was a new revelation on prayer. In John 14:12-13 our Lord said;

“I assure you the one who believes in me will do the same things I have done – yes and he will do even greater things than I have done for I am going away to the Father. Whatever you ask the Father in My Name I will do”.

You and I may see many things that need to be done. Though I am not demeaning the many other methods we use to try to get them done, we must remember Jesus words here. He said that if we want to get them done, we must remember Jesus words here. He said that if we want to get anything done in the new age – the age that was about to be born by His death and resurrection and ascension – then this is how it would be done. Ask the Father in His Name.

Why was this a new revelation? Jesus went on to tell them;

“Up to now you have asked nothing in my name; ask now and you will receive that your joy may be overflowing”. (John 16:23-24).

Jesus said that up until then, His disciples had asked in other terms. Now they would be asking in a new context; Jesus’ Name. They would be asking in the context of the God-Man accomplishing victory over death and ascending into the Presence of God to become a Prince and a Saviour. A man, Jesus of Nazareth would be raised from the dead as the incarnate God and because of that event, they would come to Him to the Father and they would have their prayers answered through that channel.

“Greater Things”.
Three important points in Jesus last discourse should be noted here. First of all the disciples were given representative authority to continue His work. So many times we put those words “greater things than I do” in the context of miracle meetings and the charismatic gifts. But Jesus puts them in the context of prayer. For many of us who are inclined to focus on the spectacular, that seems rather mundane. Often when we ask someone about the services in their church, the conversation runs like this; “Well Sunday morning our pastor will preach, he’s a brilliant speaker. Sunday night we are having a great musical cantana”. “Do you have anything during the week?”. “Well yes, Wednesday night we just have a prayer meeting”. Somehow we fail to see that the prayer meeting should be the great big event of the week! A great authority on revivals said to me one time as he was conducting some teachings in my church; “I have not been a pastor now for several years; I’ve been travelling in the interests of intercession. If ever again I had a church, I would not number my congregation by attendance at the Sunday morning meetings but I would number them by attendance at the prayer meetings”. Prayer is the channel through which we will do the “Greater things”. The first part of this new revelation then is that the disciples are given representative authority to continue Jesus work in prayer.

Second Jesus said that the work would be accomplished by obedience to His Word and prayer in His Name; “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you”. There is no other way to accomplish His work.

Third Jesus said our joy would be overflowing because of answered prayer and answered prayer should be a cause for overflowing joy – which is an essential mark of the kingdom of God. You and I ought to be constantly enraptured by answered prayer. Some of us have to hunt for a needle in a haystack to find any occasion in our lives which shows that God answered a specific prayer. Very simply, that is due to the fact that we don’t pray very much. There are not an awful lot of prayers to be answered because there are not an awful lot of prayers offered. The more we pray, the more He will answer and the more our joy will overflow.

Governing by Prayer.
We have said again and again, “If only God will move”, Jesus said, “I will move but I will move in response to your praying-will-of-God prayers”. This amazes me, because it appears that God has put the government of the world – His ultimate purpose for the Church – in the praying mouths of His followers!! He is saying; “You will govern by prayer. You will release My power in the earth by your corporate praying as the redeemed community. I will respond to your prayer and My response will be My activity in history to achieve My ultimate purposes”.

If prayer doesn’t mean that – why bother with it? If prayer is only some kind of psychological therapy to make us feel better, why engage in it at all? If prayer will not make a difference, why pray?

But it does make a difference. Jesus said, “If you live your life in Me and My word lives in your heart (that is another modifier) you can ask for whatever you like and it will come true for you. This is how My Father will be glorified” (John 15:7).

If we want to glorify God, the best way is not to make Him banners or hold big meetings for Him – though all those things may be good. If we want to glorify the Father, the best thing we can do is to become a praying people, a people who pray will-of-God prayers. Each of us can become a governor on our knees, a person who sways the world from our prayer closet and our prayer meetings. Prayer is a governmental hand and God intends to use it to bring into history His ultimate purposes.

“The Failing-Church Syndrome" by Bob Mumford

"It does Matter What We Believe About the Future of the Church” –
– New Wine Magazine – November 1986.

One of the most critical questions facing Christians today is, How do you see the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth? Many see it as irrelevant and dying, suggesting that perhaps the quicker the Antichrist comes and tribulation envelopes the world, the better off everyone will be, for then follows the rapture and the final solution to everything. After all, proponents of this theology reason, we can’t polish brass on a sinking ship, or why arrange deck chairs on the Titanic? In this kind of classic end-time thinking, every gross manifestation of evil is seen as increased evidence of the “soon coming”.

On the other hand, the faith of the Church Fathers and the Reformers was victorious with a triumphant Christ revealed in His Church. That victory was to be experienced by the believer in his own lifetime and was indeed the hope of the Church! Ideas have consequences so it does matter what we believe about the Church and the future. There is a deadly inertia that surrounds biblical ideas, especially the ones that are not quite centred in complete biblical accuracy. Once some mass of opinion such as the “Failing Church Syndrome” begins to gain momentum, it is nearly impossible to stop or turn it. Disproving it biblically seems to do little to change anything or anyone. Nevertheless each person’s responsibility is to search the Scriptures to see if these things are so.

My Own Search.
In my own search, some years ago I ceased using “proof texts” (compiling a mass of Bible evidence to “prove” a theory is true or not true) because the Bible is a whole book, Old Testament and New Testament, written by one God. He used an amazing variety of human instruments who each wrote from a given perspective. My conviction is that the Scriptures are wholly inspired and originally without error. The story from garden to garden is one redemptive story. The whole is organic in nature that is, it all “hangs together” like a grapevine; roots, branches, leaves and fruit. After some thirty years of studying the Scriptures in the original languages, I am continually humbled and brought to my knees by the marvellous integration and weaving of God’s own purpose in every book as “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21 – NAS).

The simple fact is that the Bible is so written that as a whole it can interpreted and organized around one theme. If we can grasp that, we can solve the problem of conflicting themes that all have ample proof texts. The whole Bible could be arranged in orderly and understandable terms by using this one concept. As a result we would have what is called “covenantal theology”, a study of Scripture taken from covenantal principles. Take another Biblical concept such as faith. We could arrange the whole Bible around the theme of faith to help and benefit millions of believers. The same is true of healings and miracles. We could arrange the Scriptures around money and the result would be biblical economics. What an exciting study that would be and how badly it is needed. Or we could arrange the Bible around psychology and human behaviour, or perhaps spiritual warfare with it’s emphasis on Satan, demons and the degradation of society.

The Biblical Theme.
The problem arises not in studying the Bible by arranging around a given theme, but the tendency to make one theme the theme rather than a theme. It is the tendency to single out one theme to stand on its own rather than looking at it in conjunction with all the other themes. Many a theologian or Bible teacher has come up with the biblical them based on salvation, the Kingdom, healing, the Holy Spirit, Israel or another Biblical concept. When faced with this approach to the Bible we become uncomfortable, and our response, of course, is to immediately gather all the “other” Scriptures that teach “other” themes.

Let us suppose for a moment that we arranged the whole Bible around these Scriptures;

“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth” – (1 Timothy 4:1-3 – NAS).

“But realise this that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power and avoid such men as these” – (2 Timothy 3:1-5 – NAS).

If we arranged the entire Bible around these two Scriptures we would soon begin seeing every headline on the evening news and in the paper as fulfilling that prophecy. Every violent and ungodly television show and every incident of nudity, pornography, divorce and child abuse would be expected because of our “biblical” presupposition that this is what is expected to happen. We would never fight or resist evil because that would be equal to counteracting or resisting God’s avowed and prophetic purpose.

A Negative Outlook.
Our problem is not that the Scriptures are wrong but that we have arranged the whole Bible with a negative outlook. We see everything as going to hell in a hand basket, whereas our responsibility is to be prepared for the rapture. That preparation of course is very personal and private between each believer and the Lord. Basically we are preparing to leave and are actually abandoning the world and its problems because “God said so”. What we believe really does matter. R J Rushdoony writes;

“In the modern era, the Church while numerically strong, has grown less and less influential and more and more peripheral to everyday life, to politics, economics, the arts, sciences and all else. For most people, the Church is irrelevant to the “real world” of human affairs. It provides a limited moral training for children, a social focus for the family and not much more. Churches have numbers, not strength. Both in membership and in leadership, the churches are radically weak”[1].

I have struggled for many years to awaken mentally and scripturally out of this failing-Church syndrome that I have just described. As with many believers my doctrine was taken second-hand, unexamined and unquestioned because it was accomplished with multiple proof texts.

But what if we looked toward the future with a victorious perspective? After all experts estimate that there are 30 million born again believers in America. So what would happen if they all believed that they were destined to be salt and light in this society and that it was possible to turn this nation towards God? Suppose those 30 million believed that we could see godly men in office, that our judicial system could be influenced by God’s law, and that the kingdom of God for which we have prayed to come for so many years would and could come in a measurable manner so as to fulfil the Scripture that says, “Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a disgrace to any people” – (Proverbs 14:34 – NAS).

God’s Ultimate Triumph.
For us to see, experience and move toward victory, we must be able to organize the whole Bible around the theme of God’s ultimate triumph. Christ’s victory in the human situation and the power of the Holy Spirit to subdue a people until “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”. I could do that, but then I would be going back to proof texts! Oh well here are a few;

“There will be no end to the increase of His government, or of peace on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this” – (Isaiah 9:7 – NAS – italics mine).

“And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed” – (Daniel 7:14 – NAS – italics mine).

“And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and His kingdom will have no end” – (Luke 1:33 – NAS – italics mine).

“And Jesus came up 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 the Son and the Holy Spirit” – (Matthew 28:18-19 – NAS – italics mine).

“And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams … And it shall be, that everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved” – (Acts 2:17, 21 – NAS – italics mine).

“Signs of the Times”.
Today more people are coming to the Lord than at any time in the history of the Church. If we are blinded by the failing-Church syndrome, we can look directly past that to any and every negative happening needed to confirm that things are getting worse. Africa, with all its problems, is ablaze with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Hundreds of thousands are getting saved and nearly as many are being baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit. Argentina is under a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the same is happening on a smaller scale, but just as dramatically in a few Moslem countries. The Far East is awakening to hear the gospel of the Kingdom preached with signs following. The stories of a victorious Church in China are enough to make an unbelieving press reporter say to me, “This is indeed a miracle!”.

On and on we can go but if we put such reports in a category that says only God’s love matters until the end, then we will never be able to take Christ’s victory into the marketplace and political arena. We will never be able to disciple a nation unless we believe we will be here to do it. The renewal in its overall perspective restores biblical faith to the Church. Everyone involved in the renewal ought to be able to say by conviction, “America can be turned to God!”.
Something good is happening at all levels of the Christian Church. Multitudes of men, churches and whole movements are seeking to wash themselves mentally and spiritually of the failing-Church syndrome to find a new and fresh expectancy that will enable our God to work supernaturally for us in this complex human situation. Now when faced with the question, “How do you see the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth?” they can answer with faith like that of the Church fathers and the Reformers and experience the victory of that faith in their lives.

[1] R J Rushdoony, “The Failure of Seminary Education, Symposium on Christian Education”, Journal of Christian Reconstructionism, Vol IV, No 1 (Summer 1977), p96.

Don't Forget The Resurrection!

I was extremely encouraged to read this post from this SGM writer Mark Lauterbach(HT: Pete Day). I've shared Ern Baxter's concern that the Resurrection is frequently neglected in evangelical emphases for that of the Cross. While I've never denied the vital importance of the Cross I have tried to explore the practical implications of a sole Cross-emphasis actually writing about this last on Easter Day. Here's a few key quotes from Mark Lauterbach's original post entitled "Cross-centered? or Resurrection Centered?":

"Richard Gaffin says that the Christian life is a resurrection life. That the cross includes the resurrection. I know one of the movements of our day is a call to be Gospel centered and cross-centered. I am part of that and agree with it! There is no doubt that the NT makes much of the fact that Jesus died on a cross and we are to preach Christ crucified. But as I read I remembered a conversation with a brother just a few days before, in which he asked me -- do we sometimes leave out the resurrection in our focus on the cross?

I think Wright clearly shows that neither the death on the cross nor the resurrection are good news in themselves . . . but they are inseparable, as they explain each other. Without the resurrection, the entire Christian movement would not have started ... Without the cross, the resurrection would have simply been a wonder, as someone emerges from the grave. But together they are the Gospel -- the One who was cruelly and unjustly murdered in the most humiliating way imaginable has been raised".

I love this point particularly;

"This means that the resurrection calls us to live life now, and all of life, for the glory of God. It is not a call to withdraw from this world. I simply do not get how radical this is . . . I domesticate this agenda, literally. I think I can hear the last words of the risen Christ as "Go ye, therefore, and build strong families and make local churches." But it is more than that -- it is making disciples of all nations, and teaching them to follow Jesus in all of life. And someday Jesus will be praised in every tongue and vocation in which he was cursed -- and all of life will be for his glory".

It reminds me of Stuart Townend's awesome hymn, "The Power of the Cross" and the line; "Death is crushed to death, mine is life to live". Why should we need as alleged lovers of the Word of God to seperate out the different aspects of Christ's ministry as of different value? Ern Baxter said that Christ lived an impeccable life, He died a decisive death, He rose victoriously, He ascended gloriously and now reigns supremely and pours out the Holy Spirit - His coronation oil - again and again. Let me close with a quote from Pete Day who sums it up excellently:

"In fact every part of the ministry of Christ is vital. The Incarnate One, the True Man who alone could stand in our place (and who is our example in life), became the Man upon the Cross - the Redeemer, who triumphed over sin, death, satan and hell and rose from the grave, to ascend (going before us to prepare a place for us, to intercede for us), to reign in glorious splendour, to pour out His Holy Spirit (His coronation anointing oil - Ps 45v7) upon His church, to govern the church as her exalted Head, and to return for a radiant church when His enemies are made His footstool".