Open Door!!

I have had the phrase "Open Door" in my head for a few days now. I think it's thanks to my wonderful friend Ursula. Does anyone else live in the kind of Christian community where certain phrases are quite "fashionable"? I mentioned the other day that when I spent my 2 years in SGM a popular phrase was; "I am the worst sinner I know". Another preaching cliche was; "We will never move past the old rugged Cross". Well going slightly further back to my 20 or so years at New Covenant Church in Dunstable - it was quite fashionable to talk about "doors".

Here's an example of how it could be used for those unfamiliar with it;

"The Lord closed that particular door to me ... I am praying for a door to open so that I may ... why won't this door open?! It just seems totally shut! ... The door seems to be shutting so I may have to give up on that particular idea".

And so on! But last night I was having a rare night at home sleeping in my own bed and I kept dreaming about "open doors". In all sorts of shapes and forms and sizes. From the domestic house door to the massive gates on a medieval castle. They were all open! Open! And when I woke up a verse from Revelation (3:8) was going through my mind;

"'I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name".

I don't know if that's where Ursula got her blog name inspiration from but I must admit to getting slightly delirious when I let the implications of that Scripture sink into my mind. That surely is one of the New Covenant promises that Rob was addressing in his sermon - that become ours if we realise;

"Every promise God has made is yes and amen in Christ! So every promise - it's His absolute will for you to live in the benefits and fullness of New Covenant promises! Yet most Christians hardly live in any of them. What's the reason? The condition for all the promises to work is not you being more obedient or more holy or fasting or coming back under the law. The way you are going to come into every promise being fulfilled is that you get established in righteousness as a gift".

So when we realise that we are in the same situation as Abraham - if we will simply realise that God WANTS to bless us then that will be credited to us as righteousness and that's it then this "open door" truth becomes one for us all! I know I can write honestly that I've experienced the frustration of what feels like a "shut door". But if a door is open in heaven that NO MAN can shut then surely any door or gate on earth stands NO HOPE!

Ern Baxter used to comment on something Jesus said and it was ever so funny. He recalled the words of Jesus; "The gates of hell shall not prevail" and he said that Christians everywhere interpret that verse wrongly and speak of it as how we will retreat into our Christian strongholds and be safe from hell's gates. But Ern said;

"I have not ever been attacked by a gate! I have never seen a gate jump off it's hinges and chase me down the street!".

No rather what Jesus meant was that in the power of the New Covenant we will advance through the world with the advancing flame of the Gospel of grace and even the darkest, most strongest gates cannot withstand the marching New Covenant church! Even hell itself - the gates must burst open! Jesus Himself said that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church! That sounds pretty triumphant to me! When is the Church going to wake up and realise the power and glory of these truths!?

The Church's Fatal Flaw and The Solution?

It's amazing how just one statement can get you thinking ...

"We must not confuse our destiny with our assignment. Our destiny is to go to heaven but our assignment is to bring heaven to earth". Rob Rufus - "The Blood - Substance or Shadow?" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 1st June 2008.

Get this right in our thinking and we could CHANGE the world rather than SURVIVE it.

Rob Rufus on Florida's Part to Play in Hong Kong

I mentioned in my last post about Terry Virgo's comments about how revival needs to be grounded and rooted into the local church (Janelle Phillips also mentioned this). I was interested and thrilled to note Rob's comments on his return from his ministry trip to Europe among the Newfrontiers churches about Florida.

I haven't edited the comments at all - it's here in it's fullness. He said;

"I really believe (Ryan and Kylie) brought back something from Florida and we really want to just add it to us. You need to know - just in case people think that we are now building our church on the Florida Revival - we are not building our church on the Florida Revival! We are building our church on the foundations of an apostolic/prophetic foundation, upon the foundation of grace. Revivals are wild! And we endorse it and we empower it and honour what God is doing in Florida.

We cannot say that everything that comes out of Florida will be God. There has never been a revival where everything is God. There are weird things that sometimes come out of a revival - sometimes things of legalism there (not with Todd Bentley but with others). Some things Ryan has shared with me. In the middle of the United Kingdom while I was preaching, I said; "We celebrate the Florida Revival - we believe it is a flash point - but we don't believe it is just located to Florida as many don't believe that. We believe it is world-wide, we believe it is global. Florida is a kind of tipping point. But many places are breaking out now all over the world and this thing is on the move. It really is on the move".

There are some high-profile ministries that are now endorsing it and recognising it. I spoke to Terry Virgo while in the United Kingdom who heads up hundreds of churches around the world and he recognises that the power of God is there. They are genuine and there are genuine miracles. He is saying that as a movement they don't necessarily embrace the whole package - there are some things they would have questions about.

There's nothing wrong with having a few questions - there's nothing wrong with not understanding everything. Put some things up on the shelf. Everything must be tested but by and large I want to strongly say that God is on the move all over the world and what is happening in Florida IS God. There is no question about that. That is God. But everything that happens through different levels and different doesn't necessarily represent everything that we would agree with. Behind this passionate, enthusiastic face - there is a thinking mind! I am going to test everything through right theology and all of that - and all that I don't understand I will put on the shelf and I will wait.

But I don't want people to be afraid of deception because we have got to break that demonic thing where people believe that the devil has more power to deceive us than Almighty God has to reveal truth to us. The Bible does warn in a few places about "Don't be deceived in the last days" and counterfeit signs and wonders - but then it speaks a whole lot more about how to know what the truth is and how to be free in the truth and how to recognise the truth. So if you live in fear of deception, you are not going to step out into the miraculous. Y0u were never meant to live in the fear of deception - you were never meant to live in fear. So many Christians (even in Hong Kong) are so afraid of being deceived and they say; "I am afraid of being deceived". So you think fear is legitimate? Do you think your fear will protect you?

Job said the things I feared the most have come on me. You don't live climbing a mountain trying not to fall. You climb a mountain trying to get to the top. You are focused on getting to the top! You don't live in fear of being deceived - you live full of faith of getting revelation and of being so full of God and the knowledge of God's truth that the moment the counterfeit comes - you can see it. I am so sick and tired of Christians being put on the back foot on these things. I am not afraid of a false angel coming to me and trying to decieve me and appearing to me all beautiful.

The moment that happens I will discern; "Is this an anointing from heaven or is this an anointing from the demonic". If you can't tell the difference between an ugly demonic anointing and the anointing of Jesus then you need to get saved. In you and me there is an anointing and in meetings I can discern what is of the flesh, what is of God and what is of the demonic.

There has never been a revival - not one - where all three didn't manifest. Some people are pointing; "Look some of that stuff is fleshly - some of that stuff is demonic - that doctrine is a bit of heresy over there". Yes I know - but God is also moving powerfully! You will never have a revival where you can get rid of flesh, get rid of the demonic trying to come in. In Azusa Street Revival they had psychics prophesying in the middle of the meeting! In the mid-80's in the Kentucky Revivals they had 20, 000 under the power of God and at the same time they had pimps running around and making whiskey in the middle of that.

Every revival has weird doctrines that come in and strange things that happen. The most weird thing is when there IS no power, no one is getting saved and NO miracles are happening! I would rather have to sift through some of the weird stuff, theologically sift through it, than have nothing happening and sitting in the boat of religion and sitting and criticising everything happening.

I think the people who are most qualified to discern whether a move is a move of God or not are those people who have been in moves of God.There are people who are trying to judge this move who have never had a move.

I think if someone says "That's not God and those miracles are countefeit and that's not God" - I want to say to them; "That's fine - that is your right to judgebut show me YOUR miracles, show me YOUR signs and wonders, show me YOUR move!". "Err ... I don't have one". "Then shut up until you do!". There too many cryptics sitting on the bank and doing nothing and finding fault with what God is doing.

I want it to be registered that I don't agree with everything I am seeing in Florida and it's not up to me to tell you everything - but I tell you this. It is a move of God. Todd Bentley is a man of God. God is moving in mighty signs and wonders! Our focus is not on Florida - that thing will fade sooner or later. But it is not going to fade around the world. God's on the move".

God is on the move!! This isn't the time to be fearful, scared or apathetic. Let's be excited - be hopeful - and above all let it enthuse us to go out and proclaim the living glorious Gospel to the lost! Because God is attesting the preaching of the Word with signs following!

OPEN HEAVEN!!

The phrase that has been flying round and round my head today is the phrase; "Open Heaven!!". It's a concept that my head has been struggling with and simply can't get to grips with but my spirit is soaring with! It all started when I listened to Rob Rufus's latest sermon in his Holy Spirit series that he preached last Sunday. They started the tape early before his sermon and it sounded distinctly to me like Rob was prophesying. He said this;

"People will come here and see what God does - OPEN HEAVEN! - Angels turn up - signs and wonders - miracles happen and they will go back to their nations to say "You missed out on Something in Hong Kong!". Because God is gathering people around Glenda and myself to stand with us to see revival in Hong Kong and a move of the Spirit in Hong Kong that will astonish and shock the nations and the nations will be touched by what God does! Don't sleep in the glory!! Don't sleep in the visitation!! Don't be distracted by stupid trivia in the revival that is coming!

Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP!! Because before you know it, it has gone past you and you can't catch up and those who are running in the glory can't take time to come back. It is too dangerous - there's too much business! There are millions waiting - millions of churches in bondage - and now God is saying, "I am in a hurry! I am going to raise up hundreds of people who are willing to make self-sacrifices, inconvinience themselves and give themselves to My Kingdom purposes and live for eternity and live for My divine purposes and repent of just living for earthly reasons".

The Kingdom of Heaven is breaking into Hong Kong!".

Open Heaven! I must admit my tired, lethargic, pre-caffeine head had a first thought - "How arrogant! How does Rob know there will be open heaven at the conference? How can he state that with such absolute certainity?". But then I was walking back from the Children's Hospice where I now work and I was listening to my fabulous in-built MP3 player on my phone to one of my favourite songs - "Yours is the Kingdom" (fabulous when it is lead by either of my favourite worship leaders - Kate Simmonds or Darlene Zschech!). And there was that phrase again!

"Heaven is OPEN - Death is broken!".

So is it a very biblical concept then? Rob Rufus says it and it's sung - but where does it come from in the Bible? Well a brief Bible study when I got home and I realised that it is actually everywhere. EVERYWHERE! The word the Bible uses tends to be the word "Access". Here's a few examples (all from the NASB of course)

Ephesians 2:18 (NASB) - " ... for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father".

A magnificent Trinitarian verse! Through our Risen and Ascended Lord Jesus Christ we have ACCESS to God the Father but in the Holy Spirit! It is all through the Holy Spirit! Ignore, abandon and quench Him and the experiential reality of such access will be stunted.

Ephesians 3:12 (NASB) - " ... in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him".

The Bible seems to fly in the face of much religious practice today and actually state that our access is not even to be timidly and cowardly on our knees - but BOLDLY and CONFIDENTLY! So suddenly Rob Rufus's initial statement - "Open Heaven" - that so gripped my attention doesn't actually seem to arrogant does it?! Rather it seems a Biblical expectation!

Hebrews 4:16 - (NASB) - "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need".

This Scripture actually carries much significance for me! My dear friend Pete might not remember this but this theme marked the first public prophecy I ever gave at his church - Lansdowne Evangelical Church in West Norwood. I was a guest at the church but nervously gave this prophetic word that I felt God was saying - freely come! The way is made clear! Pete went on to preach from Hebrews about this exact same theme - access! Heaven's open!

This cannot be more powerfully demonstrated than at the point when Jesus died;

Matthew 27:51 - (NASB) - "And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split".

Jesus died - so that the way into the Throne Room of Heaven! THIS is how Rob Rufus can so confidently state that there will open heaven in Hong Kong! This is how we can sing; "Heaven's open! Death is broken!". Because the veil has been torn in two from top to bottom - from heaven to earth (it was heaven's initiative) - and we can now come in. I am sure that most evangelicals would pay lip service to this - but the whole point of this is that I am tired of head knowledge - yes, heaven's open. I want to EXPERIENCE it! I want every sense - physical and spiritual - to be alive with the certain and sure knowledge that I am standing in open heaven!

So ... let's make FULL use and advantage of this! Let's begin to get our heads round that awesome, life-changing truth! Heaven stands open! All we have to do is come boldly and confidently knowing that when God looks at us He sees us as totally righteous in Christ Jesus!