OctBlog

This final week leading up to Election Day is bringing a measure of confirmation and clarity for some people, while contributing to a great deal of confusion for many others. And, unfortunately, those with clarity seem to be vastly outnumbered by those in perplexity. For some people, the big picture is finally coming into focus. But for most individuals, the sheer volume of the many varied and seemingly conflicting issues makes it harder and harder to focus with each passing day.

We are living at a time not unlike significant historical moments in Biblical history, when it is absolutely critical for the people of God to “understand the times” and possess a knowledge of what we should do (1 Chronicles 12:32). At these key junctures throughout man’s history, the actual “crises” that arise, loudly crying for change and urgently demanding full attention, often appear at first glance to be foundational issues. But upon closer inspection they are, in fact, only symptoms of a much deeper root problem.

Joshua understood this phenomenon with great clarity. At the end of his life’s work in leading the nation into their inheritance of the Promised Land, he challenges them with a very focused self-examination. “. . . Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15 emphasis added.) Joshua rightly understood that the greatest legacy he could leave for future generations was the mandate to serve Yahweh; to honor, revere, and follow wholeheartedly the Lord God who had brought them to this new birth and this new life. In fact, their lives depended on it.

Five hundred years later, a prophet of God named Elijah confronted his generation with equal clarity, if not with greater intensity. “Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." But the people said nothing.” (1 Kings 18:21 emphasis added.) Elijah understood with agonizing clarity that the problems of injustice, oppression, poverty, tyranny, apathy, inequality, immorality and so on were only symptomatic of a much darker and deadly condition: the nation was spiritually bankrupt. The people could not even articulate, much less demonstrate, “In God we trust.”

Nine hundred years after Elijah, Jesus Christ came on the scene and once again spoke with crystal-clear insight, pinpointing the real core need of the day. "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:36-40 emphasis added.) In this statement Jesus establishes for all time the eminent priority of loving God and loving people.

Now, 2000 years later, the issue is still the same – it really never has changed. The symptoms of the root problem that loom so large on the horizon may change from generation to generation, or at least they may appear in different clothing or rhetoric. But, in the words of Brad Bright (son of Bill Bright, Founder of Campus Crusade): “God Is the Issue.” It is imperative that the people of God in our day and time make the main thing, once again, the main thing. We must insist that the multitude of issues confronting us on every side be brought into proper perspective by restoring God to His rightful place of priority in our lives, loving Him with all of our hearts and seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness. Only then will we have a prayer for finding solutions to the many issues looming large on our horizon.

God declares before God does. That is to say, His Word typically precedes His works. In the beginning was the Word and, “when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman” and that Word became flesh (John 1:1, 14; Gal. 4:4). When God speaks, His Word always is indicative of what inevitably is going to transpire. “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) Jesus Himself reinforces this truth in John 15:15, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” We are privileged to know our Father’s business.

What God does, then, is in direct fulfillment of what He has already declared. “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11) It is vital for us to know what God is saying so that, in turn, we can recognize what He is doing. Without knowing what God has said, we usually will miss, misunderstand, or at least be caught off guard by, what He is doing.

Here’s the reason why: when God acts, He moves decisively, He moves powerfully, He moves suddenly. There is no ambiguity in the work of God. God’s actions are never vague, uncertain or indistinct. Just because we do not understand what is happening does not mean God is unclear in His purpose. There is no confusion in the Counsel of God. As surely as He has declared it, it will come to pass.

And here is where the “Suddenly” concept comes into play. Once God speaks a Word, its fulfillment becomes imminent. This means that once the Word is declared, it is as good as done. There will be a precise moment in time when that Word is accomplished. “I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.” (Isaiah 48:3 emphasis added)

God’s spoken Word is as good as done, but the timing of its fulfillment is entirely up to Him. However, when the exact moment is right there will be a “suddenly.” Even if the span of time between the spoken Word and its actual fulfillment is years, decades, centuries, or millennia, there will be a “suddenly” when He acts and it comes to pass.

All of this to say, I believe we need to be anticipating a “Suddenly” at Hill Point. As we have been explaining in these past few weeks of newsletters, we are in a place of spiritual awakening where God is doing a new thing, bringing together a gathering of His choosing to be a very tangible expression of the Body of Christ with supernatural empowerments by His Spirit so we can point people to Jesus successfully. This is what God is speaking over us, and it is only a matter of His timing standing between us and seeing these things come to pass – suddenly!

[“What Do I See God Doing at Hill Point Church?” Part 6]

October 15, 2008

I like the statement put out by the Christian & Missionary Alliance on their web site regarding spiritual gifts in the Body of Christ:

We, in The Christian and Missionary Alliance, believe that spiritual gifts are supernatural empowerments given by the Holy Spirit to believers in Christ to enable us to continue the ministry of Jesus, building up the church and extending the Kingdom of God.

[http://www.cmalliance.org/whoweare/distinctives/spiritual_gifts.pdf p.6]

The statement goes on to say that our attitude regarding these supernatural empowerments should be “expectation without agenda.” That is to say, we should thoroughly expect the Holy Spirit to work in our midst to manifest the Presence of Jesus through us, yet without any personal insistence as to what, how, when, where, etc. . . We must fully embrace the supernatural working of the Spirit among us without demanding how He should do His job.

I expect to see things happening here in the Body of Christ at Hill Point that only God can do. I anticipate that there are going to be things quite out of the ordinary and, well, supernatural! I believe as we hear, receive and declare the Word of God, faith is going to rise up in us that can move mountains. I believe we will see supernatural spiritual activity like the works Jesus did: healing from sickness and disease, releasing from demonic oppression, speaking prophetically, speaking the truth with power and authority and other such works that can only be attributed to God.

There are several Biblical reasons why God releases supernatural empowerments in the Church. For one, these spiritual activities will Attract people to the Word of the Lord. “When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city.” (Acts 8:6-8 emphasis added)

These spiritual activities will Authenticate the Word of the Lord. “But Elymas the sorcerer . . . opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then . . . Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun." Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.” (Acts 13:8-12 emphasis added)

These spiritual activities will Expedite the Word of the Lord. “The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people . . . more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” (Acts 5:12,14 emphasis added)

These spiritual activities will Fulfill the Will of the Father. “Now, Lord . . . enable Your servants to speak Your word with great boldness. Stretch out Your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus." After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” (Acts 4:29-31 emphasis added)

One caution is that we don’t allow the supernatural to become our vision. Our focus should be on where we’re headed, not how God chooses to get us there. Holy Spirit empowered works enable God’s Word to have access to the hearts of people we could never access in our own strength or wisdom. But our emphasis needs to be on the message we are bringing and not on the means God gives us to deliver it. “Expectation without agenda.”

Walking together with Him!
Scott

Another key aspect of the “New Thing” (Isaiah 43:19) God is doing here, is developing a healthy and fully mature expression of the Body of Christ on the North Shore. As He is gathering together the people of His choosing to be a part of this local spiritual family, God has a very specific goal in mind. Just as the “Word became flesh” (John 1:14) two thousand years ago in the person of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, even so God desires for His Word to become flesh in us today. As Jesus reminded us, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

God’s objective is that we all arrive at being a mature embodiment of Jesus, “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). In fact, Jesus has given the anointing of His Spirit in our lives for this express purpose: “for the equipping of the saints . . . to the building up of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). Since the Word of God found expression in the person of Christ, and since we ourselves are being equipped to mature into the full expression of Christ, the Word is becoming flesh in us!

Therefore, we are the Body of Jesus in the earth! As the embodiment of Christ, we will see the multitudes as sheep without a shepherd and be moved with compassion. We will speak gracious words of forgiveness to those who have stumbled and fallen. We will not condemn those that have been judged by the self-righteous ones of this world.

We will spend time with the “sinners” that religion has written off. We will humble ourselves to serve the least among us. We will stand up against religious elitism and oppression. We will defend the cause of the weak and the helpless. We will see people as God has declared them, and not as the world has denounced them. We will love people as God has loved them, and not as the world has labeled them.

We will declare freedom for the prisoners and release for the captives of the domain of darkness. We will touch the sick with healing hands. We will bring peace and sanity to the demonized. We will comfort those who grieve and mourn a loss.

We will not be driven by the opinions and agendas of men, but rather we will be led by the Spirit of God. We will only speak what we hear the Father speaking. We will only do what we see the Father doing. We will walk with our God. We will be the Word of God become flesh!

Last week we addressed the observation that God is doing a “New Thing” here at Hill Point. We examined the need to focus on what God is doing today and not dwelling on yesterday. Having established this as a priority, then, it becomes important to ask “What is He doing today?”

One of the key things I see happening is best described by the word “Gathering.” I believe God is gathering together a people of His choosing here at Hill Point to comprise the Body of Christ expressed in this local assembly. Initial evidences of this gathering began several years ago starting with a remnant of key people primarily from two different groups. This remnant soon was complimented by an influx of additional individuals from other sources, some related and some unrelated. As the “remnant” developed and stabilized, God literally began to bring in people from the North, East, South and West to add to the gathering. As they continue to come, they sense God’s clear leading that this is the place He has prepared for them, the spiritual family to which He is connecting them.

The leaders here are very intentional about keeping in mind the truth of Psalm 127:1, “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” We are committed to letting the Lord Jesus fulfill His own words in Matthew 16:18, “I will build My Church.” In fact, we believe that God is the only One qualified to bring true growth to the church. In 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 we find that we can plant, we can water but it is “God who causes the growth.” In Acts 2:47, we are reminded that it was the Lord who “was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

This is why I prefer emphasizing the term “Gathering” rather than “Growing” when it comes to seeing what God is doing here. We need to focus on those God is bringing our way, and how we can best equip them to walk in mature relationships with God. “Growing” carries with it the connotation that we are promoting the growth, that somehow we are responsible to do the things which cause and effect growth. Church growth programs, mechanisms, books, conferences abound. I believe, instead, that God wants us to respond to His initiating work of gathering the people here of His choosing. This “gathering” concept forces us to stay focused on the work God is doing in our midst, and prompts us to respond by serving those He is bringing into the spiritual family here.

As we respond by focusing on the spiritual health of the church body and its individual members (Ephesians 4:12-16), we will grow – because God Himself will cause the growth. If we help people here discover how to “remain on the Vine,” they will bear much fruit (John 15:5). If we help people here discover the truth of God’s Word, He will “sanctify them in the truth because (His) Word is truth” (John 17:17). If we help people here discover how to walk by the Spirit, they will bear the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23). If we help people here discover how to “hold fast to the Head” (that is Christ, the Head of the Church!), the entire body will “grow with a growth which is from God.” (Colossians 2:19)

The old saying is true here, “Everything that is healthy will grow – but not everything that grows is healthy.” We don’t want to fool ourselves into thinking that greater numbers equal greater success. We want to be successful by investing in the lives of those that God is gathering in our midst. I believe if we are intentional about being a healthy body of believers (by Biblical standards – which, by the way, clearly include God’s heart for the lost and His will for people to behold and believe in Jesus) then God will bring the increase. God’s plan for reaching people far from Him, has always been to have a people near to Him. He is gathering such a group right now in River Hills, Wisconsin!