Move Over Holy Spirit,... We've Got This One!

So, we have been answering the question:  "Where is the power in the Church today," and we have discussed some very important answers.  Now I want to move onto another answer the Lord gave to me in response to that question.  This one has to do with our relationship with the Holy Spirit.  I pray that the Lord will open the spiritual eyes of those who read this blog to the truth being taught in this post.

I want to tell you two brief stories involving two Traditional Pentecostal churches here in America.  These two churches are in two very different parts of the United States, and minister to two very distinct cultural groups.  Both churches have been in existence for quite some time, and both churches identify themselves as Pentecostal.  As a large part of mine and my wives ministry is in ministering to struggling and hurting Pastoral couples, I had the opportunity to discuss personally these two churches with their Pastors.  The first Pastor was with me on a Pastoral retreat, and one morning very early, as we were both sitting on the porch of the cabin reading our Bibles, this pastor turned to me with tears in his eyes and said:  "I read of all the miracles that Jesus and His Disciples did, as well as the early Church, and my question to you Steve is this....... Where is the power in the Church today?"  Having just concluded a series of messages by that same title, I was utterly "blown-away" that I was being asked that question!  It actually served as confirmation to me that what I was contemplating and praying about, and had developed a sermon series out of, was INDEED the direction the Holy Spirit was taking me!  And NOT only me, but many other Ministerial Leaders who were asking that very same question!  I went on to ask him why he would ask me that question, and his reply was this.  He said:  "I have been pastoring my church now for over two years now, and in those two years, we have NOT seen ONE move of God, had ONE message and interpretation in tongues, nor had one person show any kind of vibrancy during the worship time!"  My heart was heavy as I watched my brother Pastor weep over the lack of the move of the Holy Ghost in their services, and what was even worse,........ NO ONE in this Pentecostal church even MISSED it!

The second story is about a Pastor I was talking to who relayed to me a story of how the Holy Spirit actually broke into one of their Morning Worship services.  This was something my friend had been seeking God for since he got to this church.  The Lord moved in a WONDERFUL way and no sermon was preached nor needed to be preached that day, as the True Senior Pastor of that church (Jesus), began to draw people to the alter in repentance, worship, and commitment!  Now understand, this was a Pentecostal church where this Pastor was pastoring and had been for many years, and this was the FIRST breakthrough move of the Holy Spirit they had had at that church since he had been appointed there.  This Pastor was excited, until one of his long-time members and leaders in the church approached him after the service and said:  "If this is the way our services are going to go, then we'll be leaving!"  When this Pastor asked him how he could POSSIBLY feel this way (remember....... were talking about a PENTECOSTAL church here), after a wonderful move of the Holy Spirit like that?  His reply was:  "We are WORD people!  We don't want all this MOVE OF THE SPIRIT STUFF, we just want the WORD!"  WOW!  This absolutely discouraged this pastor who felt like they had FINALLY broke through to a genuine move of God! 

These two stories could be dismissed as non-typical representations of the Pentecostal movement, if it were not for the fact that statements like this are made by pastors and laity alike, quite often in pentecostal churches, not to mention the denominational and non-denominational churches who have NEVER had a move of God like we are referring to here!  So, here you have a Christian Tradition, namely Pentecostal, which originated in this kind of Holy Ghost Fire, now reporting that moves of the Holy Spirit are increasingly RARE in their services.  So, why is this happening, and where is the power?  In answering this question, the Lord revealed to me yet another reason why the Church here in America is NOT experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit that is supposed to be the "norm" for us.

That reason is............. Because we have OFFENDED the Holy Spirit, and we are in DESPERATE need of repenting for it!  Now the reader may say:  "Steve, how have we offended the Holy Spirit?"  The answer is, we have offended the Holy Spirit by acting like we do not need His move; His presence; His power; His direction; nor His leading in our services!  By our attitudes, we have assumed a posture of ...... "WE'VE GOT THIS COVERED HOLY SPIRIT!  WE KNOW HOW TO DO CHURCH!  YOU CAN SIT THIS ONE OUT, AND WE WILL CALL ON YOU IF WE NEED YOU!"  And, in response, the Holy Spirit has left many of our churches alone to do their own thing, and the SAD thing is.............. Many NEVER noticed He was GONE!

So, if you are one of those people who notice that things in the Body of Christ aren't EXACTLY right!  Or, you feel like their is something DESPERATELY missing in the Church today!  Or, if you feel like there just HAS to be MORE to being a Christian than what you are currently experiencing, the answer to this dilemma is quite simple and straight forward!............. We, the Body of Christ, need to desperately repent of offending the Holy Spirit!  A very good friend of mine, Steve Chelette, commented on my last post and suggested the need for a 'Solomn Assembly!"  I am in COMPLETE agreement with him!  We need a Solomn Assembly to come before the Lord in genuine REPENTANCE and cry out to Him once again to send the power of the Holy Spirit upon this desperately impotent Church!  And I believe, that once we genuinely DO THAT, and LIVE in that genuine repentance, completly depending on the Holy Spirit to empower us to do the things that Jesus did (you know, ....... our Great Commission!), that we will once again experience a FLOOD of power from the Holy Spirit to accomplish our divinely given task before us!  Without this type of repentance and refilling of the power of the Holy Spirit, we are just "PLAYING CHURCH," we are NOT "BEING THE CHURCH!"

---God Bless You!

As an adendum to this blog post, I want to direct the reader to a sermon the Lord gave me concerning the "state" of the Spirit Filled movements.  That sermon is entitled:  "The State of the Pentecostal Movement" and can be found by clicking on the following link and looking under the July 2011 sermon section.  You can either listen to it, or download it to save on your computer, to listen to at a later time.  Both are free, and I believe it will minister to you.  The State of the Pentecostal Church

Why Do You Want the Power of the Holy Spirit?

NOTE TO READER.  The following is taken from my original blog posting entitled:  "Where is the power?"  I begin this post by re-stating it, for the sake of continued "focus" upon the topic we are dealing with.  Stated now here from my original post:

 "Where is the power of God in the Church in America?" My answer to this perplexing question that vexed my soul was simple........... "I don't know!" But "I don't know" did not suffice!  I began to earnestly seek God for the answer. And one day, God spoke! What He told me can be summed up like this: "I will reveal to you the answer to your question, but you will have to understand that your question requires multiple answers that I will only reveal to you one at a time."

This brings me to the 3rd, answer the Lord gave me in response to this prayer.  And that 3rd. response is........ "Why do you want the power of the Holy Spirit?"  Now while this may seem like a very unimportant question, we have to make a very important point.  God has given us the power of the Holy Spirit for very specific purposes!  The power of the Holy Spirit operating through the Followers of Jesus, is the "piston that drives the engine of God's distinct purposes!" 

The power of the Holy Spirit is ONLY given to those whose agenda's are aligned with the agenda's of the Lord!  Now one might ask:  "Does God truly have an agenda for which He readily pours out His power upon those who are committed to that agenda?"  And the answer is ....... YES!  Let's take a look at God's agenda, for which He will give power to accomplish, as detailed in Scripture.  First, is Acts 1:8 --- "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  NLT.  Second, is Mark 16:15-20 --- "¹⁵ And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. ¹⁶ Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.^{[a] 18} They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”  ¹⁹ When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ²⁰ And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs."  NLT.

God's "agenda," upon which He pours out the power of the Holy Spirit upon, is the proclamation of His Gospel and the advancement of His Kingdom into all the earth!  It's very straight-forward and "matter-of-fact" Biblical truth.  God gives INCREDIBLE power, even the power to accomplish the miraculous, to His people who are fully committed and ENGAGED in fulfilling HIS agenda!  He is NOT in the business in "FUNDING" the programs and agenda's of men and women, whose focus is upon themselves or merely "religious" expressions.  Knowing this truth from Scripture then forces us to ask ourselves the question:  "What is OUR agenda in the Church of Jesus Christ in America?"

Now before you get angry with me and accuse me of "picking" on the Church, let's take a moment to be a little reflective and real!  What is in the agenda's of many church's in America that would require the power of the Holy Spirit poured out upon, to accomplish it?  Where I live and minister in the Knoxville Tennessee area, we are overrun with churches all around us!  In fact, within a five mile radius of my church, there are approximately 264 Christian churches! ........... Did you hear what I just said?.............. 264 Churches that name the Name of Jesus within a 5-mile radius of my church!  While that is an incredible statistic, the problem is that I have not heard of ONE of these churches, including my own, that is experienceing an Azuza type revival!  Not even ONE of these churches has advertised a revival of the "God-kind" where lives are changed by the unprecedented POWER that had been poured out upon the church!  And with ALL the churches in Knoxville, we STILL have one of the largest number of homeless I have seen in 28 years of ministry!  We STILL have "METH" drug problem that is borderline "epidemic!"  Why have these issues NOT been dealt with?  Because unfortuantely most, if not all, of what the Church of Jesus Christ is doing in Knoxville, does not require the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish!  Why is this the case?  Because we are too focused on OUR "agenda" and not focused on GOD'S "agenda!" 

The Lord has witheld His power from many of the churches in America, and sadly, most have NEVER noticed it!  Everything they are doing can be done, and quite nicely done, WITHOUT the power of the Holy Spirit!  The state of the American Church reminds me of a Biblical story in the Old Testament.  Its found in the book of Judges 16:18-21--- "Delilah realized he had finally told her the truth, so she sent for the Philistine rulers. “Come back one more time,” she said, “for he has finally told me his secret.” So the Philistine rulers returned with the money in their hands. ¹⁹ Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap, and then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. In this way she began to bring him down, and his strength left him.  ²⁰ Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!”  When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him.  ²¹ So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison."  NLT.

We have been stirred awake with the cry.......... "Church, the devil has come to capture you!"  And like Samson, we have arisen to 'SHAKE" ourselves as before, unfortunately, we did not realize that the LORD had left us!"  How sad!  How very very sad!  Why would God pour out His power upon a Church that has been lulled to sleep in the lap of the seductress called religion!  And why would He pour out His power upon a group of people that function just fine, in all their religious functions, WITHOUT the power of the Holy Spirit?  So, I ask you again:  "Why do YOU want the power of the Holy Spirit?"  Is it to accomplish God's agenda in this world?  Or, is it to add a little "SPICE" to a dull man-made religious program, with the focus upon self?  Only YOU as an individual Follower of Jesus, can answer that question.  And oh by the way, the story I shared with you about Samson doesn't end there!  Verse 22 of Judges 16 says something VERY amazing and quite appropriate for the Church TODAY!  It says:  "But before long, his hair began to grow back!"  And in the darkness of prison, grinding grain in the shadow of the pagan idol god dagon, Samson prayed a prayer:  "Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time!"  Brother's and Sister's, it's like I can hear that SAME prayer being prayed by many hungry Followers of Jesus in America!  "Oh, Soverign LORD, remember YOUR Church, YOUR Bride, ONE more time, and send down YOUR Holy Spirit POWER upon YOUR thirsty followers!  We are tired of grinding grain in the dungeon of that pagan god religion!  We hunger to be YOUR Bride; YOUR Virgin Bride!  We long for YOUR agenda!  We long to be holy, pure and righteous in YOUR sight! And,......... WE LONG FOR THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, POURED OUT UPON US ONCE AGAIN!

Why do YOU want the power?

God Bless YOU!