Good morning Jesus, fill me afresh with your Spirit as I begin my day.
“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?..When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord” (Acts 15-17, 23-24)
Yesterday I reflected on Maartin Luther King Junior’ call for us to be extremists of Love. We can’t be extremists of love without first becoming a Church of extremists of Jesus. So I read this morning from Luke’s book of The Acts Of The Apostleswhich gives us insights into a church of extremists of Jesus. Acts 11 convicted me again of the absolute necessity of the the presence and filling of the Holy Spirit in my life personally and in us as a church for us to be people anointed by God with a heart conformed to the heart of God and his will. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit if we want to have any hope of providing a place where people can encounter extreme love, salvation in Christ and receive healing of physical, spiritual, emotional sicknesses and the restoration of shattered lives. I am getting emotional now as the desperation and urgency of this need sets into my soul. I feel bold enough to say, If we individually, and collectively as a church can not commit to seeking to be filled with the Spirit, we need to quit right now pressing into becoming radical disciples of Jesus, and walk away into the safe, redundant, and complacent cycle of Sunday church.
All of us in the church have gifts to use
We have a strong gifting of service, and we are constantly either personally or in groups collectively encouraging other members help their neighbors whether it is bringing food, helping them move, working on house..ect. Also serving at Manna House, House of Harvest, Downtown Rescue Mission and prayer walking neighborhoods.
Some have an Apostolic gift of visioning, planning, white boarding, and strategic thinking.
Some have the gift of Evangelism and to go out and lead prayer walks and telling people about Christ.
Some have the gift of pastoring and naturally can sit, listen to, love on and offer compassion and guidance to individuals.
Some have the gift of prophecy, of hearing what God's desire is for his people and seeing the gap of where His people actually are, and live, pray, speak into and mourn in that gap.
Some have the gift of teaching and love to build up others in the knowledge of God.
Yet all of these gifts must flow out of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
If we can't, or more personally, if I can't prioritize and commit to seeking being full of the Holy Spirit by committing my self to time in the Word, prayer and to fasting, I have no business trying to use any of the gifts above. The number one mistake made by Christians that are missionally minded is neglecting the great commandment in observance of the great commission. That is spending time "doing" something for God before they have spent time "being" with God. I can not “go” and make disciples if I myself am not willing go deep into my personal discipleship. I can not lead others to a place I myself am not willing to go. I need to seek that place where I Love God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, Then I can have an extreme love for my neighbor that flows out of this extreme love for God. Observance of this great commandment is required before I can go to places and people to make disciples. All this holds true as well for us as a church.
Our church needs people willing to use all their giftings that are listed above, but not if they are not wiling to do so in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. If you do treat your neighbors kindly and fairly, help them out, care for them and are a good neighbor but do not do it in the Holy Spirit and sharing the Gospel with them, you will make more friends. You will be known as a “good person. Your popularity will increase and your circle of friends will increase, but your ministry will decrease. Because it will be all about advancing your kingdom and not the kingdom of God. And your kingdom can not save anyone.
My family, I pray today you will reflect on, “How am actively I seeking to be an extremist of Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit? How am I seeking to obey the great commandment and fall more deeper in love with God, before I obey the great commission? In Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your comments and reflections on my post in the comment box below.
Resolve to Help in 2023
I want to ask you to resolve this year in partnering with my wife, myself, and One Direction Community by supporting our ministries! We begin a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this. If you click on the link below you can easily set up a weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly auto donations in the amount you desire. . We would be so grateful for your help. You can also give a one-time donation on the same link. Thank you!
You can mail your donation to One Direction Community P.O. Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758
Discipleship Training.
One of my passions is helping churches or small groups understand and embrace their call to be disciples of Jesus in their community. I offer and lead discipleship trainings in person and on-line. If you are interested I would love to talk to you bout it. Email me at garyl@onedirection.community.
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