For the past 50 years, I have been in ministry around the world. I have served as pastor of churches in Canada and the United States. I have lived in Asia and Africa and preached in more than 50 countries.
Recently, I have had two very intense, but conflicting emotions.
First, I’m increasingly excited by what God is doing around the world. I am utterly amazed at what God is doing today. These are wonderful days for the kingdom of God around the world.
Second, I’m increasingly disturbed by the lack of what the church is doing in North America. To be honest, the church in America has stagnated and lost its impact on society. The church in America has embraced secondary issues. The percentage of people who attend church today is the lowest in the history of America.
I’m confused. The church in America, the church with the most resources, the greatest freedom and the most experience, is accomplishing the least for the kingdom of God.
And I am frustrated. We live with a church merry-go-round mentality. We’ve confused the circulation of the saints from one congregation to another, with spiritual health and growth in the kingdom of God.
One pastor expressed his frustration: “People run all over looking for a spiritual buzz rather than simply doing what the Spirit has told them to do where they are.” Another senior leader told me, “In spite of all the noise about revival and worship, whatever is happening is not resulting in significant numbers of conversion growth.” Despite all our resources, our shouting and our spiritual experiences, we’re having less impact on the unsaved people of America.
This is a conundrum to me. The church is growing rapidly around the world but is stagnating in North America.
Why? The answer is simple: we’ve settled for playing church, rather than being the church. Christians in other countries are living in closer obedience to what the Scriptures teach, than Christians in North America. Christians in other countries may not have all the fancy resources; they simply do the basic things Jesus told them to do.
The North American church, for the most part, has misapplied and misused the person and work of the Spirit of God. We enjoy the Holy Spirit, but we are not obeying the Spirit. We’ve absorbed the presence of the Spirit on ourselves rather than letting the Spirit flow through us in ministry.
This is a critical time in for the church in America. The old clichés don’t work anymore. We need to stop worrying about prayer in our public schools and put prayer back in our homes. We have to decide if the church is going to be a club for the converted or an army that takes new territory for the kingdom of God. We have to decide whether we’re going to use our spiritual experiences to make us feel good or whether we are going to dedicate ourselves to obeying the command of Jesus to go and make disciples.
The church must be more than a spiritual baby-sitting service; we must be a soul-winning army in the pattern of the New Testament. Our job is to turn irreligious people into followers of Jesus Christ. We’ve got to do it because it is the heartbeat of Jesus.
The Christian church belongs to Jesus who called it “My church.” It is God, the Holy Spirit, who directs and empowers the church. The Holy Spirit watches over the church and when the church fails to measure up to the expectations of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit is grieved.
He who has an hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Revelation 3:22). What is the Spirit is saying to the church today? Is the Spirit giving us a revelation of some new teaching? Not really. The Spirit is saying today what he’s been saying for a long time, and it is rooted firmly in the Scriptures.
Here are six biblical things the Spirit is saying to us.
1. LET ME REVEAL JESUS TO YOU
The Spirit came to do many things but at the top of the list is this: he came to point people to the Savior, to reveal the love of Jesus and to glorify the Christ. When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. (John 15:26).
Today, the Spirit is saying, get your eyes off yourself and the world; get your eyes fixed on Jesus.
This is the heart of revival. Revival is getting back in a right relationship with Jesus.
2. LET ME ENERGIZE YOUR PRAYING
The Spirit is telling us to get beyond the routine of prayer; he’s telling us to learn to pray in the Spirit. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests. (Ephesians 6:18).
Praying takes different forms and there are a variety of ways to pray. The Spirit is saying, make sure you pray in the Spirit. Some of us need to learn to pray at a deeper level, to pray in the Spirit. Praying in the Spirit makes prayer effective and releases spiritual power. When we pray in the Spirit, we always pray according to the will of God. When we pray in the Spirit, our prayers are always answered.
The Spirit is calling the church to prayer.
3. LET ME REVOLUTIONIZE YOUR WORSHIP
The Holy Spirit is interested in worship and praise. We. . .worship by the Spirit of God. (Philippians 3:3). In other words, it’s the Spirit who enables us to worship. The Spirit is speaking to the church about it’s worship and saying, let me be a part of your worship and praise. Let your worship go beyond your singing. Let the Holy Spirit energize your praise.
He’s saying, let me be involved in the way you praise. It’s time to stop going through the motions and merely singing; it’s time to get serious with God. It’s time to stop being an observer of worship; it’s time to worship in the power of the Spirit.
Praise is not merely an exercise to fill time while in church. Worship is not just a formality we go through each week. Worship is essential for our spiritual health because that’s when our spirits connect with God.
God’s power is released through the praises of his people. Praise is our number one weapon in spiritual warfare.
It’s not how long we praise and it’s not whether we’re standing or sitting. Nor does it have anything to do with the style of music. It’s the intensity of our praise, the level of our concentration and the earnestness of our hearts.
The Spirit is saying, let me revolutionize your worship and praise.
4. LET ME CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE
The Holy Spirit is concerned with how we live. Yes, the Holy Spirit is concerned with what goes on in the church, but he’s also concerned with how we live when we leave the church building. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit and he wants to make us holy.
The Spirit is issuing a fresh call for holy living; not just holiness in a legalistic way; but holiness of the spirit, holiness in our attitudes, our thinking and our values. He wants holiness of the heart.
Paul told us to live by the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit are to be in evidence.
The Spirit wants to impact everything we do: the way we do business, the way we treat our employees and the way we live around the home. We are to walk and live in the Spirit. The Spirit ought to determine our friendships and activities.
The Spirit is saying, let me change your lifestyle.
5. LET ME EQUIP YOU FOR MINISTRY
The Holy Spirit has equipped each believer with at least one spiritual gift and that gift is to be used to serve the will of God.
God doesn’t ask us to work for him and then leave us to do it in our own strength. Spiritual gifts are divine abilities the Spirit gives to God’s people. There are more than 20 spiritual gifts identified in the Bible. Each is important and necessary. No one gift is more important than any other gift. Spiritual gifts are not natural talents.
Spiritual gifts are the equipment we need to serve God effectively. Spiritual gifts are not toys to be enjoyed, they are tools to be used to serve. Spiritual gifts are to be used to make a difference in the church and in the world.
The Spirit is saying, become aware of how I’ve equipped you, step out in faith and use the gifts I’ve given you. Use the power of the Spirit that resides in you. It is time to stop merely enjoying the Spirit; it’s time to use the power of the Spirit to make a difference.
6. LET ME EMPOWER YOU TO WITNESS
During the last 100 years, we have witnessed tremendous activity of the Spirit. But as I look back over the last several years, it seems that North American believers have settled for enjoying the work of the Spirit rather than releasing the power of the Spirit in witnessing. We enjoy the ministry of the Spirit in praise and we enjoy the exuberance that comes from the work of the Spirit, but we’ve forgotten one of the main reasons the Spirit came. The Spirit came to equip us to reach lost people. He came to empower us for evangelism and to anoint us for witnessing to the unchurched.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8).
The Spirit came to dispense power, power that would be released as we share the gospel with non-believers. It’s power to be released as ordinary people share their faith with unbelievers.
I am desperately trying to listen to what the Spirit is saying and this is what the Spirit is screaming at the church. The Spirit is saying, get back to the business of spiritual harvesting. Get back to following the instructions of your Lord to go and make disciples.
This is what I believe the Spirit wants to underscore today. It’s won’t happen if we just talk about it. We’re not going to do it if we just add another program to the weekly program of the church. We’re not going to do it until we stop leaving outreach to the evangelism specialists and personally take ownership of the process of evangelism.
We’ve got to make some changes in the way we think about church. We must make room for what is JOB ONE on the Holy Spirit’s agenda.
For the most part, the North-American church is not reaching unchurched people. The ultimate stupidity is to think we can carry on doing what we’re doing in the same way and expect to experience different results. Friend, if we keep doing what we’ve always done, we’re going to get what we’ve always gotten, the circulation of the saints from one congregation to another, but people will not be brought from darkness into light.
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