As I often tell my friends, I see a huge flaw in the church by not presenting an example of true intimate relationship with Jesus. It is something me and my circle of friends have been seeing more and more often. Like too often, we are so focused on getting people "saved" that we never take the time to unpack what it all really means. So, then we produce a bunch of religious robots who have NO clue who Jesus is, or how to know the desires of His heart. In saying this, I am guilty as well, not wanting anyone that I know to be lost and without salvation, but the Lord has been shifting my focus more to the outcome of salvation rather than simply the act of faith itself: a changed life.
Paul truly understood what it meant to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ with power and authority, and not with simply religious words. In his 1st letter to the Corinthians, Paul makes it very clear how important the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in laboring for the kingdom of Heaven.
"And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."
-1 Corinthians 2:1-5
So, here we see visible evidence of Paul's total reliance upon the Spirit's guidance in his proclamation of the gospel. Seems like we might be missing something, huh. Paul understood the urgency of the message he carried, all while knowing his insufficiency of words to make this message come to life in the hearts of those he spoke to. It seems as if we took a side street from the teachings of the Bible and took the message of Jesus into our own hands, although maybe out of sheer fear for our friends and their eternity. But even still, we have left the Holy Spirit in the Bible, and have went out alone without what John 16:13 refers to as "the Spirit of Truth".
and we wonder why we don't see radical change in the lives of those who walk our aisles on sundays and walk out of bars on saturdays. In all reality, it's a parody of the Gospel, it's leaving our brothers and sisters crippled without hope, all the while trying so hard to figure out how to be a "christian" without Someone to help them know how to be. That Someone missing in the equation is the Holy Spirit, the Living God. Paul goes on to write in the latter half of chapter 2 about the wisdom of God being manifested to those mature in Christ.. but wait, where did this wisdom come from?
"For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God." 1 Corinthians 2:10.
hmmm... I feel that all of 1 Cor. 2 is speaking loud and clear to those who have responded to the cry of the Bridegroom and their DUTY to lead people into relationship with Jesus through the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, not with empty words.
The wedding ceremony is going to be quite elegant and the wedding gifts will NEVER cease to be poured out upon the bride and Groom.. This week, pray for the Spirit to divinely appoint you with people to send out invitations to for the Great Wedding! And as Paul said, do so "in fear and with much trembling" before the power of the Living God.
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