heaven's tree book club

September 1, 2012
"Any revelation from God's Word that does not lead us to an encounter with God only serves to make us more religious. The Church cannot afford "form without power''for it creates Christians without purpose."
Today was a very ordinary day. There were no revelations, no God encounters nor was there discouragement or depression. My dad, mom, and I went for our usual morning walk along the creek. There were no appointments, and no meetings. I was suppose to check out the disability ministry today but pushed it back a week because I have really been battling with insomnia these days and feeling very tired throughout the day. I've been waking up around 4:00 and unable to sleep again. I began trying liquid magnesium since Thursday at night before bedtime and it shows some improvement. My highlight of the day was going to Orient Restaurant which had closed for six months for unknown reasons. Everyone was saying how great it was when I was in New York and today I got to try. The food is pretty good and the service even better. I find it very sad that the highlight of my day is going to a new restaurant. Christians without purpose, form without power. More religion, less Jesus. I would have to say that my Christianity is without purpose and power. The statement form without power is a nice illustration. I see it as simply being religious. Going to church, singing some songs, giving to the offering, simply doing religious things but lacking the encounter with God and the supernatural life. I find this sad and disturbing.

"Jesus, the model teacher, never separated teaching from doing. He is the pattern for this gift. God's revealed Word, declared through the lips of an anointed teacher, ought to lead to demonstrations of power.
Nicodemus said to Jesus, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."1 It was understood that God's kind of teachers don't just talk—they do. And the doing that is referred to in John's Gospel is the performing of signs and wonders.
Jesus established the ultimate example in ministry by combining the proclamation of the gospel with signs and wonders. Matthew records this phenomenon this way: "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people."2 And again, "Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people."3
He then commanded His disciples to minister with the same focus—the twelve were sent out with, "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."4 He commissioned the seventy by saying, "And heal the sick there, and say to them,'The kingdom of God has come near to you'.'
The Gospel of John records how this combination of words and supernatural works takes place," The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own"
"It's apparent that we speak the word, and the Father does the works—miracles!
As men and women of God who teach, we must require from ourselves doing, with powerl And this doing must include a breaking into the impossible—-through signs and wonders.
Bible teachers are to instruct in order to explain what they fust did, or are about to do. Those who restrict themselves to mere words limit their gift, and may unintentionally lead believers to pride by increasing knowledge without an increased awareness of God's presence and power. It's in the trenches of Christ-like ministry that we learn to become totally dependent upon God. Moving in the impossible through relying on God short-circuits the development of pride."

"In 1987 I attended one of John Wimber's conferences on signs and wonders in Anaheim, California. I left discouraged. Everything that was taught, including many of the illustrations, I had taught. The reason for my discouragement was the fact that they had fruit for what they- believed. All I had was good doctrine.
There comes a time when simply knowing truth will no longer satisfy. If it does not change circumstances for good, what good is it? A serious reexamination of personal priorities began. It was apparent that I could no longer expect good things to happen simply because I believed they could...or even should. There was a risk factor I had failed to enter into—Wimber called it faith. Teaching MUST be followed with action that makes room for God to move.
Things changed immediately. We prayed for people and saw miracles. It was glorious, but it didn't take long to discover that there were many also that weren't healed. Discouragement set in, and the pursuit with risks decreased.
On my first trip to Toronto in March of 1995.1 promised God if He would touch me again. I would never back off. I would never again change the subject. My promise meant that I would make the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, with the full manifestations of His gifts—the sole purpose for my existence. And 1 would never stray from that call—no matter what! 1 le touched ine, and 1 have pursued without fail."

I never saw it through this lense. Traditionally, in the Chinese American church and perhaps the more conservative denominations missions and evangelism is merely preaching and sharing verbally. We never hear about the signs and wonders, the healings and casting out of evil spirits. We simply, in our western rational minds do not talk about this. It is clear though both from the example of Jesus and the power He gives to His disciples here that the preaching of the Gospel must accompany the demonstration of kingdom power through healing. The question now becomes why don't we see the kingdom power in our own lives. Where is the power of God. It is interesting that this day I received a devotional which was from a very conservative church. They talked about miracles in a very negative way. Macarthur years ago wrote a book against the charismatic movement. I was conservative then and people who have little need for God tend to be more conservative in their Theology. They tend to be well-educated, in fairly good health, married, and financially stable. I wam only generalizing, but the movement of the Holy Spirit is most powerful among the poor and undereducated and those with many difficulties. We desire an out-pouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives and community and pray for revival. I want to see Christians with purpose, not merely sharing what they believe, but demonstrating the power of the kingdom. I totally see this pride potential in conservative churches. Note, it seems like I am really against the conservative church recently. I have spent my entire life and am still now in conservative churches so I see firsthand powerless Christianity and it is my heart's longing and prayer that we move out of this empty religion. Going back to Macarthur because he is a really good example, when we hear his sermon which is almost an hour long, we get a lot of knowledge. We get the historic, cultural, linguistic and Theological context. I feel really educated after reading a Macarthur book or listening to a Macarthur sermon. Knowledge is not a bad thing but as this text says it can lead to pride and worse than that it empties the power of God in our lives if all we have is Bible knowledge. The author is right in that knowing truth cannot satisfy. It is truth plus faith that transforms us from the inside out.

"To make matters worse, those who speak subjectively of an experience are often considered suspect, and even dangerous. But God cannot be known apart from experience. Randy Clark, the man God used to initiate the fires of revival in Toronto in 1994, puts it this way: "Anyone who doesn't have an experience with God, doesn't know God." He is a person, not a philosophy or a concept. It's time for those who have encountered God to stop pandering to tear by- watering down their story. We must whet the appetites of the people of God for more of the supernatural. Testimony has the ability to stir up that kind of hunger.
As our ministry teams travel around the world, we have come to expect certain things. Healing, deliverance, and conversions are the fruits of our labors. While healing is seldom the subject we teach on, it is one of the most common results. As we proclaim the message of the Kingdom of God, people get well. The Father seems to say, Amen! to His own message byr confirming the word with power." Peter knew this when he prayed for boldness in his preaching, expecting that God would respond by "extending His hand to heal, and signs and wonders would be done in the name of His holy servant Jesus.'"' God has promised to back up our message with power if our message is the gospel of His kingdom.
The problems we face today are not new. The apostle Paul had great concern for the Corinthian church, for they were being enticed by a gospel without power."
This passage speaks right to the conservative devotional I read this morning. This morning's teaching was doctrine without power. It suppressed the power of God for only an intellectual faith. I love it when the author sees God not as a philosophy or an idea but a person and we have an experience with a person. We have an intimate relationship with a person. The Gospel is the Gospel of power and transformation. Each person Jesus came encountered left radically changed and fully healed.

"Paul makes a stunning statement clarifying the right choice. He said, "The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power."11 The original language puts it like this—"The Kingdom of God is not in logos but in dunamis.' Apparently they had a lot of teachers who were good at speaking many words, but displayed little power. They did not follow the pattern that Jesus set for them. Dunamis is "the power of God displayed and imparted in a Holy Spirit outpouring." That is the kingdom!
Two chapters earlier Paul lays out his ministry priority as bringing the people of Corinth to a place of faith in God's Power'2 (dunamis). Here he addresses how they were set up to fail if things didn't change. Any time the people of God become preoccupied with concepts and ideologies instead of a Christ-like expression of life and power, they are set up to fail, no matter how good those ideas are. Christianity is not a philosophy; it is a relationship. It's the God encounter that makes the concepts powerful. We must require this of ourselves.13 How? We must seek until we find."

"What was the cause? They didn't allow the Scriptures to lead them to God. They didn't understand...not really understand.The word know in this passage speaks of "personal experience." They tried to learn apart from such an experience. They were the champions of those who spent time studying God's Word. But their study didn't lead them to an encounter with God. It became an end in itself.
The Holy Spirit is the dunamis of heaven. An encounter with God is often a power encounter. Such encounters vary from person to person according to God's design. And it's the lack of power encounters that lead to a misunderstanding of God and His Word. Experience is necessary in building a true knowledge of the Word. Many fear experience because it might lead away from Scripture. The mistakes of sonae have led many to fear experiential pursuit.1' But it is illegitimate to allow fear to keep us from pursuing a deeper experience with God! Embracing such fear causes a failure to the other extreme, which is culturally more acceptable, but significantly worse in eternity.
God does as He pleases. While true to His Word, He does not avoid acting outside of our understanding of it. For example, He's a loving God who hates Esau.1 He's the One who has been respectfully called a gentleman, yet who knocked Saul off of his donkey1" and picked Ezekiel up off the ground by his hair.1'' He's the bright and morning star2" who veils Himself in darkness.21 He hates divorce,32 yet is Himself divorced.23 This list of seemingly conflicting ideas could go on for much longer than any of us could bear. Yet this uncomfortable tension is designed to keep us honest and truly dependent on the Holy Spirit for understanding who God is and what He is saving to us through His book. God is so foreign to our natural ways of thinking that we only truly see what He shows us—and we can only understand Him through relationship.
The Bible is the absolute Word of God. It reveals God; the obvious, the unexplamable, the mysterious, and sometimes offensive. It all reveals the greatness of our God. Yet it does not contain Him. God is bigger than His book."
"The pride that comes from mere Bible knowledge is divisive. It creates an appetite for one's own opinion. "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him."2'' Those trained without a revelation that takes us to Him are trained to speak from themselves, for their own glory.This drive tor knowledge without an encounter with God wars against true righteousness.
Not only does righteousness suffer, so does our faith."How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?"2 That desire for glory- from man somehow displaces faith. The heart that fears God only—the one that seeks first His Kingdom and desires God to receive all honor and glory—that heart is the heart where faith is born.
The mission of heaven is to infiltrate earth with its realities. All teaching is to lead us to that end, for training in the Kingdom is not without purpose. We arc being trained to run the family business."
Prayer:
Father, I love this chapter. I love this chapter because it speaks of You as totally sovereign and powerful. Consrvative Christianity has stripped You of Your power. They say signs and wonders are not for today. They say all we need is the Bible and we use it as a roadmap for life. Very little is mentioned if at all about the Holy Spirit, the true source of power. Conservative Christians are afraid of the Holy Spirit because He is unpredictable and we like our worship services structured. Father, I am tired of empty and purposeless religion. I desire Your kingdom of both word and power. I desire a vibrant faith, to daily encounter You in my life. I don't want an academic and boring faith of mere Bible study. Father, I don't even know how to get there but what I do know is that conservative Christianity is powerless and empty. Help me to renew my faith and experience Your power and presence. The month of August is over and I saw so little breakthrough. It is the first of September and I continue to pray for breakthrough, breakthrough in my healing, in my singleness, and in my joblessness and ministry.