Saturday, November 10, 2012

Doing it Like Jesus

And the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, See that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. 

But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. NKJ Exodus 4:21 


  • God is calling the followers of Jesus of this generation to exercise All the charismatic gifts found in the New Testament. 


Is this to make ministries look good? 

Sadly the gifts are often misused for this purpose but it is not the purpose of God. 
  • God wants to make known to all people His supernatural power, love, reality, presence, wisdom and knowledge, so that many will believe and be saved through faith in Jesus.


Are charismatic gifts necessary for salvation? 

  • Yes and no. You can go to heaven if you don’t pray in other tongues, if you don’t heal the sick, if you don’t prophesy and you don’t cast out demons.

    • But the salvation of others can often depend on believers who release the saving power of Jesus by using gifts like these. 


Moses was not sent to work miracles in Egypt to be delivered himself but to secure the release of a captive people.


  • Does this mean that every believer must be constantly exercising all the nine Charismatic gifts on a daily or weekly basis? 
  • If you are not operating at the same powerful supernatural level as Benny Hinn or Reinhard Bonnke, should you feel a failure?
  • Of course not.


Of course we can all receive the gift of praying in tongues and use this for our private devotion, prayer, praise and intercession.


And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:4 (NKJV)   


  • Praying in tongues opens your spirit to the supernatural moving of the Holy Spirit in a new way. This can and should lead to a deeper experience of God’s gifts which God wants to give you to bless others.


Dear brothers and sisters, if I should come to you speaking in an unknown language, how would that help you? 

But if I bring you a revelation or some special knowledge or prophecy or teaching, that will be helpful. 1 Corinthians 14:6 (NLT) 

 

  • The supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are intended to be used by all believers in all places in all kinds of situations.


When Moses delegated some of this leadership authority to 70 elders, God gave the gift of prophecy to all of the 70 and they began to prophesy in the meeting, with the exception of two who were not there. 

However, these two began to prophesy where they were, outside the meeting. Moses received a complaint about it but he dismissed the objection.

  • Then Moses said to him, "Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!" NKJ Numbers 11:29 


Jesus is our role model.  


When the Son of God lived as a man, he remained God but he laid aside his unlimited divine powers and relied on the Holy Spirit to supernaturally reveal information as and when He needed it. 


In his wonderful book on marketplace Christianity, Ed Silvoso tells how a newly converted Filipino taxi driver was led by the Holy Spirit to begin a personal mission to a bar called Sweet Moments.

  • “Every day he would go into the bar, order a soft drink and pray peace over the place, its employees and customers. After a few days of doing this, he befriended the manager, Brian, who was a homosexual, a gambler, a drug user, a drug dealer and a pimp to 35 prostitutes....

This friendship grew. After a few days Joe was able to lead Brian to the Lord and baptise him at a nearby beach. 
  • As Brian emerged from the water, the power of God came upon him and he experienced an instant transformation. All his homosexual drives disappeared. 

  • He was also freed from gambling and drug addiction. He was delivered from all his vices and stopped being a pimp, which had supported his sinful lifestyle.”

  • Soon the 35 prostitutes became Christians and then the lawyer who owned the bar was also converted. The bar became a dynamic Christian church and the newly converted taxi driver was the pastor and leader.


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