The Holy Spirit Issue

ISSUE 02 >>

2011

a newfrontiers usa publication

the Holy Spirit issue Tim Chambers >> Spiritual Gifts Ian Ashby >> Did You Receive the Holy Spirit?

Welcome Church in the Boro

+

SOUNDBITE • QUICK LOOK

>>

CURT MCCUTCHAN • APPS

JOHN LANFERMAN >> Team Leader >> Newfrontiers USA

THE SPIRIT OF MISSION

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6-10) The role of the Holy Spirit in our mission is very clear biblically. When Jesus commissioned His disciples he said, “I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49.) Jesus set forth the mission but instructed them not to go immediately, but instead to wait until they received the power of the Holy Spirit. He had given them the mission, modeling and teaching the message as well as providing training. However one vital thing was necessary and that was the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. “But you will

receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) We will never accomplish the mission with pragmatic thinking or action, such as going where the perceived need is.

In fact, these things can hinder us from listening to God and responding to God. He must guide our mission as he orchestrates his work around the world. We will never accomplish the mission without the Holy Spirit’s guidance and power. He is the power in all ministries and without His power and presence we accomplish nothing.

RECOMMENDED READING

a. Surprised by the Power of the Spirit

by Jack Deere b. The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gifts

by Dr. Sam Storms

a

b

c

c. God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul

by Gordon D. Fee

SOUNDBITE

Without the power of the Holy Spirit the church is not empowered and is no different from any other charitable organization.

We are absolutely dependent upon the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit in all activities of life and mission.

Without the Holy Spirit we will neither have lasting fruit nor gain true followers of Jesus. He is the Spirit of mission: no Holy Spirit, no true mission. Without the Spirit we may make disciples of our church or movement, but not true disciples of Jesus. We are given authority by Jesus to take the gospel and make disciples in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the key to strategy, guidance, success, and power in presenting the gospel. We do plan, but our best efforts are futile without the Holy Spirit.

Our forward progress has been the result of the Holy Spirit speaking to us in prayer, most often prophetically. This is the story of Newfrontiers. God speaks, then we make our plans and go. We have even ceased doing very successful things when the Holy Spirit spoke to us. We were gathering over 25,000 annually in England at an event called “Stoneliegh Bible Week” but God spoke to us to close it as he had other things for us instead. Sometimes our success can be our greatest danger. The result of following the Spirit’s leading has been an amazing increase in mission, seeing hundreds of churches planted in many new nations.

Subscribe to John’s Blog at: http://johnlanferman.blogspot.com

The Holy Spirit is crucial in beginning new apostolic endeavors, finding our place in ministry, and the reproduction of church life. The Holy Spirit spoke and sent out an amazing expansion of church planting in Acts 13:2,9-52. Without the Holy Spirit we will have no fruit or real life in the church.

Without the Holy Spirit we become a dead work, just another organization. The Holy Spirit was the very essence of the power in Paul’s ministry. Paul and his team enjoyed success and guidance because of the Spirit’s direction and power in his life.

Without the power of the Holy Spirit, the church is not empowered and is no different from any other charitable organization. The Spirit grants us our distinctiveness as the people of God. No Holy Spirit means no true mission. He is the Spirit of mission. May our lives and churches be filled with the Holy Spirit!

WELCOME: CHURCH IN THE BORO

ROB & SHERRI WILKERSON

LEADER: Rob Wilkerson

LOCATION: Statesboro, GA

MISSION STATEMENT: “Reconciling sinners to God, people to each other, and the world to King Jesus.” We found that Colossians 1:20 best summed up the mission of every local church: “and through [Christ] God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.”

continue to grow and mature in Mercy Ministries, which includes hospitality to the homeless and ministry to the poor.

CHURCH STRENGTHS: We excel in loving the unlovable–showing unconditional grace toward those who would normally be considered marginal or disenfranchised. Perhaps this is because most of the core that helped start the church would have been categorized this way for one reason or another. We

NEWFRONTIERS CONNECTION: One day in March of 2009 I listened to a sermon by Terry Virgo on the baptism of the Spirit. I then prayed as Terry had prayed.

A couple of days later, God gave me the desire of my heart and baptized me with the Spirit. The next week I met Carl Herrington. The rest has been a two-year history filled with a desperately desired maturity and clarity for the first time in over twenty years of local church leadership.

TIM CHAMBERS >> Christ’s Church of Joplin >> Joplin, MO

SPIRITUALGIFTS GIFTS

Generosity comes in many shapes and sizes. I know a girl who constantly showers her friends and acquaintances with small gifts and tokens of her appreciation. I know a woman who delights to give extravagant gifts and a man whose ability to match his gifts to the personality and subtle preference of each recipient is astounding. There are people who give spontaneously and others who carefully plan their gifts. But no one gives like God. He is the source of every good thing, the perfection of grace, kindness, and generosity. He gives in all the good ways people give and then some.

The Holy Spirit of God maintains the pattern of extreme generosity seen in God the Father and Jesus his Son. He is, as the author of Hebrews notes, “the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:29). This makes the subject of “Spiritual Gifts” pretty exciting. Let’s consider some basics.

mony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). At Pentecost, the first group to speak in languages they had not learned was heard “declaring the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11) – presumably the mighty works of God so recently accomplished through Jesus.

First, all the gifts of the Spirit point us to Jesus. They are Christ-centered because He is Christ-centered. Jesus, promising the Spirit, said, “He will testify of me” (John 15:26). Paul begins his three-chapter treatise on spiritual gifts by pointing out that they testify to the lordship of Jesus (1 Cor. 12:3). An angel tells the apostle John, “The testi-

Second, the gifts of the Spirit are the way we build the house and strengthen the body. They enable each of us to serve the church and to help bring her to maturity. This is a group project in which everyone plays a part. It’s far too important to be left to just the leaders. How are local churches led?

What should church meetings look like? How are people saved and brought to maturity? The correct answers to all these questions have to do with gifts given by the Spirit.

RECOMMENDED READING

The gifts of the Spirit are given to every believer. Everyone can contribute and is encouraged to ask for more gifts so they can contribute more. These gifts are beautifully diverse.

Peter refers to them as “God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). There are lists, but no list is exhaustive. Specific gifts, like jewelry pieces, can be uniquely shaped. By the gifts of the Spirit we can bring consolation to the sorrowful, a. Showing the Spirit

by D.A. Carson

a

b

b. Pray in the Spirit

by Arthur Wallis

By the gifts of the Spirit we can bring consolation to the sorrowful, courage to the fearful, wisdom to the foolish, strength to the weak, and healing to the broken.

QUICK LOOK

>>

CURT MCCUTCHAN

Who has shaped your life?

Mostly my wife, Brenda. Also great leaders like Terry Virgo, John Lanferman, Tommy Stanley. Martyn Lloyd Jones’ writings feed me, as well.

What sorts of books do you read?

Two of my favorites are The Gospel According to Mark commentary by James R. Edwards and Spiritual Depression by Martyn Lloyd Jones. Also The Far Side by Gary Larson.

What is your leadership role in the church and Newfrontiers USA? Tim is a featured blogger at: www.confluenceblog.com

courage to the fearful, wisdom to the foolish, strength to the weak, and healing to the broken. They can make us more faithful, generous, perceptive, creative, hospitable, prophetic, administrative, evangelistic, or happily celibate. They enable us to build others up when we are together and to build ourselves up when we are alone with God. The gifts of the Spirit really are “gifts that keep on giving.”

I serve John Lanferman and am part of the Newfrontiers USA apostolic team that he leads. I’m also an elder at Jubilee Church (St. Louis, MO.)

What do you expect to be doing in 10 years?

Worshipping Christ, building the local church and paying taxes.

What is your current favorite album?

Justin Bieber’s “Never Say Never” (Just kidding!)

Let’s eagerly desire them! Let’s ask for more, for ourselves and for our churches. Let’s allow them to continue to shape us. Let’s manifest this beautiful diversity visibly in our meetings. Let’s build the church with them and use them to proclaim Jesus as Lord.

APPS CLARK FORK CITY CHURCH MISSOULA, MT JOSH YAKOS

ap·pli·ca·tion

noun \ a-ple-ka-shen\

an act of applying; an act of putting to a special use or purpose

We recently baptized four people on a Sunday. A lady named Jo shared her testimony during her baptism about how God has drastically impacted her life. She came to the church through our City Food ministry. Several months ago she came forward for prayer for healing in regards to several major health issues. She later reported that her doctor had to take her off her diabetes medication because it was throwing her out of sorts and then they discovered her diabetes is gone! Go God!

IAN ASHBY >> Harbor Christian Church, >> Portsmouth, NH

DID YOU RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT? “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” I remember as a new Christian being faced with that question. It was the question that the apostle Paul asked a group of disciples he met in Ephesus (Acts 19:2). What would my response be? I certainly believed that I had the Holy Spirit in me.

I knew from scripture that I could not have believed and put my faith in God without him. He had convicted me of my sinfulness and opened my eyes to the truth of Jesus as Savior. As I came up through the waters of baptism, I knew I was born again, a new man! But had I also been filled with the Spirit? Paul’s question would not make sense if I had received everything when I believed. There was obviously something more, something that the Ephesian disciples were lacking.

Paul himself was filled with the Spirit when Ananias laid hands on him following his Damascus Road conversion.

(Acts 9:17) It was what Jesus had promised his disciples when he said they would receive power to be his witnesses (Acts 1:8). But had I received that?

I read biographies of men like D.L. Moody and Charles Finney, both of whom were believers when they testified to receiving powerful in-fillings of God’s Spirit where they were overwhelmed by an experience of God’s love. I wanted this more than anything. I knew God loved me, but I certainly didn’t feel ‘waves and waves of liquid love...shed abroad in my heart’ (Finney).

And yet all my reading had convinced me that the baptism with the Holy Spirit was not only distinct from conversion, but was something that I could experience and testify to.

Certainly that has been Terry Virgo’s teaching over the years, influenced greatly by the ministry of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

It was primarily the outworking of this teaching that birthed the Newfrontiers family of churches and has fueled our ap-

ostolic advancement with hundreds of churches now all over the world. It is also why Newfrontiers is fairly unique in the West, being both ‘reformed’ and ‘charismatic’.

As with Terry, it is probably Lloyd-Jones who has influenced me the most with his teaching on the baptism with the Spirit.

His careful exposition of scripture and his many examples drawn from church history have been thoroughly convincing and inspirational. It was Lloyd-Jones who helped me with my question. In his book, Joy Unspeakable, he says, ‘What, then are the marks, the signs and manifestations of baptism with the Holy Spirit? ...Obviously there are variations from case to case: that is common sense, for not all experiences are identical. They are identical in their character but not in their degree’ (p.84/85).

There can be degrees of experience. I realized that I had been expecting an overwhelming experience of God’s love like in the biographies I’d read, and that I was ignoring the other ‘signs and manifestations’ that are described in scripture. It is clear from the book of Acts that ‘speaking in tongues’ was

God’s purpose is to saturate us with his Presence. It’s not just an experience to be had; it’s a most intimate relationship to enjoy.

one of the most common ‘signs’ that accompanied the baptism with the Holy Spirit. That was certainly the experience of the Ephesian disciples. We are told in Acts 19:6, ‘When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied’. I decided to ask Jesus to fill me with his Spirit and give me the gift of speaking in tongues to praise him with. I can still remember the moment I stepped out in faith and started praising God in a language that he had given me. It was exhilarating! Wonderful! I couldn’t stop! I can’t say I was overwhelmed by an experience of God’s love, but I was certainly filled with joy! I knew that I had been baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Have you asked? Your experience may be different from mine–it is also subject to degrees. But it’s important that you know whether you have been filled or not. It’s also important to

RECOMMENDED READING

a. Joy Unspeakable

by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

a

Ian is a featured blogger at: www.confluenceblog.com

understand that while there is an initial ‘baptism’, there may be many subsequent in-fillings. The same disciples who were baptized with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost were filled again during a prayer meeting in Acts 4.

For myself, I have since known many times of in-filling, some of them have been overwhelming. I have known times when my heart and soul have been literally flooded with the love of God. God’s purpose is to saturate us with his Presence.

It’s not just an experience to be had; it’s a most intimate relationship to enjoy. This is what empowers us to be his witnesses in the world: we are so full of God we cannot help but to manifest his active Presence to the people around us.

+ LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT BY USING OUR RESOURCES ONLINE www.newfrontiersusa.org >> resources

SEPTEMBER 29–OCTOBER 1, 2011 S H E R AT O N W E S T P O R T C H A L E T H O T E L SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI

SPECIAL GUESTS FIND TERRY AND ED ONLINE http://blog.terryvirgo.org h t t p : / / w w w. e d s t e t z e r. c o m TERRY VIRGO

ED STETZER

F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N A N D T O R E G I S T E R O N L I N E , V I S I T

www.equippedformission.org.

CONFERENCE AUDIO NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE TERRY VIRGO JEFF VANDERSTELT ELLIOT GRUDEM www.newfrontiersusa.org >> media archive

314.832.9042 thelink@newfrontiersusa.org www.newfrontiersusa.org @NewfrontiersUSA newfrontiersUSA

www.newfrontiersusa.org/thelink Copyright Newfrontiers USA | June, 2011