BE ATTENTIVE
BE AVAILABLE
BE OBEDIENT

And I did. Each meeting I attended I thought of that phrase and submitted to the Spirit for whatever He would want to do through me. Initially it was rather daunting. How does one know for sure that God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, would want to use one such as me to communicate anything in His name?

But I began to hear things from the Spirit and did not share them. But with some regularity, what I was too afraid to speak, was shared by someone else in the meeting. And a sense of gentle and consistent confirmation ensued. And I began to speak out. And I continued to pay attention to these internal impressions and nudges of the Spirit.

Not too much later, this attentive-available-obedient pattern extended beyond formal worship meetings into the flow of life so that I began to connect with people and situations that I felt God was directing–to give some money, to check in on, to offer a word of encouragement, to do whatever I had some sense that God wanted me to do. I don’t see this as anything but normal Christ-following. Jesus said in John 12:26 “Whoever serves me must follow me and where I am there will my servant be as well. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor him “.

So that is part of the simplicity of all of this. Serving means following, and following means having some awareness of where Jesus is in any situation and how He might want to use us within that particular situation. Jesus told his disciples before He left that the central work of the Holy Spirit would be to declare to you the things that are to come ( John 16:13 ). I would suggest to you that He is speaking here not so much about upcoming prophetic events as much as letting them know that the Spirit would be guiding them day by day into the places and among the people that He was intending to touch through His attentive-available-obedient followers. Jesus said the Spirit will “take what is mine and declare it to you” ( John 16:14 ). This is not hyper-spiritual stuff but rather the very practical and ongoing commitment of Jesus to continue to see His mission get done on the earth.

And in saying this much, I am in no way diminishing the centrality of the Scriptures as our foundation and guide for the understanding of truth and Spirit. To learn attentiveness, availability and obedience is a discipline for a disciple, a follower of someone who is always on the move and always seeking to use His servants to do His will. It is my belief that most Christians hear very little from the Spirit because they pay little attention and simply are undeveloped in this kind of hearing.

Because there are so many flagrant errors and aberrations in the practice and expressions of the Spirit, we’re often cowed into fear and passivity, and so avoid mistakes. But that is perhaps the biggest mistake. The Holy Spirit lives in every believer so that He can declare the things of Jesus to us. And as His servants we follow Him to do whatever He requires at the moment. This is our great calling and our great privilege!

Peace,
Ned

  ¹⁷ ”‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
   and your young men shall see visions,
   and your old men shall dream dreams;

¹⁸even on my male servants and female servants
   in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

 I have been thinking about these words for 3 months and wrestling with the Holy Spirit for greater insight into what this all might look like and whether or not God thinks this ought to be normative. Are dreaming, envisioning and prophesying a reasonable expectation for all of God’s people?  The phrase ‘all flesh” would seem to indicate as much. And frankly, I believe it and am determined to proclaim that as plainly and graciously as I am able.

 Here’s the central question: if the Holy Spirit lives in the soul of a believer, the same Spirit who was at the front end of creation and who lived in Jesus Christ – the very same Spirit – then can we open our hearts to the dreaming and visions and prophesying that Joel said would go beyond gender and generational restrictions and infuse every believer with the capacity to dream within the sphere of their giftings, to envision how God might use them to express His love and power to a deeply broken world, and to prophesy or speak out and act in such a way that the truth and grace of Jesus are revealed?

 Believers who have “little” or more inward gifts must be called into this place of dreams and visions and prophetic action. 

 It’s “all flesh”, right?
It’s male servants AND female servants.
It’s old and young, unless I misread this.

 Brothers and sisters, let’s not settle for the horror of being “consumers of religious goods and services”. Rather, we are a people, each gifted by the Holy Spirit to be fruitful on the common mission of God.

 Believe this.  Preach it boldly. And let’s trust the Holy Spirit to inspire and empower every believer toward fruit that will last.

 In Jesus,
Ned

Many of you have just finished the Ten Days Before Pentecost prayer initiative and celebrated the outpouring the Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. I’m not sure how many of you experienced the sound of a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire, but I sincerely hope that your hearts have been opened to the presence and working of the Holy Spirit for greater fruitfulness in the mission that He’s called you to.

I am still quite inwardly engaged by Peter’s reference to Joel’s prophecy regarding generations and genders and the kind of spiritual activity that Joel predicted: envisioning, dreaming and prophesying.

I am freshly convinced that that kind of activity is an indication of true spiritual vitality – the desire to see God work in the future and the hope that I would be used effectively in that future. There really is a genuine Holy Spirit kind of dreaming that is rightly connected to the truth of God’s Word. Sometimes God intrudes, as we present ourselves to Him, as Paul and Barnabas experienced in Acts 13 at Antioch.  The first missionary journey was a result of that dreaming.  But there’s also the kind of dreaming and envisioning of Paul seeking to go back to nurture these churches and ultimately to get to Spain and be a blessing there.

One of the great truths of this kind of spirituality is that it applies to every believer, not merely those who will be leaders or go out on missionary journeys, but to the “lowliest servant” who does the kind of work that goes unnoticed and doesn’t appear to have high impact. I have thought a number of times of what happened in the heart of a little Albanian nun to provoke her to spend her life in the worst parts of Calcutta and try to help the most despised and disregarded segment of that incredibly poor population. What’s the point? What did Mother Theresa accomplish?  Well, as far as I can see, with blazing light she communicated the unlimited grace and compassion of God for all of His people. It must have started with a thought to which she yielded her heart, and prayer.  It became a vision and a movement and has brought honor to God and His kingdom.  I think that’s mostly what it takes – to see myself as a servant of God and available to be used however God wants to use me; to pray along the lines that He appears to be nudging me; and to begin to act in small ways along that path.

Why do you think that we don’t dream and envison? Honestly, I’d like you to think about that. What are the obstacles?  Is it the raw busyness and overwhelming nature of modern Western existence? I’m sure that’s part of it. Or could it be that I’ve just gotten flat out lazy in my spirit and I have lost a kind of heart for the Kingdom of God?  Possible? Undoubtedly, we all go through seasons like that.  But Pentecost is a reminder that the mission is still afoot and we are God’s people, sent on God’s mission.  Further, we are a people, each one of us, who have been gifted by the Holy Spirit to fulfill that mission. And if we have gifts of the Holy Spirit within us, we all have permission to dream and envision, not only within the gifts that God’s given us, but for the whole mission of God of which we are part.

So, now we are in the days after Pentecost. But that’s where the real content of the book of Acts takes place. Twenty-seven chapters of flat-out mission, inaugurated in one day when God’s Spirit engaged 120 people. I want to encourage you as leaders to press into God yourselves, to ask for that fresh wind of the Spirit to sweep through your soul and create visions and dreams that will result in the kind of expressions that honor God and portray His kingdom to a world so fragmented that, as God said to Jonah regarding Ninevah, “They don’t know their right hand from their left.” We ought to know at least that much, but even more, how those hands were created to make something wonderful for God.

God bless you all as you head into the days of summer.  Pray for us in St. Paul, as Christ Community Church and St. Paul Fellowship become one and portray a unique dynamic within the ARC. I am greatly encouraged by this direction and looking forward to the kind of ways that God will fill us out and grow us up.

In the love of Christ,

Ned

¹When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

⁵Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. ⁷And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? ⁹Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, ¹¹both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” ¹²And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. ¹⁵For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. ¹⁶But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
¹⁷ “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
¹⁸even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
¹⁹And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
²⁰ the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
²¹And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

²²“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—²³this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. ²⁴ God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. ²⁵For David says concerning him,

“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
²⁶therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
²⁷For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
²⁸You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

²⁹“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰ Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, ³¹he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. ³²This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. ³³ Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. ³⁴For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand,
³⁵until I make your enemies your footstool.’

³⁶Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

³⁷Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, ”Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” ⁴⁰And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ”Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” ⁴¹So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

⁴²And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.⁴⁴And all who believed were together and had all things in common. ⁴⁵And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Reflection & Discussion: Matthew 9:35-38

³⁵ And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, ”The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Prayer: “O come, Holy Spirit, inflame my heart, set it on fire with love. Burn away my self-centeredness so that I can love unselfishly. Breathe your life-giving breath into my soul so that I can live freely and joyously, unrestricted by self-consciousness, and may be ready to go wherever you may send me. Come like a gentle breeze and give me your still peace so that I may be quiet and know the wonder of your presence, and help diffuse it in the world. Never let me shut you out; never let me try to limit you to my capacity; act freely in me and through me, never leave me, O Lord and giver of life!” (Michael Hollings and Etta Gullick)

Reflection & Discussion: Romans 12:3-20

³For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another ⁶ Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; ⁷if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

⁹ Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ”Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰To the contrary, ”if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Prayer: “O Holy Spirit…which with thy holy breath cleanest men’s minds, comforting them when they be in sorrow, cheering them with pure gladness when they be in heaviness, leading them into all truth when they be out of the way, kindling them with the fire of charity when they be cold, knitting them together with the glue of peace when they be at variance, and garnishing and enriching them with sundry gifts, which by thy means profess the name of the Lord Jesus: by whose working all things live, which live indeed: whose delight is to dwell in the hearts of the simple, which thou has vouchsafed to consecrate for temples, to thyself. I beseech thee, maintain thy gifts in me, and increase the things daily which thou has vouchsafed to bestow upon me, that by thy governance the lusts of the flesh may die more and more in me and the desire of the heavenly life more quicken and increase. Let me so pass through the misty desert of this world by thy light going before me as I may neither be defiled with Satan’s wiles, nor be entangled with any errors disagreeing from thy truth which the true catholic Church hath delivered us by the instinct of thee, which livest and reignest everlastingly with the Father and the Son.” (Erasmus)

Reflection & Discussion: Romans 12:1-2, Hebrews 13:15

¹ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

¹⁵ Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ; Let me seek you by desiring you, and let me desire you by seeking you;
let me find you by loving you, and love you in finding you. I confess, Lord, with thanksgiving,
that you have made me in your image, so that I can remember you, think of you, and love you. But that image is so worn and blotted out by faults, and darkened by the smoke of sin, that it cannot do that for which it was made, unless you renew and refashion it. Lord, I am not trying to make my way to your height, for my understanding is in no way equal to that, but I do desire to understand a little of your truth which my heart already believes and loves. I do not seek to understand so that I can believe, but I believe so that I may understand; and what is more, I believe that unless I do believe, I shall not understand.” (St. Anselm)

Reflection & Discussion: Matthew 28:18-20

¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, ”All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Prayer: “On your last days on earth you promised o leave us the Holy Spirit as our present comforter. We also know that your Holy Spirit blows over this earth. But we do not understand him. Many think he is only wind or a feeling. Let your Holy Spirit break into our lives. Let him come like blood into our veins, so that we will be driven entirely by your will. Let your Spirit blow over wealthy Europe and America, so that men there will be humble. Let him blow over the poor parts of the world, so that men there need suffer no more. Let him blow over Africa, so that men here may understand what true freedom is. There are a thousand voices and spirits in this world, but we want to hear only your voice, and be open only to your Spirit.” (Prayer of a young Ghanaian Christian)

Reflection & Discussion: Ephesians 4:1 – 5:2

¹I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵ one Lord, one faith,one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. ⁷But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”

⁹( In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) ¹¹And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

¹⁷Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. ¹⁹They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.²⁰But that is not the way you learned Christ!— ²¹assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²²to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

²⁵Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. ²⁶ Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷and give no opportunity to the devil. ²⁸Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. ²⁹ Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³² Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

¹ Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ²And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Prayer: “And I offer also for all those whom I have in any way grieved, vexed, oppressed, and scandalized, by word or deed, knowingly or unknowingly; that thou may equally forgive us all our sins, and all our offenses against each other.  Take away, O Lord, from our hearts all suspiciousness, indignation, anger, and contention, and whatever is calculated to wound charity, and to lessen brotherly love.  Have mercy, O Lord, have mercy on those who seek thy mercy; give grace to the needy; make us so to live, that we may be found worthy to enjoy the fruition of thy grace, and that we may attain to eternal life.” (Thomas a Kempis)