A common "folk Christian practice" that is fraught with dangers

 

The Bible - it is the inspired word of God 2 Timothy 3: 16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."

 

The Bible has a level of authority no other recorded utterance possess. That's the meaning of divine inspiration. There is no "extra-biblical" revelation that reaches this kind of inspiration. The scriptures are the authority and every other "word from God" is to be judged by it! We know we need to read it and study it - but how much time do we dedicate to the task and how passionately do we pursue biblical truth?

 

The "God-told-me" deception is a powerful bit of folk Christian practice today. If you preface your comments with "The Lord told me..." you set yourself up so no one can counter your comments. This practice is dangerous and can lead to deep deception. Be careful how you use the phrase "I have had a word from the Lord."

 

1 Corinthian 14: 29 says, "Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said." Paul is speaking to the church at Corinth so as to bring correction and clarity to that church.

 

Paul's comment here holds a powerful principle - when someone speaks and declares they have a word from God - then that word should be able to stand up to the scrutiny of other mature people within the church.

 

Can you imagine a church or a body of believers where any one can stand up and say, "I have a word from God." But there is no one to bring any kind of accountability and if necessary correction? That would be a recipe for disaster and total confusion.

 

There are some who feel that their word from God gives them immunity from accountability - in my years of ministry I watched literally hundreds of people walk into deception, lose the plot and their destiny and wonder why it all went so wrong. If they had been open to correction, if they had been open to the wisdom of other godly leaders they would not have had such heart ache!

 

It was tweeted yesterday, "Submission to Godly leadership will always release the FAVOUR of God into your life."

 

Proverbs 11:14 says, "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety."

 

Can your "word from the Lord" stand up to the scrutiny of other mature leaders; does it flow with the conventional wisdom of scripture?

 

Spiritual deception comes in when people are unaccountable or irresponsible. Through their own adherence to this folk Christian practice and their own immaturity people wonder why they lost their way, lost their passion and lost their friends!

 

They wavered from truth and swallowed a lie - they had a subtle shift in convictions from what the bible says to some flaky spooky bit of subjective experience.

 

Our attitude towards the unchurched

 

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:12 says “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?”

 

Are we really a welcoming community? It is my deeply held belief that God did not instruct the church to force the rest of the world to have the appearance of the church and to act like Christians.

 

The church is called to illuminate a path for earnest seekers to pursue the light of God, and provide a place of solace where the Lord’s call can find a response in their hearts. Instead, we have often crowded that path with protesters and picket signs, and drowned out the sound of God’s knocking on people's hearts with our shouting. 

 

Do we really believe in the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ  or will we seek to legislate holiness. The church ought to be immersed in the business of transforming lives through teaching, compassion and care, instead of trying to govern lives through legislative force.

 

Christians need to model themselves after Jesus Christ rather than Robert De Nero in Taxi Driver.

 

Rick Warren tweeted this week, "Preachers who insist that only guilt leads to repentance deny Romans 2:4 "It is God's KINDNESS that leads us to repentance"

 

It seems in recent years there have come into mainline Christianity the hater! They hate - they hate GAYS, they hate MUSLIMS, they hate left wing politics - they hate Obama - they hate Justin Beiber - they even hate HARRY POTTER!

 

Their goal is to shame people into Heaven. Shame on them!!

 

I’m tired of the church being defined by what it is AGAINST rather than what it stands FOR! You can have your opinions of what you like or dislike – cool! Hey there is even a buttons of Facebook to help with that as well – but there is no need to slag people off – or to criticise them, to make them feel guilty or ashamed.

 

Jesus came to save people not condemn people - Jesus said we're here to bring out the God colours and the God flavours in the world around us - we've been called to be "a city on a Hill!" We were meant to become an aroma of God's love in our community not a bad smell and a stink!

 

Luke 10: 25 - 28, "On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. Teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What is written in the Law? he replied. How do you read it? He answered: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' You have answered correctly, Jesus replied. Do this and you will live."

 

Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and MIND!!! Do this and you will LIVE!! You'll live with passion, you'll live with a fire of devoted living deep within your heart. You'll live with a passion to see people connecting with Jesus Christ and recieve the new life He promised.

Review of “JOLT!” by Phil Cooke

 

Phil Cooke is an innovator and original thinker. He is unashamedly bold is announcing himself as a writer, filmmaker, producer, etc etc …. His media company advertises many of the largest and most effective churches and non profit organisations in the world.

 

His book Jolt was for me and interesting read. Getting the jump on a world that is constantly changing is his sub-title and describes his mission in this book. Chapter by chapter he challenges and inspires us to take a JOLT in various areas of our life.  Jolt in our directions, what matters, our potential, our heart and our future.

 

The book is full of stories and personal experiences of others that go to describe his points.

 

Cooke’s content is good and mostly fresh though his applications are a bit too prescriptive for me.  

 

Respectfully submitted by

Tom Rawls

www.proclaimers.com

 

James and Becky Galloway are the Lead Pastors of Breath City Church in the city of Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire in England. They have, with much courage and with a word from God, taken a local church through a process of re-purposing – a re-engineering. This book tells their story.

 

James is quick to say this is not a model for others to follow but a story of where and what God breathed into their hearts. James stresses the importance of receiving revelation from God regarding how God wants to move in our own churches, cities and towns.

 

From a beach hut near Cardiff God spoke into their hearts a dream and a vision of a church that would be significant, explosive and give a mighty hit to the “status quo” of what church is thought to be. His story speaks of a church that blasts through the barrier erected by mediocrity and sustained by a pedestrian version of just average.

 

On his arrival in Stoke he began a process of what he calls re-purposing a church. His book speaks about his hardships and his successes. This is an honest book. The book stresses the need to create culture and not allow the momentum of culture by default to find refuge and comfort.

 

In a rare moment of insight James (the book is full of them – rare insights that is) speaks about a “spirit” that can at times animate people to detract from this awesome God-process of repurposing. His book speaks openly about the Ahab & Jezebel spirit that can animate seemingly genuine people to block what God is doing in His church.

 

Without insulting any one (No names are mentioned so as to protect the guilty) James walks graciously through describing the hate mail, critical emails and the Facebook campaign to disgrace him. He boldly uses the victory to describe his journey to overcome this attack upon his integrity and his character.

 

Many will appreciate the way James takes a fresh look at an Old Testament story of Jonathan and his armour bearer found in 1 Samuel 14. James brings out many truths about having a “heart & soul” mentality to work together to achieve a lasting success we can hand over to another generation.

 

I have appreciated the chapters dedicated to “culture” and his explanations of what goes into the makeup of BCC, how culture is created and the source of the culture which is the culture of God’s Kingdom.

 

This book is not solely the work of James, his wife has a chapter and two of his close team also write with a load of conviction and passion. The book is interspersed with stories of BCC’er as they tell their inspired stories of God’s transformation.

 

Many will find the chapter on Intentionality refreshing as he opens up the power of doing things on purpose. I appreciated very much the way he opened up the usage of the word “no” & “yes.” Let me mention a small part of that passage; “People will always smile if they receive a “yes”, but the fruit of who they are is revealed when they receive a “no”. Unity is not unity until two parties disagree and still walk together.”

 

This book is a testimony of the impact that Breath City Church – no one can deny the fruit this church is seeing as literally hundreds of people are being added to the church through conversion growth. People are connecting with Christ; salvation is in this house and this book is an inspiration to anyone wanting to commence a journey towards repurposing their church. I thoroughly  recommend this book!

 

To purchase this book go to Amazon.co.uk

 

Respectfully submitted by Tom Rawls

Lead Pastor of Proclaimers

www.relentlessbook.com

It does us good to remind ourselves that as servants of God we are separated, called and supernaturally anointed to serve Him; it’s good to be reminded of the supernatural nature of the messenger – YOU!

 

Not only are we are spiritual being – we are a spirit, we have a soul and live in a body (1 Thessalonians 5:23 How often we turn that around with a body consciousness and a worldly perspective) but we have a supernatural appointment by the very hands of the Lord Jesus Himself. (Ephesians 4:11)

 

To describe our spiritual nature 1 Peter 2:2-5 says “...we crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in our salvation – we are like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

 

Note the words used – “spiritual milk,” “grow up into our salvation”, “we are living stone,” “built into a spiritual house” all these term denote a spiritual power and reality. As God’s messenger, as God witnesses Jesus said we have received “power” as the Holy Spirit comes upon us. (Acts 1:8)

 

As God’s witness we receive the Holy Spirit and holy fire so we can declare the message of salvation! Paul declared that supernatural power when he said in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, “… my preaching was … with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might rest on God's power.”

 

As a messenger sent from God we are simply supernatural and need to grow in our understanding of being Holy Spirit empowered!

 

Jesus read the scroll of Isaiah and it is recorded in Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me...” We need to develop that anointing – move in that anointing – demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit in all that we do – as messengers we are inherently supernatural.

“It’s not about me: Rescue from the life we thought would make us happy.” By Max Lucado

 

Max Lucado is a prolific author who has captured the ability to speak “straight to the heart!” His book “It’s not about me” is a brave book which challenges and successfully unseats us as individuals from the driver’s seat and from the centre of our own universe.

 

Challenging yet incredibly uplifting of God and His awesome glory Lucado speak to our hearts and minds about making sure we have Jesus at the very centre of our lives.

 

His book shows us the ludicrous nature of self absorbed Christian living and the abundant nature of God’s love.

 

As a pastor I will make sure we have this book available on our resources stand. I will personally promote this book with great passion. Because when people get this truth they will become all we ever want from them as passionate members of the church the body of Christ!

 

Our 21^st century doesn’t take kindly to being usurped from the central place of power or desire. Just like the world was disturbed by Copernicus and Galileo when they told the waiting world that the earth did indeed revolve around the sun and not the other way around so we get disturbed when we have to sacrifice the central slot to the LORD Jesus Christ.

 

But Lucado doesn’t just provide challenge he provides enormous inspiration for us to surrender the leadership to God. The second half of his book is page after page of inspiration and to have the courage to make Him Lord.

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book and want to recommend it to as broad a readership as possible. Again this is another great book for those seeking after Christ and desire a connection with God in salvation. (To purchase this book go to Amazon)

 

Respectfully submitted by Tom Rawls

Lead Pastor of Proclaimers

www.proclaimers.com

“Our message is empowered by the Spirit”

 

Just a timely reminder that our message is good news and is inherently a supernatural message of power.

The gospel is according to Romans 1:16, “... the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” This is the message we are called to preach.

 

Inherent in the message of salvation, [sozo – Greek] is the concepts of healing, new life, forgiveness and deliverance from the power and authority of Satan. Our message is the “power of God unto salvation.”

 

The gospel we preach is simply supernatural! It has hidden within it the power of God all we need to do to release that power is to preach it, communicate it or to proclaim it in word and deed; demonstrate it.

 

Jesus announced in Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.”

 

He says that He is anointed by the Holy Spirit to preach this good news – if Jesus needed the Holy Spirit’s empowering how much more do we? Communicating the message requires God power so we can deliver a message that embodies this very same power to bring salvation.

 

Paul said he had determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified he declared in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, that his “... message and preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.”

 

Note His message and preaching was with a “demonstration of the Spirit’s power.” We need the Holy Spirit’s power when we declare Jesus is Lord. We need an anointing from God when we communicate this message of Good News! It is imperative that we know the empowering of the Holy Spirit as we declare the gospel.

 

The very message is inherently supernatural – the telling and the re-telling of this story can bring new life to everyone who dares to believe. From a child of 5 years old to person reaching 100+ who so ever believes will be saved.

 

This supernatural transformation is the release of power that silences the most ardent atheist for who can argue with an experience like that? The release of power during salvation can only be compared to the power of the Holy Spirit raising Jesus Christ from the dead.

 

Because this message is supernatural we can trust Him who empowers it to set the captive free, bring sight to the blind and even raise the dead. The power embodied in the message is the power of God that delivers us from Satan’s control and sets us free from the grip of every evil spirit.

This message set us free from the power of sin and causes us to become living witness of the power of His resurrection. The reason many churches lack power is they don’t preach the gospel. The reason some church lack the manifest power of God is they don’t believe in how far reaching this message is. The reason many Christian are always “fighting the devil” is they have not yet comprehended the scope and the scale of the message.

 

The gospel IS the power of God unto salvation. Our responsibility is to preach it and prepare our lives and our hearts to experience this Spirit’s power.

 

“… my message and my preaching were with the Holy Spirit’s power so that your faith would rest on God’s power.”

 

Tom Rawls

Lead Pastor - Proclaimers

Norwich, England

 

“Max on Life” – like most of Lucado’s book this is an ‘easy read’ book full of godly inspirations and to-the-point responses to everyday life. Max gives us a divine perspective on some of life’s tough questions.

 

As a matter of approach Max uses an unusual style of using real people’s questions and responding with his unique outlook on the bible, life and learning God’s ways. The subtitle makes it clear what you’ll get in his latest book “Answers and inspiration for today’s questions.”

 

Reading this book as a pastor and church leader I became aware of the questions many normal church goers may ask about my sermons and the overall teaching ministry of the church; people understand less than I expected!

 

“Max on Life” is a book you’d want to include with your New Christians pack.

 

”Max on Life” is a book you’d want to distribute to the people coming to your new Christian’s course letting each participant know it’s okay to ask questions.  

 

“Max on Life” is a book you’d want on sale in your lobby at church for folks maybe too shy to ask the questions poised in this book.

 

Max Lucado has once again produced a great book with a powerful message. It’s okay to have questions; we all do! He goes a long way to answer a lot of the most asked questions from people both from within the church and from without the church. This is a great resource for churches with loads of people coming to Christ! I can recommend it!

 

Respectfully submitted by,

 

Tom Rawls – Lead Pastor

Proclaimers, a 21^st Century Church in Norwich, England

www.proclaimers.com

 

 

What we believe is vital because we will build according to our firmly held convictions. Even if we say we believe something but deep down hold another deeply entrenched opinion we will build according to what we really believe! (Check out chapter 5 in my book Relentless for a further dealing with this subject: www.relentlessbook.com )

 

Our theology is vital at this point: what we hold deeply is very important and will form the foundations of what we will build.

• Our theology will form our practices
• What we believe is what we will do
• Our beliefs will inform our practices
• Our Christology forms the foundation for our ecclesiology.

We need to make sure we believe the right stuff. Not just intellectually but emotionally believe it – we need to examine our most deeply held beliefs. 2 Corinthians 4:13, “It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak.” What you believe becomes your practice – what you believe you will accomplish.

 

What you truly believe is spoken by you!

 

Jesus said, “I will build my church!” Matthew 16:18 As far as I can see this building is primarily a supernatural action. I know there is the science of church planting, church growth and church management but at the core at the heart the building of the church is a supernatural act and possess a supernatural dynamic. Let me explain:

 

• The church of Jesus Christ is inherently a supernatural organism. The spiritual life of the church flows from Christ. Jesus Christ is God; He moves in His church by His Spirit, He is building His Church!
• Jesus is the head over all things to the church (Ephesians 1:22) He is central to everything! He is the priority; if He is lifted up He will draw all people to Him. Jesus adds to the church regularly. He is the head of the body – in itself a fully functioning supernatural act!
• Ephesians 3:10-11, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This PURPOSE and INTENT is one of communicating to heavenly realms – don’t want to become too “spooky” but when we declare the purpose and intent of God through Christ we are performing an inherently supernatural task.
• Revelation states He walks amongst the church (Revelation 2:1) He comes in and eats with us and we have fellowship with Him (Revelation 3:20) Whether we are out in a community or gathered in corporate worship HE is there because we are the church.

 

I get really concerned with certain kinds of people who say “I don’t feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in this meeting.” What they are saying is that they walk by sense not by faith. They are saying they don’t believe in the inherent supernatural presence of Christ in the church.

 

Many of these people are demonstrating their spiritual immaturity saying they need to feel the presence of God or He’s NOT there. They are errant theologians!

 

Jesus walks amongst us when we gather corporately and when we are scattered over our city – He is within us by the Holy Spirit and He promises to never leave us or forsake us! Hebrews 13:5

 

Let us take time to examine our most cherished beliefs. The church at it’s core is a supernatural entity!

 

Feel free to comment on this blog - I am interested in your thoughts

 

Tom Rawls - Lead Pastor

Proclaimers, Norwich England

 

There is nothing worse than being caught as an intellectual weakling simply because you’re not a reader. I am not saying that reading is the “only” answer but it can sure help! Reading helps to make you a well-rounded person, improves your vocabulary and increases your knowledge and perspectives on life and living - reading helps you to be more articulate in your speech.

 

Reading and reading widely will prepare you as a person with a broad grasp of subjects. There is no need to be ignorant when reading can fill the gap.

 

Don’t fall for the clap trap of saying you’re not a good reader either. Start to read and read widely. Someone once said “Leaders are readers.” It’s true too!

 

You don't need to just read books either; there is a whole host of hard copy magazines and newspaper as well as the mountains of online reading of blogs, articles and e-books. You can get books on CD, there are a myriad of pod-casts available as well as pre-recorded messages. (But don't get sucked into saying you’ll just listen to podcast – the subject matter in books is enormous – read)

 

If you’re wondering what to read – check up on some of your favourite speakers and see what they are reading. Browse specific sections of Amazon and see the host of subject; you’ll find a recommended reading as well. Why not wander around a good book store and pick up a couple of interesting books and start the journey towards intellectual prowess.

 

Someone once mentioned it was important to be able to read people too!

 

Don't be an intellectual weakling with people kicking sand in your face – learn to read, learn to read fast and make sure you diversify by reading widely.