Experiencing Spiritual Breakthrough
On Sunday we took a break from our series through James to look into what Scripture teaches about experiencing spiritual breakthrough.
The Bible is a book filled with God’s mighty acts in history through the lives of people. However, not everyone in Scripture experienced God’s power in and through their lives. On Sunday we looked at several of the characteristics of the kind of people who experience the breakthrough power of God in their lives. The main idea was this: There is nothing God cannot do through a man or woman who is fully committed to him.
While this is certainly not an exhaustive list, these 4 characteristics mark those who experience God’s power in and through their lives.
1. Devotion- 2 Chron. 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.”
- God is looking through the whole earth for the kind of devoted, committed people that he can entrust with his power.
2. Prayer- 2 Chron. 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
- There is an intimate connection between humble, persevering, repentant prayer and the release of God’s supernatural power.
3. Power- Acts 1:4-5 “And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
- It is important to note that Jesus commanded his disciples to not go into ministry until they had an experience with God in which they were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Apart from being filled with God’s Spirit, we will only know what men can accomplish. When we are full of his Spirit, we will know what God can accomplish through us.
4. Action- 1 Cor. 3:5-6 ” What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”
- Each of these characteristics must lead to obedient action. Each of us has a unique assignment from God. Our calling is not to make miracles happen, but to be faithful to do what God has called us to do whether it is “planting” or “watering.” When we do what God calls us to do, he will “give the growth” and receive all the glory.
Ambridge City Reach 09
Showed this promo video on Sunday. I can’t wait for City Reach 09! It’s going to be the best yet!
Bridgeway Ministry Strategy
At Bridgeway Church we recognize that the fulfillment of Christ’s commission will not happen accidentally. It must be pursued intentionally. That is why we have developed a simple, biblical, ministry stategy and spiritual growth process: Experience, Excel, Express.
1. Experience God
Our spiritual journey begins with our experience of salvation in Jesus Christ. Our personal relationship with God begins when we encounter the love of Jesus Christ and respond by repenting of our sins, surrendering our lives to His Lordship, and receiving His forgiveness (Luke 5:27-28; Romans 10:9-10). At that point we experience an inner transformation of our heart and the Spirit of God dwells within us (1 Cor. 12:13).
At Bridgeway Church, our primary environment for experiencing God is our Sunday Worship Service. In our service we experience God’s presence through authentic worship and the preaching of God’s Word (Acts 2:1-4;14-36). While experiencing salvation in Christ is the starting point of our spiritual journey, it is not the end. We need to experience God daily in our private devotions, and weekly as we gather together corporately to worship God. For this reason it is vitally important to commit to weekly attendance.
2. Excel In Spiritual Growth
Our experience of regeneration is not the end, but just the beginning our our new life in Christ. We now begin the lifelong process of becoming more and more conformed to the image of Christ.
Community Groups are our primary strategy for spiritual growth at Bridgeway Church. We believe that spiritual growth takes place best in the context of meaningful relationships. Though they are currently not meeting through the summer, Community Groups provide an atmosphere where we can develop deeper friendships, engage in meaningful discussion, and pray together in a way that would not be possible in a large gathering.
Community Groups are a reflection of the strategy for ministry that we find in the New Testament Church (they were big enough to grow/reach people; and small enough to care). They are the heart of our discipleship process at Bridgeway Church. Acts 2:46-47 tells us, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
3. Express His Love To The World
The final stage of our discipleship strategy is to express God’s love through ministry and service (Luke 9:1-2). God has called us to impact our world with the message of Jesus Christ. Our spiritual growth is incomplete unless we allow God to use us to reach the lost and lead them into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ by helping them experience God, excel in spiritual growth, and express his love to the world. Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…”
The best way to engage in ministry is to join a ministry team at the church and help with outreach events.
There are many ministry teams and opportunities for serving and leadership at Bridgeway. There are opportunities to lead a Community Group, become a Youth or Children’s ministry leader, become a Nursery worker, help with the coffee and hospitality ministry, become an usher or greeter, become an altar worker, help with the building and grounds crew, join the worship team, help with sound, lighting, and video production, etc.
Summer Church Picnic
I’m definitely looking forward to good food, hanging out, meeting new people, and cornhole.
Words and Works
Have you ever encountered a person who seemed to have a chronic problem of giving their word but never following through? Maybe its someone who promises to do something, but never does it, or promises to be somewhere but doesn’t show up. When people fail to follow through on their word, we can’t help but lose trust in them.
In fact we all know people whose word means something because they always honor their word. When they say something, there’s weight to it. And we all know others whose word really doesn’t mean much because they rarely, if ever, do what they say. This is why we say that actions speak louder than words. Because words alone don’t mean much if they are not accompanied by actions that demonstate their genuineness.
On Sunday we saw that the same is true when it comes to our faith in Christ. The central point of James 2:14-26 is that when it comes to our faith, our conduct will either confirm or contradict our confession.
In other words, its not only important that we profess faith in Christ with our mouths, but that our lives bear witness to the truth of that confession through the works that we do.
James’ main concern is with people who verbally profess faith in Christ while continuing to persist in a lifestyle that contradicts his will. Basically, is Jesus really our Lord and God if we persistently refuse to submit to his leadership and live for him? Our words may say one thing, but our actions may reveal something quite different.
The best way to bear the fruit of good works in our lives is to be connected to Jesus. Just like a fruit tree does not need to work hard at producing its fruit, so a genuine believer will produce the fruit of a believer by being connected to Jesus, the one who ultimately produces that fruit in our lives.
Divine-Human Cooperation
It is important to note that true spiritual growth and transformation into the image of Christ from “glory to glory” is ultimately a work of God in our lives. This means that we cannot produce spiritual growth through human effort any more than we can make the leaves grow on a tree.
But this does not mean that we are to do nothing. In fact, Scripture is clear that we are to pursue Christlikeness and discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness. While I can’t make the leaves grow, I can cultivate the soil around a plant, get it appropriate water and sunlight so that it can grow.
What Scripture calls for is a divine-human cooperation.
Paul said, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12-13
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:1
Is spiritual growth produced by human effort? No
Is spiritual growth the result of a work of God in our heart? Yes
Does this mean we don’t do anything? No
If true spiritual growth and transformation is a work of God, then the spiritual disciplines are a means of positioning ourselves to receive God’s grace.
This can be illustrated through the stories of Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus (Luke 18:35-43; 19:1-10). Both of these men were transformed by the power of Christ through voluntarily placing themselves in his pathway. The spiritual disciplines are a way of seeking Christ and placing ourselves in the pathway of the transforming grace and power of Jesus.
Richard Foster has said, “God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us… By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done.”
Recent Reads
Some books I recently finished:
The Prodigal God- Tim Keller. Great book on sin, grace, and redemption. A fresh look at the story of the prodigal son.
The E-Myth Revisited- Michael Gerber. One last chapter to go. FANTASTIC book about organizations! Bought a copy for my board members and staff. A very practical, systematic guide to building a healthy organization.
Currently reading:
Total Church- Tim Chester & Steve Timmis
The Religious Affections- Jonathan Edwards. Taking this one slowly!
