Hey
New Life,
This
last Sunday I talked about tapping into the power source as we go about telling
others the message of Jesus. I
want to tell you a story of when I tapped into a new power source when I was
younger.
I
was a teenager when I first experienced any type of verbal gifts of the Holy
Spirit. I
grew up in a Baptist church and we viewed those things as wrong an unbiblical
kinds of things. Then one day my brother went to his friend’s church and came
back changed. He had been a real punk of a big brother with a horrible attitude
towards our parents but something was different and I said to myself I had to
check out this church that had changed him.
Obviously
it wasn’t the church that changed him but it was Jesus, but I think you
understand my curiosity, none the less.
When
I went to the Assembly of God church youth gathering I saw students worshipping
God with such freedom that I had never experienced before. It was incredible.
I wanted to worship God like that. I wanted to worship God with true freedom.
I thought the whole verbal gifts thing was still odd and different and my
friends in my old church thought I was crazy but I liked the freedom and didn’t
want to let go of it.
A
year or so later, at a Winter Retreat, there was an opportunity to receive what
is called “the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.”
I really didn’t know what it was all about but if Jesus had
something more for me than what I already had then I wanted it. Nothing “happened” to me during that time but
then that night in bed I woke up and began speaking a new language I had never
heard before.
Now
the whole point of verbal gifts of the Holy Spirit is very specific. It says in
Acts 1:8 that the purpose is to give you power to be a witness wherever you
are. You see, if you have the faith to
speak an unknown language then speaking to someone about Jesus in your common
language should actually take less faith.
Here’s
the thing though, people can get really weird and do crazy things in the name of
the Holy Spirit and I think that turns people off to the idea of verbal
gifts. But don’t you and I both know
people who have done things in the name of Jesus that are so not
Jesus?
I
am a die hard Seattle Seahawks fan and I remember going to a game in Indy
against the Colts a few years ago and there was another Seahawks fan about 10
rows below me acting like a total jerk. All the Colts fans wanted to take him
out and beat him up. Hey, even I wanted to shut him up because of the way he
was acting.
I
say that to tell you we have specific, biblical guidelines for the verbal gifts
during a Sunday gathering so things are not chaotic but orderly just like I
believe we experience on Sundays because we want people to say, “God is truly
here among you.” (1 Corinthian 14:25) when the verbal gifts are used at
church.
But
remember the why behind it all is to tap into a power that helps you
share the message of Jesus. Let
be sure to tap into that power source today!
Leading
and serving you,
Pastor
David
