HYDRATE

While He was Preaching

In the arena of the church leadership world being a "preacher" or "preaching" no longer carries the positive connotation it once did - it isn't negative, but it definitely sounds less dignified; somehow church has become elitist too!  They say he is a "speaker", "communicator", "teacher", "a giver of talks"...whatever (btw - it is stupid).  In Acts 11, Scripture says that "while Peter was speaking, the Holy Spirit fell (literally came down) as in the beginning (Acts 2/Day of Pentecost)."  Whether you speak, teach, give talks or preach - the question is what is the Spirit doing in the lives and hearts of people while it is happening? It isn't a judgment call - "it was a good message or a bad delivery or how was my homiletical technique on point 2? kind of thing" I guarantee the people who heard Peter that day couldn't remember 1/2 of what he said - but they never forgot what they experienced, ever - it changed their lives! The Word and the Spirit work together in a beautiful tandem. The goal of coming together is not for people to experience a speaker, but to experience the Spirit.  The speaker will be used, hopefully as powerfully as Peter was that day, but lets not lose sight of the point.  Your voice may be loud or soft, you may speak fast or slow, you may have props and a bar stool or you may have a big honkin' podium - who cares...seriously no one does but the church team who thinks that is what people want.  Truth is what people want is God...bottom line. I am not letting people off the hook here, ministry should be done with excellence, and it should be amazing all around, but at the end of the day transformation is the goal, and only the Holy Spirit can do that - whether bringing someone over the line of faith for the first time or baptizing a believer in His power or healing a person's body or mind - that is God.  Yesterday, in the middle of one of our experiences, while I was "speaking" :), the Holy Spirit fell and lives were transformed and those who were touched may not remember what I said, but they will remember what God did and that is what you call a good day!

We Follow What We are Looking At

If you were raised in a Pentecostal environment like me, you've probably seen some totally weird spiritual stuff - some real, some unreal.  Truth is we learn our faith by watching, observing, by looking at others do faith, do life, do church.  I think that is why we are to be light in darkness and a living witness to the world of the grace and love of God; God anticipates others to be watching. God anticipates children to watch parents, then their children watch them, and so on and the faith is to be transmitted first through observation, then a personal experience.  We follow what we are looking at.  Wherever our eyes go, so goes the rest of us - it is biology.  I wonder what kind of "faith" my kids are seeing? To be honest, I know what I saw, didn't like a lot of it, and so I wonder all the time if I probably didn't let the real come along for the ride? I want my kids to see a faith with demonstration and power, but I also want them to be intelligent about their faith, and I want their faith fully integrated into the whole of their lives.  I wonder if some of us emerging leaders who have seen some crazy stuff when we were kids have put too much of a halt on the power of God out of fear of entering what we wanted to come out of?  I wonder what our kids faith will look like if they never see the Spirit genuinely move beyond our own controls?  

Just thinking out loud,

Brian

The Spirit

The power of the Holy Spirit is the life-changing force in the life of an individual, but it is much more than an event that happens at an altar. God gives the Spirit to be enabled to live a life of passion and spiritual intensity. The Spirit is the guiding force that leads us not just on Sunday, but in those moments of everyday life. This can be seen and felt within the context of your family as well. Parents, allow your children to witness, through you, the Spirit work in your decisions and actions. When they see you being led by the Spirit, they will naturally want to have that same experience. Kids want to be like their parents, and if you will teach and live out being empowered by the Spirit, then you will be teaching them to receive something that will be greater than anything you could ever give them. Spirit led parents will produce Spirit led families.

Ben Liles

Pastor of Families

The Spirit

Yesterday in second service it was obvious the presence of God was in the room and the Holy Spirit was taking the experience in a direction where people who were wanting and in need of an encounter could connect with God in a special time of prayer.  So we called for the Elders of the church to come and invited people who needed a breakthrough in their life to meet them in the altar.  For a traditional Pentecostal, this is normal, second nature - we think nothing of it, but for a non-believer, new Christ follower, or a person of a different doctrinal position - this kind of moment can be quite scary and yet challenging.  It is easy for a long term believer to be more comfortable in that environment and forget those around them that are still observing, learning, watching...my challenge is let God move, but don't forget to explain the move because not everybody gets it, but we should at least help them try.  We need the generations behind us to witness and experience God's power, but we also must teach them how to talk about it intelligently with a sense of confidence.

Brian