IHOP Atlanta

Every few years there are new “Hot Topics” that swirl through the Body of Christ. Many times the emergence of a certain topic at a specific time is divinely orchestrated in order to give new light to certain truths or re-emphasize foundational truths that have been neglected. Over the last decade God has highlighted topics such as Revival, Evangelism, and Prayer & Fasting. Many times God, from His heart, originates topics that are to be highlighted and as we begin to get the message from the Lord we “tweak” the issue to make it palatable to our personal ministry or denominational taste. This editing of heavenly mandates ends up watering down what is in the heart of the Lord or changing the subject altogether. One of the “Hot Topics” in the church today is the issue of relevance.

During a time of prayer recently, I sensed the Holy Spirit highlight to my heart the issue of relevance. I believe that the issue of relevance is a topic that is currently on the heart of the Lord. There is much being said in our day regarding relevance. Right now it is common to hear the idea of relevance being espoused as a value that the church maintains and should strive for. I believe it is important that the church be relevant in this hour and yet it is perhaps even more important that we have a proper understanding of what relevant Christianity truly is. I sense strongly that God desires His church to be relevant to the world and further that He is requiring the church to be relevant as it relates to the time of human history in which we live.

It is no secret that there are millions of souls, literally billions of souls worldwide that are hurling headlong to eternal destruction because they have no knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Further, it is clearly evident that we are living in a time in which sin is operating at a heightened degree never before seen in humanity. It is hard to fully comprehend the speed of the moral slide in our society right now. We need to not become ostriches with our heads in the sand. We must look soberly into the face of the depravation of our society and determine to act.

We are at the advent of an age where the world is embracing in a wholesale way the concept of homosexual marriage. We practice abortion on demand and teach our children that our personal pleasure is to be the premiere pursuit of life. Terrorism has been brought to the doorstep of every nation in the world. It is extremely likely that future terror attacks will dwarf 9/11 in scope. Officials tell us that it is not a matter of “if” but “when” as it relates to future terrorist attacks. Our society is heading into a state of degradation, fear and depravity previously uncharted.

As I consider these realities I can hear the words of the Apostle Paul echoing through the corridors of time, “where sin abounded, grace abounded MUCH MORE.”(Rom 5:20) We are in a season of extreme acceleration of evil as well as righteousness. I believe that the prophet Isaiah was describing our day when he declared, “Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.” (Isa 60:2)

The very glory of the Lord will be seen upon the people of God and it will have a compelling affect upon the world. God’s glory revealed upon God’s people in a way that will be apparent to the world will cause, “The Gentiles (to) come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters will be nursed at your side.” (Isa 60:3-4)

What is it that God says will cause the unsaved to flock to the church? What is the special feature that will cause leaders of nations to be drawn to believers? What is the component that will cause our backslidden sons and daughters to return to the Lord and begin to be fed and nourished in the Lord? It is none other than the true revealing of the Glory of God to the world. When there is authentic light and revelation upon the church the world not only takes notice, the world is drawn in vast numbers. When there is true, heaven sent, validated power emanating from God’s people as a result of His glory resting upon His people the lost are drawn with majestic magnetism.

True Relevance
True relevance is producing in the sight of the lost a Jesus that makes sense. The logic is that if Jesus is God, let’s see some God-Stuff. I believe that the Lord is calling the church to relevance in this hour as never before. Yet many are interpreting relevance to mean that the church should be reasonable, acceptable and understandable to the lost. As a result there are many that are focusing on being relatable in a natural way to the lost without producing an authentic reality of the power of God. While I agree that we should use language that makes sense to someone who is uninitiated in the latest Christian catch phrases, I firmly believe that the only thing that is going to stem the tide of darkness that is sweeping away the world and truly draw the lost to the Lord is a genuine witness that manifests real power which attests to the validity of the resurrection Jesus.

Recently I heard George Otis of the Sentinel group, the producer of the popular “Transformation” videos state, “We have gone out into the mission field of the world with tools and a paradigm that are too weak. We cannot compromise the supernatural. It is the only thing that will truly touch the felt needs of the world.”

Many of us in the church are more acquainted with pop culture and marketing techniques than we are with the Holy Spirit, His ways and His power. There is nothing wrong with having up to date external effects, such as clothing, furnishings and communication styles. However we cannot focus on externals, presentations and programs and sacrifice the reality of a true power witness in the midst of a dark world. We must not believe the lie that says it is more palatable to the lost if we offer a gospel utilizing modern methods and media than if we offer them the raw power of God in manifestation for all to see. The Holy Spirit is still the greatest drawer of the human heart. His timeless method is to testify of Jesus; to which Jesus calls us to be witnesses of the Spirit’s testimony.

John 15:26-27 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 27 “And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

How exactly does the Spirit of Truth testify of Jesus? And how is it that Jesus calls us to bear witness of His testimony? He reveals truth to the heart of the lost and convicts the world of sin. Acts 1:8 gives us even further incite into the process of the Spirit’s testimony and our witness.

Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The word translated power in Acts 1:8 is a Greek word that many in the church are familiar with: Dunamis. It is the word from which we get the English word dynamite. It is translated throughout the New Testament, mighty works, mighty acts and miracles. If we consider this word in proper context the scripture is saying that the believer who receives the Holy Spirit also receives power to do miracles and mighty acts. It is this power to do the supernatural that Jesus said will cause us to be living testimonies or witnesses of His resurrection. This is how the Spirit testifies of Jesus, by manifesting the power of the resurrection to the world.

We use the word powerful to describe many things. We routinely say that a special song was powerful or that a dramatic illustration was powerful. What we mean is that it is emotionally moving. When Jesus said that we would receive power, He was not talking about the ability to do a powerful drama or video presentation. He was boldly declaring that His people who were filled with His Spirit would do mighty exploits, manifesting mighty acts, signs and wonders. The Spirit would testify through them by mighty acts and signs and wonders and they would then bear witness to the reality of the risen Christ.

The disciples knew this and experienced the reality of this in their own lives. They prayed for the manifestation of power so that they might be living testimonials to the reality of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Acts 4:29-33 “Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; …. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.

Notice that for the disciples boldness in preaching the word was in direct relationship to seeing great miracles and signs and wonders. The truth is that it is easy to be bold when somebody gets healed right in front of you. As they ministered they “gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” The only way that we can bear witness or become a living testimony of the supernatural event of the resurrection is by manifesting supernatural power in our lives.

The Prophetic Church
I am convinced that the most relevant thing that the church can do for the lost is manifest in an authentic way the undisputable, verified power of God. The most relevant thing the church can offer to someone with cancer is not a slick gospel presentation using drama, lights and video. The most relevant thing that the church can do for the person with cancer or any disease is to drive it out of their body by the power of God. The most relevant thing to an unbelieving atheist who will not be talked into believing in Jesus is manifesting the reality of the power of God right before his eyes. Paul declared that prophesying to the lost will unlock their heart and turn them into evangelists.

1 Corinthians 14:24-25 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. 25 And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.

Notice that Paul said several things will happen to an unbeliever or uninformed person when the church operates in prophetic power before their eyes. He specifically says that this happens when the unbeliever comes into a community which operates proficiently in the prophetic.

1. Convinced
In an age when we are trying so desperately through programs and a variety of evangelism techniques to convince the world that Jesus is who He says He is, it is amazing that a prophetic word can totally convince the lost of the reality of the Deity of Christ. They are convinced because it is the Holy Spirit testifying to them through the power of God.

2. Convicted
Immediately they will be convicted of the state of their heart and life before the holy God. We try so many ways to bring conviction to the lost, yet it is the Holy Spirit’s job and He is very good at it. If we will agree with the Holy Spirit that His methods are the best to convict the lost it is likely that the amount of conviction in our services will rise at a significant rate.

3. Worship
They become instantaneous worshippers of the true God when their heart is unlocked through the power of a true prophetic word. How often have we seen people stream to altar calls or even get baptized in the church and yet in the days after their “decision” their devotional life is anemic. Those who come in contact with the heart revealing power of the living God are not only converted but the scripture declares that they immediately enter into a depth of relationship with the Lord because they have an assurance of the reality of who He is.

4. Report
The newly born again will not have to be trained to tell their friends and families about God. They will tell everyone around them that God is in your midst because of the life altering encounter that they have had. When someone is authentically converted through the power of God they eagerly desire to share the life changing events with those in their world.

Conclusion
A great challenge facing the Christian today is whether or not to go after God in such a way, with spiritual aggression and steadfastness, in order to receive a mantle of power on our lives. The anointing is very costly oil that is not dispensed flippantly by the Holy Spirit. It is those who will anchor their hearts with a depth of resolve to be authentic and truly relevant in this hour that will begin to manifest the reality of the power of God to the lost.

I am not for a moment pretending that I am operating in the power of God at a level even close to what I desire to see. However, I have made a decision that I want to challenge you to consider. I have decided that no matter the cost, I want to live a life that manifests power and testifies of the resurrection of Jesus the way the apostles did. The most relevant thing we can do in this season and time is to passionately pursue Jesus and obtain all that He promised we could have. The church is the most powerful when it is least like the world. This is the church that has the greatest capability to change the world and in turn is the most relevant to the world. Jesus promised that we would receive power and therefore testify to His resurrection because of the power upon our lives. Let’s not stop until we see the authentic power of God flowing daily through our lives. Let’s not settle for modern methods that do not focus on the means that Scripture identified would cause a true witness to be manifest to the world. It is only through the power of God that we will see the lost soundly convicted and converted to Jesus. This season of accelerated sin is an invitation to you and I to go after the greater works that Jesus promised we would see and manifest them to see multitudes transformed for the Glory of God.