A Christian Life is Supernatural

Peter and John said “We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard” in Acts 4, responding to the religious leaders of their day who did not want them to speak or teach in the Name of Jesus about the power God had given them to heal the lame man. I find this an interesting coincidence to our day.

When I read the New Testament, I am encouraged and inspired by the way the early church lived on mission together to seek and save that which is lost. They embodied love for each other, love for God and love for their neighbor. I want to urge you and your community with all my heart to take hold of this mission to reach your cities with the message of Jesus. What does this mission look like for you?

When Jesus healed the demon-possessed man, he urged him to return home and “declare how much God has done for him”. And, when the woman at the well had an encounter with Jesus in Samaria, she left her water jar and went away into town to tell the people about Jesus the Messiah. If you have had an encounter with the Living God as they did, you can’t but respond as these two people did. Do you live this way now?

And, you will receive power from on high to be his witness in your workplace, neighborhood, city and beyond. For many of us, we don’t live with this power. But, God wants you to ask him for this power more than ever, no matter whether you’re a pastor, missionary, businessman, teacher, college student, barista at starbucks, whatever you do, etc. I encourage you to lay hands on each other and ask for the Holy Spirit to fill you up with his power to be a bold witness in word and deed. He is faithful to do this so your ministry will go in power. What does this ministry look like to you?

God wants to send you and others in your life out as ministers to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom, to cast out demons in the Name of Jesus, to heal the sick in the Name of Jesus, to feed and care for the poor and broken, and to do even more than Jesus did. Can you imagine now what this power will look like?

This is exactly the power we see from Jesus, the disciples, the early church, etc. I have to share with you how I was personally awakened to the healing power of God a few months ago. I had suffered from acid reflux for many years of my life and was especially bothered by it after having mexican and italian food, two of my favorite food groups! During a christian conference here in Arizona, I asked two people to lay hands on me and they began to pray against any powers of darkness that were controlling my acid reflux and asked God to heal me in the Name of Jesus. As a result, I have not had any form of acid reflux since this prayer. God is a healer because by his stripes we are healed!

Here is another testimony to the power of God. I started sharing the Gospel with a college student at a bus stop here in Tempe and felt a lot of resistance from him. The next thing that happened to me amazed me. I said to him in confidence, “I command any spirits to leave right now in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth.” At that instant, he became open to the message of Jesus and the Good News of the Kingdom. This is an amazing tool I hadn’t really used before, but God has shown me the authority we have in the Name of Jesus. Have you ever thought to use this with people that seem very resistant to the Gospel?There are demonic spirits that would love to continue to blind our friends and family to the truth of the Good News. You and I have authority in the Name of Jesus to take down these strongholds in their lives.

I don’t know why I doubted the power of God! For so much of my life I have missed seeing and hearing these God-stories in my life. I don’t know if I only had a religious spirit that kept me from seeing this or if I just was not hanging out in the right circles of people. But, now God is breaking down the religious spirit I had put up and I am surrounding myself with people who love Jesus, have intimacy with the Holy Spirit like you wouldn’t believe, and have faith in the power of God to heal and cast out demonic spirits.

If you are open to what I am sharing, I want to join you on this journey and offer any encouragement or tools that will disciple you into living radically in the Name of Jesus. I do not claim to have all the answers or to be the most qualified for this, but I want to be faithful to the knowledge I now have and follow God’s heart to reach every city with the message of Jesus in power.

I would love to sit down with you over these issues, spend time praying with you over the unreached people and city God has burdened your heart for, and even go out two-by-two with you, as Jesus commanded his disciples, to reach your city for Jesus! As God stirs your heart, I’ve included a short training manual to help you along because it has encouraged me in this process:

DOWNLOAD THE TRAINING MANUAL TO GET STARTED

As you read this manual, would you ask God to show you what your next steps should be?

People in your life may discourage you from living this way and many unbelievers will be offended by this radical message that Jesus is Lord. You may even encounter religious people who will not understand what it means to live with this power, but please don’t be discouraged. We are called to follow the way of Jesus and the truth of the Scriptures, faithfully sharing and living out this message. And as persecution ensues, we can take heart because Jesus told us to rejoice and be glad, for our reward will be great in heaven. Paul even said, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecution, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong”.

Life is but a mist and we only have a short time to live on this earth. What do you want to be known for? What do you want to live for? Please consider the joy of this call and the urgency of the time we are in. I also want to ask for your prayers, that the Father would guide my steps and that the Holy Spirit would stir many hearts with this letter to take extreme action. And, If you are already taking action, I want to hear how God is moving in your life and what he may be already doing through you.

The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of us.

For the Fame of Jesus,
Ken

SCRIPTURE

“We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard.” -Acts 4:20

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed.” -Luke 4:18

“He that believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater.” John 14:12.

QUOTE

“Jesus did not come to start a religion, He came to bring freedom! He came to destroy the works of the devil. He did this by healing the sick, casting out demons, setting people free from the oppression of the devil, and becoming the sacrifice for our sin. He told His followers to leave everything and follow Him and commanded them to continue his work until he returns. Often the people that need freedom the most get it the least - outside church buildings: streets, homeless, poor neighbourhoods, hospitals, emergency rooms, homosexual communities, abortion clinics, countries and remote villages where the living conditions are rough and persecution is strong.” - Fabian of Freedomtocaptives.com

I’m a big fan of “mission”

I think a lot of churches have it backwards by expecting non-christians, non-religious, religious haters, apathetic people, people of other faiths to come to their church to hear a message about Jesus.

What has resulted is an attractional model in the Church today, which instead of being God-pleasers only, we resort to being Man-pleasers and compromise the Grace and Truth of the Gospel.

I love Alan Hirsch’s book “The Forgotten Ways” because he really examines this “seeker sensitive model” well and also shares how Jesus calls us to live out mission in the church.

Go to where non-christians are and reach them on their turf! I know it’s a radical idea, but if only we as the church embodied this more.

Listen to what Alan Hirsch says about this and being “missional”:
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2008/06/audio_ur_alan_h.html