Believe

"It is easy to believe in God, but far more difficult to believe God." 
RC Sproul

The Motivation of Theological Appreciation Appropriated in Worship

In other words, he has written to them in this particular way because he is aware that, ultimately, the profundity of their theological appreciation, appropriated in worship, will be far more effective in helping them to be what they were meant to be than merely piling moral exhortation upon moral exhortation.

- A.T. Lincoln commenting on how Paul sought to motivate the Ephesian church.

Society preserved, disturbed and invaded

“It is too easy to divorce the rule of Christ in heaven from the life of his church on earth; to so abstract the one from the other that the effective outworking of Christ’s sovereignty is left to mysterious forces quite unconnected with our everyday Christian life. In this way we can make the reign of Christ something too remote; invisible, inaudible and eventually undetectable. Whereas it is through the Church’s presence and power, by her work and witness, that society itself is preserved, disturbed and invaded by this reigning Lord.”

- Peter Lewis

Its not about us

The Bible is God’s book, it is a revelation of God, and our thinking must always start with God. Much of the trouble in the Church today is due to the fact that we are so subjective, so interested in ourselves, so egocentric. That is the peculiar error of this present century. Having forgotten God, and having become so interested in ourselves, we become miserable and wretched, and spend our time in ’shallows and in miseries.’

The message of the Bible from beginning to end is designed to bring us back to God, to humble us before God, and to enable us to see our true relationship to Him. And that is the great theme of this Epistle [Ephesians]… We must not start by examining ourselves and our needs microscopically; we must start with God, and forget ourselves. In this Epistle we are taken as it were by the hand by the Apostle and are told that we are going to be given a view of the glory and the majesty of God.

- D. M. Lloyd‐Jones, God’s Ultimate Purpose: An Exposition of Ephesians 1:1 to 23 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979), 13.

Preacher

“The Christian preacher has a boundary set for him. When he enters the pulpit, he is not an entirely free man. There is a very real sense in which it may be said of him that the Almighty has set him his bounds that he shall not pass. He is not at liberty to invent or choose his message: it has been committed to him, and it is for him to declare, expound, and commend it to his hearers . . . It is a great thing to come under the magnificent tyranny of the Gospel!”

Donald Coggan, quoted in Stott, 126-27

Holy Spirit - Miricles - Providence

"Now, it ought to be observed that God sometimes assists his people in such a manner as to make use of ordinary methods; but when he sees that this hinders men from beholding his hand, which may be said to be concealed, he sometimes works alone, and by evident miracles, that nothing may prevent or obscure the manifestation of his power."

John Calvin

Worship Defined

"Worship consists of acknowledging that someone or something else is greater – worth more – and by consequence, to

be obeyed, feared, and adored…Worship is the sign that in giving myself completely to someone or something, I want

to be mastered by it. (Harold Best, Music Through the Eyes of Faith, pg. 143)

Worship is the activity of the new life of a believer in which, recognizing the fullness of the Godhead as it is revealed in

the person of Jesus Christ and His mighty redemptive acts, he seeks by the power of the Holy spirit to render to the

living God the glory, honor, and submission which are His due. (Robert Rayburn, O Come, Let Us Worship, pg. 20)

“Worship is the work of acknowledging the greatness of our covenant Lord…. In worship we adore God’s covenental

control; bow before His absolute, ultimate authority; and experience God’s presence” (John Frame, Worship in Spirit

and Truth)

Worship is the human response to the self-revelation of the triune God, which involves: (1) divine initiation in which God

graciously reveals himself, his purposes, and will; (2) a spiritual and personal relationship with God through Jesus

Christ enabled by the ministry of the Holy Spirit; and (3) a response by the worshiper of joyful adoration, reverence,

humility, submission and obedience. (David Nelson, Authentic Worship, Herbert W. Bateman, ed., p. 149)

Worship is the believer’s response of all that they are – mind, emotions, will, body – to what God is and says and does.

(Warren Wiersbe, Real Worship, p. 26)

Worship is the term we use to cover all the acts of the heart and mind and body that intentionally express the infinite

worth of God. (John Piper)

Worship of the living and true God is essentially an engagement with him on the terms that he proposes and in the way

that he alone makes possible. (David Peterson, Engaging with God, pg. 20)

True worship involves reverential human acts of submission and homage before the divine Sovereign, in response to

his gracious revelation of himself, and in accordance with his will. (Daniel Block, For the Glory of God, SBTS Course, p.

30)

Miracles

"Now, it ought to be observed that God sometimes assists his people in such a manner as to make use of ordinary methods; but when he sees that this hinders men from beholding his hand, which may be said to be concealed, he sometimes works alone, and by evident miracles, that nothing may prevent or obscure the manifestation of his power."

- John Calvin

Revival

Those who stand wondering at this strange work, not knowing what to make of it, and refusing to receive it- and ready ... to speak contemptibly of it, as was the case of the Jews of old- would do well to ... tremble at St. Paul's word ... "Beware therefore lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets, Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you." ... Let all to whom this work is a cloud and darkness - as the pillar of cloud and fire was to the Egyptians - take heed that it be not their destruction, while it gives light to God's Israel.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 240

Anointings / Empowerings

Perhaps it cannot entirely be resolved. But the real issue seems to be that anointings, empowerings, "comings upon" and the like differ from and must not be confused with that ongoing indwelling that begins with the new birth. They may coincide with the new birth (see Acts 11:15), or they may follow it. They may occur once or many times, or perhaps not at all.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 233

Holy Spirit

In many instances the "coming upon" is entirely at the Holy Spirit's initiative, and not in response to a request by the person on whom he falls. It is , as Lloyd-Jones puts it, "something that happens to you." Certainly this was true in Saul's case. However, the person is usually obeying God when the incident occurs, and in any case we are encouraged to ask for this gift of God. It would be unwise to press the differences too far, but whereas the indwelling never changes, the effects of the anointing, or empowering seem often to fade.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 232-233

Spirit

Unlike the indwelling of the Spirit, which automatically follows repentance and true faith in Christ, empowerings and infillings may occur once or many times, at conversion or subsequent to conversion.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 232

Spirit

The Spirit comes upon men and women to enable them to do all the work of the kingdom. Isaiah predicted the day when God would "pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground" and would pour out his Spirit "on your offspring ... " (Is 44:3) The Spirit was to be upon the anointed Servant , to enable him to accomplish the many tasks of the kingdom, "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news, ... bind up ... proclaim ... " and more (Is 61:1-2).

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 232

Holy Spirit

In general the Bible uses the preposition on or upon to describe the way in which he gives us this power. And the references to this exceed in number even those that have to do with his indwelling.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 231

Holy Spirit

Indeed the two little words in and on generally relate to two distinct aspects of what the Holy Spirit does for God's people. He is in all of us all the time. He comes on us for specific purposes at certain times. When he comes on us he is sometimes said to fill us. And though it may seem confusing to us that he could come on or upon someone he already lives inside, the confusion has to do with our inability to think in anything but spacial terms. Prepositions are helpful, and the Scripture uses them, but we must try to use the terms just as the Scripture does, without letting spatial concepts confuse us too much.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 230

Faith

"... faith is the ear by which I hear what is promised, the eye by which I see."

Andrew Murray, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 227-228

Demon Possessed

If we are to understand what demonized means we must surly look at New Testament descriptions of demonized men and women. As we examine them, I think you will agree that most would better be described as men and women afflicted by demons rather than owned and totally controlled by them. Afflicted in and through their bodies to be sure. Hence the need for the demons to be driven out. But the demons do not own the bodies of Christians.
In many cases there is no clear description, but in several instances there is. The Gadarene demoniac alone might come under the category of someone owned and totally controlled by demons. And yet even in his case the description is not necessarily true. Self-control and demon-controlled seem t alternate in the man. Under his own control he runs to Jesus and falls at his feet. The act looks like an act of worship. But the demon within him then cried, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" (MK 5:6-7).
But take the case of the epileptic boy at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration. He was afflicted with periodic fits of epilepsy. When Jesus cast the demon out the boy was healed (Mt. 17:18). You can be healed of an affliction, not of a possession. The account of the same incident in Mark is yet more graphic. Here the spirit is described as one of deaf mutism - certainly an affliction from which any of us would wish to be healed (MK 9:14-27).
Again, the Canaanite woman who came to Jesus on behalf of her demonized daughter said that her daughter was "suffering terribly" from her demonization (Mt 15:22). The expression suggests affliction, pain, torment. Moreover when Jesus grants her request we are told that her daughter, like the epileptic boy, was healed. The word healed is used of a bodily affliction, and is comparable more with a sickness a demon causes than with an ownership to which the spirit has no right, even in the unconverted.
Conrad was, I believe, afflicted by a demon. The demonic affliction took the form of an addiction to drugs. It may well have attached itself to Conrad's body at some point during his abuse of drugs, and in this sense Conrad deserved what he got. Unfortunately, though deliverance from many sins follows confession and faith, the matter is less simple when a demonic presence is involved. The abuse had provided an opportunity for demonic attachment of some kind. Not until Ken Blue, under the authority of the kingdom of God and in the power of the Spirit, served notice to the demon was the matter resolved.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 210-211

Demon In A Professing Christian

... it became clear in the course of prayer that many Christians become both indignant and alarmed. Such a state of affairs is surely impossible. How can someone indwelt by the Holy Spirit be afflicted by demons? (Though for that matter, how can someone indwelt with the Holy Spirit entertain sin in the body he occupies? ...)

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 209

Deliverance

We may criticize the victims, blame their lack of faith, their lack of yieldedness, or their insincerity or weakness. But we must also admit a sense of the church's powerlessness in delivering many men and women from these besetting sins, and a sense both of delight and of bewilderment on learning of deliverances like Conrad's. We are delighted to know that God still does things like this but bewildered that he does not always do it. We cannot understand why so much of our teaching and so many of our prayers do not produce the same dramatic results.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 207

Worship Involes My Intellect

Worship involves my intellect and my spirit, in that both are necessary if I am in any sense to comprehend the incomprehensible.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 188

Glory

At its highest it is both objective (the glories of God are real, and rightly compel my adoration) and subjective. God's glory is meant also to be subjectively appreciated and entered into.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 188

Worship Involes My Will

Worship involves my will. I choose to worship. Yet ideally it involves my emotions, and may become fervent and passionate in the degree that it does so.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 188

Worship Involes The Whole Person

I believe worship involves the whole person, body, soul and spirit. It involves the body not only in the sense that I express worship, in my culturally learned body language (often without realizing I do so) but in the sense that I should perform every single task in life as an act of worship. I should even clean my teeth for the glory of my Redeemer.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 187-188

Worship

Sometimes repetition is the only way one can relieve oneself of the yearning to express that which is too deep to express easily.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 187

Worship

... people worship at Vineyard conferences. The worship leader, usually backed by a small group of instrumentalists, is not leading singing, but worship. The group conceives its own function as one of worshiping.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 186

Prophetic Manifestation

...a prophetic manifestation of impressive accuracy and sometimes of impressive detail, describing either physical conditions or the emotional disturbances and thoughts of individual people present that could not possibly have been known to the person who had the word of knowledge.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 185

Prophecy

I am reminded of Underhill's description, "Their character [ of certain communications from God] is less that of messages than of 'invasions' from beyond the threshold; transcending succession and conveying 'all at once' ... truth or certitude."

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 185

Prophecy

Prophecy may predict future events, but its purpose is to admonish, instruct and encourage God's people. Prophetic utterances must always be subservient to Scripture and under the authority of the church's leaders.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 184

Revival

1) First, converted and unconverted men, women and children, stunned by a vision both of God's holiness and his mercy, are awakened in large numbers to repentance, faith and worship.
2) Second, God's power is manifest in human lives in ways no psychological or sociological laws can explain adequately.
3) Third, the community as a whole becomes aware of what is happening, many perceiving the movement as a threat to existing institutions.
4) Fourth, some men and women exhibit unusual physical and emotional manifestations. These create controversy.
5) Fifth, some revival Christians behave in an immature and impulsive way, while others fall into sin. In this was the revival appears to be a strange blend of godly and ungodly influences, of displays of divine power and of human weakness.
6) Sixth, wherever the revival is extensive enough to have national impact, sociopolitical reform follows over the succeeding century. In this way injustice.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 173-174

Criticism

Even though Matthew Arnold was primarily speaking of literary criticism, I still like the way he defined criticism, "... a disinterested endeavour to learn and propagate the best that is known and is certainly my desire to be nonpartisan, to no exalt one Christian movement over another but to see God's people one in spirit, bound together harmoniously in Christ.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 173

Criticism

"Of all the cants that are canted in this canting world - though the cant of hypocrites may be the worse - the cant of criticism is the most tormenting."

Laurence Sterine

Baptism in the Holy Spirit

If your doctrine of the Holy Spirit does not include this idea of the Holy Spirit falling on people, it is seriously, grievously defective. This, it seems to me, has been the trouble especially during this present century, indeed almost for a hundred years. The whole notion of the Holy Spirit falling on people has been discountenanced and discouraged, and if you read many of the books on the Holy Spirit you will find it is not even mentioned at all, a fact which is surely one of the prime explanations of the present state of the Christian church ... Suddenly we all became so respectable and so learned and people said, "Ah, that old type of preaching is no longer good enough, the people are now receiving education" ... Then followed that most devastating thing that has affected the life of the church - Victorianism. It entered into the churches, particularly the Free Churches ... and the great word became "dignity." Dignity! Formality! Learning! Culture!

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 170

Charismath

John Wimber's introduction to unusual manifestations was unsought, abrupt and unpleasant. It took place on Mother's Day 1978, in a school gymnasium, the meeting place in those days of the church of which he is still the pastor.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 158

Spirit's Power

Let us all seek to walk in the Spirit's power. But let us never envy those who walk in greater power than we ourselves do, for these are pressures associated with power. Those who walk in power walk also along perilous paths.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 156

Power

Power is never a badge of merit. It is no proof of sanctity, no proof of maturity, no proof of Christian experience or of wisdom. It is seen when a God of grace chooses the weak and foolish to confound the mighty.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 156

Grace

"All expressions of grace can be grouped under one of two headings:

privilege and power."

Jerry Bridges

Grace and Blessing

“Blessings at times come to us through our labors, and at times without our labors, but never because of our labors, for God always gives them because of his undeserved [grace] mercy." - Martin Luther

The Profanity of Merit

“It is sheer profanity to speak of the merit of works, especially in the presence of God."

- Lefevre d’ Etaples

The Gospel and Obedience

“Believers obey Christ as the one by whom our obedience is accepted by God. Believers know all their duties are weak, imperfect and unable to abide in God’s presence. Therefore they look to Christ as the one who bears the iniquity of their holy things [acts], who adds incense to their prayers, gather out all the weeds from their duties and makes them acceptable to God.”

- John Owen

Feeling our Sinfulness

The man whose soul is “growing” feels his own sinfulness and unworthiness more every year.

The nearer he draws to God and the more he sees of God’s holiness and perfection, the more thoroughly is he sensible of his own countless imperfections.

The brighter and clearer is his light, the more he sees of the shortcomings and infirmities of his own heart. When first converted, he would tell you he saw but little of them compared to what he sees now.

- J. C Ryle, Holiness, p. 88.

Holiness and Sin

All my labors are marred by sin and imperfection. As I think of every act I have ever done for God, I can only cry out, “Oh God, forgive the iniquity of my holy things.”

- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, as quoted in Ian Murray's Spurgeon and Hyper-Calvinism, p. 20.

Hindrances to Santification

Hindrances to growth in grace:

1. A defect in our belief in the freeness of divine grace
2. A lack of obedience to Christ in every area of life
3. A lack of intentionality and specificity about spiritual growth. We make general resolutions but never carry them out.
4. A lack of specific application of Scripture in dealing with sin in our lives
5. A lack of growing in the practical knowledge of Scripture

- Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience, 165-167.

Best Preparation for the Study of the Gospel

“The best preparation for the study of [the gospel] is – neither great intellectual ability nor much scholastic learning-but a conscience impressed with a sense of our actual condition as sinners in the sight of God. A deep conviction of sin is the one thing needful in such an inquiry, - a conviction of the fact of sin, as an awful reality in our own personal experience – of the power of sin as an inveterate evil cleaving to us continually, and having its roots deep in the inner most recesses of our hearts, - and of the guilt of sin, which once committed, can never cease to be true of us and which [in itself] deserves his wrath and righteous condemnation.” (James Buchanan, The Doctrine of Justification pg 236-37)

Holiness and Sin

“As God is holy, all holy, altogether holy, and always holy, so sin is sinful, all sinful, only sinful, altogether sinful, and always sinful.” (Ralph Venning, The Sinfulness of Sin, pg. 31)

Hysterical Behavior

In themselves they are not particularly important. But let there be no mistake about why I focus on them. They indicate more a phase of the battle than of the spiritual state of those to whom they occur. To want to tremble or to be slain in the spirit is a mistake, indeed it can be dangerous. But if they are truly (in some cases at least) manifestations of the Spirit of God that occur during many revivals, then their appearance now may have a much greater significance.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 153

Religion / Morality

"Religion is growing in importance among Americans but morality is losing ground... There is very little difference in the behavior of the churched and the unchurched on a wide range of items including lying, cheating, and pilferage."

George Gallup, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 152

Work Of The Holy Spirit?

1. Giving more honor to the historic Jesus, the Son of God and the Savior of the world;
2. Opposing Satan's kingdom by discouraging sin, lust and the world (the lust of the flesh, of the eyes, plus the pride of life);
3. Holding Scripture in his esteem;
4. Increasingly realizing that life is short, that there is another world, that they have immortal souls and must give an account of themselves to God, that they are sinful by nature and practice, and that they are helpless to overcome this without Christ; and
5. Expressing love for Christ and for others, especially toward fellow Christians which should not be characterized by hostility.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 150

Dreams & Visions

... to say that the Scripture renders dreams and visions obsolete is not true. As the Sandfords put it, "That would be the same as saying to a general in battle, 'We need not respond to your couriers; we have the original battle plans, drawn up before the was began!' "

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 146

Supernatural Power

She states that the supernatural power of which she was conscious was "the same sort of supernatural power as I was accustomed to in our spiritist meetings." Precisely. As power, it had the same source. Polluted water is still water. It may look like, behave like, and feel like pure water. The two may seem indistinguishable at times. However, polluted water can in may cases be detected by its taste. Polluted spiritual power always can - by those who have learned to "taste" in the spirit.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 142

Supernatural Power

"The moment I entered your chapel and sat down on a seat amongst the people, I was conscious of a supernatural power. I was conscious of the same sort of supernatural power as I was accustomed to in our spiritist meetings, but there was one big difference; I had a feeling that the power in your chapel was a clean power.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 142

Power

Not to have experienced the power of God is to be spiritually naive and an easier target for demonic deception. We need to know both, the one by the grace of God, the other in its malignant opposition to us.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 139

Fellowship With God

When the Israelites defeated Jericho, they were given strict instructions to set aside all gold, silver, bronze and iron for the Lord's treasury (Josh 6:18-19). Individuals were not to take these spoils for their personal possessions. But one man did, Achan. The results? When Israel next did battle with the city of Ai, Israel was defeated. Joshua then cried to the Lord and discovered the defeat was due to sin among the people. Once Joshua and the people punished Achan, Israel then conquered Ai (Josh 7-8).
The point is not merely that disobedience leads to defeat, and certainly not that holiness leads to power. Rather it is that holiness is necessary if we want ongoing fellowship with God. God wanted fellowship with his people. On that occasion he allowed them to suffer defeat because he had been trying to impress on them his longing to have them walk in fellowship with him. That is why God uses any painful means to get at us - because he wants our fellowship.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 134

Miraculous Power

I am convinced that God still delegates miraculous power and that it can still be abused. Some Twentieth-century healers are like an empowered Samson, but a Samson wrongly using power. Some churches are guilty of exaggerated reports, loose morals and a use of divine power for self-promotion and aggrandizement.
But the power is divine power. The work represents neither friend nor a display of demonic influence. The healers are abusing their gifts and calling. If they are deceived, and some of them seem to be, the deception is not one in which demons fool them into thinking they are using divine power when in fact the source is demonic.
Rather, God gives them power, just as he did to Samson. But fascinated with a very exciting game, they allow themselves to be deceived by believing they are still pleasing God and enjoying fellowship with him simply because they are surrounded by enthusiasm and results. Results prove only that the power is real. The lies in the fact that untold numbers of lives are redeemed through their ministry. God fulfills his own purposes. His loving heart is satisfied.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 133

Power

Power is not a reward for holiness - a kind of spiritual merit badge. Samson's power seemed to depend not on his lifestyle but on his haircuts - or rather the absence of them. You say, "Yes, but that was obedience, wasn't it?" Of course, it was. But long hair did not make Samson holy, except in a symbolic sense. It marked him as one set apart. After all, every Christian is a "set apart" person. But that is just my point. Like Samson, Christians fail to live holy lives sometimes exercise divine power. Or so it appears from the godly fruit they produce.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 132

Miraculous Power

...miraculous power is never a reward for sanctity. God has been gracious enough all along to entrust it to sinful men and women who take him seriously but whose sanctity and doctrinal understanding is often less than ideal.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 125

Divine Power

Jesus plainly teaches us that it is possible to do godly things with divine power but not have fellowship with God. "Many will say to me on that day. 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?" Then will I tell them plainly, 'I never know you. Away from me, you evil doers!' " (Mt 7:22-23).

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 124

Divine Power is Holy Power

Divine power is holy power. People entrusted with it carry a heavy burden of responsibility. Those who reverence its source and realize the responsibility that comes with it, respect it. Others have did so. Did Moses eventually take spiritual power for granted? Why did he strike the rock in Kadesh? Was he merely being petulant? Or had familiarity with power bred contempt for holiness and for the word of the Lord? Moses certainly seemed to be upset, but the sentence pronounced against him was not for his petulance. God made the nature of Moses' offense clear. "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy ... you will not bring this community into the land I give them" (Num 20:12).

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 123

Spiritual Power is Dangerously Heady Stuff

Like sex, spiritual power is dangerously heady stuff. I remember praying with my wife for a two-year-old child in Malaysia. Her body was almost completly covered with raw, weeping eczematous areas. She ran around the room restlesslly so that her parents had to catch her to bring her struggling to us. We began to pray and extended our hands to lay them on her. The instant our hands touched her she fell into profound and relaxed slumber in her parents' arms. But ther was more to follow. I shall never forget our sense of exhilaration and excitement as the weeping areas began to dry up, their borders shrinking visibly before our eyes like the shores of lakes in time of drought. That was power!
A person who has never experienced the impact of such a sight has no idea of its effect on one's emotions. People have been known to laugh and cry helplessly for hours after observing miraculous power, especially if the miracle is a major one touching someone close to them.
If you ever exercise spiritual power of that order, if you should ever see a congregation of hundreds weeping in broken repentance as you preach, the experience may make sexual love seem as banal as eating ice cream. Small wonder that Jesus needed to warn the seventy when they returned full of excitement after their successful mission. To be sure, he had seen Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, indeed, he gave them even more authority and power. "However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Lk 10:20).
There is danger in power. Sexual power can make some men rapists and some women nymphomaniacs. Spiritual power can be equally destructive. There is therefore danger in every revival. We must be careful to hold to Christ's own scale of values.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 122-123

Impact of Spiritual Power

People who have never experienced the raw impact of spiritual power find it hard to understand that it could be dangerous. An experience of the impact of spiritual power can be compared with the experience of sexuality. People are never quite the same following their first sexual experience. A change has taken place in the way they see and will henceforth experience themselves, their world and other people. Nor is the change necessarily for the better. In fact it has equal potential for good and evil. All we can say is that a change has occurred. So it is with the experience of divine power.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 121

Spiritual Power

"Power always can be wrongly used. Spiritual power is no exception to the rule"

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 121

A Clarification on the Gospel

"God does not love us because we are good, he makes us good because he loves us."

- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Drift in Marriage

“Most marriages develop their characteristic pattern, not by design, but by drift. Courses of least

resistance, following one’s own desires in time develop into patterns, but you will never drift into God’s

pattern. It will come only by repentance, by prayerful understanding and by a conscious decision to follow it.

That decision must be backed by a continued daily awareness of what you are doing and a repetitive effort

to realize God’s design in all you do. You must choose between drift and decision. Decide now to reshape

your marriage according to God’s great plan set forth in the pattern of Christ and His church. If you do, your

marriage will be blessed more and more as it grows, not drifts in the shape designed by God.” – Jay Adams

Augustine and the Gospel

“And here lies the secret of his profound realization that Christian happiness consist in “comforted remorse”.

“Before him men were prone to conceive themselves essentially God's creatures, whose business it was to commend themselves to their Maker: no doubt they recognized that they had sinned, and that provisions had been made to relieve them of the penalty of their sins; but they built their real hope of acceptance in God's sight more of less upon their own conduct. Augustine realized to the bottom of his soul that he was a sinner and what it is to be a sinner, and therefore sought at God's hand not acceptance but salvation.”

“And this is reason why he never thought of God without thinking of sin and never thought of sin without thinking of Christ. Because he took his sin seriously, his thought and feeling alike traveled continually in this circle, and could not but travel in this circle. He thus was constantly verifying afresh the truth of the Savior's declaration that he to whom little is forgiven loves little, while he loves much who is conscious of having received much forgiveness … So he came to understand that the heights of joy are scaled only by him who has first been miserable, and that the highest happiness belongs only to him who has been the object of salvation. Self-despair, humble trust, grateful love, fullness of joy – these are steps on which his own soul climbed upward: and these steps gave their whole color and form both to his piety and to his teaching.”

- B.B. Warfield, Calvin and Augustine. Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1980, p. 336-350

Women's Heart

"A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man should have to seek Him just to find her."

Max Lucado

Wait For The Man

"Wait for the man who is more in love with God than you."

Adrienne Sadosky, 'Wait For The Man'

Speaking In A Tongue

Paul assures us, for instance, that speaking in a tongue and uttering prophecies (the exercise of Spirit-imparted gifts) are under the voluntary control of individual Christians. The Spirit may inspire, but the Christian chooses when to utter. "If anyone speaks in a tongue, two - or at the most three - should speak, one at a time..." (1 Cor. 14:27). "The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets" (1 Cor. 14:32).

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 117

Holy Spirit

Slowly I began to suspect that a powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit tends to produce among other things a new leaned pattern of behavior with its own triggering mechanism.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 117

Sin - Dominion Over Us

In all our lives there seems to be a time when God deals with specific issues. We may struggle for years with a problem, aware that a particular sin need not have dominion over us, yet repeatedly we may fail to throw off the sin. And then after years, the sin, like an evil, overripe fruit, drops to the ground often with a flash of inner-illumination. Suddenly we are free. What all along was true theologically becomes true in our experience.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 111

Word Of Knowledge

The "word" of which he speaks is a "word of knowledge", a term to describe a revelation from the Holy Spirit about one's own or someone else's personal need.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 110

Manifestations

We have already seen that equally powerful manifestations may produce profound spiritual changes in some people, and none at all - or at least none that are discernible - in others. And this suggests to me that the Spirit's action calls at some level for a human response, conscious or unconscious and that the response is essential to the result. It seems that the spiritual aftereffects of such a manifestation are dependant on the subject's willingness to let God have his way.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 108-109

Manifestations

Manifestations take place during revivals. Those Christians whose spiritual progress has been quiet and steady may never, even where the power of the Holy Spirit is present, be subject to any manifestation. The fact that God is inscrutable wisdom deals in this way with some people does not mean that if you have not trembled or been thrown on the floor, then you are inadequate as a Christian. To be sure, all of us need to be empowered and anointed by the Spirit, but that empowering does not need to be dramatic,...

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 104-105

Understanding Christianity

If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father.

If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.

For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up I the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God.

Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption.

- J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 201 -202.

Experiences

Unusual experiences are by definition not part of normal discipleship. If God should have an unusual experience in store for you, and if that should help your relationship with God, well and good. But the experience itself is neither here nor there, except as being an evidence that God is moving in revival. It is your relationship with God that matters.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 102

Revival

"Their joyful surprise has caused hearts as it were to leap, so that they have been ready to break forth into laughter, tears often at the same time issuing like a flood, an intermingling a loud weeping."

Jonathan Edwards, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 90

Revival

Dr. John Hamilton, in a similar vein, gives his own description of the revival in Cambuslang, Scotland: "I found a good many persons under the deepest exercise of soul, crying out most bitterly of their lost and miserable state, by reason of sin; of their unbelief, in despising Christ and the offers of the Gospel,... I heard them express great sorrow for these things, and seemingly in the most serious and sincere manner, and this not so much... from fear of punishment as from a sense of the dishonour done to God..."

Dr. John Hamilton, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 88-89

Emotions

"The town seemed to be full of the presence of God; it was never so full of love, nor of joy, and yet so full of distress, as it was then."

Jonathan Edwards, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 88

Fear of God / Worship

How could I live and see what I saw? Garbled words of love and of worship tumbled out of my mouth as I struggled to hang on to my self-control. I was no longer trying to worship. Worship was undoing me,, pulling me apart. And to be pulled apart was both terrifying and full of glory.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 88

Fear of God

"Many cry out in the bitterness of their soul. Some... from the stoutest men to the tenderest child, shake and tremble and a few fall down as dead. Nor does this only happen when men of warm address alarm them with the terrors of the law, but when the most deliberate preacher speaks of redeeming love..."

Dr. Alexander Webster (1742), When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 87

Fear Of God

"The Scriptures place much of religion in godly fear; insomuch that an experience of it is often spoken of as the character of those who are truly religious persons. They tremble at God;s work, they fear before him, their flesh trembles because of him, they are afraid of his judgments, his excellency makes them afraid, and his dread falls upon them."

Jonathan Edwards, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 87

Mysterium Tremendum

[Randolph] Otto uses, as C.S. Lewis did later, the term numinous to describe this quality of the fear. The numinous experience is made up of an overwhelming sense of one's creaturehood, such that one experiences a "submergence into nothingness before an overpowering absolute might." Other elements are what he calls, Mysterium Tremendum which is not "that which is hidden and esoteric, [but] that which is beyond conceptual understanding, extraordinary and unfamiliar."

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 86-87

Fear

During the past two years I have come across two episodes of such a terror - the terror of persons who, caught up in a mystical experience, thought that God was about to kill them. Both incidents took place when the subjects were fully awake and out-of-doors at night. Both people were also servants of God who were about to back away form his call on their lives. In terror they both instantly repented.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 85

Fear of God

Moses experienced both kinds on different occasions. In Exodus 4:24-26 there is a disturbing account of the first kind of fear - the fear of the disobedient servant. Moses and Zipporah are on their way to Egypt with their family. Moses' firstborn son is uncircumcised. In a single shattering sentence we learn that "at a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him." Only after Zipporah carried out the circumcision, smearing the blood on Moses' foot, did the danger pass.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 85

Spirit Comes

'Restrained! Quiet! Unobtrusive! My dear friends, why not listen to the evidence? This is the kind of thing that happens when the Spirit 'comes' upon man, even the building was shaken...

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 84

Religion

"True religion, in great part consists in holy affections."

Jonathan Edwards, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 84

Spiritual Opposition

I think the case was often this; the word of God would come with convincing light and power into the hearts and consciences of sinners, whereby they were so far awakened... [that] the peace of the strong man armed would be disturbed; hell within would begin to roar; the devil, that before, being unmolested, lay quiet in their hearts, would now be stirred up."

Ralph Humphries, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 76

Demons/ Revival

One night more than twenty roared and shrieked together while I was preaching... [some of whom] confessed they were demoniacs. Sally Jones could not read and yet would answer if persons talked to her in Latin or Greek. They could tell who was coming into the house, who would be seized next, what was doing in other places, etc....
I have seen people so foam and violently agitated that six men could not hold one, but he would spring out of their arms or off the ground, and tear himself, as in hellish agonies. Other I have seen sweat uncommonly, and their necks and tongues swell and twist out of all shape. Some prophesied and some uttered the worst of blasphemies against our Saviour.

John Cennick, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 75

Spirit Moves

Even Satanic delusions, wrong ideas that creep in to spoil a work of God, far from being an indication that the work itself is Satanic, may in fact serve as a proof of the very opposite. Jonathan Edwards wisely comments,. 'Nor are... delusions of Satan intermixed with the work, any argument that the work in general is not of the Spirit of god." Wherever the Spirit moves powerfully, an enemy not only opposes but seeks to undermine.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 74-75

Supernature

Most of us, you see, think of God as a "God of the gaps." We don't intend to , but we do. Having been educated in the West there is a deistic twist to your thinking, causing us to view a tree as growing by natural laws. We fail to see God working everywhere (God pulling and shaping each leaf, each blade of grass) even though we may subscribe in general to the notion. We are affected by our knowledge of science. Whatever our stated beliefs, in everyday practice we think of God setting the grass growing and then moving off to do something else, so to speak.
The God of the Bible runs everything. He created Nature and Supernature which are actually all of a piece with no division between them. Nothing in Nature woks by itself. God 'works' it. He intervenes unceasingly. Every musical note we hear, every sunrise and sunset we see, every birth we rejoice in, every exploding supernova we marvel at - all are expressions of his power. His presence keeps the whole show working.
Similarly every angelic appearance, every miracle of healing are likewise the working of his sovereign laws. In this sense there is no fundamental difference between what we call miracle and what we call ordinary. Yet we need some sort of a division to aid us in discussion.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 59

Revival

"How we wait for it or work for it, the critical issue history raises is whether we will recognize it and embrace it when it comes."

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 56

Fanaticism

Fanaticism... is a terrible danger which we must always bear in mind. It arises from a divorce between Scripture and experience, where we put experience above Scripture claiming things that are not sanctioned by Scripture, or are perhaps even prohibited by it.
But there is a second danger and it is equally important that we should bear it in mind. The second is the exact opposite of the first, as these things generally go from one violent extreme to the other. How difficult it always is to maintain a balance! The second danger, then, is that of being satisfied with something very much less than wheat is offered in the Scripture, and the danger of interpreting the Scripture by our experiences and reducing its teaching to the level of what we know and experience; and I would say that this second is the greater danger of the two at this present time.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 55

Interpret Scripture

We all have experience, whether we experience the supernatural or the total absence of the supernatural. And all of us ten to interpret Scripture according to the experience we have, whether it be negative or positive, present or absent. To deny the tendency is to deny our very humanity.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 55

Feelings

Edwards claimed that feelings expressed the soul's movements. Without them a radical change of direction was not likely to follow. This explained why some people were never changed by the Word of God. "They hear... commands... warnings... and the sweet invitations of the gospel. Yet they remain as before... because they are not affected [moved] with what they hear."

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 52

Emotions

His pastoral experience compelled him to conclude that nothing of religious significance ever took place in a human heart if it wasn't deeply affected by such godly emotions.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 52

Emotions

"The Holy Scriptures everywhere place religion very much in the affections; such as fear, hope, love, hatred, desire, joy, sorrow, gratitude, compassion, and zeal."

Jonathan Edwards, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 51-52

Emotion

Emotion comes from seeing, from understanding. I experience fear when I realize I might die during the operation the surgeon has suggested to me. The depth of my fear measures the clarity with which I see. My fears will be healthy if what I "see" truly corresponds with reality, for emotion is a test of my grasp of reality. Emotions do not save me - except in the sense that they may startle and shake me into acting in the light of truth.
When the Holy Spirit awakens people, he seems to cause them to perceive truth more vividly. Satan's deceptive mists are driven away. People see their sin as terrifying rocks threatening to sink them or as a foul, stinking cancer that will kill them. They see the mercy of the Savior with the eyes of those who have been snatched from a horrible death. Their trembling, weeping and shouts of joy reflect the clarity of their vision.
Keely aware of this, Dillimore states that the emotional manifestations we are talking about took place in people who were "solemnly conscious of the presence of God... and bitterly aware of their won helplessness."

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 51

Emotions

And what better place could there be for the release of our pent-up emotions than before the throne of grace? Why can some Christian leaders scream with delight or howl with rage at football games but never think of shouting "unto God with the voice of triumph"? Our Christian culture has too often made it difficult for us to "shout for joy and be glad" even when it would be appropriate to do so.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 50

Facts / Feelings

For one thing, it is possible to be mistaken about the facts since Mr. Facts really represents one's own limited understanding of Scripture. It is always possible for our own grasp of facts to lead us astray, unless we are open to revise or refine it from time to time. And again, feelings are complex. Faith is only one of many factors influencing them. After all, if something so ordinary as a missed night's sleep or a bout of indigestion can affect them, what else might?

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 49

Revival

"Revival stirs our hearts when we read about it. But would we perceive it as of God if it broke out noisily in one of our own services or meetings?"

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 45

Revival

John Wimber writes: "When warm and cold fronts collide, violence ensues: thunder and lightening rain or snow - even tornadoes or hurricanes. There is conflict, and a resulting release of power. It is disorderly, messy - difficult to control."
He further says: "Power encounters are difficult to control. This is a hard word for many Western Christians to accept, because phenomena that do not fit rational thought are uncomfortable: they plunge us into the murky world of the transrational in which we lose control of the situation. Events that do not fit our normal categories of thinking are threatening for us, causing fear, because they are unfamiliar - especially where spiritual power is involved."

John Wimber, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 45.

Affections

"Though there are false affections in religion, and in some respects raised high: yet undoubtedly there are also true, holy, and solid affections; and the higher these are raised the better. And when they are raised to an extremely great height, they are not to be suspected merely because of their degree, but on the contrary to be esteemed."

Jonathan Edwards, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 43

Revival

Such a commotion surly was never heard of, especially at eleven at night. It far outdid all that I ever saw in America. For about an hour and a half there was such weeping, so many falling into deep distress, and expressing it in various ways... their cries and agonies were exceedingly affecting.
Mr. McCullough preached after I had ended, till past one in the morning, and then could scarce persuade them to depart. All night in the fields might be heard the voice of prayer and praise. Some young ladies were found by a gentlewoman praising God at break of day. She went and joined with them."

George Whitefield (1742), When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 43

Revival

True revival has commonly been opposed because it came dressed outlandishly, a wild and uncouth invader. Each revival had its own style, its own novelty.
Field preaching, for example, was unheard of in Britain before the Wesleyan revival. Churches and chapels were scandalized initially. Press articles describing it scorched the paper they were printed on. When George Whitefield first introduced him to it even John Wesley found field preaching hard to accept.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 41.

Revival

"I would define a revival," writes Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "as a large number... being baptized by the Holy Spirit at the same time; or the Holy Spirit falling upon, coming upon a number of people assembled together. It can happen in a chapel, in a church, it can happen in a district, it can happen in a country."

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, When The Spirit comes With Power, p. 39.

Revival

"Alas! alas! in how many things I have judged and acted wrong... I have been too bitter in my zeal. Wild-fire has been mixed with it, and I find that I frequently wrote and spoke in my own spirit, when I thought I was writing and speaking by the Spirit of God."

George Whitefield, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 38.

Revival

Critics seized on inconsistencies, but Edwards' dictum was: "A work of God without stumbling blocks is never to be expected." In fact he said: "It is no sign that a work is not from the Spirit of God, that many, who seem to be subjects of it, are guilty of great imprudencies and irregularities in their conduct. We are to consider that the end for which God pours out his Spirit, is to make men holy, and not to make them politicians. It is no wonder that, in a weak and strong natural abilities, under strong impressions of mind - there are many who will behave themselves imprudently." He also wrote: "Instances of this nature in the apostles' days are innumerable... gross heresies... vile practices..."

John White, When The Spirit Come With Power, p. 38

Revival

"From time to time cosmic mopping-up operations achieve other breakthroughs, what we call revival occurs and the invisible side of the picture seems for a time to become more apparent."

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 37.

Revival

"This is no age to advocate restraint; the church today does not need to be restrained, but to be aroused, to be awakened, to be filled with a spirit of glory, for she is failing in the modern world."
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, When the Spirit Comes With Power, p. 34.

Hearing From God

Why do many people who pray earnestly for a visitation from God reject what he sends because they find it offensive? What can we say about the bizarre behavior that occurs, the unwise words and actions of its prominent leaders, the bitter quarrels that arise? How shall we avoid the tragedy of missing it when God sends it?
John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 33.

Ministry Calling

"Ministry is the one vocation you arrive at by running after something else. You run after humility and service in order to end up in ministry. If you run right at ministry you will be sidelined or put on a slow train. "

-Dave Harvey

Communication of Scripture

...let’s have this unmovable goal: discernible growth in my grasp and communication of Scripture, in its specifics and its sweep.

Teaching The Word

Dr. [D. A.] Carson say, “Effectiveness in teaching the Bible is purchased at the price of much study, some of it lonely, all of it tiring.”

Teaching, Discerning the Gift

This is what happens when the gift of teaching is operating. You make scriptural truth clear, you make scriptural truth attractive, and you make scriptural truth operational. You make it clear—people understand it. You make it attractive—people value it. And you make it operational—people apply it. When those things happen, the gift of teaching is happening, it is functioning. That is what we want to cultivate.

-Jeff Purswell

Pastoral Ministry

We are to “rightly handle.” I think we could render that “deal with it straightly.” Literally it means to “cut a straight path.” We deal with it straightly. So that means two aspects: correct meaning and clear communication. That is what we strive for: faithfulness, clarity … faithfulness, clarity … faithfulness, clarity: faithfulness to the meaning of the text and clear communication of the message of the text. In brief, that is what we are about in rightly handling the Word of God.

-Jeff Purswell

Pastoral Authority

Now, of course, we do have a degree of authority to preach God’s Word in the church and to govern the affairs of our church. But as far as authority in people’s lives, that lies only in God’s Word. It is only God’s Word that is to bind the conscience of a believer, not my opinion, not my preferences. And when we deviate from God’s Word or we distort God’s Word or we displace God’s Word we have forfeited our authority. This is where our authority derives from—the truth of God’s Word.

-Jeff Purswell

Biblical Leadership

Your teaching is the primary expression of your leadership. The core of biblical leadership is setting forth for our people a biblical vision of God and his purposes and then calling them to live life in light of it and modeling for them what it looks like. That is biblical leadership.

-Jeff Purswell

Scripture

It is this Word and this Word alone that God promises to accompany with saving and sanctifying power. Where is your confidence? It should be here because it is only this that God promises to accompany with saving and sanctifying power! Oh, this Word is powerful. This Word makes massive promises about itself. It advertises its power to change and transform. This Word discloses God. It brings us into an encounter with God himself. When we hear these words, we are hearing the voice of God. This Word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. This Word discloses the gospel. The gospel itself is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Embedded in the gospel, in its DNA, is this explosive power to bring people from death to life. It is in here. This Word transforms hearts, breaks the power of sin, and engenders new affections. Oh, this Word does so much.

-Jeff Purswell

Pastoral Ministry

So as Paul spoke, his preeminent awareness was the gaze of God. His preeminent concern was the approval of God. All too often my preeminent concern is my presentation to you, to people. My preeminent concern is the approval of you. So who are you most aware of? Whose approval are you seeking? Whose test do you want to pass? Here is the sobering reality: Whom we are trying to please now will determine what we hear then. So let us now seek to please him. Let us labor, not merely with devotion, but with an awareness of divine scrutiny.

-Jeff Purswell

Pastoral Ministry

John Piper wrote, “The Word of God that saves and sanctifies from generation to generation is preserved in a book. And therefore at the heart of every pastor’s work is bookwork. Call it reading, meditation, reflection, cogitation, study, exegesis, whatever you will. A large and central part of our work is to wrestle God’s meaning from a book and to proclaim it in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Pastoral Ministry

Something massive and eternal is at stake in our labors. The work of preaching and teaching is God’s chosen means to secure and preserve the final salvation of his Church. That’s all. In so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers—not that you will justify them, but that these will be the means that God will use to secure and preserve the final salvation of Christians. So teach, preach, give yourself, persist, and devote yourself. This is no time for “sleeping and snoring.” As pastors, we are not special. But we are called to be specialists! We have a specialized call, we have specialized labor, and it involves this Book.

-Jeff Purswell

Pastoral Ministry

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. … Practice these things; immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers”

(1 Timothy 4:13,15,16).

Pastoral Ministry

Some pastors and preachers are lazy and no good. They do not pray. They do not read. They do not search the Scripture. The call is watch, study, attend to reading. In truth, you cannot read too much in Scripture and what you read you cannot read too carefully. And what you read carefully, you cannot understand too well. And what you understand well, you cannot teach too well. And what you teach well, you cannot live too well. The devil, the world, and our flesh are raging and raving against us. Therefore, dear sirs, and brothers, pastors and preachers, pray, read, study, be diligent. This evil, shameful time is not the season for being lazy, for sleeping and snoring.

-Martin Luther

Pastoral Ministry

Earlier in chapter two he used these metaphors to inspire Timothy: “Think of the soldier, Timothy. Think of the athlete, Timothy. Think of the hard working farmer, Timothy.” Those are Paul’s ministry metaphors, images that inspire labor and courage and perseverance and discipline and self-denial. You can’t read the Pastoral Epistles and come to the conclusion that pastoral ministry is a soft occupation; an “indoor job with no heavy lifting.” No, pastoral ministry is not for the lazy. It is not for the casual. It is not for the indifferent. In fact, it is not just enough not to be lazy. It is not just enough to do your work. The text says, “Do your best.” Exercise the utmost diligence and do it persistently.

-Jeff Purswell

Faithful Pastor

Brothers, let us at all costs avoid a failure of perception in this area. We have one fundamental role. We have one governing priority. The governing priority for the faithful pastor is devotion to the teaching of God’s Word.
- Jeff Purswell

Revival

What we have called revival during the last three hundred years represents an unusual work of the Holy Spirit with the following characteristics:
1. Converted and unconverted men, women and children, are stunned by a vision both of God's holiness and his mercy, are awakened in large numbers to repentance, faith and worship.
2. God's power is manifest in human lives in ways no psychological or sociological laws can explain adequately.
3. The community as a whole becomes aware of what is happening, many perceiving the movement as a threat to existing institutions.
4. Some men and women exhibit unusual physical and emotional behaviors. These create controversy. They can be an offense to opponents of the revival and a snare to its supporters.
5. Some revived Christians behave in an immature and impulsive way, while others fall into sin. In this way the revival appears to be a strange blend of godly and ungodly influences, of displays of divine power and of human weakness.
6. Wherever the revival is extensive enough to have national impact, sociopolitical reform follows over the succeeding century. In this way Christ kingdom begins to be exercised over the evils of oppression and injustice.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 32-33.

Revival

...Jonathan Edwards preached his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." I can see him in my mind's eye in his pulpit, reading his sermon shortsightedly as he peered at the manuscript by candlelight. He must have been charged with passion. But his reedy, high-pitched voice would hardly qualify him as a dynamic preacher. It was the power of God, not erudition or eloquence, that gripped church members that night. The building rang with echoing cries of terrified listeners, men and women clutching the pillars of the building with all their strength, terrified that the floor would split, and their feet go slipping and sliding into hell.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 31.

Baptism In The Spirit

Joy Unspeakable, Lloyd-Jones used the term in a sense steeped in the biblical understanding of the English Puritans. To him it meant an anointing or enduing with power, sometimes, but not usually coinciding with conversion, often repeatable, intended for all the church, dramatic, experimental, observable and connected only indirectly with sanctification.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 28.

Revival

In 1904, Evan Roberts, the leader of the Welsh revival wrote, "After many had prayed, I felt some living energy, or force entering my bosom, restraining my breath, my legs trembling terribly; this living energy increased and increased as one after another prayed. Feeling strongly and deeply warmed, I burst forth in prayer."

Evan Roberts, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 29.

Holy Spirit - Baptism

"...one day, in the city of New York - oh, what a day! I cannot describe it, I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name... I can only say that God revealed himself to me, and I had such an experience of his love that I had to ask him, to stay his hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons were not different; I did not present any new truths, and yet hundreds were converted. I would not now be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if you should give me all the world - it would be small dust in the balance.

Dwight L. Moody, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 28.

Spirit of God

On his way there the Spirit of God comes on him, and like a puppet on a string he prophesies until he arrives. And just as his men have been stripped of power, so the king is stripped of his robes and lies naked on the ground before Samuel, prophesying all that day and on through the night (19:23-24).
The Spirit of the Lord does not honor Saul. It humiliates him, shaming and rendering him impotent, totally unable to exert his will in the presence of his foes. His stubborn heart rejected God's mercy.
Therefore when the power took effect it mocked his pride and kingly power. Manifestations of the Spirit's power do not ever reflect credit to the person in whom they are manifest. They reflect only the power, the glory and the mercy of God, whether the manifestation results in the subject's blessing or the subject's humiliation. They can never be a ground for boasting.
They are never a sign of God's favoritism or of superior spiritual attainment.

John White, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 26

Healing

"I know men's atheism and infidelity will never lack somewhat to say against the most eminent providences, though they were miracles... but when mercies [i.e. of healing] are granted in the very time of prayer, and when, to reason, there is no hope, and without the use or help of any other means... is not this as plain as if God from Heaven should say to us: I am fulfilling to thee the true word of my promise in Christ my Sonne? How many times have I known the prayer of faith to save the sick when all physicians have given them up as dead!"
Richard Baxter, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 20.

Holy Spirit

"We must be very careful in these matters. What do we know of the realm of the Spirit? What do we know of the Spirit falling on people? What do we know about these great manifestations of the Holy Spirit? We need to be very careful 'lest we be found fighting against God,' lest we be guilty of 'quenching the Spirit of God.'"
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 13.

Holy Spirit

These effects on the body were not owing to the influence of example, but began... when there was no such enthusiastical season as many account this, but it was a very dead time through the land."

Jonathan Edwards, When The Spirit Comes With Power, p. 13.

God's Obsession

“Do you not know... what God's estimate of the gospel is? Do you not know that it has been the chief subject of His thoughts and acts from all eternity? He looks on it as the grandest of all His works.” - Charles Spurgeon