The King's Church in Ilford
The following is the text of the talk given on 21st October 2007 by Robin Hawkins
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A Gospel Of Power
1Thessalonians 1:1-5a
This last week at Prayer & Fasting, talk of Revival was once more in the air. We were reminded of prophetic words that came ten years ago that are yet to be fulfilled. Others spoke of how God is going to shake this nation to get our attention and bring people to repentance. There is going to be a great harvest brought in. It may happen suddenly, it may build up slowly, but it will happen. Here's an account of how the Hebridean Revival started in 1949:-
Paul had responded to the vision of the man from Macedonia (Greece to you and me!). Their first port of call had been to Philippi where they'd had a rough time. Nevertheless God moved powerfully. An earthquake had broken the jail open with the result that jailer had been converted along with all his family. Now they had come to Thessalonica, where again they found people whose hearts had been prepared by the Lord, and many responded to the message Paul proclaimed.
I don't know if you realise it, but this doesn't half take the pressure off us in our evangelism. Bringing people to repentance doesn't depend on my persuasive speech, or my clever arguments. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our job is to bear witness to Jesus and tell everyone we can about Him. But it's the Holy Spirit's job to convert them. He knows those whom God has chosen; He brings their spirits alive, and He enables them to hear the message. Paul knew they had been chosen by God by the way they received his message so wholeheartedly.
Here's the rub! Paul was totally dependant on the Holy Spirit, and knew words alone were not enough. It had to be a work of the Holy Spirit. So the message needed to be accompanied"with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction." As John Stott points, it did come with words - they were part of how the message came, but more was needed -especially in that culture. How the Greeks loved their public speakers. With clever arguments, and witty asides, they could hold an audience in the palm of their hand. Crowd manipulation was their speciality - but that's not how we're to preach the gospel. It's not about winning an argument. It's not about being persuaded to follow a new philosophy. It is about transformation of the inner person. It is about being born again - and only the Holy Spirit can do that work.
Firstly, Paul's message was accompanied by demonstrations of power. There are no actual miracles recorded here, but it doesn't mean they didn't happen. They had happened in Philippi, and at Lystra. Certainly wherever Jesus went, preached the Gospel, and accompanied it with works of power. The apostles prayed in Acts 4:29 "enable you servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, Jesus."
For us too, it's important we go on stepping out in faith so that our message is backed up by demonstrations of power. Most weeks we are either praying for the sick or hearing testimony of someone that's been healed, or other answered prayer - Praise God! Many of us have learned to go further with this. We've learned to take this out into world, and have sought to bring the power of God to bear as we've witnessed to those around us. If you weant to learn how to be even more effective in this, let me encourage you to sign up for the Front Edge Day Conference on the 10th November.
But our message is not only accompanied by impersonal demonstrations of God's power. The involvement of the Holy Spirit makes it very personal. Sometimes people listen to a preacher and think, "This man's been reading my mail! How does he know so much about me?" When God calls us, He doesn't do it en masse, He speaks to each one of us individually, and He calls us in a way that is customised for you, and you only.
Yet when Paul says his message came "with the Holy Spirit", there's more to it than that. The presence of God is awesome. We won't usually see Him, but we know when He's here. It's true God is everywhere; but the Bible shows us that there are times when God manifests His presence more overtly than others.
Now I want to tell you something: when someone says to you they want to find God, do you know what you should say? "Come to church!" "Come to where His people are gathered to worship - and you'll find Him. Turn with me to Eph 2:21-22. A temple speaks of worship, and a living temple of people built together speaks of God's people living in harmony, and gathering to worship Him - And He's promised to be there in the midst. I'm not talking about any meeting now, but of you and I coming together with a heart set on seeking God to worship Him. He'll be there! Believe me, it's His joy and pleasure to be there.
I hardly need add that God's presence is highly evangelistic! People who don't believe in God, find that an encounter with the Living God is a somewhat life-changing experience! And when God starts to speak prophetically, revealing the secrets of their hearts, then Paul tells us they will "fall down and worship God, exclaiming, 'God is really among you!'" (1Cor 14:25).
So power demonstrates that our God is love-giving and life-changing.
The presence of the Holy Spirit shows that He is personal and intimate.
In addition to this Paul's message came with deep conviction.
John Stott suggests that this meant Paul was deeply convinced of the message he brought. I must admit I rather took that for granted! What seems to me to be far more significant is the effect his message had on his hearers. They were convicted in their hearts of their need for repentance. They were convinced of the truth about Jesus. It was like when Peter spoke at Pentecost, and his hearers were "cut to their hearts". If there was ever a need, it is for more "cut to the heart"- type preaching. This has to be a work of the Holy Spirit - part of what we call an anointing on a preacher. Billy Graham had it. I remember him speaking at West Ham in 1986(?), and that first night, he was so laid back, I thought, 'Come on Billy, lay it on a bit. No-one's going to go forward to this!' How wrong could I get?! They flocked forward in their hundreds, and two of the leaders in this church were among them!
It was there in the preaching of Jonathan Edwards. It was there in the preaching of Steve Hill at Pensacola ten years ago when people would come running down the aisles to get saved.
If like me, you yearn for that kind of preaching, pray for me, and the others who speak week by week in this place. Pray for Owen Hylton when he speaks here in three weeks' time on the Front Edge Day - but make sure the place is filled with visitors who need to find faith in Jesus. We're all in this together. Did you pray for the preacher this morning? I'm sure many of you did. You can be sure that he did! But in all likelihood, we'll get the preaching we pray for! The more of us pray, the more anointed it will be.
If we come together expecting healing and other miracles to take place, they're much more likely to happen. If we all come together in right relationship, and with hearts earnestly seeking after God in worship, you can be sure the Holy Spirit will be manifesting His presence powerfully. But above all, if we want to see people saved, and lives changed, then, please, pray for "cut-to-the-heart" preaching. Pray for Tope tonight. Pray for Julie on Tuesday night at Alpha.
In case there are some of us here wondering, "What was this message Paul brought that was so enveloped by the power of God?" - I want you to know that it was the message that God loves us enough to get involved in our lives. He saw what a mess we were in, and did something about it by sending Jesus, His Son, to rescue us from the power of Satan. When Jesus died on the cross, He broke Satan's power over our lives. When He rose from the dead, he rose triumphant over sin and death, and opened the way back to God so that we can be with Him forever. This is the message Paul proclaimed, and it's the message we proclaim still. If you're able to receive it and believe it with all your heart, then do so, and know that you have been rescued from sin, and now belong to God's family.
