Spirit-Led or Me-Led?

The late Dr. A. W. Tozer, author and pastor, said, "If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference."
It seems in the modern church we have resorted to doing God’s work through our own creative planning and designs.  We have bought into the idea that to have an effective ministry, we must develop elaborate programming and entertainment-based ministries to reach our culture for Christ.  This focus has caused us to be more concerned about the quality of our sound systems and social media than about reaching souls for Christ.  One will argue at this point that these are all ways to reach souls for Christ.  Are they?  I wonder how much time is spent in ministry production and planning versus time spent praying for and reaching out to those who need Christ in our communities.

Tozer’s quote is sadly true.  The majority of ministries are driven by good ideas to do good things, but they lack the power of the Holy Spirit in them.  I recall a pastor friend of mine whose church spent thousands of dollars each year for a big Easter egg event for the community.  I spoke with him recently and asked him how this Easter outreach did the past year.  He told me they stopped doing it couple of years ago because they found it wasn’t bringing people to the church as they hoped.  Their surveys had indicated that over the course of several years, only a couple of new families came to the church due to this event.    They had a great event, great planning, but little spiritual harvest for the effort.

The early church needed no elaborate productions or entertainment to impact their world.  They waited on the power of the Holy Spirit before they moved and didn’t hesitate after the Spirit gave direction.  They went in power to fulfill the mission Jesus gave them to be His witnesses to the uttermost parts of the world.  They changed the world.

This summer I will be sharing on the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  My prayer is that we will rediscover the power that is available to us as believers in Jesus Christ.  As a result, we will once again see the outpouring of God’s Spirit that will move us in power to reach our community for the Lord.

See you Sunday,
Pastor Jeff