— Brother Phil Enlow: My God, we need God’s leadership every time, every day, in everything. And I believe there’s a supernatural life, and effectiveness that we could have, if we would take the time to get with the Lord and say, God, I am Yours, I need You!
Think in this context of the Scripture we’ve used so many times, about…in Romans 12, about a people who offered themselves together now as one sacrifice. Though we are individuals, yet together, we present You as a living…ourselves to You as a living sacrifice. We know that we don’t even think right, but we’re willing for You to change our way of thinking.
What’s the result of that? You go right straight into a description of the Body of Christ, where each member is able to minister life, divine life, one to another.
And that life takes many forms. It could take the form of performing a miracle. I still have this, vision is a strong word, but I mean, I still have this picture in my mind, of how God wants to, would love to have a people for whom supernatural things would be so ordinary it wouldn’t even be a big deal.
It’s not that we consider it unimportant, you understand what I’m saying, we wouldn’t glory and focus on that. When God does something supernatural, it’s not meant to draw sign seekers and become the center of attention. It’s meant to point to the Son of God and what He did on the cross so that people can find eternal life!
How many times have we said, you could raise somebody from the dead but if they don’t get spiritual life, they’re gonna die and face Him in the judgment? We need…we need the Gospel. And all these things are just part of the life of God’s people living in the world.
Of course, you’ve got some people that…they’re not experiencing very much beyond just believing the right stuff and saying the right prayers and all of that. And they believe that all this supernatural stuff is gone. It was only for the New Testament era. Once we had the scriptures that’s all we need. We don’t need that.
That’s a bunch of malarky. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (NIV). That’s just an excuse for unbelief.
But you’ve got others that so glory in that, that that becomes the center. And it’s not that hard for a spirit of deception to get in. And it certainly isn’t about all of God’s people becoming prophets and running around. God, we’ve too much of that going on. We got a lot of these would-be prophets that are out there, making grand pronouncements and then they don’t happen. They’re either prophesying out of their own fantasy or the devil’s getting in it.
But I’ll tell you, my God pictures…gives us a picture of what His people are meant to be like. They are a body, they work together. When there is an expression of something for which we need to know the source, there are gifts of discernment. That’s kind of important, isn’t it? Just because something supernatural happens doesn’t necessary mean God made it happen. We need wisdom, we need discernment, even in ministry! “Let the prophet speak two or three, and…”
( congregational response ).
“…Let the others judge.” (KJV). There is a discernment. There is a wisdom. I don’t have the right to stand up here and demand that you recognize anything in me. I’m trusting God with that. If this isn’t Him, you need to tell me. But I believe that God wants to bring a people who are so interconnected, they’re so connected…they’re just as connected to Him as Jesus was.
Now, you and I don’t have the place that Jesus occupied in the Kingdom, but we have a place. It’s one designed specifically for you and specifically for me.
But I get back to this that I believe with all my heart God wants to bring us to a place where we can more easily exercise specific faith. We can be connected to God in such a way that He can give us faith to do something very specific. And it could be praying for the sick, it could be, you know, something on that line. But it could be so many things, where we’re literally moving in God. I mean, that’s all it is.
We’ve seen a measure of that in the past, in the history of this church. And the point is not to go back and recapture. The point is…Lord, what is Your purpose now? We exist in a particular point of history. You have something…You are working. Right now, You are working. You’re working in this community. You’re working in this body of people. Lord, we want to be part of that and not just simply, blindly muddle along, following our traditions. We need You, Lord.
Shouldn’t we be a people who cry out, who actually believe this? You know, part of the problem that I’ve always had I guess is, yeah, that’s great for somebody else, but I don’t feel it, I haven’t had this experience or that one. I mean, this is great for somebody, for some special people, but for me?
I believe with all my heart God wants to minister to us a faith, that a life of connectiveness to Him and to His purpose is for us, as individuals. So that when we pray and say, oh God, lead us to that higher ground, I want to know what this is about, and I want to be a part of what You’re doing.
I don’t know how, and I’ll probably make a lot of mistakes. But God, I believe this is for me and I need You, Lord. Show me how and help me to love and be sensitive to my brothers and sisters, to encourage them, to lift them up. Lead us into this. This is not selfish ambition, trying to be somebody. This is just saying, Lord, I want You to be You.
( congregational amens ).
And just like…Father, like You, when You were working in that day, Your purpose was to work through Your Son. But even then, it wasn’t just Jesus. He sent out a bunch of others and gave them power. And they came back rejoicing, “…Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name” And they were all happy. And Jesus said, don’t rejoice in that. Rejoice that your names are written above.
See, it’s so easy for us to glory in the wrong thing. That’s where our thankfulness needs to be. God, you’ve made me Yours! That’s worth everything…that’s worth everything this world could possibly offer. Let it go. If I have that I have everything.
But while I’m here, Lord…you know, I was thinking about this. I confess, this is something that I struggle with. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Thinking about where I started with this, in James 5, praying for one another that you may be healed. I know there are people who seemingly have that kind a faith. I’ve seen it operate.
I have seen very specific, very…there’s no possible way to explain the result other than God miraculously intervened, there was no possible medical explanation. I’ve seen God do that. I know it’s real! I know He still heals!
Now, the purpose is not just to make life on earth easy and fix every problem, but there are things God wants to do and He wants to use a people to do it. That’s what it comes down to. Look at a couple of the scriptures, couple of scriptures where I believe God recorded them so that we could be encouraged, and realize this just isn’t history.
This is for us, here, this morning to be able to go to God and say, Lord, I believe this is for me. I’m not there. I need You to teach me about this. I need to get close to You and spend time with You and learn Your ways and have You teach me how You do stuff, have you teach me how to walk with You and how to infuse, or allow Your faith to be infused in me in such way that You can tell me to do something and I can do it and something will happen. Do we need the Lord?
( congregational response ).
Yeah, we do. But listen to what Peter said on the Day of Pentecost. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (NIV). But he didn’t stop there, did he? He said, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Has God called you? Has God called you to His kingdom? We’re not talking about called to be an apostle. We’re talking about, has He called you into His kingdom? It’s for everyone, that we can have a life that is described in the New Testament church. We’re gonna have to the Lord do it. We can’t work it up. We can’t do anything except, oh God, here I am. Lead me to a place to where what I’m doing is what You’re doing in me.
What did Jesus say in John 14, I believe it is. This is where…the scripture we’ve used many times, but I just want to focus on it just for a second. In verse 8, “Philip said, Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us. Jesus answered: Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?”
That sounds like a pretty close relationship, doesn’t it? “The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority.” Lord! I don’t want to try to speak anything and say, God, this is what I think, and I need to get people to somehow agree with me. I want the words to be what He wants. “Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing…” What? Whose work?
( congregational response ).
“…His work.” His work! His work, that’s the essence of everything. God is working. And so anyway…but he comes down, in verse 12, and says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
How many of you have read that, maybe all your life, and said, yeah, yeah, that’s fine for somebody else, some other time, some other way. That’s just not me. I could never be part of that. Do you think that’s true? That we’re just supposed to relegate that to some other time, some other place, some other way. It couldn’t possibly apply to us in any practical way. Do you really think that’s what we’re meant to get from this?
Or should we be able to go to God and say, look at what You said, Lord. I know I’m not worthy. I know I’m not capable. I know there’s so much in me that needs to be changed in order for me to be a part of anything, actually be useful to You. But Lord, I believe, this is what You said! Lord, I’m gonna come to You, and I’m gonna look to You, and I’m going to ask You to work in me so that I can be a part of what You’re doing, instead of trying to get You to do my stuff, and how I think things should happen. I need You, Lord. It’s kind of quiet. Either I’m missing the Lord or you’re just really thinking about this.
( congregational response ).
Is this the truth? Is God calling us to something deeper?
( congregational amens ).
But do we have a basis upon which we can go to God with some actual expectation that He will hear us?
( congregational response ).
Yeah, we do! We can go, and say, Lord, this is what You said. Lord, I am one of the weakest of the weak, and the most unworthy. But Lord, I rest, not upon anything that I am, but upon what You have done. This is all based upon Jesus, based upon Your provision, Your plan, Your purpose! It’s what You have made me, not what I could possibly be in myself. Not any plan I could come up with. Nothing of me, Lord! I just want to get to the point where it’s just You in me doing Your thing!
I believe God can bring forth, and is going to bring forth, a people who live out the purpose and the plan of what He reveals in His Word. I recognize that there are people who live in unbelief about these things and people who just go to seed and go off in a never-never land here. Don’t you believe God can help us to find the middle?
( congregational response ).
To find the scriptural balance where we’re serving Him in…we’re worshipping Him in spirit and in truth?
( congregational amens ).
Not one or the other?
( congregational amens ).
We need both! God is gonna lead us. That’s one of the things, when I look back, as much as the church went through so many years ago, I’m amazed at the degree to which God enabled Brother Thomas to keep his feet on the ground.
( congregational response ).
The stuff that was happening. Oh God, is this You? What do we do? How do we handle it? And there was always that sense of crying out to God. God, we want to do, we want to hear everything You’ve got. But we also don’t want to be deceived. Lord, You’re gonna have to help us here!
( congregational response ).
And always, we’re going to lift up the Word of God! It’s going to have to square with this! And I believe God honored that stand. Was he perfect? No. Am I? No. Are you?
( congregational response ).
( laughing )
No, we need the Lord, don’t we? But we’ve got a God who is faithful. He’ll start with us right where we’re at, and begin to teach us how to walk in His will, how to know what He’s doing. Where He can say, this is what I’m doing, I want you to do this. And this is how I want you to do it. I know you did it this way last time, but this is how we do it this time.
And God’s gonna begin to express Himself in ways that we haven’t seen. And it isn’t always gonna be the spectacular stuff. But it could be—it could be. Like I say, wouldn’t it be neat, wouldn’t it be something to be able to see God do miraculous things and we don’t run around, wow!
But just say, thank God, You’re still the same God, the same God that was in Jesus doing the things that He did, the same God that was with the early church and the apostles and doing the things that were done there. You’re still here, Lord! You’re still just as real today as You were then. And God, we just honor You and praise You. Help us to humble ourselves, never to glory in who we are but to glory in You.
( congregational amens ).
I believe You’re real, Lord! I believe You want us to taste this, and come to that place. I guess “Specific Faith” is as good a title as any. I often struggle with titles. But, I believe God wants to bring us to a place where we can so operate within the, with the knowledge of what God wants and with a sense of who we are and who He is, and what to do, that we can have faith to do something very specific. Isn’t that what we see in Jesus?
( congregational response ).
Yeah, it’s exactly what we see in Jesus. And yet, there He is saying you’ll do greater works than I have. And instantly the unbelief sweeps in. But I believe God wants to deal with that, little by little, if necessary. And just help us to say, hey, He actually meant that!
And He didn’t just mean it for people somewhere else, He meant it here, in our midst. Help us, Lord. Help us, Lord, to get in harmony with what You’re doing, because You are always at work. And the question is, is what we’re doing part of that, or is it just us doing it? I believe God’s with us, don’t you? I believe He’s helping us.
( congregational amens ).
I believe He’s giving us this to encourage us.
( congregational response ).
Not to condemn us in the least. But to lift up the hope that He has for us and it’s real. I believe it! Thank God!