June 30th
Share your thoughts, comments, reflections and questions on the readings for June the 30th
2 Kings 9:14-10:36,Psalm 78:1-8,Proverbs 16:22-28,Acts 5:33-6:15
Thank God for Gamaliel a wise Jew who had the respect of the people. He was among those who heard Peter’s witness to the resurrection of Jesus and his refusal to stop talking about Jesus. He too may have been enraged and angry at Peter’s words, but wisdom cut through the anger. He said if God is in this we can do nothing to stop it and if God is not in it then it will quickly run out of steam and disappear as had happened in other recent events. What a good and godly principle for us to learn from.
If we see, experience or hear of things done in the name of Christ our first call is to the scriptures. Are these things clearly contrary to the teaching of scripture? If so then we are to refute and oppose them. If they are not contrary to scripture then we need to learn to apply the Gamaliel principle – if it is from God it will prosper and in opposing it we would only be opposing God himself, and if is not from God it will run out of steam and falter.
In the worldwide church I believe we can see both of these principles. The first is in the liberal understanding of Christianity where ‘reason’ is held to be above scripture and where the scriptures are either reinterpreted, explained away or ignored. This has led to the acceptance and promotion of homosexuality as on an equal basis as heterosexuality and where the blessing of the ‘marriage’ of two people of the same sex is welcomed in parts of the church. This is clearly contrary to scripture, indeed the root issue is not about sexuality it is about the understanding and interpretation of the Bible. We must stand up and clearly state the God loves all people, but that God has one and only one place for sex and that is between one man and one woman in the committed covenant of marriage. Any sexual relations outside this fall outside of God’s heart and will for humanity.
The second Gamaliel principle I believe some of us need to apply to the outpouring of God in Lakeland, Florida. If you haven’t heard yet then let me briefly say what I have seen and heard. For the last 80 days or so there have been remarkable things happening in the town of Lakeland in Florida primarily around the ministry of an evangelist called Todd Bentley. At the beginning of April this year the minister of a church in Lakeland asked Todd Bentley to lead a series of revival meetings for them. The week saw remarkable miracles and such a tangible sense of God’s presence in the meetings that the meetings continued and have carried on every day since then. The remarkable thing about this ‘revival’ is the publicising of it through the media. God TV carries every service live and live and recorded meetings are available on the internet. This has never happened before and has spread the message of what is happening in Lakeland to every corner of the world.
So what is happening? There is energetic worship in a modern rock style. There is the Pentecostal styled preaching of God’s work in and through the scriptures and today. There are prophetic words which are clear and specific. There are miraculous healings. There are conversations to faith in Jesus. There is an outpouring of the tangible presence of God. If you haven’t seen or heard of this can I encourage you to watch it either on God TV which is available as part of many cable or Sky TV packages, or watch it on the internet at www.god.tv – watch it and make your own mind up.
So is this of God? The first comment that I would make in watching online is that this is in America and culturally it is very different to the UK. Some of the American ways grate on us Brits (remember the flowery shirts in the 40 days of Purpose videos!). Don’t let the cultural differences put you off from what God may be doing.
What I see is Christians enthusiastically worshipping God, the proclamation of the Good News and the confirmation of the presence of God in miracles, healings and signs and wonders – sounds much like the Bible to me! I have also been struck that this is not restricted to the times of the meetings. They are training up teams to go into the city of Lakeland to pray, to share faith and the pray for healing miracles on the streets. Again this sounds like the Bible to me. As with previous outpourings of God this is not restricted to one place, other towns and cities in other parts of the world are seeing similar outpourings in worship, witness, healings and miracles. So is this of God? My personal opinion is that it is, however you need to consider and come to your own conclusions. If you have questions please ask them and we will do our best together to see, understand and receive what God is doing. If you have doubts then can I suggest you reply with Gamaliel – let’s wait and see, God may be in it.