Coming in, Going Out
An Apostolic Base
One of the things the Lord has positioned us for here at KLC is to be a people who come in and go out. Coming in involves getting personally re-invigorated through worship, the Word, prayer, ministry and fellowship. Here we seek to be equippers of the saints to do the work of the ministry and it serves as one of the main reasons for our gathering together each week, be it in church, home groups or in the Ministry school.
The Apostle Paul instructed us that we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18). This means to be filled and to be continually filled with the Spirit. It's not a once and for all prayer. You may have received a once off prayer for the baptism of the Spirit, but this baptism is intended to be repeated over and over again. I can say that because St. Paul said it, Jesus demonstrated it and because it also forms part of in our Baptist heritage. The Anabaptists or Re-baptisers believed converts needed to be baptised again as a result of a personal conviction and voluntary decision to follow Jesus wholeheartedly. Some of these forefathers believed so strongly in this principle they literally lost their heads over it.
It is worth noting the purpose of the repeated infilling of the Spirit is not just to 'speak in other tongues.' the primary purpose was for for boldness, for a supernatural ability to preach, minister and perform miracles, signs and wonders that ushered in the presence of God in such a manifest way that literally thousands could get saved in a day.
Consider Peter, the man who once disowned Jesus after being challenged by a servant girl the night before Jesus' crucifixion (Mt. 26:69f) sees thousands respond to his empowered preaching following his personal pentecost in Acts 2. Jesus himself after being baptised by John in the Jordan, receives the tangible gift of the spirit and returns from forty days in the wilderness filled with power through the Holy Ghost to preach, teach and demonstrate the present reality of God's kingdom through a ministry of love, power, miracles, signs and wonders. (Lk. 3:21-22; 4:1, 14-15).
It happened throughout the book of Acts and has continued to be repeated throughout church history in various revivals and awakenings and even in the modern context the same encounters can be experienced.
We need to be continually filled because, as Bill Johnson puts it, we leak. Any time we minister we are leaking the presence of God. If Jesus himself needed to withdraw at times to be refilled and refueled following his ministry among the hungry and thirsty, both in the natural and in spirit, how much more do we need to? Paul said our treasure is held in clay jars, cracked pots that leak. We need to be filled, to be refreshed and that only comes with time spent in the presence of the Lord.
Since we have been filled and are continually being filled, we now have something to offer the world and that is where the going out comes into play. If we do not release the fresh infilling of the Lord, we became like the Dead Sea, a body of water that has an intake, but no output. Jesus himself said the Spirit is a river, a stream of living water (Jn. 7:37-39) It is not a lake. Stagnant water is no good to anyone. It smells bad, harbors diseases and is impure. You might be able to float in it but it will not take you anywhere. Living water is fresh, powerful, useful and when it is moving it can take you to new places without any of your own efforts. You get in the flow and go, go, go!
Over the coming weeks, several of us will be going out. Paul is going to Malaysia for a couple of weeks of mission, Belinda is going to Indonesia and yours truly will be traveling with the Australian Revival Conference Tour.
I have the great opportunity to be playing again with powerful and anointed worship leaders such as Catherine Mullins from the Lakeland Revival and Ben Hughes from Pour it Out Ministries. Together with other like-minded musicians we'll experience the tangible presence of the Lord as we release prophetic worship, music, art and song.
These meetings will also see the joining together of several Revivalists such as David Tomberlin, Joshua and Janet Mills and Chris Harvey who all long to see a move of God break out in this nation.
So if you're going to any of these meetings I would love to meet you. I'll be the guy holding the guitar.
For more information of these meetings go to http://http://www.davidtomberlin.com/itinerary/conferencedetails.aspx?id=49
http://www.godstream.blogspot.com