The surpassing greatness of His power PDF
Preview The surpassing greatness of His power
Table of Contents Introduction Charity With Wisdom Spiritual Socialism An Impending Catastrophe The Trap Can Be a Door Part I The Highest Caling CHAPTER ONE The Majesty Of The Call The Greatest Gift CHAPTER TWO The Crown of Glory The Glory of Preaching Only One Yoke True and False Ministry Start at the Beginning CHAPTER THREE The Seven Basic Truths Foundations Are Critical The Shackles of Sin Pain Is a Friend The Seven Basic Truths A Barometer of Our Condition Building on the Foundation CHAPTER FOUR Resurrection Life The Forge of Faith Faith Makes the Way False Faith Faith Is Power The Test of Faith The Father of Faith CHAPTER FIVE God's Ultimate Plan The New Creation The Nature of Leaders God's Primary Business The Highest Calling Restoration Is Not Optional The Reward CHAPTER SIX The Message The False Hope The Proceeding Word Signs Are Messages New Covenant Prophecy and Teaching The Source of False Ministry Motives and Spiritual Gifts CHAPTER SEVEN Words of Life Words Are Treasures Christ In You The Power of Truth Only Patience Bears Lasting Fruit We Have a Higher Power The Greater Wisdom CHAPTER EIGHT Our Ministry as Priests The Foundation of All Ministry The Foundation of the Priestly Ministry The Altar of Incense The Place of Sacrifice Love, The Foundation of Authority A Costly Presumption The Main Thing CHAPTER NINE Wisdom for Building The Honor of His Presence Part II Spiritual Authority CHAPTER TEN Kingdom Authority Men Were Created to Walk In the Supernatural Kingdom Authority The Test The Gifts Are God's Love True Maturity Is Love Authority for Healing CHAPTER ELEVEN Counterfeit Spiritual Authority Our Advantage In the Battle What Is Witchcraft? The True Seat of Authority The Gift of Discernment Spiritual Maturity Self-Promotion Leads to Divination The Fear of Man Leads to Witchcraft Crossing the Line The Responsibility of True Authority The Safety Net CHAPTER TWELVE Our Shield Against Witchcraft Flattery Will Get You Nowhere Resisting Witchcraft Understanding New Age Witchcraft Seeking Rightly Discerning Counterfeits The Power of Cowards—Black Magic CHAPTER THIRTEEN The Systematic Attacks of Witchcraft Blind-siding Yourself CHAPTER FOURTEEN The Jezebel Spirit Deliverance from Jezebel Hope for Jezebel CHAPTER FIFTEEN The Control Spirit and Legalism The Nature of Obedience Worship from the Heart His Sheep Know His Voice CHAPTER SIXTEEN The Modern Pharisees False Brethren Each Must Gather His Own Manna Hermeneutical Problems The Highest Form of Unity Summary CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Our Greatest Power and Our Greatest Enemy The Spirit of Poverty Truth Can Kill Love Covers Part III CHAPTER EIGHTEEN The Quest The Plan God's Second Book The New Covenant The Unholy War Is There Nothing New? Satan's Cord of Three Strands Resisting Religious Socialism Living in the NEW Creation The Boast of Satan Born for Greatness CHAPTER NINETEEN Catching the Wave Looking Back to Look Ahead Paddling with the Wave Wait for the Big One A Higher Way Obedience, Not Sacrifice Summary Introduction This is the most extraordinary time ever to be alive. To know the Lord and serve Him in these times is possibly the greatest privilege that has ever been offered to any man or woman, and it has been offered to you. However, with this great privilege comes great responsibility, and with the great opportunities have come great difficulties. In fact, it is probable that it has never been more difficult to be in the ministry. This book was written to help illuminate the honors and responsibilities, the difficulties and the opportunities facing those in ministries today. Change is now coming upon the world so fast that the only thing we can now count on is change. The foundations of every religion, philosophy and system of government are being shaken. Should we resist change, or help set its course? The answer is both. If we do not resist the changes that we should resist, we will become subject to changes that we do not want. As the old proverb goes, "The ship in the water is okay, but water in the ship is not!" Much of the church has been sinking under the influence of the humanistic forces she tried to influence when she should have taken a bold stand against them. Very soon the church will be faced with possibly her greatest test in how she relates to the world. Those who do not understand the changes that are coming will be swept away by them. Those who do understand them will be in a position to help direct them. The need for prophetic clarity has never been greater. Charity With Wisdom It may be hard to understand now, but one of the greatest attacks coming upon the church will gain entry through her compassion. I must emphasize "her" compassion and not God's compassion. One of the enemy's primary strategies is to wear out the saints. He is doing this by releasing a horde of "false brethren" to steal the children's bread. He will use these false brethren to absorb most of the time, attention and energy of the leadership of the church, so that they will not have anything left for God's people. These people will be the first in your prayer lines, and try to consume so much of your time and energy that you will not have anything to give to the others. These will crowd around the pastor after every service so that he does not have time to talk with anyone else. They will call you and demand attention at the most inappropriate times, and no amount of attention will ever be enough for them. These people are not consciously evil, and probably have no idea that they are doing this. Many are just wounded people who need constant affirmation and attention. There is a great danger that once we see this, we will allow ourselves to become hardened to the genuine needs of people. We must walk in discernment or we will constantly be distracted from the ministry God has called us to. Beware of those who are taking most of your time, attention and strength, but are not really changing. Spiritual Socialism The above briefly describes Satan's strategy against individual ministers. The following describes a major strategy by which he will seek to entrap the entire church. The whole world is now beginning to understand that socialism does not work. Socialism conditions people to depend on the government to meet their needs. This can be tolerable at first, but as the people gradually lose their sense of personal responsibility (which inevitably happens under socialism), the government starts to get blamed for every problem, and demands are put upon it to meet every need and want of the people. Soon even hideous crimes are blamed on the social environment, which, of course, is the government's responsibility. It is impossible for any government to sustain these pressures, so it will ultimately collapse. Possibly the last major institution to understand that socialism will not work is the church. In one sense this is understandable, because we know that God supplies all of our needs. The error is that many have interpreted this as the church supplies all of our needs. This delusion will cause the collapse of those who succumb to it. The church is here to help men restore their relationship with God, not take the place of that relationship. The church is not here to meet the needs of the people, but to connect them to the only One who can. This does not negate acts of charity, which are indeed fundamental to Christianity. However, there is a line that we can easily cross that will actually kill the power of true charity, as well as the church or ministry which crosses it. Homeless people have recently started coming into our meetings. They are wonderful people, some of whom are really seeking the Lord. Immediately some of our members approached me and asked what the church was going to do for them. "Nothing," was my reply. Because the church as an institution was not going to respond to them, individuals did. True charity must be personal; it must be relational. When we put the responsibility for charity on the institution of the church, we deprive individuals of some of their greatest opportunities to love others. The power of God to meet needs is released through love, not programs. This is not to imply that there are not some acts of charity that we should do together as a congregation, but we must be careful to only do what we are called to do. Jesus never responded to human need; He only did what He saw the Father doing. We must walk in the same kind of obedience or we will fall into a deadly trap that is set for those who walk in human compassion rather than God's compassion. That trap is a form of socialism that will ultimately separate us from our true Source. It will also wear us out by compelling us to carry the people's yoke instead of the Lord's. Having said all of this, I know that one of the greatest problems in the church today is not trying to do too much, but not doing enough. We are confronting a great "Laodicean lukewarmness." However, the main reason for this apathy is rooted in the weariness that comes from trying to minister in human compassion rather than by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The church is worn out from all of the projects and programs forced upon her. The way out of the apathy is not to get the church moving again, but to see her empowered by the presence of the Lord. When she is thus empowered she will see real and lasting fruit from her ministry. She will also walk in the joy of the Lord that is the source of her strength. An Impending Catastrophe The Savings & Loan debacle in the U.S. was blamed on crooks and irresponsibility within the industry. These may have contributed to the weakness of the S&Ls, but they were not the reason for the collapse. The collapse was caused by the Reagan Tax Reform Bill. This tax reform was badly needed, and long overdue, but it was implemented in such a way that it devastated commercial real estate values, for which the S&Ls were holding most of the mortgages. The value of real estate had been wrongly propped up by tax loop holes which needed to be closed. However, changing tax laws in the way that our government has often done it has business caught in something like trying to play a game when the rules are constantly being changed. One minute a move causes you to score, and the next time you move you lose. It is not only frustrating, it prohibits the kind of long term planning that true economic health requires. If the Reagan Tax Reforms had been phased in over a few years it would have saved us all hundreds of billions of dollars. It was a case of doing the right thing in the wrong way. Now we desperately need to have radical changes made in our welfare system. If we make them too fast the cost will be far more than we will ever save on the budget. As bad as the present rules are, they are the rules that many people have built their lives on. They will not be able to change their lives as fast as the government will probably require them to. Multitudes of people are about to be devastated. The ultimate losses in both people and property promises to be much greater than we experienced with the S&L collapse. The church and Islam will compete to fill this vacuum. The church is presently not well positioned to engage in one of the greatest battles for the soul of America that has ever been waged. The Trap Can Be a Door The church has the power to turn this great impending catastrophe into one of the greatest opportunities for the gospel she has ever had. The enemy's strategy will be to try to get the church to respond to the collapse of socialism with her own form of socialism. This will only result in the church being pulled into the quicksand. If we are going tobe able to pull anyone out of the quicksand, we must first be standing on solid ground ourselves. That is the purpose of this book —to return the ministry of the church to solid ground. If she does return, she will be the greatest force for change the world has ever known, and they will be changes that we can all live with. Part I The Highest Caling That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16-19).
The list of books you might like
