The theme for the 2010 ARC Southwest (June 17-19) and Midwest (Oct 21-23) Gatherings is: The Empowering Presence. We believe God wants to encounter us as we gather together with an experiential reality of the presence and power of His Holy Spirit. In the coming weeks I intend to write some postings on this blog site responding to the question: Why should I attend an ARC gathering on the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit? Today’s posting is Part 1.
In order to live fully into the destiny God has for us individually and corporately we must be experiencing the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit. I use the word, “experientially” intentionally. While every Christian has the presence of the Holy Spirit within them, not every Christian, not every Christian leader, is living in the power of the Holy Spirit. While we may have a theology of the Spirit, we do not always have an ongoing life experience of Him moving in and through us to continue the ministry of Jesus in the world today.
On the Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC) website, under the posting of our non-negotiables we state: The ARC is a network in which the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit are celebrated, not merely tolerated. We are committed to fostering a radical dependence upon the Holy Spirit.
I like that statement. However, a statement does not reality make. We cannot settle for merely having a good theology of the Holy Spirit written down on paper or posted on our website. We cannot settle for giving lip service to the personhood and reality of the Holy Spirit; we need a real encounter, and multiple encounters, with Him. Theologian, Gordon Fee, writes:
"If the Church is going to be effective in our postmodern world, we need to stop paying mere lip service to the Spirit and to recapture Paul’s perspective: the Spirit as the experienced, empowered return of God’s own personal presence in and among us, who enables us to live as a radically eschatological people in the present world while we await His return."
Fee also writes, “We too often treat the Spirit as a matter of creed and doctrine, but not as a vital experienced reality in believers’ lives.” Are you experiencing all there is to experience in your relationship with Holy Spirit? Are the leaders and members of your church? Am I? Are we really as fully yielded to God’s will in this aspect of our relationship with Him as we can be, and as He longs for us to be? Are we open to receiving and experiencing whatever He wants to do in us so He can do whatever he wants to do through us?
The stirring up of the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit is not just so we can have a “Holy Ghost feel good” experience. The stirring up of the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit in a follower of Christ is for the purpose of empowering us to continue the ministry of Jesus in the world today. God wants to empower us to continue speaking the words Jesus would speak and doing the things Jesus would do so that people can be saved, healed, set free, and empowered to live fully into their God-given destinies.
So why attend a gathering like the ARC’s this year? It is one way you can be intentional about restoring the power and presence of the Holy Spirit experientially in your life, not settling for merely holding to a theology of it. Coming to one of the ARC gatherings this year and gathering with like-minded brothers and sisters might just be one way you can say to the Lord, “I’m not willing to settle for anything less than all you have in store for me in my relationship with Holy Spirit.”
To register for the ARC Gathering in June, go to: www.robinwoodchurch.com. We'll see you there!
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