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 is not meant to be 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 did it and because it is also in Baptist heritage. The Anabaptists or Re-baptizers believed converts needed to be baptized again as a result of a personal conviction and voluntary decision to follow Jesus. 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 boldness, for a supernatural ability to preach, minister, 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 who after the glorious infilling of Acts 2, saw thousands respond to his bold preaching and declarations of Jesus. Another example is Jesus himself who after being baptized by John in the Jordan, returns from forty days in the wilderness baptized with power from on high to preach and teach a message of repentance and demonstrate the reality of God’s kingdom accompanied by miracles, signs and wonders (Lk. 3:21-22; 4:1, 14-15). It happened through out the book of Acts, been repeated throughout church history in numerous revivals and awakenings and even in modern day expressions of the kingdom.

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. Our treasure is held in cracked pots, clay vessels that leak. Jesus himself needed to withdraw at times to be refilled and refueled during his times of prayer on the mountain with his father following his ministry among the hungry and thirsty, both in the natural and the spirit.

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 can take you to 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 are 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

Written by Marty Mitchell. Marty is the Associate Leader and Worship Pastor at Kingdom Life Centre Park Ridge, Queensland, Australia and Principal of Holy Fire Ministry Training School Logan Campus.

Performance - A Dirty Word?

Is performance in worship wrong? I'm sure many of us are familiar with Kierkegaard's famous quote "we perform for an audience of one" and that one of course is God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The majority of us engaged within the worship ministry, be at church, cell groups, schools, bible colleges, wherever we are in ministry, would agree that we are not doing this for ourselves, but for God. I'm sure many reading this do realise that we are not there to perform for our own ego's sake, attempting to 'WOW' a congregation with our extraordinary musical gifts, instrumental abilities or our vocal gynmastics. It's a real turn off when the worship leader, choir, band, music, song, sound, person, CD, recording artist, church, pastor, leader becomes the centre of attention and not the Centrepiece of Creation Himself.

But there still is an element of performance that I believe is necessary for us to embrace - authenticity. If we are not engaging with God sincerely and from a genuine sense of connection and relationship with Him, how can we expect our congregations to follow where we feel led to go? So, let me pose the question - do you believe in what you are singing about?

Great performers make you feel every word. They take you somewhere, untap emotions and stir passions from deep within. Energy, effort and preparation has gone into every word they sing in every song they perform. Keith Urban, the Aussie country music artist who has conquered the US market said he strives to make every word and every lyric that he sings to be full of meaning and sung from a genuine expression of his heart.

If we are striving to do that, then I propose we are on the way to leading our congregations in worship. The skill of the experienced performer is worthy of consideration – they believe what they are singing about.

As worshippers then do we really believe what we are singing about? Do we really believe in who we are playing for? Is the Word of God changing our worldview in such a manner that causes us to worship Him in fresh genuine and heartfelt expressions of praise and adoration? Is your worship whether private or public - your performance to 'The Audience of One' - sincere and genuine or has it became a matter of tapping to the rhythm and mouthing the words, singing the songs?

If it has become that, then we fall into peril, a people who worship with their lips but whose hearts are far away from the Lord. If that has become the case, then take some time right now to realign your heart and reorientate your gaze toward Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.