Holy Spirit: Power to change the world

Chapter 4: The mission of Jesus

The relationship between God and the people he has chosen, the Israelites, is like a love story. God is faithful to Israel but time and again they are unfaithful. They reject his love and his presence.

So what will God do about it?

Jesus comes, the man that was called Immanuel, “God with us”. At his Baptism heaven is ripped open and the Holy Spirit, God’s divine presence fills him and anoints him.

Jesus spoke about the good news of the Kingdom of God. He spoke a message of liberation and freedom. He demonstrated his message with action. Jesus did things that showed people what the Kingdom of God was like. He claimed to be anointed to:

“proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners 

and recovery of sight for the blind, 

to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Luke 4:18-19

And he proved the anointing by:

Proclaiming the good news of the kingdom to the poor
Freeing people who were imprisoned
Giving sight to the blind S
etting the oppressed free
Proclaiming God’s favour.

Jesus did show and tell. He was the new Moses. He stood before the Pharoah of the world, Satan, and said “Let my people go.” Jesus did the work of the Kingdom and then he trained up his disciples to do the same things he did.

"When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick." (Luke 9:1-2)

"After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves." (Luke 10:1-3)

"You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." (Luke 24:48-49)

The apostle John records how Jesus breathed on his disciples and said receive the Holy Spirit.

In Matthew 28, His dsicples are told to go into all the world and continue the mission. Then Jesus came to them and said,

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Matt 28:18-20

You and I have been given a mission a great Co-mission to work with God in bringing his life-giving love to the world. We have been commanded by Jesus to continue the things of the kingdom. He gave us a mission, a partnership with God to do something about the pain and hurt, the injustice, the poverty and the desperation in the world. He gives us the authority to go out in his name. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to him. And he sends us out under his authority. We become emissaries: Someone who goes with the authority of the king. Where an Emissary goes, it is as if the King is there in person.

We are given the Holy Spirit to bring God's presence and reality to the world around us. This is is why we pray "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done"

I wonder, whether you feel equipped to do the things Jesus did?
I wonder, how have you seen God move in your life?
I wonder, what He wants you to do in His name?

Holy Spirit: Power to change the world

Chapter 3: Liberated to be liberators.

After Joseph, the people become known as the Israelites. And they stay in Egypt, not in the land that had been promised to them, The people whose land they are living in oppress them and make them slaves, putting the people of God to forced labour. The Israelites are persecuted mercilessly. The people cry out for freedom.

God calls Moses and tells him that he has a mission for him: to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. There’s a plan. God has heard the cries. God will bring freedom. And God says that he will be with him, Moses, present. God and Moses begin a conversation, Moses will lead them out so the people can be with God. So God can dwell with them again. He chooses a human, someone who will be the message.

The people are brought out of Egypt, and into the desert, to return home to the land God had set aside for them. God leads them, his spirit, his presence is with them, day and night. They arrive at the mountain at which Moses first heard God:

'Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' (Ex 19:3-6)

They are all to be priests, people who reflect the image of God. When other nations see them they will be seen as a people who are filled with the presence of God. The people were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

He rescues them for a mission. They have been liberated to be liberators. To bring God’s mission to the world. If you want to see what God is like you look at the priest.

Moses is given a guidebook on how the people should live, called the Law. It outlines social responsibility and ethics and morals of how God intends them to live with him. God also gives detailed instructions for a tent called the tabernacle, a physical structure that will be placed in the centre of the Israelite camp in which God’s spirit will dwell.

God is going to move from the mountain and dwell with the people. But whilst Moses is getting the instructions from God, the people mess up. They get bored of waiting and choose to make their own gods to worship. Again humans reject God. [Ex 32]

As a result God tells Moses that he will send an angel to guide them, but will not go with them himself. Moses pleads with God and reminds him of the promise made to Abraham, he intercedes for the people of Israel and asks that God presence will go with them.

The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" [Exodus 33:15-16]

God reveals more of his character that he is “compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Ex 34:6

The tabernacle is built; the place where God’s presence dwells, this is the tent of meeting. Later, the temple is built by Solomon and this becomes the focal point for the people of God in which the glory of the Lord dwells, the place of the presence. This is what distinguished the people of the Israel, the presence of God, dwelling amongst them.

They understood that the God who created everything could not be contained or constrained within a tent or a building but they understood the revelation that God chose to be present among them by his Spirit.

Once again the People choose to follow a different path, they choose to follow lesser gods, gods who are evil in nature and not abounding in love. They choose gods like Baal, Ashorreh and Molech. They even bring these idols into the temple of God and worship them their.

So the glory of the Lord leaves the temple. The presence leaves. And the people are left with the idols that they have made and chosen over God. The people of the presence become the people of exile again as they are beaten and captured by different nations. God leaves them to the gods they have chased after. But he leaves them with a promise:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:25-30

I wonder, what is oppressing you, what's holding you back?
I wonder, how can you and I better reflect God's character?

Holy Spirit: Power to change the world

Chapter 2: God’s mission

So what’s going to happen? God has a plan.

God would not leave the people he loves to suffer and to be oppressed and harassed by evil. God would give these people an inheritance, a promised land, a place that he could be present again with humans. This was the plan that God had put together for his people. This is the mission for God to dwell with the people he loves.

God’s mission:

• To reconcile humanity.
• To restore relationship.
• To remove pain and suffering.

God calls Abram. He calls a man to start a journey with God. God will bless Abram and Abram will be a blessing to others. All people on earth will be blessed through him. Gen 12:1-3 reads:

The LORD had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you.
"I will make you into a great nation, 

and I will bless you; 

I will make your name great, 

and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, 

and whoever curses you I will curse; 

and all peoples on earth 

will be blessed through you."

God spoke to Abraham. He made a promise that he would be with him and would bless him. Why? To be a blessing to all people. My understanding of 'blessing' is to support and encourage someone, to stand behind them and to stand up for them. I would argue that the difference between blessing and cursing is the difference between sailing with the wind behind you or sailing against the wind. Believers in God should reflect his love to fellow humans. God initiates a journey with a human, a conversation and dialogue begins. There is a plan and a purpose and a promise.

From Abraham comes Isaac, and then Jacob who becomes Israel. And then comes Joseph who ends up in Egypt, the superpower of his day.

I wonder, what have you been called to do?

Holy Spirit: Power to change the world

Hi well, we're back from a week camping it up in the sunshine at New Wine! I thought it might be good to post some notes from the 2 seminars I did on "The Holy Spirit: Power to change the world". My aim for these talks was to challenge people (me included) to live life the way God would have us live. To have a greater understanding of God's mission and how we get involved in God’s revolution of love? Many of us feel powerless to do anything about the pain and suffering we see around us. I would argue that God has given us His Holy Spirit to empower us to bring God’s rule and reign to a broken world. I think it's essential that we understand and explore the power that God has given his people: the church.

Chapter 1: The promise of the presence

The Bible says a lot about promises. God makes a lot of promises and keeps all of them. The Bible is all about the presence of God. God dwelling with his people. Creator God being with humanity that he created in his own image. The people of Israel understood themselves to be the people of the presence, the people among whom the eternal God had chosen to dwell on earth. Presence is such a deep and rich word. As I’ve spent time in the presence of my wife, Vicki, I’ve got to know her. There’s intimacy in the prolonged presence of another. We have freaky moments when we realise we share mannerisms, expressions or say the same thing at the same time.

When you lose someone, it’s their presence that you miss the most. The message of the Bible is all about the presence of God. The relationship between Humans and God. When the presence of God is missing people notice. God chose a people to be present with. And he made promises to them.

We start with the beginning, with creation and the spirit of God hovering over the waters. The picture here is of a bird brooding over the watery abyss. At the beginning of planet Earth, at the foundation of creation is the Spirit of God. His presence. The Ruach, the breath of life. The Holy Spirit. God breathes or blows over the waters. The breath is life and it is life-making. This breath becomes words. We read that God spoke, "let there be light … " We then read that God breathed life into the first humans. God breathed into man the breath of life. Without God’s spirit there is no life. Without God’s spirit there is nothing. Life is empty.

Man is different from the rest of creation. In humans something of heaven and something of earth are brought together to make a new being. A being dependent on something else for life: dependent on God. We read that the first humans shared the presence of God in the garden. That God was present with them. They felt no shame, there is peace, there is wholeness. There is shalom : a mystical union between God and humans.

And then something happens. These people choose to believe a lie about God and choose to do their own thing. Sin enters the world. People are banished from the garden in which they used to enjoy the presence of God. They go into exile: Away from his presence. In Gen 6 we read that humans are detached from God. God saw the wickedness of humans, only evil all the time. When we move away from the source of life, away from the presence of God it changes us on the inside, evil is allowed to flourish. You and I know that from our own experience, when we are far from God, our thoughts and actions change.

I wonder, how present is God in your life at the moment?
I wonder, does He feel close or far away?