| Unity of the Spirit [message #11246] |
Fri, 16 May 2014 12:05 |
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 Gary
Messages: 1025
Registered: August 2008
Location: Indiana |
Senior Member |
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After all the situations that arose lately I wanted to share an experience that happened to me in the mid nineties where I saw that with God all things are "possible".
I have made mention of my trip to Russia (I know plenty of times LOL) where we seen the power of God in way I had never experienced before and I believe the Lord removed all the barriers in the groups that went there, by His Spirit.
I thought it might be pertinent to share what happened among the groups we went with.
Some background information I want to share first. There was two different groups from FA, one Spirit filled group from Baton Rouge, and one Baptist Church group from Missouri.
None of us knew each other personally, we had to go to Baton Rouge for some basic training concerning ministering on the mission field, what we should wear, learn some of the songs in Russian, and be able to share our testimony how we came to Christ.
There was every age group there from older adults to teenagers. I think we filled two maybe three buses while traveling.
When we got there all of us seen the power of God on a scale we had never experienced before. Right before our eyes we witnessed hundreds of people coming to Christ, weeping and crying out, seeing the need to repent and turn to Jesus.
But what took place between the four groups was an even bigger miracle. While seeing God move by His Spirit the four groups came together as one body moving in the Spirit of God. Its hard to convey in words but all the walls of doctrinal differences came tumbling down. One body, One mind, and of one Spirit. Everyone came away from that experience filled with joy and rejoicing at what God was doing.
It amazes me that either through persecution or a move of the Spirit that we realize who our God is and that we are all born of the same Spirit. Sometimes it takes major events like this for us to get our thinking in line with God's way of thinking.
When we returned back to our assemblies to share what God was doing, where we saw people turning to Christ, healing take place, and deliverance, with people being set free, did we find rejoicing and joy in the Lord. ...Sadly No.....There was an uproar because we had joined together with other groups not part of our camp. Some even left the church because we were seen as compromising the message.
Only sharing what I witnessed here. I guess if I learned anything it is that, while zeal for the Lord is good, it can be a bit of a snare. Those people who were left behind were zealous for God but they missed the greater picture.
We were a bunch of people who truly loved God were super zealous for the things of God, but still had a lot of things to learn about God and His Ways.
Have we all arrived finally, I dare say "No", but still learning as God is so much bigger then what our finite minds can conceive. The learning process is not as easy as it looks on the outside.
I can imagine what the first century church had to deal with. The Jews had to deal with the Gentiles and Samaritans coming into the church. We know from Acts and the Epistles there was a bit of a struggle with all this joining together of different backgrounds. The disciples returned one time and found the Lord talking to a Samaritan woman, but of course no one asked, Why are you doing this?
| Quote: |
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
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Gary
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