Times of Refreshing I

What we've been up against over the last seven and a half months just is operating out of this place, and I'm grateful for those of you who have kept a faithful midweek watch, and I pray that after tonight you're encouraged to believe for much better things in the coming weeks and months when we begin meeting regularly in our new facility. It'll just be a lot better. We have to set up everything, and we just have a real narrow time frame, and there's a lot of limitations, let alone the arrangement that's here, which will be much more flexible when we move. If you have your Bible tonight, turn to Acts 5, and the story, as you probably recall from reading in the book of Acts, is all about the apostles who were moving forward despite the resistance of the Pharisees and the scribes, healing and delivering people and seeing great conversions going on, and they're forbidden to go preach, and so they throw them into jail, and next thing you know the angel releases them and they're out preaching again, and that's when Peter says in verse 29 of Acts 5, We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right, and gave him his right hand as Prince and Savior, that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. Now, the next paragraph is what I want you to focus in on for tonight. When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. In other words, Peter's saying, Hey, in your face, we're going to keep preaching. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed them, Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago, Thutis appeared claiming to be somebody, and about 400 men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean, not Judas Iscariot, appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. Getting a pattern here, what? Kill the leader and what? Hello? And the followers are scattered. The thing comes to naught. Now, verse 38, Therefore, in the present case, I advise you, leave these men alone. Let them go. For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. He's a pretty wise dude, isn't he? But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men. You will only find yourselves fighting against God. His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in. Now look at this next phrase. And what? He said, Hey, sorry guys, have a good day. What? Had them flogged. Beat them up anyhow. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they'd been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name. You know, we're living in some very interesting times here in the church in America. Interesting, unusual, you can even use words like unprecedented, perhaps profound. In some ways, historians are telling us we are entering into what's basically described as a third release of the Holy Spirit right now in America in the last generation. How many of you were part of the initial waves of the charismatic movement in the late 60s, early 70s? How many of you are older people? Okay. Well, you decide. Alright. And then, and many of us were greatly affected. Many of us were drawn into a relationship with Jesus Christ unlike anything we'd ever known. I remember huge gatherings and rallies from people all over, from Roman Catholic backgrounds and Presbyterians and non-Church, everything. And then in the 80s, a new movement began, which was not so pronounced in this part of the country, but more so in other parts, really called the third wave. Peter Wagner coined the phrase, it was about the renewing of the Holy Spirit in more denominational congregations, not really so much with the theology of the charismatic movement, of the second baptism of the Holy Spirit and so, but with an openness for the miraculous gifts and a sensitivity of the Holy Spirit that had not usually been embraced in most mainline churches. Believe it or not, estimates are that 25 to 30 million people have been affected by that third wave of the Spirit. It was called the third wave because of Pentecost back in 1906 and then the charismatic movement in the 60s and 70s and then the third wave. And now, if you will, a fourth phase seems to be breaking out, maybe you've read or heard about it, just in little pockets. I think Time magazine carried an article in July about it, but really not a whole lot of reporting going on in any detail and not nearly as widespread as some of these other things, but it is very noticeable. We're going to talk about it with certain signs that are attending this move of the Spirit, not the least of which is what's called Holy Laughter. And we're going to get into that just a little bit tonight. Now, my purpose in moving into this series really is born of two specific observations. And the first is that I, you all know that from the beginning of North Way, we have endeavored to be in touch with the Spirit of the Lord was saying, because I discovered some long time ago, if you know what God is doing and you get in touch with it and you flow in it, God takes care of the fruit. Amen? If you try to manufacture it and if you try to tell God where you're going and hope that He blesses you, you have a long, difficult time ahead. And we have always believed that God is caused to be a church that is sensitized to the kingdom of God in power. How many believe that the kingdom of God should have power attended to it? I mean, if you're not familiar with the scriptures, just a wonderful study. I did a 17-week study years ago on the kingdom of God. It is the number one message of Jesus, by the way. The kingdom of God simply is where the rule of God has come. And where the rule of God has come, where God has invaded with His rule, His Lordship, where God has moved in and established His dominion, then any other dominion is driven out. The dominion of the flesh, the dominion of the devil. You see, where God moves in by His Spirit and brings His rule, chaos becomes peace. Disease is healed. Demonic oppression is lifted. Rebellion is turned to love. Hate becomes forgiveness. And dear ones, the kingdom of God, Paul said, is not of talk, but of power. And I fear that it's easy for us as God's people to talk about it a lot. For me to talk about it, for you to talk about it, but do we experience the power of God? I mean, there's a lot of scriptures about this. There's a couple of them for you. You might want to jot these down on your blank teaching outline. I hope you all have one. Ushers, Ben, are you ready? We've got a few people who need one. If you didn't get one, just wave your hand up. Jot down Romans 15, 18 and 19. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by the power of signs and miracles and through the power of the Spirit. That's Romans 15, 18 and 19. First Corinthians 1, 17 and 18. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross be emptied of its power. First Corinthians 2, 4 and 5. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on man's wisdom, but on God's power. And here's that verse I just quoted. First Corinthians 4, 20, if you're writing them down. The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power. So what we want to look at tonight is what invites the power of God. And again, let me say two things that brought me to this point. One is the very clear sense that I have, and I think probably share with a lot of you, is that North Way over the last year, in rough terms, some of you might think it's been three years, but I think it's been about a year. And I think a lot of it has to do with the transitory nature of our being over the last year, has drifted some from this important focus. I think just the evidence of the group here tonight says to me that there is still a hunger that's latent within our body for the reality of the power of God. But we have found it easy to drift and easy to just kind of be preoccupied with lots of activities. You know, as wonderful as work days are, they're usually not miraculous. Amen? Well, it depends on your perspective, actually. But we have been very consumed with a mission that God's given us, and I don't think that's been a mistake, but I do have to say I'm a little concerned that maybe we're drifting, if we're drifting one way or another, we're drifting toward talk and away from power. And I think the kingdom of God has to be born of power. Then you can talk. And so I have that concern, and if you share that concern, just nod your head. All right. The other one, however, is, the other reason that I felt propelled into this area was not just what I observed here, but what I've read and heard about elsewhere and talked to people about. Because for some reason, God has chosen now, 1994, three and four, just to do some unique things that He hasn't done very often in the spirit realm. And I've heard a lot about this, read a lot about it, investigated some, talked to people who've been directly in contact, and I'm going to talk about some of those things tonight. So, Nancy, those two points again, two reasons why we're talking about this for the next, I don't know how many weeks this will be. Number one, because internally, I think we've accommodated a less than supernatural attitude. And number two, because external activities of the spirit say to me, God is moving right now, and it's a time when God is moving for us to really investigate. And He seems to be doing things with some very clear signs that it's gone. Now, how many of you have heard the term signs and wonders? When you hear the term signs and wonders, what do you automatically think about? Miracles and healings and demonstrations that God's power is real and available. But the word sign is an important word for our whole discussion here tonight, because, you see, signs are an expected part of the gospel. Jesus came with signs following. I mean, where He went and did things, there were signs pointing to something else. Now, there's a difference between expecting a sign, and that's what I want us all to do tonight. I want us to expect God to give us some signs. There's a difference between that and demanding signs or swallowing signs. That is to say, everything that comes along, you say, oh, look, and I just jump onto that hook, line, and sinker. I believe it's a proper posture to be expected that God is going to demonstrate His presence with signs following, but not necessarily on my command. And second, not everything that I see is born of God. How many of you know that's true? I've seen a lot of weird stuff in the last few months in the name of a sign from God. Signs are by nature, however, something unusual. If it's to be a sign, God is saying, I want to get your attention. Think of the word sign, and then think of the word signal. You see, there's a relationship there just in the letters themselves. A sign is something not in and of itself to consume you, but to point you to something else. A sign is a signal. The signs of God are not the substance we're to be after. They are to point us to something else, and that's something you ought to write down. The signs are not the substance. The signs are pointing us to a deeper reality and a deeper truth. And folks, let me get it out a few times, because usually I have to say it three or four times before we all get it. The biggest concern I have about this issue of the signs of the Holy Spirit is that we start to pursue the signs for their own sake, and not for the signal that they are directing us to, which is much more important. Signs are always signaling something else, something that's about to happen, something that God is doing. They aren't the substance in and of themselves. A sign, though, is God saying, look here, I'm about to work, I'm about to do something, I'm in the process of changing things. And signs are usually not normative, they're unusual manifestations. They're, in my experience, signs are not always neat, not always easily explainable, don't usually happen the way I thought they should. And they usually come at a point that sort of squeezes our comfort zone. How many of you have found that God has asked you, at least once in your life, to do something you felt uncomfortable with? I mean, mainly coming here for the first time, right? But you're going to hear tonight and in the coming weeks about a lot of things that God is doing that I would say, I don't really think that's me, Lord, you know? That might be Emmanuel, or it might be somebody else out there, but it's not me. But how many of you know you can't tell God what signs you choose to have? He has the prerogative of telling us what is for us. Now, when it comes to these signs, the Old Testament is full of some really weird ones, isn't it? I didn't have time to research this as much as I wanted to, but how many of you can think of one prophet that had to do something weird as a sign to the people? Dave, help me out. Think of one. Hosea, what did Hosea have to do? Hosea had to marry a prostitute as a sign. Now, how many of you say, you know, God, that is a weird thing to do. Did you know that Ezekiel, it says, had to walk around with his bare buttocks showing? You're going to laugh, it is kind of weird. It is true, as a sign of God's impending judgment on the people. And Jeremiah had some weird thing. I mean, God was not adverse at all to using weird signs. Why? Because God knew that we were all just so preoccupied, so consumed with living, that we needed something out of the ordinary to get our attention. Otherwise, we just wouldn't catch on. And I believe that's part of, I mean, think about it. A virgin shall be with child, and this shall be a sign to you. I mean, what more unusual thing could God do to get our attention about the divine nature of the one that was to come as our Messiah? So you see, and then the New Testament carries right on. Jesus said, these signs will follow those who believe, Mark 16. And then in Acts chapter 2, you might want to write Acts 2, 17-19. The whole church age in which we're living, the Bible says, in the last days, these signs will appear. So we are living in an age where we are to expect signs. And I have to let you just get a hold of this, because folks, again, my concern is, we tend to drift away from even anticipating that God would manifest a sign. We don't expect it. But God wants us to know that He will signal His activity. He will signal His purposes by using signs. And we do well to heed the warning of Gamaliel here. Watch out what you say. And some of you tonight, I know, are probably a little bit like me. You're a little skeptical of some of the reports you've heard about this holy laughter. I've heard reports about people who have been touched by the power of God and frozen. I can't even, I was going to mimic it for 30 seconds. I can't. But frozen for two, three, five, six hours, unable to move. One report I heard was a person frozen, and they had to physically carry them off because they were in a rented auditorium. They had to close the auditorium. They had to carry them off the stage. Yeah. Very unusual signs. And I know that you get a little, you know, well, come on, people are putting this on. And I watched some of these programs where there was holy laughter. And it appeared to me that there was some mimicking going on and some, well, you know, it is funny. Anytime you laugh, it's kind of contagious, right? We ought to try it. Chuck, start laughing. Let's see what happens. No. It is, right? And so I've seen programs, and maybe you have too, where it just appeared to me that it was people just laughing and other people laughing. You know, like when Pat Sala starts. I mean, you just can't help it, right? But on the other hand, I have also observed where it was very clearly something not generated from the flesh. And I just want to exhort us, before we look into this with too much cynicism, listen to Gamaliel, because he warns us about something here. And remember, he was a Pharisee, and it's a profound thing that a Pharisee warns another Pharisee. He says, be careful, because you could find yourself shutting yourself off from the very thing God wants to do by your skepticism and your cynicism. But we do well to ask, God, what are you saying through these things? Because there is a deeper message than just the signs themselves. Jesus said in Luke 11 20, if I drive out demons by the finger of God, there's a sign, then know for certain that the kingdom of God has come upon you. Now, signs, remember, are not the substance. They point the way. And we as believers need to look for these signs and expect them. And then we need to understand that they're not the thing that we're to follow after. I know God probably has great sorrow to watch how some Christians just move from place to place, wherever the signs are. I mean, I know a little group of people who come to North Way if and when we have someone that they think is moving in the Spirit, and they'll go to Greater Works every other time that someone's there, and they'll go down to Covenant Church when someone's there, and they'll go down to CMA if they let someone in there that'll do it. Wherever they can go to get a sign, and there's nothing wrong with hearing speakers, but some of these people are going out of their way looking for God to do something for them at all these places, and they never plug in, and they never allow themselves the grace of fellowship and support and commitment and accountability. Let's talk just a little bit about this whole issue of what is the Spirit of God doing. It goes back, in my estimation, and some of you may know better than I do, because I know a lot of you have studied this as well. About two years ago, a South African evangelist by the name of Rodney Howard Brown was invited to do a revival at the Carpenter's Home Church. How many of you have ever been there, down in Lakeland, Florida? It's a 10,000-seat auditorium, and the church was largely decimated by a split. And this evangelist, South African evangelist, came in, was invited to do just a few nights of meetings, and something happened. And the power of God began to fall over that congregation of 1,000 or so people in this huge 10,000-seat auditorium. And days turned into weeks, and I forget how many, but I think it was 10, 12 weeks, every night of meetings, and people were encountering the power and presence of God with the primary mark being this holy, deep, uncontrolled laughter. And sometimes he'd just be talking, and it would just break out. And over the next seven or eight weeks, tremendous things happened, and you see, it wasn't the laughter, big deal. What happened was people began to repent. People who'd been warring factions in the church began to ask forgiveness. The church began to go through healing, and then conversions began to happen within those who were coming to see what was going on. And many people were restored back to the fellowship, and I forget the numbers, but there was an incredible outpouring. Thousands of people over the next few months were added back in. Anything recently, but I know that it was a remarkable thing. But it was all kind of around this one particular person, but even more interesting to me was something that happened up in Toronto. Started in the spring of this year. Little church outside, little vineyard church. How many of you are familiar with the vineyard ministry? Little vineyard church near the Toronto airport was just having a series of three nights of meetings just to seek the Lord. And God showed up and began to do these same kinds of things. But it was so powerful that, again, those meetings went from a few days to several weeks. As of preparing this tonight, the record that I have is over 50,000 people have been to this little church in Toronto, a 300-member church, to receive a touch of the power of God. Many pastors and leaders have flown to Toronto, gone to the meetings, and come back, as it were, infected. Isn't it kind of neat, you can be infected with something positive? And went back and ministered to the church. I've heard it now. 50,000 people in about six months. And three primary signs have been associated with this, Nancy. Number one, this deep, uncontrolled, holy laughter. Number two, the power of God in a very manifest way that creates a weakness where literally you can no longer stand. And the term that we're familiar with is you fall under the power or you're slain in the Spirit. Now, people say, well, where's the Scripture for that? Well, there are Scriptures that talk about falling under the power of God. The term slain in the Spirit isn't in the New Testament as far as I can find it. But there is clear evidence where the power of God is such that you can't stand. And there's some illustrations. You know, there's a time when the Bible says Jesus walked through a crowd that wanted to kill him. And a lot of commentators feel like His presence, just there was a power. They couldn't even stand as He walked through and went on His way. Again, this is something that can't, you know, we've all seen the kind, you know, the evangelist walks up and hits people in the forehead and down they go. And, you know, that's kind of crazy. This is what I'm talking about, people not even being touched. I mean, they just walk into the room and down they go. Power of God. And the third manifestation is a little more unusual. It includes roaring and barking. That's right. Roaring and barking. I don't, I've never heard roaring. I can't, I mean, I can't even imitate it. But I mean, it's some kind of deep, you know, just expression of release. And I suppose you can look at it and say, boy, that is really weird. I have to say, you know, if a psychiatrist meets with you and helps you to, you know, touch your inner feelings and, you know, you give a primal scream in some place, you know, you pay him 80 bucks and that was a great thing. You know, if the Lord does it, it's like, that is really weird, but it may be the same kind of deep work. I don't know. Barking, I know what that sounds like. I can't imagine it, but this literally has been well attested. And you need to know, by the way, that this is not the first time this has ever happened. There was what was called the Barking Revival in 1801 in Cain Ridge, Kentucky. The Barking Revival where literally people were so under the power of God that they just would, in the meeting, they'd walk out of the meeting, they'd swoon around. I mean, this kind of thing, dear ones, this is not new to this particular move of the Spirit. Let me read from 200 years ago, 240 years ago from the journals of John Wesley. Okay. While Wesley was preaching in the fields and was earnestly inviting all sinners to enter the holiest by this new and living way, many of those that heard began to call upon God with strong cries and tears. Some sunk down and there remained no strength in them. Others exceedingly trembled and quaked. Some were torn with a kind of convulsive motion in every part of their bodies. And that so violently that often four or five persons could not hold one of them. Wesley's good friend, George Whitefield, and by the way, if you have the kind of mind that likes to just get a hold of some meaty stuff, read Whitefield and Wesley, read their journals. It's just, these were wonderful gifts to the body of Christ even 200 years later. Here's what he records. When George Whitefield first heard about the signs, he objected strenuously, but then Wesley records this. I had an opportunity to talk with him out of those, talk him out of, I'm sorry, I had an opportunity to talk with him of those outward signs which had so often accompanied the inward work of God. I found his objections were chiefly grounded on gross misrepresentations of matter of fact. But the next day he had an opportunity of informing himself better for no sooner had he begun in the application of his sermon to invite all sinners to believe in Christ that four persons sunk down close to him almost in the same moment. One of them lay without either sense or motion. A second trembled exceedingly. A third had strong convulsions all over his body but made no noise unless by groans. And the fourth equally convulsed, called upon God with strong cries of tears. So here's Whitefield who says, stop this stuff. And he starts preaching people do it right in front of him. I mean, it was a unique thing and it went on. And you see, there's historical presence, but there's also biblical reason to believe, isn't there? That this is not off the wall. I mean, you'd have to say that scripture's loaded with illustrations of people who were physically affected by the power of God. All the way back, even pagans. Remember Belshazzar and Daniel 5? And he saw that finger writing on the wall. What did the Bible say happened to him? It says that he got so frightened that his knees knocked. Daniel 5, verse 6. How many would like to be able to see your boss do that? Psalm 119, verse 120, the psalmist says, Lord, my flesh trembles in fear of you. Jeremiah 5, 22. The Lord says, should you not tremble in my presence? Nehemiah 8, 9. The Bible says the people wept openly at the reading of his word. Acts 22, 17, and 18. Paul, the Bible says, slipped into a trance and received divine guidance from the Lord. Acts 2, 11. The Bible says these people are drunk. Now, give me a couple descriptors of what a drunk person does. They slur their words. They waddle around. They usually kind of laugh until they pass out. And that was the only thing that these people could describe this Pentecostal outpouring as being. These were drunk people. And on and on it goes. I mean, there's all kinds of illustrations of this, let alone the ones where when God moved in demonic deliverance and so forth, there was convulsions and shrieking and so on. And Acts 3, when there's a great miracle, the Bible says the man walked and leaped and praised the Lord. So these physical things, I guess the point is these physical things are heavily documented. Now, I guess if we hear nothing, we need to understand that this power of God cannot be defined and limited by our own simple definitions of what we think is appropriate. God has a way of making us feel just a little uncomfortable. And this is where I just want to step out and say to us all tonight, could it be, North Way, that we've gotten a little comfortable, a little predictable by looking at you right now? You're answering me loud and clear. I mean, could it be the reason why this auditorium's not relatively full tonight is because we've defined how the Lord's gonna move and so that's what He does? And we don't expect any signs. And we don't expect the Lord to demonstrate or manifest the kingdom with power when we gather together. Now, it's not saying that we don't believe that He can. It's not saying that we don't pray in our home groups or we don't ask God for a miracle. But I know that there's been this thing where we've just kind of gotten into this sort of relaxed predictability. And sometimes I think maybe there's been even an inclination in some of us to say, we really don't even want that. Don't really even want that kind of stuff. I want you to hear the heart of John Wesley who, struggling with what he was seeing at one point, said this, I'm just gonna shut it down. Because you have to understand, when Wesley was ministering, back then people were more reserved than they are even now. Do you know that? In that era, I mean, it was, think about it, ladies. Just think of the women, the way they conducted themselves and dressed, totally different than now. And the men were similar. I mean, it was a very conservative culture. And to be emotional was very rare. And so Wesley thought, this isn't gonna help my meetings. And there's record given when George Whitefield challenged Wesley to keep the doors open to the spirit and to avoid this, if you will, Gamaliel's warning and saying, don't shut it down. If it's of God, you'll be resisting God. And here's Wesley's most famous quote about this. Listen, I want to write it down. Wesley said this, he said, God send us revival without fanaticism. God send us revival without fanaticism. But Lord, if you can't do that, send us revival anyway, because we desperately need revival. And I'm talking now to the church. Revival is to the church. And I want us to say tonight, are we willing to say, Lord, even if it means that you stretch my comfort zone, even if it means that I feel a little bit weird, are you willing to say, Lord, do whatever you need to do? I mean, we all want to say, Lord, don't make me a fanatic. Don't make me do something embarrassing. But can we really say with Wesley, but Lord, if you got to do it, do whatever it takes, because we need revival. Lord, we're begging for you, your presence. You know, God can do, how many of you have heard things as weird as this? I mean, through my years of ministry, I have heard of meetings where God's presence was so strong that people were being healed including things like teeth being filled. Wouldn't that be a great manifestation? Before I did this message, I had just written these notes down here. And actually it was about 9.30 this morning. And at 11.15, I broke a filling. It's unbelievable, maybe tonight. I've heard of meetings where people literally waiting on the Lord had oil, like anointing oil, form on their hands. Couldn't wipe it, I mean, they'd wipe it and just reform. How many of you were part of moves of God in past years, particularly in the early charismatic movement, where the lengthening of legs was a real big thing? Remember that? I mean, every place you went, if he says, sit down, put your back against the wall, put your leg up. And you, you know, and there were always skeptics and cynics were saying, yeah, well, he just, you know, he moved his hips or whatever. But if you were around enough as I was, I saw it literally happen. I mean, you know, you saw God touch and that was just a thing that was happening back then. Don't know why that was. But these were all signs of his working, pointing to a more important truth, which is that God wants to change our lives. And he wants to unsettle our comfort zones. And I don't wanna say this, you know, please, I know my spirit tonight, I'm not bringing this message to try to say to you, and you need this. I'm saying, Lord, we as your church need this. We need a softened heart that says, no matter what it takes, no matter what I have to experience, Lord, I want the full measure of your working. I want your full life flowing through me because dear ones, I don't think we're gonna be prepared for what God wants to do for those around us if we are drinking from a dry well internally. We need the power of the spirit of God if we're to be effective in winning our community. Let me conclude with just five things to do in response to the working of God and I'm done. We're gonna minister together. Number one, five responses now to what the Lord is gonna be doing. Number one, leave the judgment to God. Don't ignore the counsel of Gamaliel. Let's be open enough to let God judge what's right and what's not. Doesn't mean you can't be discerning. It doesn't mean there won't be charlatans. It doesn't mean that there might be some things that happen that need to be corrected by those in authority. I'm not saying that, but I am saying, let's be careful to avoid that posture which takes orthodoxy to its farthest point and says, it can't happen this way because, and gives you a whole bunch of proof texts and defends itself by some kind of argument from interpretation of scripture that really isn't substantiated. I feel like I need to say this. Be discerning what you listen to on the radio. You can flip on the Bible Answer Man and figure he's got everything down just right and he calls hims