In Jim Cymbala’s book “Fresh Power,” in chapter 3, “Something From Heaven” he states 👉
“Many people today, even church members, agree with the critics, although they are too polite to say so. Everything in the church service may be doctrinally sound—but there’s nothing from heaven that grips them. Too often we are found discussing only words and phrases, doctrinal positions and denominational traditions—but where is the power of the Holy Spirit in all of this?
By contrast, we see the New Testament church and its ministers regularly having encounters with the living God. This sense of the divine brought hardened sinners to their knees. The powerful word stabbed their consciences. The Holy Spirit produced a climate that was anything but dull and ordinary.”
Friend, when every single syllable of our one hour pre-packaged and well- thought out program is placed into motion… is there ANY ROOM FOR THE MOVING OF THE SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD? I think not. We simply don’t have the time for heaven to come down to pay us a visit. We MUST clear the crowds on campus for the next one-hour show.
In fact, if He did intentionally interrupt our regularly scheduled programming, the exact SECOND the prophesy or message in tongues or any other display of the supernatural was over… we pick up where we left off and don’t even miss a beat. To the point of COMPLETELY ignoring the obvious call of the Spirit.
Wow. Just WOW!
ON WITH THE SHOW!
What would happen if we witnessed an Acts 2:1-4 on our very next Sunday morning gathering?
Pastor Cymbala goes on to say in that same third chapter 👉
“I am not so much concerned to focus on the individual phenomenon here—the wind, the fire, the speaking in tongues—as I am to hold up the main truth that something supernatural came from heaven and invaded men and women on earth, changing them forever.
I think we have lost the wonder of that because we are so familiar with the passage. Since the Holy Spirit is God, what is the depth of the meaning in those words “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit”? They were filled with God himself!
Forget for a moment, what you have been taught by others about this phrase. Open yourself to what God did here. Frail men and women were not just given help around the edges, but were filled with God, the Holy Spirit.”
Is ANYBODY out there hungering for some Fresh Power?
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