Just For Pastors 35: You Need Some Power!

Public speaking is undergoing a real resurgeance. People are watching TED Talks, top comedians can pack out the largest venues in the UK faster than Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift! People do enjoy listening to others talk.

But with us the kingdom of God is not just a matter of talk, but a matter of action – and we have to have power – the power of the Spirit when we minister. We should be moving in the gifts of the Spirit. We need to be baptised in the Holy Spirit, flowing in the gifts and seeing supernatural things happen when we minister.

I have just ministered in Indonesia for the first time. They invited me back as soon as I had finished my first session – not because I preached an especially remarkable sermon, although I thought it was rather good, but because several people were healed, then I gave a word of knowledge for someone in the room that was exceptionally accurate to his situation. In the evening service, more people were healed and God gave me another word of knowledge that again was exceptionally accurate and ministered life to someone who desperately needed it.

It’s not just about talking, it’s about power. There has to be power! Acts 1.8 says you shall: “receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me… unto the uttermost part of the earth”. Notice carefully that it says that power makes us witnesses unto Jesus, not witnesses for Jesus.

What’s the difference? If I am a witness for Jesus, I get into the pulpit and I tell you some nice stories about what Jesus did 2000 years ago 3000 miles away and you all nod and clap and we all go home and had a nice service. But as a witness unto Jesus, I do what He did in His name, with the same power He had, the power of the Holy Spirit. You cannot do it without the Holy Spirit and His power. But we need more supernatural in the church. Not spooky, but supernatural.

There were meetings in the past century in the UK where people had words of knowledge, saw great healings, saw great miracles. We need to go back to those days. We need to return to the days of Smith Wigglesworth, the days of the early Pentecostals, the days of George and Stephen Jeffries. We need supernatural meetings.

Now in that environment, some people go weird, some even open themselves up to the demonic. Recently a well known “prophet” has been exposed for using Facebook to find out information about people, in previous years another used a radio piece in their ear, and people go “wow, this has to be God”, and when it isn’t, they back off from the supernatural. But the copies are just copies of what is REAL. There are real gifts of the Spirit, there is real power to the Holy Spirit.

Now listen – we must as pastors have the gifts, but we must NEVER build our lives and ministries on a gift. Kenneth Hagin used to tell his contemporaries “You have all built your ministries on your gifts, but I am building mine on the Word, so I will still be going when you are all gone” – and that turned out to be totally true!

Paul wrote to a church that was having the gifts abused and all sorts of problems because of the carnal use of the gifts, and he didn’t say “Stop it with the gifts until you all grow up”. No, he did not. He said, “Desire eagerly the gifts”. And despite what some fools may say about the gifts for being for yesteryear, we should be desiring them today, in our services this weekend. We should be operating in power! AMEN!