Prophecy is a really huge deal to God yet there are alot of religious people who take issue against it. It is often said that prophecy is not for today, yet there is a danger in going there. Jesus said in John 5, you search the scriptures because you think in them is eternal life, but these are they which testify of Me and you're unwilling to come to Me. The scriptures are the testimony of Jesus and any revelation you get from the Scriptures that doesn't take you into an encounter with Jesus Christ only serves to make you more religious. Furthermore in Revelation 19:10 we're told that the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. So to say that prophecy isn't for today is not only to deny the testimony of Jesus but also to deny the vailidity of the word of God. Some will differentiate between the prophectic in the scriptures and the prophetic declaration of believers today calling the first infallable and the latter, "personal prophecy" and say that it's not of God. The scriptures are indeed infallable but can the Holy Spirit give me a word for you and you for another? Jesus said in John 16, I have so much I would like to say to you now but you can't bear it. So then there's more He wants to share with you. He then said, I'll send the Holy Spirit who will guide you into all truth. The believers were and are expected to be filled with the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God is not silent. Now He chooses to speak through His people to teach, train, exhort, comfort, encourage, reveal His plan and purpose, and to release the Kingdom in power. We release the kingdom through declaration.

Here's an example and, by the way, a year ago I would never have done this. I sit down by a man who is waiting for his ride. I ask if I can pray with him. He says no, he's not interested. We do begin to talk though and as we do I feel intense compassion for the depth of hurt in him and the numbers 10 and 14 come to mind, forcefully. So much so that it's distracting. I clear my throat and go with it. "There is a deep pain in you from 10 or maybe 14 years ago. Something happened that left your life scarred and God wants to heal your heart." He begins to weep and says, "My 14 year old son was killed 10 years ago in a hit and run accident. (long pause) I've been angry at God ever since." We cry together and when I ask if I can pray with him again he says yes. The manifest presence of the Spirit of God meets us there and he begins a new day and season in his life as a believer in Jesus Christ.

This week on outreach we're going to ask the Holy Spirit to do that for people we don't even know. God loves these His people and wants to reveal Himself to them. We're going to give God that opportunity. You give God room for His will to be done. I'll post testimonies later on this week and let you know how it went.

The postmodern church movement. "It's organic, earthy, neohippie, antichurch." Just what some cool friends of mine may be looking for. So they go today to a local postmodern gathering to soak in the vibe. Report comes back. The music put the mental in experimental, the paintings were interesting. The speaker announces that the meeting is going to be a (quote) crapshoot. I check my cool postmodern language guide to see if that's the new way to say we're being led by the Spirit. I get the impression it means unprepared. Some guy lays down in the aisle and falls asleep. Nice touch. Then this guy in the aisle rips a massive gastrointestinal expulsion. It reeks. We'd leave but he's blocking our way. Perhaps the people behind me think my gag reflex is a new form of worship. For your next communion service, I suggest some beano tablets. The rest of the gathering gives the impression that in order to belong here one must be comfortably lost. A passive anarchist. Anti leadership, anti order, and strangely, anti power. Perhaps they were hoping to access the power of God by denying the dreaded form of Godliness but sadly, it appears they're lacking both. When freedom in worship becomes a disguise for lack of direction, something's gone awry. No prayer for healing, no message from the Word of God, no invitation to follow Jesus Christ. All these are old fashioned and have been replaced with silent contemplation, readings from various books, and encouragement to give Jesus a whirl at some point in your life, whenever, no worries. Truth be told, this is just the closet Baptists taking the seeker movement to a whole new level of lukewarm. It's the evangelistic tool that sneaks up on the seeker. You may get saved, you may not. Chances are, you won't know either way. The beauty of the postmodern movement and it's manuals (Velvet Elvis and Blue Like Jazz) is that they've can describe in elaborate detail what they are not! They shun uniformity and embrace creative expression. What they can't seem to determine is who they are. (Are we Christians or are we followers of Christ?) If you're interested in starting a Postmodern church, there are some things you've got to know. Back up your quotes from the apostle Paul with a quote from Bono. Media is cool. Especially art house flicks. Profanity is acceptable as long as it's intelligent. Intellect is exalted. Dim lights, deep thoughts, acoustic guitars, and coffee. Coffee is coooool. In the postmodern movement you get to be both in the world and of the world. Not a bad deal. In the early days when the X files was cancelled, many postmoderns backslid into, well, virtually the same place they were last week.

Sigh... Perhaps this postmodern movement will eventually add the term "vegan" to it's arsenal of cool descriptive terms. That is, lacking meat.

Nevertheless, I have a word for the postmodern Pastors. In these days I believe that God is releasing a spirit of revelation over the church where we repent over our areas of great difference because we see Him as He is, speak His Word as He declares it, and are literally taught by the Spirit. This is Kingdom reality and it seems that postmodernism is poised for this kind of radical Spirit led existence, igniting a revival in America and bringing the reality of Jesus' power and glory into the lives of people. That is "...on earth as it is in Heaven." If that's the anointing you're aiming for, keep pressing in and expect opposition as you experience breakthrough. Chris Tomlin spoke well when he said that if the presence of God doesn't go with us, I don't want to go. At the same time if the presence of God is with us, the varied impressions of people don't matter a whole lot, for we're in the will of God even as their nails pierce our flesh.

NOTE: To give some background, this "story" actually happened at a popular postmodern church (with a pretty name) in a popular city (the live music capital of the world). Some friends went on a Sunday and called about it afterwards. I wrote this post in response to that event about a month ago, but waited to post it until I had a chance to email the Pastor (or narrator, or moderator, or whatever) and see what he had to say. It was very interesting and productive. I found out that he is hungry for something that he hasn't seen yet. That's what drives this movement to break out of tradition. The problem is that every new idea threatens to eventually become the tradition of man that makes the Word of God of no effect. The above post has the best lines from the email correspondence we had and since he reads my blog (yes, the Pastor of this church read this blog before I posted it and liked it) I wanted to make sure that I gave a cushion of time to it to test my heart on the matter. That is, am I merely writing in frustration to an event or is this something that continues to burn in me. The latter is true so, voila, it gets posted.

Postscript: I got some email asking what problem I had with Don Miller's best selling book, Blue Like Jazz. It's Don's gospel that's the issue. Don says, well here, Don go ahead and tell everyone how you view the Gospel of the Kingdom. “[The central message of Christ] is that man sinned against God and God gave the world over to man, and that if somebody wanted to be rescued out of that, if somebody for instance finds it all very empty, that Christ will rescue them if they want…” (page 124)
So Don has reduced the everlasting advancing Kingdom of God to, well, a divine timeshare for the disgruntled. Uh, I don't know, Don. Throw in a toaster and I may think about signing up.

Outreach yesterday and this morning was exciting. Yesterday we took a dozen young people out to do good and heal the oppressed and that's exactly what they did. I have never known a more tender yet bold group of students. I will truly miss them when they go to Borneo for missions next month. We were able to pray for many to be healed of various sicknesses from staff infection to arthritis in the knees to a man who said he needed joy. Everyone who allowed us to pray for them was touched by God in some way. One lady we met in front of the Buddhist temple had turned from Catholicism to Buddhism two months earlier because her son had died in a car accident and she was carrying offense toward God. We were able to minister to her and felt like God gave us a divine appointment to speak His heart to her and let her know that He is good and that He did not take her son. It was quite a moment. This morning the Pastors of upcountry met for breakfast where we spend our time recounting the testimony of what God is doing. By the end of that time you're ready to go take back some ground and punch holes in the darkness. So we took a couple of guitars and Pastor Dale Kreps from the Nazarene Church, Pastor Shannon Carrier, and I sat out in front of the library across from the Buddhist center in Makawao and sang worship songs to God as loud as our voices would allow. We had some great response from people driving by. We had the opportunity afterward to pray with a young man named Ben. It was just a great morning of giving God room to do His will. (Let that theology soak in for awhile.)

When Jesus said for us to pray, Thy will be done, He was talking about Himself. The instruction is an invitation to partner with Him to see that what is on His heart becomes what we are all about. Why would Jesus encourage us to pray for what He has already intended to do? Why would He ask us to join in an act of participation if our involvment meant nothing? It is His desire that you be the vessel through which His Spirit is poured out on all flesh. I cannot give Him a place to move in you but I can certainly give Him a place to move in me. If I give Him my flesh as an outlet, presenting my body as a living sacrifice, I then offer another person the opportunity to make room for Him as well. The promise in scripture is that the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord like the waters cover the sea. In keeping with the H20 analogy, surfs up!

The past week has been an incredible week of revival and miracles. I want to record these events so that I can review the works of God and also compose some thoughts that will likely contain questions that one day may have an answer.

On Sunday, our worship leader, Byron Purdy, was competing in the upcountry rodeo as his family has done for 56 years. In one event, something went wrong and a steer fell on his chest and then stomped on him a few times. By the time the ambulance got him loaded up to go to the hospital he was passed out from pain. The fear was of internal injuries along with or as a result of broken ribs. His eyes were rolling back in his head and from his head to his waist he was in bad condition. When they arrived at the hospital Byron's wife, Uilani, called and we prayed over the phone for him. Suddenly, as we were praying, he came to and the pain began to leave. They did the scans and tests to determine the extent of the injuries and gave him a clean bill of health. No internal injuries, no broken ribs, no reason to stay at the hospital. They had cut his clothes off of him so his wife went and got him a change of clothes from the car. He dressed and walked out of the hospital less than two hrs after he arrived. I helped him move heavy furniture this week.

Last week Wed there was a lovely Catholic lady who had diabetes for 30 years who requested prayer. Her left leg was swollen terribly and had been for quite some time and she was in great pain. As we prayed,,,,nothing happened. At least not that we could see. When she arrived home, the swelling was completely gone as was the pain. She went back to the doctor and received a report that she no longer has diabetes. Our study on Wed was on the last part of Mark 4 and the message was on the release of the Kingdom of heaven within you over the storms around you. Various prophecies and words went out and it was a good time.

At the close of the meeting, I felt that we needed to go down the hill and attend the revival taking place at the Pukalani Church of the Nazarene. Puka Naz (as it's called locally) is pastored by a dear friend and brother of mine, Pastor Dale. He had let us know that they were going to be setting up a tent and having an old fashioned revival meeting. What we didn't know was that the night before, the speaker had preached on the Holy Spirit and what resulted was a regular Acts 2 outpouring. A dozen of us from Grace showed up there after our meeting on Wed night and as we took our seats in the crowded tent, the speaker began his message. It was on Mark 4 and the message was on the release of the Kingdom of heaven within you over the storms around you. I was stunned. The Bible is a big book. This was not coincidence. Pastor Dale noticed that I had arrived and invited me to come and share. In 60 seconds I shared that we had just studied the same thing at our meeting a half hour earlier. The associate Pastor of Waipuna Chapel, a church two miles away from us, came up the aisle and said, "God wants to heal somebody right here." The altars opened and many people were healed and came to Jesus Christ. The revival was extended to Friday night.

In an unusual occurrence, an elder from a well established denominational church came forward on Thursday night responding to a call for repentance. He was tensed up and wound tight. This Christian man said he needed to be free from something dark inside of him. Pastor Dale (Nazarene) began to intercede for him. I can't even describe what happened after this but he was delivered from whatever demon was keeping him bound. Last night (Friday) he stood up and testified that he hadn't believed that a Christian could have anything like that but because of this belief he wasn't careful of what he gave a place in his life. He testified that he had opened his life up to anger by dwelling on people who had hurt him. He had also opened the door to a spirit of lust by dwelling on images and thoughts that he believed, as a Christian, would have no affect on him. He then testified that he now realized that even as a believer in Jesus Christ that it was ignorant to believe that he could give a place to darkness in his life and remain unaffected.

Whatever you have come to believe about healing, demons, deliverance, miracles, and signs that make you wonder, here's what I have come to. These are all like exit signs that point to the door of a greater reality like a map that leads you to the treasure of the presence of the Spirit of God. The miracles are meant to renew your mind to come to that place of supernatural faith in the God for whom nothing is impossible. The wonderful works of His hands are meant to lead to the richness of knowing the ways of His heart. While we have experienced miracles and healings in others this week, however, Traci and I have both been physically less than 100%. We have prayed and have not experienced the breakthrough in our bodies but internally we're both revived and soaking in the presence of God and the wonder of His love. The post below has taken on a deep meaning and challenge for me, to focus on what He is doing and not what He isn't doing. I can't let what I don't understand create means where I walk in offense toward God for what He hasn't done. Maybe you're in the same boat. Here's our challenge once again. If you focus on what He is doing, then you may become the answer for what He hasn't done yet. His power is still real and His grace is still sufficient.

Heaven is filled with everlasting love and peace and complete regard for the faithfulness, goodness, and power of God. Earth is filled with doubt, unbelief, offense, fear, and bitterness. You will always reflect the world that you're most aware of. Both worlds are real, but one is superior. The things we can see are temporal, but the things we can't see are eternal. Faith is anchored in what you can't see so then what you can't see is superior to what you can see for faith pleases God. I don't have faith because I understand. I understand because I have faith. (Heb 11) "Through faith we understand..." So then I can live life by discipline (understanding) or I can live life by passion (faith). If you live by discipline you'll be admired. If you live by passion you'll be contageous. Both are good but one is better. The difficult part of living the Christian life by discipline is that you have a hard time reproducing because to reproduce you must create others who are as disciplined as yourself for the right reasons. I would rather burn with passion. A life of passion is like a burning fire. When you tend to a fire you're only interested in protecting it and feeding it. When you live the Christian life with passion you only have time for that which fuels the fire. From the outside you may look disciplined but it's truly a reflection of the fire on the inside. All of this to say, I've been in a state of passion for God lately like at no time in my life. The way I stay passionate and encouraged inside is to focus on what God is doing, not what He isn't doing. The more outreach we do, the more contact I have with random strangers around me that results in advancing the Kingdom of God, the more I see the power of God demonstrated before my eyes, the more I burn. There's a fire that I can't ignore and in doing so I'm becoming more aware of and hungry for His world than I am for my own.

This picture was taken last week at Makena Beach. My little girl came and sat down and put her head on my shoulder. Traci knelt down to snap a picture and instincively Sara put her little "shaka" up in the air. This is the Hawaiian wave. It signifies friendship, peace, love, we're cool, all is well and good, and is also how we cut people off in traffic. A true multi-purpose hand gesture. In moments like these, sitting on the warm sand at the end of the day, I can't help but breathe in the presence of God. It doesn't just come in the good moments though. Last week I sat with a couple who moments earlier had given birth to their stillborn son. She was only five months along in her pregnancy. I was honored to officiate the service as the family wept with them. I had a vision in that moment of the two of them together in eternity with their son, and realized that I had just gained another motivation to live with passion for God for in eternity I will see them together and the deluge of joy that they will know, well earthly pleasures can't touch that. For all of my friends, both new and old, who have suffered loss, there is a deluge of joy in the kingdom to come that will erase all of the sorrow that you've ever known as if you had never known it. I can't wait to see that.