Healthy, Growing Churches (3)

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1.8

On the Holy Spirit 1.7.81-82
Ambrose of Milan (333-397)
“The Holy Spirit, then, is uncircumscribed and infinite, who infused himself into the minds of the disciples throughout the separate divisions of distant regions and the remote bounds of the whole world whom nothing is able to escape or to deceive. And therefore holy David says, ‘Where shall I go from your Spirit, or where shall I flee from your face?’ Of what angel does the Scripture say this, of what dominion, of what power, of what angel do we find the power diffused over many? For angels were sent to few, but the Holy Spirit was poured upon whole peoples. Who, then, can doubt that that is divine which is shed upon many at once and is not seen; but that that is corporeal which is seen and held by individuals?”

Jesus was sent to seek and save the lost (Lk. 19.10). He spent His entire ministry walking throughout Judea, Galilee, and in the regions of the Gentiles, serving, teaching, and bringing near the Kingdom of God. Jesus did not expect people to seek Him out. His mission was to seek them, and He has commissioned His disciples as witnesses, that we should seek the lost people to whom God sends us, bringing the Good News of the Kingdom by our lives and words. The “seeker-friendly” approach to doing church has succeeded in bringing many to our services and programs. But we have not made many disciples. We have equipped only a few for works of ministry, and those mainly which are sponsored at our churches. And the saints can hardly be described as seeking the lost with anything like the consistency and determination Jesus demonstrated. In healthy, growing churches, the Gospel is so exciting, and brings such transformation to sinners, that they seek the lost like Jesus did, bearing witness in the power of the Spirit to what Jesus has done for them.

Would you describe the people you serve as actively seeking the lost in your community? Explain.

T. M. Moore

Organizing with the Spirit
The Lord Jesus is building His Church. His Word is the blueprint, His Spirit is the General Contractor, and we are all builders together of the Body of Christ. But are we doing our work God’s way, or ours? The Spirit has His ways of organizing our work, and we do well to understand as much as we can about His methods. This is the argument of Dr. Kent Miller of Michigan State University, and you can watch our Conversation with Dr. Miller, and download a free copy of his paper on the subject, “Organizing with the Spirit,” by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotations from Church Fathers are from the Ancient Christian Commentary Series, published by InterVarsity Press.