Rainy days and Mondays….that song from the Carpenters is apropos for the past week here in the south. We have had a lot of rain, but I’m trusting the Lord knows that we need it. Well, it is Monday, or almost Monday, depending on when and where you are reading this. Welcome to my Monday series, everyday jesus: seeing him in the daily-ness of life. #everydayjesus
As Greg and I worshipped yesterday, we were blessed by a powerful sermon on the importance of the Holy Spirit. It was a reminder that is appropriate for any Christ-follower, but especially those of us in ministry.
Dr. Cooper reminded us how the Spirit worked under the Old Covenant, how He worked in the life of Jesus, and how He works in the life of the believer post-resurrection and ascension. I’m not going to recap his entire message, but if you are interested in hearing it, you can go here.
What really smacked me between my eyes, (and was a reminder from Jesus) was one sentence from the section on how the Spirit works in the life of the believer. Dr. Cooper said that we have many tools today that are used to help share the gospel….good tools, the internet, tracts, musical productions, gospel cubes, blog posts, link-ups, tweets, and so much more. But the truth is that there are only two things that are necessary for the good news of Christ to go out. Two things:
The Message of the Gospel
An Anointing to share the Message
A gospel tract is a good thing, but it is not a necessary thing. A piano, or guitar, or any other instrument is a good thing, but they are not necessary things for the spread of the gospel. All the godly blog posts in the world are good things, but they are not necessary things for the spread of the gospel. Here is the sentence that got me:
We have confused the tool with the Message.
Yes, God has called me to write blog posts to share His word. Yes, God may have called you to sing to share His gospel. Yes, God may use a tract or a gospel cube to help explain the gospel. However, we must not place more emphasis on the tools than we do on the Message of the Gospel.
The Disciples of Christ, after being baptized with the Holy Spirit, spread out across the ancient world, sharing the gospel, and thousands came to Christ. Those disciples did not have tracts or blog posts or tweets or gospel cubes. They had the Message of Salvation and an Anointing by the Holy Spirit. That’s it.
God has given us the Message. The question is whether we are operating in the anointing of the Holy Spirit as we share it. Every word we speak, every post we write, every tweet, every word that is sung should be under the inspiration and Anointing of the Holy Spirit. Because, if they are not, we need to stop talking/writing, and get back to basics:
The Message of Gospel shared under the Anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Pretty convicting, huh?
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