There’s a burning desire in my heart for revival! I really want to see God awaken His church—both the IPHC and the church at large. I want Him to move us into our mission.
When I say mission, I’m referring to what Jesus said in Acts 1:8 (NASB), that we would “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the
remotest part of the earth.” We have a global mandate. And when I say revival, I’m talking about a people who are more committed to the Great Commission than they are to their own comfort. We have to move forward.
When we dig into the Book of Acts, we see this phenomenal move of God that Peter Wagner said resulted in 20 percent of Jerusalem coming to faith in Christ by the time Acts 4 was written. Then, by Acts 17:6, we read that the believers had
people accusing them of turning the world upside down!
Don’t you wish that was being said by us? Early followers of Jesus turned theircity upside down. They turned the whole world upside down!
That is precisely what the Holy Spirit wants to do today. He is the One Who takes dead people and makes them alive in Christ. He takes uneducated fishermen like Simon Peter and makes him the evangelist in Acts 2 that sees thousands saved. He wants to take a people who are fully committed to Him, pour His Spirit upon them, and turn the world upside down through them!
In praying for the IPHC and the church at large, I really believe that the Spirit is stirring His church right now, to
believe for this to happen again. And Ihear Him saying that there is much in the Book of Acts, particularly what is
known as the Antioch Church Model (Acts 11–13), for us to learn and apply.
I’d like to focus on three things in particular:
1. MULTICULTURAL LEADERSHIP MODELS.
When we read about the church in Antioch in Acts 11–13, we quickly see all these cultural boundaries being crossed, resulting in the first multicultural church leadership model. They were Jews and Gentiles, Europeans and Africans. What a mix!
They were groundbreakers, risk takers and world changers.
This is deeply challenging to Western thinking, which too easily gets stuck in the monocultural mindset of
the Jerusalem church. If we do that, we will only be as effective as that church was. Sure, it made an impact
in Jerusalem, but it didn’t reach the world like the Antioch Church did.
And one of the key components of the Antioch believers was their willingness to be multicultural from the leadership
down.
Of course, it needed to be multicultural—because it was in a multicultural setting—and so are we.
Our world has drastically changed in just a few decades. I can’t believe the way we are seeing global migration.
But think about the wonderful opportunities that this brings us to reach the world.
Father, I pray that You will give to the IPHC, local congregations that are willing to become just as multicultural
in their thinking as what Jesus will see before His throne in Revelation 7:9.
Amen.
2. A MISSIONAL MINDSET.
Antioch was so cosmopolitan, that it was known as “all the world in one city.” I took this statement and had some fun.
What would it look like if all the world lived in one city? Could it even fit? The answer is, surprisingly, yes. We could
fit the world’s 7.5 billion people into a mega-metropolis about the size of New Jersey if we used the density rates of
Dharavi, that place from Mumbai that many of us know through the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’
But we don’t need to do that. That’s not the vision of Jesus. He doesn’t say bring the world into us. He tells us to
go into all the world. Often, we make that kind of mistake in our thinking. We want the world inside the four walls of
our own church. Even if we could get what we want, it wouldn’t be good for us.
But Jesus doesn’t say that, see that, or desire that. In the words of Bishop Stan Reynolds, “the church can’t have
true revival without fulfilling the Great Commission.” It’s in this kind of paradigm that we can see something
of a reverse kingdom truth. Aim for the world, and God will give you your city.
That seems to be what happened in Antioch as they allowed people to come and go through Spirit led missions. It
happened in other key revivals. And I believe that this is true for us as we are being obedient to the Spirit of mission.
Father, I pray that you will give our local IPHC congregations and conferences such a global focus for mission that You
will trust them with their town, city and region. Amen.
3. MOVED BY THE SPIRIT.
In Acts 13:2, we see the Spirit calling for Barnabas and Saul to be set apart, and the church obeys that call. They are
positioned to hear from the Spirit and then willing to obey once they do.
What about us? Are we this open? Are we keen to send out our best people if the Spirit asks us to? Or a more painful question would be, what are we unwilling to do? In the vision in Acts 10, Peter had this encounter, he had to face up to what he would not normally do. Likewise, Ananias being told by the Spirit to go to Saul in Acts 9. They did -what they used to be unwilling to do, because God spoke to them.
What is it in our lives, or church, or conference that the Spirit is asking us to do in mission, that we are resisting? Is it reaching the poor people in our city? Do we see ourselves as too good for them? As Bishop James Leggett said, not long before he was promoted to glory, “If our church ever neglects to reach out to the lower classes from which we came, we will lose the power of Pentecost from which we came.”
Do we struggle with the cultural?
Do we struggle with the cultural shifts needed in this model? Do we struggle to be generous with what we already have? God help us if we refuse to learn from Antioch, Peter, or even Ananias! Father, I pray that in these days, days that seem more like last days than ever before, we will be moved in a fresh way by Your Spirit. Correct us, reposition us, and bring realignment into our lives, so that we may be ready for an Antioch kind of move of the Holy Spirit, for Your glory. Amen.
[Editor's Comment: This excellent article on "The Antioch Model for Revival" was copied from the August Encourage online magazine with permission. May God help us to be obedient to what God tells us to do. Prayer is the key to revival.]
When I say mission, I’m referring to what Jesus said in Acts 1:8 (NASB), that we would “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the
remotest part of the earth.” We have a global mandate. And when I say revival, I’m talking about a people who are more committed to the Great Commission than they are to their own comfort. We have to move forward.
When we dig into the Book of Acts, we see this phenomenal move of God that Peter Wagner said resulted in 20 percent of Jerusalem coming to faith in Christ by the time Acts 4 was written. Then, by Acts 17:6, we read that the believers had
people accusing them of turning the world upside down!
Don’t you wish that was being said by us? Early followers of Jesus turned theircity upside down. They turned the whole world upside down!
That is precisely what the Holy Spirit wants to do today. He is the One Who takes dead people and makes them alive in Christ. He takes uneducated fishermen like Simon Peter and makes him the evangelist in Acts 2 that sees thousands saved. He wants to take a people who are fully committed to Him, pour His Spirit upon them, and turn the world upside down through them!
In praying for the IPHC and the church at large, I really believe that the Spirit is stirring His church right now, to
believe for this to happen again. And Ihear Him saying that there is much in the Book of Acts, particularly what is
known as the Antioch Church Model (Acts 11–13), for us to learn and apply.
I’d like to focus on three things in particular:
1. MULTICULTURAL LEADERSHIP MODELS.
When we read about the church in Antioch in Acts 11–13, we quickly see all these cultural boundaries being crossed, resulting in the first multicultural church leadership model. They were Jews and Gentiles, Europeans and Africans. What a mix!
They were groundbreakers, risk takers and world changers.
This is deeply challenging to Western thinking, which too easily gets stuck in the monocultural mindset of
the Jerusalem church. If we do that, we will only be as effective as that church was. Sure, it made an impact
in Jerusalem, but it didn’t reach the world like the Antioch Church did.
And one of the key components of the Antioch believers was their willingness to be multicultural from the leadership
down.
Of course, it needed to be multicultural—because it was in a multicultural setting—and so are we.
Our world has drastically changed in just a few decades. I can’t believe the way we are seeing global migration.
But think about the wonderful opportunities that this brings us to reach the world.
Father, I pray that You will give to the IPHC, local congregations that are willing to become just as multicultural
in their thinking as what Jesus will see before His throne in Revelation 7:9.
Amen.
2. A MISSIONAL MINDSET.
Antioch was so cosmopolitan, that it was known as “all the world in one city.” I took this statement and had some fun.
What would it look like if all the world lived in one city? Could it even fit? The answer is, surprisingly, yes. We could
fit the world’s 7.5 billion people into a mega-metropolis about the size of New Jersey if we used the density rates of
Dharavi, that place from Mumbai that many of us know through the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’
But we don’t need to do that. That’s not the vision of Jesus. He doesn’t say bring the world into us. He tells us to
go into all the world. Often, we make that kind of mistake in our thinking. We want the world inside the four walls of
our own church. Even if we could get what we want, it wouldn’t be good for us.
But Jesus doesn’t say that, see that, or desire that. In the words of Bishop Stan Reynolds, “the church can’t have
true revival without fulfilling the Great Commission.” It’s in this kind of paradigm that we can see something
of a reverse kingdom truth. Aim for the world, and God will give you your city.
That seems to be what happened in Antioch as they allowed people to come and go through Spirit led missions. It
happened in other key revivals. And I believe that this is true for us as we are being obedient to the Spirit of mission.
Father, I pray that you will give our local IPHC congregations and conferences such a global focus for mission that You
will trust them with their town, city and region. Amen.
3. MOVED BY THE SPIRIT.
In Acts 13:2, we see the Spirit calling for Barnabas and Saul to be set apart, and the church obeys that call. They are
positioned to hear from the Spirit and then willing to obey once they do.
What about us? Are we this open? Are we keen to send out our best people if the Spirit asks us to? Or a more painful question would be, what are we unwilling to do? In the vision in Acts 10, Peter had this encounter, he had to face up to what he would not normally do. Likewise, Ananias being told by the Spirit to go to Saul in Acts 9. They did -what they used to be unwilling to do, because God spoke to them.
What is it in our lives, or church, or conference that the Spirit is asking us to do in mission, that we are resisting? Is it reaching the poor people in our city? Do we see ourselves as too good for them? As Bishop James Leggett said, not long before he was promoted to glory, “If our church ever neglects to reach out to the lower classes from which we came, we will lose the power of Pentecost from which we came.”
Do we struggle with the cultural?
Do we struggle with the cultural shifts needed in this model? Do we struggle to be generous with what we already have? God help us if we refuse to learn from Antioch, Peter, or even Ananias! Father, I pray that in these days, days that seem more like last days than ever before, we will be moved in a fresh way by Your Spirit. Correct us, reposition us, and bring realignment into our lives, so that we may be ready for an Antioch kind of move of the Holy Spirit, for Your glory. Amen.
[Editor's Comment: This excellent article on "The Antioch Model for Revival" was copied from the August Encourage online magazine with permission. May God help us to be obedient to what God tells us to do. Prayer is the key to revival.]