Before the Lord ascended He gave a wonderful promise, as we read in Acts 1:8: "but you shall 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."

 

 

The enemy of our souls uses fear to keep people in bondage just as the Lord uses faith to set us free.

One of the great encouragements I have had concerning the potential of the church in our time is meeting the people who attend our conferences. Because they represent many different denominations, and we have had representatives from up to fifty different nations present, we get a pretty good sampling of the body of Christ. I marvel at some of the most mature believers, most of whom have been in Christ for many years, who will humble themselves to be taught by some of our young prophetic people.

I have been privileged to travel widely throughout the body of Christ, and have been exposed to almost every kind of major Christian denomination or movement. Presently, many of these groups are in conflict with each other, and some always seem to drift into serious delusions. However, even in its present state I marvel at the brilliance of the church. She is, without question, the greatest creation on earth. Even so, her true greatness is yet to be realized.

When a child is born, he or she will grow very fast for the first few years of their life. Then they will have plateaus where growth slows. They will also experience "growth spurts," during which time the child's appetite will tend to grow, causing them to shoot up two or three inches in short periods of time. These spurts can be painful, stretching the muscles causing what is known as "growing pains." Even so, as long as they are having them, they are continuing to grow.

The end of this age is going to conclude with the ultimate conflict between good and evil, which will be a supernatural conflict. If we are going to be witnesses of the Almighty, we must have power. Paul wrote this concerning his message:

We have looked at some of the hard questions of life. It is imperative that we ask them, and ask the only One who can truly answer. We should never think that it is a lack of faith, or a challenge to God's integrity to ask such questions, as long as we do it in the right spirit—which is to get an answer.

 

I think the most crucial questions need to be asked of God, not men. Men will inevitably give us answers.

In 2001, we lost our good friend and co-worker, Dennis Rippy, who died of cancer. Dennis battled cancer about as well as anyone could. In 1999, the doctors gave Dennis a 5 percent chance to make it through the night. Dozens from our congregation in Charlotte rallied, many spending all night in the hospital simply refusing to let Dennis go. A couple of weeks later, Dennis left the hospital.

 

Then in 2001, this terrible enemy struck Dennis again. The doctors gave him thirty days to live. Again Dennis beat the death sentence.

The whole creation testifies of the ways of the Lord. One fundamental thing that creation reveals is that He is creative! This seems elementary, maybe even foolish to say, but it is obvious that very few Christians really understand this.

What was the Apostle Paul talking about when he wrote near the end of his life that he did not consider that he had yet attained? Attained what—eternal life? Of course not. He attained eternal life the day he first believed. He was talking about "the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." So what is this "high calling" which the Apostle Paul considered he had not yet attained, even after accomplishing so much? Let's consider this from Philippians 3:7-14, which is certainly one of the most challenging texts in Scripture: