Several weeks ago I attended a meeting with our pastoral team and I heard the speaker Francis Chan say a phrase that God used to spark expectant faith for this season.
Chan said, “the power of God is most manifest when we are on the edge of
mission with God”. The obvious reason that God poured out his power at
Pentecost was to enable the disciples to be witnesses to the living Christ
throughout the region. The greatest manifestations of the miraculous power of
God occur when we are being bold witnesses in a dark world to the resurrected
Jesus.
It just so
happened that our team was preparing to start preaching through the first
chapters of the book of Romans that next Sunday. I was struggling with
unpacking the thick theology of Romans to our congregation on Chicago's South West Side. It dawned on me
that Romans was a letter all about a big gospel to a big city and that what I
needed to do was proclaim the Gospel through each chapter calling people to
respond to the message. The first Sunday I preached Romans 1:1-16 and called
people to repent and believe. To my surprise 35 people came forward to receive
Christ. Many of them were visibly shaken and moved to tears.
I began to
sense a growing burden for people to come to know the Savior. The next Saturday
I woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night. Immediately I knew I
was to pray for those who would be at the service and did not know Jesus. I
arrived at that service burdened and full of faith for people to come to the Savior.
I ask our staff to prepare for baptisms even though we had not announced baptisms and
did not have anyone preparing to be baptized.
That morning I preached through
the second half of Romans chapter one. I called people to repent, believe and be
baptized. The congregation and I celebrated as 38 people came forward for spontaneous baptisms. All
were baptized in their street cloths and went home very wet. It felt like a
scene out of the book of Acts. People were coming forward moved by God getting
ready for baptism and being prayed over by groups of celebrating believers. It was a little chaotic but full of joy. God
was drawing people in an unusual way to himself. One couple that had never attended
New Life was watching via live-stream and got in their car and drove an hour
and fifteen minutes from Aurora Illinois to Chicago to give their life to Christ and be baptized.
A couple of other people that had been watching the first service on live
stream came to the second service with tears running down their face declaring
they had come to repent and be baptized. One lady felt such a sense of urgency that she drove to the church in her pajamas, double parked her car and ran in to be baptized.
For the
past few weeks I have been continuing to wake up at random hours early Sunday morning
burdened to pray for people that need Jesus. Each Sunday dozens have responded
to repent, believe and be baptized. The congregation has been praying and inviting family members and friends who need to hear the gospel. As of last week 162 people had responded
and been baptized at our Midway campus in five weeks. Many others have been baptized at our other New Life locations as well.
Two Sundays ago I sensed the presence of God so strongly I asked those who knew they needed to give their lives to Christ to come forward right after the worship time before the message was even given and seven people came forward moved and broken ready to give their lives to Christ.
Many times
we live our lives in such a way that the power of God is not necessary. Our expectations are low, our prayers are
mundane and our witness is bland. The power of God tends to show up when we
throw ourselves with abandon into God’s mission and expect his power to truly make a
difference.
God shows up where people are depending on him.
1 Corinthians 4:20 For the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power
