Plain Word Or Pure Power!

“Father, I am your servant, willing and desiring to be used to bless your people.”

A preacher I know and love has said many times, “That was a POWERFUL SERVICE; I preached!”

•• He said it in humility, but he spoke much truth as well.

The job of the church is not to impact the church, but to impact the world. It’s like a huddle in a football game. 67,000 people don’t pay $25.00 a ticket to watch the Titans huddle. What if you went to a Titans game and for 2 ½ hours you watched 11 men stand in a circle and talk? That’s not what you pay for!! 67,000 people pay $25 a ticket to see what difference the huddle makes. What they want to know is, having called the play in secret, does it work in public? The challenge for the church is not what we do when we call our Sunday morning huddle, but what we do when we break our huddle and head to our Sunday morning assignment. When Satan lines up against us, what difference does it make that we are Christians?

•• God’s desire for every gathering at Battlefield Ministries Community Church is that we can leave the building saying, “That was a powerful church service! We experienced anointed preaching, prayed powerful prayers, and saw divine healings and other glorious manifestations of God's power."

•• But one reason it will BE a powerful service is that God’s people, like the preacher quoted above, WAIT on the Lord to be USED by the HOLY SPIRIT.

Zechariah 4:6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.

•• Not by might or power, but by GOD’S SPIRIT!

• “Not by might or power” — MAN’s skills, man’s abilities, man’s fluency with words, will not make a powerful service. What will make a powerful service is the presence and manifestation of Holy Ghost ministry and Holy Ghost power.

• 1 Corinthians 3:18-19a Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. [19a] For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.

• Powerful services will not be built on man’s wisdom or man’s level of skills.

• I cannot lead this church, I will fail terribly, unless my ministry is BY THE SPIRIT! — It’s NOT my intellect It’s Not my degrees, but GOD’s Holy Spirit.

• You will never be a blessed addition to a service just by showing up. You will be a blessing by showing up having waited upon the LORD to be used by His Holy Spirit.

Summary: The world’s half billion or more Pentecostals and charismatics believe that God’s power is released in believers through their personal experience of Pentecost. However, one key to the release of that power is often overlooked, and that key is prayer.

I once did an in-depth study of the Book of Acts in which I examined the first ten “moves” of God that led to the saving of souls. I found from the record of Acts that nine of those ten divine outpourings were associated with a notable healing, miracle, or other supernatural manifestation. For example:

•• In Acts 2:1-4 we see the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, resulting in 3,000 persons being saved and added to the Church (vs. 41).

•• In Acts 3:2-10 we see the paralytic healed near the temple. This so astounded the onlookers that another 2,000 turned to the Lord (Acts 4:4).

•• In Acts 5:12-14 we see the apostles doing “many signs and wonders”, with the results that “multitudes ... [were] added to the Lord”.

•• In Acts 8:5-8 Philip preached in Samaria, and his ministry was supernaturally confirmed with miracles, exorcisms, and healings. The response to this heaven-sent outpouring was that many “gave heed” to Philip’s message and there was “great joy” in the city and numerous conversions.

•• In Acts 9:32-35 God used Peter to heal the paralytic Aeneas, with the result that “All [in Lydda and Sharon] turned to the Lord.”

•• In Acts 9:40-42 Peter was empowered by God to raise the dead woman Dorcas. The response to this supernatural event, as in the previous illustrations, was that “many [in Joppa] believed in the Lord.”

•• More examples from Acts could be given. But those above are surely sufficient to establish the central emphasis of our message today — that is, that (1) the Word of God ministered (2) in Holy Ghost power will lead to harvests of souls. We will especially note in further Scriptural examples that this Word-in-power ministry is energized and made effective (3) through Prevailing prayer.