When God Goes Ahead of Us

And that is what the book of Acts seeks to impress upon our consciousness. That is why it is there, in the very formation of the church, why the Holy Spirit chose to place it there at that critical moment, and why this book was written: to record for future generations how God moved, what that passion was like at the very beginning, what passion, what first love, we are supposed to have, and what the role of the Holy Spirit is in the life of the church.

Someone has said that this book should not be called the Acts of the Apostles, as it often has been, but the Acts of the Holy Spirit. And the Christian life is a dynamic relationship with the Holy Spirit. He guides us into all truth. He reflects the person of Jesus. He is Christ himself here on earth, in this new operation of the work of God. And he encourages and strengthens us; the Paraclete stands beside us, encourages us, comforts us, counsels us, corrects us, directs us, empowers us, and endows us with his gifts. All these things are involved in our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Incidentally, before getting fully into this morning’s subject, look at this: every time—and this happens often in the book of Acts—every time someone is touched or impacted in some way by the person of Jesus, there is this idea of being baptized in the Holy Spirit or of making the anointing and blessing, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, available to them.

When Saul is confronted on the road to Damascus, blinded, and taken to Straight Street, he waits there. Ananias, a humble Christian, is instructed by the Holy Spirit to go to Saul’s house, and what does Ananias do? Two things—or actually three: he prays for him to receive healing prompted by the Holy Spirit. Number two: God has sent me so that you may receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And I believe—was Saul baptized? I cannot remember at what point, on that occasion. I think he was baptized right there.

One of the things done frequently in the book of Acts is baptism in water as well. So what happens with Cornelius? He receives the word, the Holy Spirit falls upon him, and they are baptized that same day. These things happen continually. Incidentally, I wonder why many people say, well, you have to speak in tongues, but do not insist with the same insistence on water baptism, because there is almost the same sequence throughout the book of Acts. Baptizing people was also something very urgent in the early church.

So these things are there. Do not forget that aspect of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We have spoken a great deal about it, and we will continue to emphasize it. But now, you will remember that last Sunday we spoke about this event in which God enlightens Peter and confronts him. Peter, go to the house of Cornelius, the centurion, a Roman soldier and officer of the Roman Empire. I want you to preach the Gospel to him.

Peter has been prepared through a vision concerning his Jewish prejudices against Gentiles. And God tells him, these people are chosen by me; I have sanctified them. Do not call common what I have sanctified. Peter, obediently, directed by the Holy Spirit and corrected by the Holy Spirit, goes down to Cornelius’s house. And while he is preaching—interestingly enough, yes, the Holy Spirit interrupts Peter’s sermon, but only, if you examine the sermon, after Peter has completed everything concerning Jesus Christ: his death on the cross, his resurrection, the fact that God has raised him up as Messiah, all these things.

And at that moment he tells him, enough, sufficient, sends his Spirit, baptizes Cornelius and his household, and they speak in tongues. Well, I do not know whether they spoke in tongues; they glorify God. That matter is interesting, because it says here:

“...because they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God...”

In Saul’s case, we are not necessarily told that he spoke in tongues; in this case, it says that they spoke in tongues. There is diversity there. I do not know whether the fact that it is not stated means it did not happen with regard to tongues, but there is diversity in that; there is an ambiguity there. But I do not want to get lost in too many details.

But the fact is that Cornelius and his household receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and they are immediately baptized in water as well. Interestingly, this generates controversy in the church, and that is what Chapter 11 is about. Let us turn for a moment to Chapter 11, which is the chapter we will be dealing with. I am going to try to rush through tremendous complexity, but I will not read the entire chapter. Chapter 11:1 says:

“...The apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God...”

This was big news, a shock. Because remember that this violated every pattern that had existed up to that point in that Jewish church, which had converted to Jesus Christ and believed that everything was going to remain the same: that the Gentiles were still rabble and God had nothing to do with them. There was only God’s chosen people, and Christ had come simply to rearrange the furniture. But as I said on Sunday, God wanted to throw in a stick of dynamite, blow up the entire house, shatter those patterns of exclusivity, and tell them, no, my Son came for all nations. Go into all the world and preach the Gospel, evangelizing and discipling the ethne—the peoples, nations, tribes, and human communities.

So it says here:

“...The apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God, and when Peter went up to Jerusalem, they disputed with him...”

In other words, they argued with him, debated with him, and confronted him about what had happened.

“...saying, ‘Why did you enter the house of uncircumcised men and eat with them?’ Then Peter began to recount to them in order what had happened, saying...”

You already know the story, what happened; we have already read it. Let us go on to verse 16. It says:

“...Then, when the Holy Spirit fell upon them, I remembered what the Lord had said when he said, ‘John certainly baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” And here is the punch line; here is the confronting statement:

“...If God—and that is what we must ask ourselves: Is God in this?—...if God, then, granted them the same gift he granted us who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder God?”

Wow, that is a question we must continually ask ourselves in life, you know. If it is God—give me wisdom, discernment, and illumination, Lord, to discern where you are moving and how you are moving, even in situations I do not understand, comprehend, or expect. But if you are doing it, who am I to stand in the way? Who am I to resist the movement of your Spirit?

May that flexibility always be found in us. That is why I would call this subject “Flexible in Holiness,” we might say, or “Flexibility in Holiness,” because it is not about throwing holiness overboard, throwing God’s laws and commandments overboard, or disregarding God’s holiness. But neither is it about being rigid and placing our own preferences and calculations ahead of what God may be doing with our reality, with the reality of the church.

So, if God grants the same gift, who are we? Who was I to hinder God? Look at these people’s reaction. Verse 18 says:

“...When they heard these things, they fell silent...”

Say to the person next to you, be quiet. From time to time, we have to be quiet. I always ask the Lord, Father, teach me when to speak and when to remain silent, when to draw the sword and when to wait for you to clarify matters, because I do not want to cut off the head of someone you love. Because then you are going to cut off my head. They fell silent.

Brothers and sisters, you know that one of the marks of wisdom is keeping silent. The more foolish and senseless people are, the more they talk. There is an inverse relationship between talking a great deal and wisdom. The more you know, the more you realize how little you know. And the more you know, the more you realize how much there is to consider.

A person who has acquired a great deal of knowledge has repented a thousand times of many things he swore were true. That is true. Someone who has lived a long time realizes that many of the things one considered absolutely inviolable in life when one was young are things one now repudiates and is ashamed to have upheld. Yes or no?

So one has to learn about that. These people fell silent.

“...they fell silent and glorified God, saying, ‘Ah, then God has also granted the Gentiles repentance that leads to life...’”

They were surprised, they were amazed, and they spoke with a sense of awe. There is an attitude there that I want to explore a little further on. But look: later, something similar happens. Because this is a theme that appears many times in the book of Acts, and it occurs in our church and will always occur among God’s people. We must learn something about it.

In Antioch, a region outside Judea and Jerusalem, a largely Gentile city, there is a mixture of people: Jews and Gentiles of different races. It is a tremendously cosmopolitan city. It says here:

“...Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that arose on account of Stephen—you remember that, don’t you?—...traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch...”

God uses persecution. If you do not willingly preach the Gospel, God will make sure to light a match under your shoes, so to speak, so that you will preach the Gospel.

So, because of the persecution that arose on account of Stephen, “...they traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except the Jews...”

You see here what I said about the formation of the church’s collective mind. The church’s theology is developing. These people still need to enter into the greater revelation of God, God’s will for that newborn church that is going to remain on earth for more than two thousand years, at least. Interestingly, many of these people thought Christ was going to come within a few months. But God had other plans.

Who knows how much time is still left... I am sorry to rain on your parade, but who knows whether—or the festivities, or whatever—who knows yet... Christ may come before I finish this sentence, but he may also take his sweet time. Do not max out those credit cards yet, brothers and sisters. There are people out there announcing that Christ is coming, I think on May 21 or something like that. Do not rush; do not climb onto the roof of your house yet. It is too early. Do not buy that white robe yet, brothers and sisters. Who knows? Who knows?

So God wanted to prepare the church, and then it says that they did not proclaim the word because they were still caught up in this idea: We Jews are God’s people, and this rabble does not deserve to receive the word. Many years of Jewish history had taught them this, but they were human commandments; it was human theology. It had nothing to do with God’s benevolent intention to save all humanity. It had nothing to do with the reason God had established the Hebrew people, which was for them to be a light to the nations, to be an example of holiness amid a completely corrupt, idolatrous, sensual, materialistic community.

Instead of becoming a hospital of blessing, they became an elite club: just us, and the rest of the world can go to hell. So they speak the word to no one:

“...but there were among them some men from Cyprus and Silene—thank God for restless people. In the church, restless people sometimes break a lot of dishes and other things, but they also bless the church because they keep us on our toes, wondering what God might be doing.

I have always learned that restless people are like restless children: sometimes they are intelligent, and that is why they are restless, and we must also respect that genius from God within them. Over the years, I have learned to keep an eye on what God may be doing in my congregation so that I can catch up with what God wants to do. God sometimes uses the most unexpected things.

There were some people here. Look at what happened. It says:

“...There were among them some men from Cyprus and Silene who, when they entered Antioch, also spoke to the Greeks, proclaiming the Gospel of the Lord Jesus...”

Who knows how those first conversations arose? Perhaps they were in the market buying something, and the person selling the oranges said, hey, you are one of those Christians; tell me something about why you are a Christian. So suddenly, right there, he has to speak to that person. And that person said, wow, I want to accept Christ. And what does the person do at that moment? Well, then come to our house tonight; we are having a time of prayer.

You see, sometimes God works in strange ways, through strange circumstances. That is how the Holy Spirit moves; it is not necessarily an audible voice that comes. Perhaps, I do not know, God put it in his heart to share some advice, and that advice became a testimony, and that testimony became an invitation to receive Christ, and before you know it, the person is accepting the Lord.

Reality is malleable, dynamic, unpredictable. Sometimes it compels us and places us in situations like that, and we have to understand what happened, why, and what took place at that moment.

So they proclaimed to the Greeks; “...they proclaimed the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was with them...”

That is what I have to ask myself many times. Is the hand of God in this? What signs are there of God’s affirmation of this person? What fruit of the Spirit is that person bearing? How is God blessing the ministry? How does that person, that ministry, reflect the values of the Kingdom of God? And perhaps there are a few weeds mixed in among the wheat, and sometimes one has to say, okay, let’s see what happens. Wait a little longer.

The hand of God was with them. Why? Other people came to the Lord, surrendering their lives; they were showing that they had a true and direct relationship with God. The Lord was blessing that place while other places perhaps were not bearing fruit; something was happening there that suggested that God was moving there.

“…And a great number believed and turned to the Lord…”

Strong words: they turned to the Lord, and a great number believed. It is clear that these people were genuine.

“…And news of these things reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to go as far as Antioch…”

Barnabas, find out what is happening over there.

“…And when he arrived and saw the grace of God…”

He saw the grace of God; he saw the manifestations of the blessing that was there. It was genuine. He was a man of the Spirit, and spirit speaks to spirit. I say, look, go beyond all the lushness and outward foliage of things. Do not be mechanical. The things of the Spirit must be sought in the Spirit. It is good to be systematic and all that, but in the end, let spirit speak to spirit. And when you have fellowship with the Spirit, when you live in the Spirit, when you know the Word of God, when the Spirit of Jesus is within you, you recognize a tone, so that even if you do not know music theory, you know whether it is out of tune or not. You do not have to be a musical genius to know when someone is singing off-key, do you? Your ear… something resists it.

And that is how it is in the Spirit. I believe that when a person is steeped in it—that is why I tell you, brothers and sisters, have intimacy with the Spirit of God. Pray. Read the Word. Let this Word become deeply intertwined with you, and you with it; let the patterns and the way of thinking of Scripture enter into you and format your mind; let the Spirit of Jesus become more and more real in your life each day. Because that will give you a tone, and when you compare it with the tone that is out there, you will see consonance or dissonance.

And when there is consonance, you will say, the Spirit is there. Notice what it says, interestingly, about Barnabas. It says:

“…He saw the grace of God, rejoiced, and exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with purpose of heart, because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith…”

He was a good man. What a beautiful thing that is. He was a good man. What does that mean? Noble, generous, likable. He was not there saying, I do not want anyone getting into this little private club of mine. No, he said, I want everyone to be saved, for everyone to come to salvation, as the Apostle Paul said. He was generous; he wanted people to be saved. He was generous and open, and he also had fellowship with the Holy Spirit and had faith that God could do anything.

So that allowed him to recognize: this is from God; this is genuine.

“…And a great multitude was added to the Lord. And after this Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch, and they gathered there with the church for a whole year and taught many people, and the disciples were called Christians for the first time in Antioch…”

Look at how many blessings came as a result of recognizing the grace of God and remaining open and flexible. That is where the powerful ministry of the Apostle Paul begins. Barnabas has that grace; he does not say, “You know what? Now I am going to want a megachurch there, with all these people who are being converted, and I am going to be the pastor, and I am going to have my Cadillac or my Mercedes. What Cadillac? That is cheap now; that is no good nowadays. My Maserati—I do not know, what other big car is there? A Bentley—so that people will know that I am the great Apostle.”

No, he said, let’s go find people; let’s build a team here. Saul is a man full of the Holy Spirit; he has the power of God in his life; he is a teacher. Let him come—the more, the better. Let’s have a great celebration here, and let’s share the Gospel with everyone we can.

How good it is when people are generous, when they are not seeking to build their own mausoleum or their own reputation and name, but are open. And they were called Christians there for the first time. The reputation of the church spread.

So there are many things here. Look, I do not have time. I am going to cut it short now so I can finish this. I simply want to point out a few things. When God gets ahead of us—what a beautiful title for a sermon, “When God Gets Ahead of Us.” What is happening here?

I see a dynamic in the book of Acts. I see anointing—those themes arise again and again—anointing, which leads to expansion. There is growth in the church, which leads to persecution. And it is also interesting that this anointing that leads to expansion also gives rise to two things: definition becomes necessary; the theology of the church has to be defined; what is believed has to be defined. And there is also one more point about that: imperfection. Because the imperfection of the people can also be seen—these Christians stubbornly clinging to their own ideas, the disputes among them. There is a lot of that: anointing, expansion, persecution, definition, and imperfection.

These five themes recur again and again throughout the Bible. What we see here is a growing church, a dynamic, expanding church that has to define itself. The conduct of Peter and the Apostles is instructive for us as a church, especially when we find ourselves in situations where there are differences of opinion concerning doctrine or similar matters.

We live in times when there is an incredible ferment of doctrine in the world. Every denomination and every preacher. Television is a swarm of theologies. Everyone is there; it is a market with every kind of fruit—good and bad, rotten and in good condition. And sometimes one does not know the difference between one thing and another.

Nowadays there is incredible theological sophistication and diversity in the world. And the world is a world in flux, in continuous change, with critical capacity, and with the ability for any madman or any self-styled visionary to sell his wares on the internet, on television, on the radio. It is also a world where people come to church with every kind of incredible germ and virus and emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical illness. It is a world that is a swarm of diversity. And the church of the twenty-first century is called to minister to that world. That is why flexible churches are needed—churches that have the eye of God, the noble heart of Barnabas, and the generosity to see what God might want to do, and that also have the confidence that God is not going to throw a banana peel in my path simply because I offended Him or something while believing that I was doing His will. God is more full of grace and mercy than that.

And so they must dare to proceed tentatively along the path of ministry and pastoral care. Peter—interestingly, look at what Peter does—when these people criticize him, accuse him, and attack him, he reacts with humility. He does not accuse the conservatives of being rigid and ill-intentioned; he listens to their accusations and proceeds, it says, to tell them in order what had happened.

He recounts what happened; he proceeds with humility. One of the things we have to do, brothers and sisters, is this: as soon as someone criticizes you or questions you, take ten breaths, count to a hundred, take an aspirin or two, and then respond. Take time, consider, and try to respond gently to those who are demanding an explanation from you.

“…The others listen to him…”—just as the others listened when he told them his story of what had happened.

Another thing: faced with the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s approval, the conservatives in this case bow their heads and adjust their perception, recognizing that God is speaking even to the Gentiles at this time. They listen to the evidence; it is clear what God did. It was not Peter who laid hands on them; it was God who sovereignly caused His Spirit to descend, and they submit to the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s approval and adjust.

Interestingly, this process took time to unfold, because it is only later—I believe it is in chapter 14—that the great council in Jerusalem takes place, where the Apostles, officially assembled in council, consider what is happening, receive the evidence, and then issue a papal edict, so to speak—a pastoral edict concerning the Gentiles and what should be done with the Gentiles, now that they are… they recognize that it is God who is at work, and the church then expands its theology.

That is what is happening here. The church is programming itself. It took time—months, who knows? I do not know whether it was two or three years, or how long. Things take time. It is only afterward that the council takes place and the final verdict is given.

I say here that we have to give it time. We have to be attentive to what God is doing. We cannot be stubborn and dig ourselves into our preferences if God is doing something else and moving in another direction.

On occasion God will do something in our family or in our life; God will do something in your marriage, in your life, that you did not expect. And we have to observe—look, here is one little thing that must be said and is very easy to forget—observe, pray, reflect, consult, wait, and adjust ourselves to what God may be saying.

God can even use a donkey to speak to you. He used Balaam’s donkey to speak to him. The donkey saw an angel when Balaam could not see him—just imagine. God can use a child; God can use an alcoholic; God can use a person through whom you would never expect Him to speak. God can even use your wife, my brother—imagine that—to speak to you and bring revelation into your life.

Brothers and sisters, one has to remain open to God’s revelation, wherever it comes from. The church of Jesus Christ, particularly in these times, has to be flexible. Because God loves to bring revelation from where you least expect it. I believe there was irony in God when He sent Ananias, a humble believer, to minister to the Apostle Paul, who would go on to write two-thirds of the Gospel—of the New Testament. Because God likes the Ananiases.

I adore humble, simple people; the more uneducated and the more spiritual they are, the more I love them and the more I seek their word and counsel. Do you know why? That is how God works. God uses the small; God uses the unexpected; God uses circumstances. Keep your eyes open, and when you see something different from what you expected, be silent, consider, whisper, marvel, and give it time. Because perhaps God is telling you something.

Sometimes God’s gifts come in very humble packages. In fact, sometimes they come wrapped in a paper grocery bag. Look at how Jesus came: a manger, a fragile little child, born of a woman who was probably totally illiterate. God is an ironic God; He has an incredible sense of humor. So we have to adjust ourselves to God’s unpredictable way of working.

I have seen God work in my life and in my ministry in strange and unexpected ways. And you have witnessed many of those strange and unexpected ways. God has used people I did not expect; He has helped me remain flexible and know once again that God is sovereign and uses unusual tools to carry out His will in our lives.

Sometimes we want God to sculpt a great statue out of our life, and He comes along with an electric saw buzzing away, and we say, “Lord, but I thought it would be a delicate chisel and a beautiful little golden hammer.” “No, no, there is a lot I have to break. First I have to give you a few blows with a sledgehammer, and then I will use something more delicate.”

God uses whatever He pleases. That is something I have clearly understood in my life. God uses circumstances, mistakes, failures, blessings, exalted people, humble people, beautiful situations, and terribly ugly situations, and all of it is raw material for His great work of art. Learn from the Lord. That is how He works, and we have to remain flexible toward His unusual ways of operating.

Here He uses Cornelius; He uses Greeks and people who do not seem… but those are the people—God wanted to use those people for His glory. So learn from Mary. When Mary saw things in that unusual son of hers, she did not say, “This boy is going to be a criminal or something. Look at how he left us for three days without letting us know where he was.” No, it says that she kept those things in her heart; she remained silent and kept those things in her heart. Because she would say, “It is a mystery. I remember what the angel told me that time, so something must be happening here,” and she remained silent.

We have to do that many times in life. Before you say that this is from the devil, think for a moment; who knows whether it might be a little angel in disguise. Give God time to unfold all His intentions.

A few quick things. 1. What happens when there are differences in the church—differences in doctrine, strange things happening in a congregation, development, changes taking place in a church, diversity of opinions, even conflict? How should we act?

I have already said a few things. Number 1. We must do everything possible to preserve the unity of the body at all costs. To me, unity is absolutely important; it is something inviolable, because that is where Jehovah bestows blessing and eternal life. Unity is something we must preserve as much as possible. It is the non plus ultra; it is one of the clearest elements. Sometimes we will have to say things that will shake things up a little, but in the long run unity is absolutely important; we must maintain it. Many times we trample on unity with dirty shoes and do not even stop to see whether we are soiling the floor or not. We are careless. Unity is very important. We must preserve unity as much as possible.

Number 2. When there are doctrinal differences, or differences of any kind, we must avoid murmuring. The M-word: we must avoid murmuring. Murmuring kills. The problem is that we disguise it. Brother, I am calling you because we need to pray for the pastor. We give it a veneer of spirituality. Do not tell anyone; this is between you and me so that we can pray. You know perfectly well when you are doing it. We must be honest, be clear, and go directly to the person. Let us avoid murmuring. Murmuring is a cancerous virus that seeps in through incredible, terrible ways and damages the atmosphere of a congregation or a family.

Number 3. We must resolve things legitimately instead of using inappropriate means, going around the side, taking shortcuts, going to the other person, and trying to get our own way. The race must be run legitimately, says the Apostle Paul. Things must be done in accordance with the spirit of Christ, in accordance with the spirit of the Gospel, even if they take longer, even if it is more difficult. But if you do it that way, God will bless you in the long run. But when you do things improperly, you may get your way temporarily, but in the long run you will pay for it with interest. Be wise. So we must use legitimate means.

Number 4. Go to the people involved whenever possible; have the courage to speak with the brother in a spirit of gentleness, respect, and love, considering yourself first and trying to allay the brother’s or sister’s insecurities. Butter him up thoroughly first: “Oh, brother, I love the way you speak and the way you are, and you have been a great blessing in my life”—and then stick the knife in, but only after preparing him well first. Speak to him with love; speak to him in an organic way. Go to the person involved.

Number 5. We must listen to the other side and assume goodwill and love for God and the Word. Do not demonize your opponent. Because many times we say, “Oh, that is because this person is foolish and knows nothing about the things of the Spirit.” Or that person is sinful, or whatever. No. Many times the person simply has to disagree with you and needs you to clarify certain things. Assume goodwill in people instead of assuming the opposite.

I always say that I assume people have good intentions until they prove otherwise. And many times they prove otherwise. But whenever possible, I try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Assume goodwill in people.

Number 6. This is not about anyone coming out the winner. The only one who should win is the Holy Spirit: may God’s will be done, and may the body of Jesus Christ be edified and strengthened. Sometimes I do not want to give in because I do not want him to win. No one wins—and you should not win either. It is a question of how we can reach a consensus that glorifies God and preserves the blessing of my church. Let us get rid of this business of me, me, me. That has always killed the church.

Number 7. We must give things time. Sometimes things take time to become clear. Some people start off badly, but little by little they learn and improve until they come into line with God’s will. Do not rush; remember the parable of the wheat and the tares. Do you remember the parable of the wheat and the tares? The Lord told them a parable: wheat was sown; during the night the enemy came and sowed tares, and the next day the two were mixed together there. And the people came to the owner of the land and asked, “Do you want us to pull up the tares?” And the owner very wisely said, “No, wait until they have grown more, because tares often look like wheat. Wait until they have grown enough to discern clearly, because we do not want to run the risk of pulling up the wheat along with the tares.” And then pull them up. That is the attitude of a son or daughter of God. We must give it time. Some people do not seem promising at all, but they end up becoming incredible spiritual geniuses. They bless your church and bless your life. Do not immediately start cutting off heads. Wait. Give the Lord time. God is stronger than you think. The glass floor beneath God’s feet is about ten inches thick; it does not break easily. Give the Lord time to tell you what must be done. Give it time.

Number 8. Trust in the inherent strength of the church of Jesus Christ, and above all in God’s grace, patience, and mercy. I think that is important because sometimes people think the church is made of absolutely pure crystal—of china, as they say in English, like a set of dishes. The church’s glass is practically unbreakable. God’s church has Teflon walls: they get dirty, and then someone comes along with a little cloth, wipes them clean, and they are just as they were before. I believe in the strength of my church. Let a few people come along, make me a little uncomfortable, and be different from what I expected. Glory to God. My church is fine; we wipe off the chair and everything is just the same. Christ’s church is strong and can hold strange and different things; we can give ourselves time, and we can allow processes to unfold. Some people want the church to consist entirely of holy people wearing ties and behaving very nicely. No, I believe the church should consist of people who are in process. That means it is a strong church that is making progress, evangelizing, and bringing in new people. Let the adulterers come; let the alcoholics come; let the womanizers come; let people with every kind of mental trap come. Let them come. Christ’s church is powerful enough to withstand them, set them right, and have them return like the Gadarene demoniac, in their right minds, well behaved, and properly dressed. Christ’s church is strong, and we must understand that and have much higher self-esteem than we actually have.

Number 9. Pray and entrust our cause to the Lord. We must pray. When someone disagrees and you see what is happening in your church, pray—but truly pray in the Lord and ask God to work and clarify things.

Number 11. Put yourself in the other person’s place; try to picture their situation. Perhaps then you will be able to understand their behavior better.

Number 12. Ask yourself: Does my reaction and my behavior reflect the love of God and the character of Jesus Christ? You know what? God cares more about love than about correct doctrine. And that is scandalous. But that statement needs to be qualified very carefully, because sometimes you can also throw yourself off a cliff with that. But honestly, some people are so doctrinal that they are Pharisees, and God passes them by and does not recognize them. God cares more about that love of Christ, the heart of Christ.

Now, again, brothers and sisters, there is a lot more that could be said about that; I do not have time to qualify it. I know I have already gone over my time. But neither does it mean that we are going to throw everything away. I said holiness, or flexibility within holiness. There are things over which we must take a stand and say, “You shall not pass this way.” There are also clear truths of the Gospel that we cannot compromise. I am clear about that.

But love also matters greatly to God. So, brothers and sisters, those are a few words of advice. Let us stand.

Take a moment to reflect. Something touched you, didn’t it? Did something fall on you? A little water, I don’t know. Amen. A whole bucket of water fell on me this morning. Amen. But ask the Lord to do something in your marriage, in your family, and in your life.

Where are my musicians? Come over here immediately, brothers. They are so excited about my preaching that they have not come out yet—just imagine. They are so deeply touched back there. Brothers and sisters, ask the Lord to give you wisdom in your life.

In every situation, in every relationship—in marriage, friendship, work, church, fatherhood, motherhood—there are things we must learn. The spirit of Jesus, the spirit of Christ, the love, mercy, and generosity of God. That is what I ask of the Lord. I always say, “Father, I ask the Lord that our church may reflect those values.” More than an evangelistic church, a large church, a church with money, or a church with ministries, my desire is for a church that honors the Spirit of God, the spirit of Jesus, so that when people observe it in its processes and in its daily life, they will say, “It seems that God is there.”

Do you know what my goal is? For example, that the people who work here every day, five days a week—our staff; we have many people in different ministries—that those people, from Monday through Friday, would reflect the character of Jesus in our relationships with one another. Because that is where we live together day after day; we have to resolve problems, and we have to resolve differences.

I ask Him, “Lord, allow the everyday processes of this congregation to glorify You.” On Sunday it is sometimes very easy to be spiritual: you put on a little cologne and a tie, and even the biggest demon looks like a little angel. But it is in everyday life—it is in daily life with the woman or man you go to bed with and wake up beside, every day with those children who cause you problems, with those coworkers—that the values of the Gospel are tested.

I say, “Lord, help us reflect the character of Christ. Help us reflect the love of Jesus, the integrity, sincerity, transparency, and gentleness of Jesus. Help us, Lord.” You know what? If you die enough, God will give you the answer to your prayer. We must die in order to live, as that beautiful chorus says. Let us ask the Lord to manifest His grace in us.

Father, we say yes, we say amen, we say, “Welcome, Holy Spirit, with Your words and Your revelations for our lives.” We want to give You our best, and we want to offer You our lives, Lord. Always keep us as a church of love, integrity, justice, tolerance, compassion, generosity, and forgiveness, assuming only what is sufficient, not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, but thinking of ourselves with sound judgment, Father.

May it be so, Lord. May Your rich Word run and move within us, not only now but after we leave here, tomorrow, and until we meet again. And all glory and all honor belong exclusively to You, Lord. Blessed and praised be Your name. Thank You, Lord. Thank You. Amen and amen. Glory to the Lord. God bless you, my brother, my sister.