THE AWAKENED WORD
Scripture Reading: John 6:63
Dear friends, we may have the Word (the bible) within our reach. I guess every one of you have at least one bible at home. If you do not have the bible then you should go and get a good bible to start your walk with God. Get a good bible and treasure it.
Pastor Lily had a dream recently. She dreamt that she was in a field walking towards home. She was holding her bible and her bible reading guide on one hand and her handbag on the other hand. The wind was very strong and actually it knocked her down once. Then the next moment it rained heavily with the wind still blowing strongly. In her dream her bible and bible reading guide were more important than any other things and even herself. She was extremely worried that her bible and her bible reading guide will be wet and thus destroyed. She hurriedly placed her bible reading guide into her handbag which was waterproof. In the end, she was soaked wet, but her bible and her bible reading guide was kept dry inside her handbag. I believe she treasures her bible and her bible reading guide more than anything else.
The bible says ‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. That is what we should be doing. Well the bible is still the bestselling book in the world. I even believe that many of you try to read the bible once in a while. Then there are some that read the bible more frequently. Finally there are those who read the bible regularly. We should be reading the bible regularly to get to what I am trying to share this morning. You may have the Word, but you need an awakened spirit.
An awakened spirit is one who had an encounter with God and has become alive spiritually. The Word or the bible is not alive to you until it is moved by the Spirit of God. That was what I was trying to share a few weeks ago. I am not very interested in the bible, but rather, I am interested in the Word of God that was spoken to me personally. The Word of God is not alive until it is moved upon by the Spirit of God. In the right sense of the meaning, the Word of God when moved by the Spirit becomes Spirit and Life.
God wants you to be so moved by the power of His certain words that you believe that the things you are hearing about will be yours. I did not say read but I say hear. Because when you browse and ponder and soak in the Word of God, you will hear from the awaken words. When you browse the word you are not just reading but hearing. Then you can believe the things God is telling you will be yours. So many people miss a great many things because they are always thinking that the words (promises, blessings) are for someone else. I want you to know that God’s Word is for you and that you are to make a personal application of all there is in the Scriptures. Listen carefully. I do not believe that the Scriptures are only for pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, or apostles. They are for the whole body of Christ, for it is the body that has to be the epistles of Christ. So the word of God has to abound in you until you are absolutely built and fixed upon the living word.
And concerning the Word, I am not asking you to make it a habit of life, to make it a discipline to read the Word of God every day. Because if I ask you to do that, it becomes a kind of deterrence to you. Rather I am asking you to be so hungry for God, to move upon your life, so hungry for the Holy Spirit, so hungry for more of God, that when you browse the Word of God, it is the result of desperation, a hunger, a need, a desire, an expectation to hear from God; not just a habit of life or a discipline of life. That is the attitude that you will be able to receive the Word of God.
I believe that the recent Encounter, Ignite, Women’s Encounter and Men’s Encounter are to awaken our spiritual life. Paul talks about the divine infilling, which has to fill the whole body with life, virtue, grace, power, and faith. To fully understand and experienced the Word which I have been trying to talk about, we must have a personal incoming of this life of God, this Holy Spirit, this divine person. I want you to think about what it really means to receive the Holy Spirit.
We are born again ‘not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God.’ When baptized, the Word lives and abides forever. We are born again by the incorruptible power of God. It is His plan for us. I personally believe the Encounter is the plan of God. This divine power is beyond anything that the human mind can conceive. Because of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, we have a divine mind to understand divine things. John 6:63 says ‘It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life.’ The daily reading of the awakened word to you is what will keep you in the divine high continually.
There are a few things we need to understand concerning the awakened word of God?
(1) The Pure Life
The awakened word of God is closely connected with the pure life. Our lives must be changed by His grace. Our bodies must become the temple of the Holy Ghost. We must understand that God has come to change us into His image, filling us with His power. There is a divine place of purity where the unclean can never put their feet in. It is a holy place where the pure in heart can see God. Only through following God’s directions can you get to that place. And this holiness is not by your effort. This morning I am not going to ask you to abstain from this and that. This divine touch which Evangel has recently experienced is not to gives us more laws and rules and regulation to follow. Rather it is more of a hunger and longing for God, that causes such a tremendous change in your life. When you desire for God, it will change you. Because only through following God’s way will we find the Highway of holiness. And God longs to bring us into that place where we can hear the voice of God, see the form of God, understand the ways of God, and walk in communion with God. In this place divine virtue flows.
(2) Our Inheritance Is Found In The Word of God
In it is found our inheritance. Many people make wills and appoint someone to carry out their final requests. After the person dies, very often those people who have had property left to them never get it because of the unfaithful stewards who have been left in charge.
Recently in Singapore new measures were introduced to better protect property buyers and sellers from rogue lawyers. The new Bill will take effect from August 1. They are part of a bill that was passed in Parliament in April. In the bill lawyer will no more be allowed to receive and hold money in their normal clients’ accounts. Instead, the money must be held in special accounts which will be offered by banks appointed by the Ministry of Law. In June 2006, Lawyer David Rasif made off with about S$11 million of his clients’ money, most of which had been entrusted to him by an American couple who wanted to buy a bungalow off Holland Road. In November 2007, Lawyer Zulkiffi Mohd Amin ran off with about S$6 million.
But for the child of God, there is one will that has been left, and He who made the whole will is our Lord Jesus Christ. After dying, He rose to carry out His own will. And now we may have all that has been left to us by Him; all the inheritance, all the blessings, all the power, all the life, and all the victory. All His promises are ours because Jesus is risen. I believe the Lord wants us to know our inheritance.
What are our inheritance, what are the blessings, what kind of power we can have, what type of life we are given and what are our victories? It is all found in the awakened word of God. We have to come daily to this banquet and enjoy the sumptuous word of God. Jesus is here to help us understand His divine principles. May God provide us with a clear knowledge of what He means for us in these last days. He has called us to great banquets and wants us to bring good appetites to His tables.
It is a serious thing to come to a banquet of the Lord and not be able to eat anything. That is what is wrong with us every time we come to the reading the bible. We have been so fed with the world, with TV, media, bondages that when we come to the banquet of the Lord, we are not able to eat anything. We must have very thirsty conditions and hungry souls. Then we can have what is prepared for us. May the Lord take us into his treasures now.
(3) The Awakened Word of God Awakens the Divine Power Within Us
God always has a motive in whatever He does for us. In the past when we have a revival, we are happy and enjoy the revived life. Then it slowly disappeared again. But now this Encounter that God has given us is for a purpose. When we fulfil this purpose, we will not lose the fire of God and the revival within us.
Jesus came into this world with an eternal perspective. That is to save us. Jesus lived in the present but often spoke of the future. At the present moment, many of us have been changed. But the change is for the now. Beloved there is a now. Of course our future is heaven one day. But I am very concerned for the immediate now for each and every one of our lives. We must not neglect this immediate now of ours. We must claim for it now. Whatever God has designed for man, we must claim for it now. We will always have greater demonstrations of power if we are living in this immediate now. This immediate now I am referring to is your next hour, your next day, your tomorrow, the period ahead of you, the time ahead of you, the moment you step out of this church when the service is over. We must experience a now power, a now blessing, a now God, a now heaven, a now glory and a now virtue.
If you think the encounter is the best thing that has ever happen to your life, then I am here to tell you that you are so wrong. God wants us to go higher and higher. I believe some will literally have a vision of Jesus; some will get a divine touch of God today. Just one touch of deity, one flash of heavenly light, one moment in His presence, one touch of the infinite Trinity will make us strong; in a moment we are able to see all things as He sees them. God wants us to be full of the Holy Spirit.
It was said of Stephen that he was a man ‘full of faith and the Holy Spirit’. Barnabas was also a good man filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.
Once at a very late meeting being held outdoors, Smith Wigglesworth was surrounded by a great number of people. God was saving people, and oh, the joy Smith felt in pointing people to Jesus. When he went home, his family said to him, ‘Aunt Mary is going home (dying), and Uncle Sam would like you to see her before she bids farewell.’ Smith went there, not knowing what to say but ‘Goodbye’. As he came close to her bed, Smith was impressed to stretch out his hand. What there is in a hand! Like what God said to Moses, ‘What is in thy hand?’ What there is in a person touched by the power of God, no one can tell. As his hand touched her hand, the divine virtue of heaven flowed through her dying body and brought her into perfect life, perfect as she ever was, instantaneously brought her back from death into life, joy, and peace.
There is a virtue in you. I said just now that when you desire for God, it will change you. And God longs to bring us into that place where we can hear the voice of God, see the form of God, understand the ways of God, and walk in communion with God. In this place divine virtue flows. There is a virtue. God must manifest His power until everything we touch moves at the power of God. Paul knew it, the apostles had a clear understanding of it, and Jesus spoke about it. When the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment was healed, she felt His power.
There is a power that goes through the human body to another body. I see that in line with scripture that we ‘lay hands on the sick, and they will recover’. The divine power within us is constantly awaken by the awakened word of God.
Now look at that electric light. It is illuminating the place because of the transformer outside, just opposite our church building. Although the wires are important (we are the wires), it is the power of the generator that is sending forth the light through the wires. Likewise, everyman who is born of God is receiving life from God. God is the source of power. Inside man’s heart and mind is the wire that receives revelation and transmits the illumination. In order to keep it functioning perfectly, it must always return to the source of power. When we daily go to the awakened Word of God, we are returning to the source of power. We are kept alive by a power we cannot see but we can feel, a power that is generated in glory, comes down into earthen vessels, and returns to the throne of God. That power if Jesus. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God. When the surrounding becomes dark, we switched on and the power generators flows through the wires (us) and light comes on (needs are met). We are kept alive by the word of God. When we stop for a moment to place our hands upon a needy case, the supernatural goes through that person and brings life. God wants us to know that He is the source of divine glory, divine virtue and perfect knowledge.
We have been touched in a very special way in the encounter. The source of God is available and the channel is no more obstructed. Within us we can receive the power and transmit that power to meet a need. Daily as we feed upon the word, we will have the power to meet a need.
Jan was really having some difficulty with this French lady who fouled up all her papers to the French University. I can see that Jan was at her mercy and totally helpless. French people are really arrogant people. I told Jan she must be prepared that all French people’s attitude is that way when she is in France. This French lady wouldn’t want to see Jan to put the seal upon her papers. She is such an arrogant lady. Jan had a really hard time getting her. Every time Jan called her, she was either out of the office or the phone kept ringing and she was not picking up the phone. I was really exasperated with Jan’s timidity and helplessness in getting her help. This has been going on for weeks and Jan really needed the seal of approval. Jan specially took leave on last Monday just to catch hold of her. But when Monday came, the office personnel said she was on off day. Then Tuesday came and Jan woke up at around 10.00 a.m. in the morning to call her. But the phone kept ringing and no one was picking up. Thinking that she was avoiding Jan, I asked Jan to use my phone to call her. But even though Jan used my phone, there was still no one picking up the phone. Jan was getting panicky. Because without the seal she cannot continue her paperwork for her French University. I remember the countless time that Jan had called her up. It is like playing cat and mouse. Just there and then, I remember that I had her number on my phone because, Jan just used my phone. Without Jan’s knowledge, I just dialled the number. It rang for a few times and suddenly a French lady picked up. I immediately passed the phone to Jan and she started telling this French lady of her problem. To our amazement she was especially nice to Jan and told Jan to go down to her office immediately and within that day, all papers were stamped and all her paperwork was done. Jan was totally taken aback because I only made one call and I got her. Jan had made countess calls for the past two weeks and couldn’t even get her once. I told Jan, she must get back to God, because the power of God, the favour of God has stopped flowing in her life. Jan needs an encounter with God, to get back to the word of God, for with it flows the power and virtue of God.
To prove another point, we were having dinner as a family in this nice Swiss restaurant. After the dinner, Jan was searching through all her cards in her wallet to get the membership card of this restaurant because she can avail of some free deserts or drinks. I was sitting besides Jan and she was rampaging through her wallet at least twice but couldn’t find the membership card. She passed her wallet to me and I just went through it slowly once and there and then I found that membership card. Again I told Jan, that she has to get back into the life with God, the favour of God, the power of God.
I want to tell you something. The recent baptism of the Holy Spirit upon many of you is not just another baptism. It is a powerful encounter that has awakened your spiritual life. And with it flows the virtues of God and a divine power has infilled you. And if you maintain that daily walk with God, soaking and devouring and hearing the word of God, the power is there really to flow through you to light up any darkness around you.
(4) We Must Be a Man of the Word
One of the most beautiful things I learned in this past one year is the love for God’s word. Well honestly I used to read God’s word. I remember in the first year of my missionary life here in the Philippines, I read the bible three times in one year. But then I deteriorated as the years passed by.
But last year, God was getting me back to the Word. Only this time it was a little bit different. I am not interested in reading the bible for the sake of reading, as a routine, because I am a Pastor, so I have to read the bible, as a discipline, as a habit; but I am reading the bible because I am expecting God to speak to me. I am searching for the awakened word of God. I am looking for what Jesus said in John 6:63 ‘It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.’
Two things dominated Smith Wigglesworth’s life and ministry. Firstly, he had a consuming love for the Word of God. Secondly, he had an overwhelming confidence in the God of the Word. When God speaks to you in your devo, believe it and hold on to it and claimed it. Only believe, all things are possible only believe. One of the things I like about the Encounter is its emphasis on personal devotion. Because it is the spoken word of God to you personally that is going to cause you to continue to live the supernatural, miraculous, victorious and overcoming life. When God’s word is spoken to you and you hear it while reading it, that is the Word of God to you. Definitely it has the witness of the Spirit by bringing tears to your eyes, excitement to your soul, faith in your heart. That is the Word for you. What the Word of God says on a certain subject, a certain matter, it is settled no matter what, as far as Smith Wigglesworth is concerned. Someone once asked Smith if he could recommend a good book on divine healing. He answered, ‘Yes, there is only one textbook on that subject: the Word of God.’
Once a man was called to pray for a man who was dying with cancer. This man’s life expectancy was only a few weeks. That man said ‘I am not going to pray for you now, but I will return in a week’s time. Meanwhile I want you to read all the miracles of the New Testament.’ That man returned as he had said and asked the man if he had read the miracles. The sick man responded that he had read them several times during the week. Immediately, the man of God, laid hands on the sick man and he was healed.
Smith Wigglesworth had learned the secret of the power of God’s word. He said, ‘I understand God by His Word.’ I cannot understand God by impressions or feelings. I cannot get to know God by sentiments. I can only know Him by His Word.’ He said, ‘It is a dangerous practice to be governed by feelings. We are saved not by feelings, but by the Word of God. Salvation does not fluctuate as do feelings. During the Ignite, in the beginning we were facing opposition because there were many new ones and Pastor Lily and I could sense hardness. There was a feeling that maybe the Ignite would not be successful. But I chose to believe the Word of God that day. I know my bible that if I pressed on to believe for a powerful move of God, and I believe that as long I can talk about the Holy Spirit, God would back up what I am doing. That is what the Word of God tells me. I choose to believe the Word rather than my feelings or the unfavourable circumstances at that time. I told God, I believe his word. And I pressed in. Then something powerful happened during the Ignite.
Also during the Men’s encounter, I was surprised that the men were not as emotional as the women. They were more dignified than the women. To cry is a sign of weakness. But then again, I believe the Word of God. I know what I am doing is to see the power of God coming upon people. Again I choose to believe God’s word rather than feelings and circumstances. To my amazement on the 2nd night the power of God came down. God always honours his word when people believe.
Many Christians have yet to understand this. They are concerned about the fluctuation of feelings. Many coming to God for help in a state of desperation have said, ‘I know I am supposed to be saved, but I don’t feel any different. I just don’t feel saved.’ We are not to worry about feelings, but we are to feed on the Word of God. Feelings change, and a Christian’s feelings may continue to fluctuate for a time. But the Word of God never changes, and eventually the Word of God will govern the feelings. Someone has said, ‘Faith in the Word is the root. Feelings are the fruit.’ If you tend the root well, you need not have fear about the fruit.’
Not long ago a meeting was being held in the town hall of a certain city in England. In the foyer of the hall was a large display of religious books for sale. A certain man wanting a bible, approached one of the attendants and said, ‘I would like to purchase a Bible’. The attendant said ‘Oh, we don’t sell Bibles. We don’t need them now; we have the Spirit.’ When you hear this sort of statement, you must be extremely careful. We must question any experience, even in this encounter, no matter how plausible it may seem, that does not have the Word of God as its basis.
This encounter is based on John 7:38-39 and Isaiah 61:1. In the last days, anyone who believes, out of his belly will Flow Rivers of living waters and the Spirit of the Lord is upon us, and the Lord had anointed us. We must openly condemn basing belief on any experience that exclude the Word of God. To me, the Word of God is supreme. Nothing substitutes the Word of God. One reason Smith Wigglesworth was able to minister as powerfully as he did was he lived in the Word and the Word lived in him. Because it lived in him, he was able to minister life. Wigglesworth spoke the Word of life into sightless eyes, and they saw; into deaf ears, and they heard; into the mouth of the mute, and they spoke. He spoke the Word of life into withered limbs, and they throbbed with new life; into disease ridden bodies, and they surged with health. He spoke the Word of Life to the demon possessed, and the ministers of death had to flee. He spoke the Word of life to dead bodies, and they felt the power of resurrection. I know and I want to immerse myself in the Word of God. I don’t want to read the Word of God as a routine. I want to find God, hear God, and receive from God, when I search for Him in the Word. I know that secret to power is to be so saturated with the Word of God. And I am not talking about the bible; I am talking about the awakened Word of God that will be spoken to me when I read them.
The letter killed but the Spirit giveth life. Smith Wigglesworth spared no effort in trying to understand the power of God’s Word. As far as he was concerned, time spent reading other books was wasted because it would be better spent reading God’s word. He said on numerous occasions, ‘Some people like to read the bible in Hebrew. Some like to read it in Greek. But I like to read it in the Holy Spirit. When Peter and John stood before the religious hierarchy to answer the charges arising out of the healing of a lame man, the bible says that when the council perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. In the same way, it was evident who had been Smith Wigglesworth teacher. In his interpretation of the Scripture, without knowing one word of Hebrew or Greek, he often brought out thoughts from the background of these languages that left scholars astounded. More than one said, ‘What kind of man is this?’
(5) The Word of God Empowers You to Do the Extraordinary
The people in whom God delights are the ones who rest upon His word without doubting. God has a plan beyond anything that we have ever known. He has a plan for every individual life, and if we have any other plan in life, we miss the grandest plan of all. God never intended His people to be ordinary or commonplace. His intention is that we should be on fire for Him, conscious of His divine power, realizing the glory of the Cross that foreshadows the crown.
The extraordinary is to be executed not by the pastors but by every single child of God in this church. The necessity for seven men to be chosen for the position of serving tables was very evident. There were others but Stephen and Philip stand out most prominently in the Scriptures. Philip was a man so filled with the Holy Spirit that a revival always followed wherever he went. Stephen was a man so filled with divine power that although serving tables, God had a greater vision for him. God filled him with a baptism of fire, with power and divine anointing that took him on to the climax of his life when he saw right into the open heavens.
Those who want to be ordinary and live on a lower plane can do so, but for me I want to do the extraordinary. The same unction, the same zeal, the same Holy Spirit is at our command as it was at the command of Stephen and the apostles. We have the same God that Abraham and Elijah had, and we do not need to lag behind in receiving any gift or grace. We may not possess all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but as we are full of the Holy Spirit and divine unction, it is possible, when there is a need, for God to make evident any gift through us as He may choose to use. Stephen, an ordinary man, became extraordinary under the Holy Spirit’s anointing until, in many ways, he stands supreme among the apostles. May we be awakened to believe His Word and to understand the mind of the Sprit, for there is an inner place of purity where we can see God, where God can move us and in turn, we could affect those around us.
END
SERMON OF PAS TOH NEE.Preached on July 10, 2011
AT EFC ILOILO
