WIC Weekly February 26th 2023
Warsaw International Church
Mobile +48 601 331 032
Worship every Sunday at ul. Miodowa 21 (near Old Town) at 11:00 AM
Entrance from Schillera Street
Email: pastor@wic.org.pl
Website: http://www.wic.org.pl
WIC WEEKLY 26 FEBRUARY 2023 FROM PASTOR HARRY
Spiritual Nourishment
The Need For A Holy Spirit Revival by L. L. Legters
The need for a Holy Spirit worked revival is growing hourly. Needed now is a revival that has nothing of man’s working and planning, but is wrought in the Body of Christ here on earth by the Holy Spirit Himself. The need is for a revival with results like Pentecost, where men and women are actually filled with the Holy Spirit; a revival that brings into the life of the believer the threefold blessing of Pentecost, not to a few, but to the entire Body of Christ on earth.
At Pentecost, as each one was filled, the real blessing that each had was a new conception and realization of the living Lord Jesus Christ. They lived, they worked, they walked in the power and presence of their living Lord. Each had an utterly new understanding of the Word, and with it a burning desire to share with each other, and with the world, their new knowledge of the Saviour and of the Word.
And last, they had a new understanding and appreciation of each other. They found that each was utterly dependent on the other, and the loss or gain of one was the loss or gain of all the others. They discovered they were actually one in the Lord Jesus. These are the abiding things of Pentecost – needed in that day of beginnings, and sorely needed in this day of endings. These results are always found in a life filled with the Holy Spirit.
Each child of God must be “strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Eph. 3:16-17). This means a Spirit-filled life, not for one here and there, but for each member of the Body of Christ.
Most Christians are looking backward to the Saviour on the Cross, and never up to a living, reigning Christ. Christ Jesus is not a living reality to very many people today. At Pentecost, and after, they preached Christ crucified indeed, but also living, risen, exalted; a Miracle Worker today; a coming King tomorrow; a living Judge before whom the world must stand. We need a Holy Spirit revival that Christians may know a living Christ, and that the world may be convicted of “sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8).
Our leaders are planning the work of a paralyzed church. They hope to accomplish by legislation and programs what the Holy Spirit only can do. Morals cannot be legislated, and planned programs produce no power. “...Power belongeth unto God” (Psa. 62:11). “...Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you...” (Acts 1:8). The church is powerless today. We need a Holy Spirit revival!
Such a revival is the will of God for us today. It is God’s command. “...Be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). With each member of the Body filled with the Spirit, first-century lives will be lived and early day conversions repeated. Sinners will cry, “What shall we do to be saved?”
The Holy Spirit longs to fill us. “Or think ye that the Scripture speaketh in vain? That Spirit which He made to dwell in us yearneth for us even unto jealous envy” (Jas. 4:5, margin). The Lord Jesus died on the Cross for this, that the way might be opened that all believers “might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3:19).
We are bidden to walk in the Spirit, to pray in the Spirit, to worship in the Spirit, to give thanks by the Spirit, to keep the unity of the Spirit – all things that can be done only by Spirit-filled people.
The need is great, urgent and imperative! The will of God is clear and well-known. Any member of the Body of Christ may pray intelligently and believingly. “...If we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us” (1 John 5:14). Shall we pray? Let us pray.
“Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them...” (Ezek. 36:37).
Our News
Many people joined us for the first time last Sunday, including Gabriel and Ugo from Nigeria; Eliel from Ethiopia; Olga from Belarus; Franco from Peru; and Oleksandra and Almer from Lebanon. Welcome!
On the other hand, we are sad to say goodbye to Sister Roman, who has decided to return to Ethiopia. Roman was a very supportive member of our church, and we wish her every blessing from the Lord in her future life.
My latest information about the revival in Asbury University, Kentucky is that the President has decided to no longer make the university open to the general public, due to the sheer number of people descending on the campus and the small town of Wilmore. Let’s bear in mind the advice given by Gamaliel to the Jewish high council concerning the Christians in Acts 5:39: “If it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!” Time will tell, but definitely every Christian needs to pray for the awakening to spread all over the earth.
Christian Films
Watch wonderful free Christian films of hope and encouragement! They include films about the life of Jesus, testimonies of Christians who have suffered persecution, and excellent cartoon films for both children and adults on Christian spiritual reformers and missionaries. The link is: https://www.vm1.tv/
Prayer
The situation in Ukraine continues to escalate, with no sign that Russia is prepared to withdraw from its crazy invasion. How much evil there is in the perpetrators and those who support them! Let’s come against all the powers and principalities of the devil by crying out to Christ for mercy and victory over the enemy!
We continue to pray for the millions affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. This is a terrible tragedy. Nevertheless, the Lord is always our Sovereign God. Salvation lies only in Jesus, not in Islam. Let us pray for the survivors to be not only materially but also spiritually saved.
It is wonderful what has been happening in Asbury and on other campuses these past two weeks, and that the whole Christian world is becoming aware of it! Now we must pray that the awakening will continue to spread to other parts of the world and will bear lasting fruit in people’s lives, otherwise it will be nothing more than an emotional high. We cry out desperately for the Lord to bring genuine revival to all corners of the church in Poland and in your respective countries.
Last Sunday’s sermon was preached by Pastor Harry on endurance (Hebrews 12:1-13)
Do you know the well-known story of how Jesus called His disciples who were fishing? They had been fishing all night and hadn’t caught anything. They were depressed because they had worked so hard, and still there were no fish. Jesus saw this, and told them to take the boat into deeper water. They probably weren’t convinced, but they obeyed Him – and caught so many fish that their nets were breaking. Why was this? For two reasons: they went out deeper; and they looked at Jesus, and not at their own common sense. There’s an obvious message here: we have to get deeper into Jesus. And we have to be looking at Him all the time. And we’re fishing for people. The nets full of fish represent a revival situation.
In England, dog racing is a popular sport. People place bets on those thin dogs – like greyhounds and whippets – who can run very fast. Do you know what stimulates the dogs to run so fast? Each dog has a decoy rabbit in its track, which starts to run a couple of seconds before the dogs start – and so the dogs are always focused on catching the rabbit in front of them, and they run very fast to catch it. They’re not focused on each other. They’re not even focused on running. They’re focused on the rabbit.
We can compare Jesus to such a rabbit! He’s not only with us, but is out there, in front of us. When we concentrate on Jesus, our tasks seem easier. We don’t get sidetracked so much. We don’t even get tired so much. Why not? Because the joy, peace and love of Jesus take away our weariness. We feel young at heart. Our depression lifts. We may even have successes, like the fishermen. And we can have endurance. But for how long? For as long as we keep our eyes on Jesus.
There is currently a revival taking place at Asbury University in Kentucky – a Methodist university. It was already the scene of a revival 53 years ago, in 1970. And now there’s another one – you can watch lots of videos about it on YouTube. It’s our first Internet revival! – which is fantastic, because you don’t necessarily have to be there to catch the revival spirit. On Wednesday February 8th, the university’s morning service had just ended – but this time, none of the students left. They felt the presence of God, and just stayed there, praying, praising and worshipping. Many classes were cancelled, and the teachers were also taking part. People started coming to the chapel from all over America. They haven’t stopped worshipping there since Wednesday the 8th – one big long service! No one is looking at their watch!
How long will it last? No one knows. It will eventually stop when people will start ignoring the Holy Spirit and think that they can control this thing. They can’t. That’s how every revival ends – when self-centredness and personal concerns take over. The Spirit simply withdraws. But at the moment, those students are having a “fishing-net experience”. Only they’re catching people, not fishes. Dozens of students have been saved in the past week, giving their lives to Christ. One student tried to commit suicide the week before – and now, instead, she has found Jesus. Another student had only recently been raped – but now she was worshipping the Lord with joy and forgiveness in her heart. And so on, and so on. Listen to the testimonies for yourselves on the YouTube videos.
Today’s text from Hebrews is about endurance. But it also actually tells us how to keep a revival going. We need to know this, because we want revival to come to our church too. People will get saved. False religions and philosophies will collapse in people’s lives. Skepticism and human reason will be thrown out by God’s presence and power. You could find yourself sharing the gospel with many others, who will be listening and will give their lives to Jesus! You are going to want to pray for many people – and you’ll see them being healed and saved! You are going to start small prayer groups at your college or university residences and in dormitories. And you’ll reach out to unbelievers. For this, you need endurance.
What does today’s reading say? Firstly, that we don’t have any endurance if we are weighed down by our sins. And if we don’t have any endurance, a revival will end very quickly, as our sins take over. So you see, we can to a certain extent prepare for revival. But look at how the author of Hebrews says we can get rid of our sins – not by fighting them on our own; because we’ll never succeed like that; but only by keeping our eyes on Jesus. The battle belongs to the Lord! So if we don’t have Jesus in our life, we will be terribly weighed down by our sins. If Jesus is not living in your heart, you are living in sin and unbelief and captivity – even if you think you are a good or a free person.
Secondly, the reading says that when things go wrong in your life, it’s not a disaster from God’s point of view. We see it as a disaster – but actually God is disciplining us. Our defeats and humiliations are a painful part of God’s discipline, but He gives us such opportunities to grow stronger spiritually.
And thirdly, the author of Hebrews shows us that God’s discipline is always good. He disciplines us to make us holy. So every single event of your life is never a matter of chance, but a matter of God’s grace - no matter how dark your circumstances may be. And they can be very dark.
But even the most terrible things that can happen to us can be used by God to bring salvation to others. Maybe someone else’s tragedy is the cause of your salvation? Maybe someone sacrificed themselves in some way, for you to have faith? And how many Christians, when they are saved, realize that this is because of the tragedy suffered for them by Someone Much Greater? – because Jesus Christ died for you. Jesus Christ sacrificed His life, so that you might not waste it, but might live for Him alone. Jesus had endurance when He sacrificed His life for you and me.
Brothers and Sisters, may the revival at Asbury encourage each one of us to remember that, as followers of Jesus, we have a joyful and eternal reward in heaven to look forward to. But may it also warn some of us that if we don’t have Jesus in our hearts, then we are still under God’s judgement and can expect His eternal condemnation. The revival at Asbury University shows us that God is real and alive. Jesus is real and alive, and His Holy Spirit can come to dwell within those who are unsaved, and within those who are saved He can dwell in greater power than ever before.
So actually, when you think about it, it’s not revival we need at all! We don’t need revival! We need Jesus! Because when Jesus comes to us, then we’ll have revival and all the rest of it! So let’s desire, pray to and expect Jesus to come quickly to each one of us, and empower us and sweeten our lives with His Holy Spirit. Amen.
Readings and Hymns for the 26 February service
VVerse for the week: “Lord, will You continue to be silent and punish us?” (Isaiah 64:12).
Theme: Pleading with God
Psalm: 32:1-8
Reading: Isaiah 64:1-9
Offering verse: 3 John 11
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