John 4:34-35
Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, 'there are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"
John Wimber, founder of the Association of Vineyard Churches, teaches on one of the basic tenants of our belief's....Power Evangelism.
Jesus demonstrated it through out the New Testament. Every where Jesus went, He did two things.
1.) He taught and proclaimed the word of God
concerning the coming and the not yet Kingdom of God...
and
2.) He validated His teaching through a demonstration
of the Father's Power and Ability.
We believe that the church is to operate in the same manner. We believe that we have been called to participate in the ongoing work of Christ in this fallen world. Such encounter with the presence and power of God form a basis for understanding God.
If you take someone who has never experienced the presence of God and all you do is take about God...they have no frame of reference to who or what God truly is, other than a mental concept that is probably flawed. We all construct mental thoughts about who or what God is, and such thoughts are usually far off base from the truth.
But if you teach the word of God and then offer a time of ministry to receive prayer, more times than not, the individual is going to encounter God through this offer. It may happen through healing, both physical and emotional. It may happen through the Spirit of God coming to rest upon the individual. It may be that the person being prayed for realizes their need to be saved, and prays to receive God's gift of salvation.But however it happens, the person goes away knowing that they have had an encounter with the living God. Now they have a base on which to build a relationship on.
We also believe that this dynamic of Power Evangelism is for everyone who is a believer. Everyone gets to play! Everyone gets to participate in the kingdom work of pushing back the darkness of the kingdom of Satan by allowing God to work in them and through them. Such is the heart of the Vineyard. WE all get to do the works of Christ, here in this fallen world. Or, as John Wimber so aptly put it......we all get to DO THE STUFF!
I hope you'll take the time to watch the video. Yes, it is dated....it was taken from a 1985 conference on Power Evangelism. But the one thing that never goes out of style or date, is the kingdom call of God for workers to enter into the harvest. The time is now.
God on you...
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