Spirit Led Living

Malachi 3:16-18 The last verses of the Old Testament find God making a promise to His people.Those who “feared the Lord and honored His name” hung on every word and wrote them down so that they might not be forgotten. God calls us “His treasured possession” and promises that a day is coming where it will become more and more obvious who does and does not follow Him. When he was giving his testimony, John Wimber recounts that if he knew any Christians before he was converted they never blew their cover in his presence. How can we be salt and light if people can’t see any difference in the way that we live our lives. He has given us the Holy Spirit precisely so that we can be, do and say what God wants to and thus make a difference in this lost world. The question is, are we willing to be obedient? #liveaquestionablelife

Mike Pilavachi, the leader of Soul Survivor in England and a vicar in the Anglican Church, led the next two sessions. His theme for the first one was “Do Whatever He Tells You.” He starts with Mary, the mother of Jesus telling the servants at the wedding at Cana to do whatever Jesus tells them to do.   He then tells them to fill the jugs with water. He follows that instruction by telling them to draw some out of those very same jugs and take it to the master of the banquet. They do so, but in the back of their mind they have to be thinking, “You want us to take plain water for the master to taste?” When he tastes it he marvels at the fact that they saved the best wine for last. The servants must be thinking that he is drunk or out of his minds because they know that they poured ordinary water into the jugs. The lesson is to do what we are told even when we don’t understand what or why He is asking us to do it. We want intimacy with Jesus, but are we willing to be obedient enough

Phil Strout, the leader of Vineyard USA taught us to Hear and Obey. He reminded us that if we are faithful in little, He will make us rulers of much. It’s the follow-through that counts; not just how we start. We are to have a trusting obedience.   In Luke 5 Simon says, “I will do as you say” without question.  Phil shared a story of a powerful man of God that he interned under a man who was teaching him a lot about leadership and serving. One day he asked him to tie up some peas in the garden they were tending. He explained exactly how he wanted them tied. Having grown up on a farm, Phil only half listened and then went on and tied the peas his way, thinking that his mentor would not notice or care. That afternoon his mentor called him into his office and asked if he had explained how he wanted the peas tied. Phil said yes. Then he asked if Phil had agreed to do it that way. Again Phil said yes. Then he asked if the first two things were true, why did he ignore the instruction a

Putty Putman spoke on Tuesday morning and led us through the passing of the baton between Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings Chapter 2. There is an inheritance that needs to be passed to the next generation. He pointed out that those of us that have been a part of the Vineyard for over twenty years nod in agreement whenever we hear of stories where God showed up miraculously in people’s lives because we have experienced those first-hand. However, many of the younger Vineyard people are hungry to see and experience those things for themselves. He catalogued us as Generation I and Generation II. He had all the Generation I people come to the front and he had all the Generation II people acknowledge us for our obedience and for the price we paid pioneering the here and not yet of the kingdom in a time when it was not accepted. (The Vineyard introduced contemporary worship to a church stuck on 100 year old hymns. It also introduced come as you are casual wear to Sunday services instead of Sund

**Note, this is rather lengthy as it is a recap of the entire conference. I will be splitting it up in four sections so as to try to include as much detail as I can. Once the videos are available online we will be hosting watch parties for anyone who is interested in watching the sessions ** I’ve been in some sort of ministry going back to my college days in the ‘70s. I’ve been a part of the Vineyard since the late 80’s. In that time I think I could conservatively say that I have attended over 50 leadership or church conferences. In the beginning I got more practical knowledge out of them than I ever did at college or seminary. However, after a while they all tend to be the same. You might pick up a nugget here or there, but for the most part you feel like, “been there, done that, bought the T-shirt”. I am thrilled to say that this trip to the Vineyard USA “Come Holy Spirit” conference ranks among the best ones since the early days of the Vineyard when John Wimber was still a