Category: In Doing the Stuff – John Wimber

Matthew 10:1, 5-8 NIV
¹Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
⁵These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. ⁶Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. ⁷As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”

“Another High Place he tore down and ended, in our circle at least, was the monopoly of the ministry of the Holy Spirit by the pastor, priest, leader or the ‘Star’ up on the stage. ‘Everybody gets to play,’ he used to say. ‘Everybody gets to play!’ To prove the point once at some conference, in front of a group of academics who were frantically writing notes, he stopped and said, ‘You don’t get it, do you?’ Looking down he saw some children and called them up to him. There was a crippled man there and John said to the children, ‘You pray for him!’
‘Pray for him?’ they said, ‘What do we say?’ John answered: ‘Just ask Jesus to do what you think needs to be done.’ So the little boys said, ‘Jesus, heal this man’s broken legs!’ The man was healed right then and there!”(Carol Wimber, The Way It Was, p. 159)

Prayer:
“Lord, open our eyes to see the people in need of your healing. Send us to the ones who you are preparing to hear the gospel. In Jesus’ name. Amen.“

Let’s close by singing, “Anointing” by Jesus Culture (click here).

-NB

Matthew 9:35-38 NIV
³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

“Jesus’s heart for the people was ultimately expressed in the agonizing statement – ‘THERE ARE SO FEW WORKERS!!! ASK THE LORD OF THE HARVEST TO SEND OUT WORKERS…’ Notice that it began when he ‘saw the crowds’ – he did not just see a lot of people in need – he saw sheep without a shepherd, harassed and helpless… A few years ago the campuses had a meeting at the end of the summer where we declared – the harvest is huge! And this is where we experience the heart of God, and ask him to open our eyes to see correctly… When we encounter God’s heart, here as Jesus was moved with compassion in his guts, if it were to be literally translated. When we are moved with God’s heart and compassion, doing the stuff of Jesus’ ministry naturally supernaturally follows.” [excerpt from P. Nate’s message]

Prayer:
“Lord of the harvest, raise up and send out harvest workers among our campuses, cities and communities. In Jesus’ name. Amen.“

Let’s close by singing, “My Heart Is Yours” by Passion (click here).

– NB

Luke 4:18-19 NIV
¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

What is the stuff that Jesus is doing? We see here – the anointing of the Spirit, which leads to proclaiming the good news to the poor, proclaiming freedom for the prisoners, giving sight to the blind, setting the oppressed free, and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor. These were not just figurative, but actually occurred in Jesus’ earthly ministry…. John Wimber describes the stuff in a few main categories under the big picture of “divine healing”: forgiveness of sin, restoration from sickness, breaking the hold of poverty and oppressive social structures, deliverance from demonic power and influence, and raising the dead.

We see that the stuff of God’s divine healing is comprehensive – God’s purpose being to make the person a whole person. The main word for healing used in the Gospels communicates the sense of someone being made whole. Other terms for healing include the idea of giving life, to make healthy, and to bring release and freedom from oppressive conditions.”
[excerpt from P. Nate’s message]

Prayer:
“Holy Spirit, fill my life again, and anoint me to proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom. Father, let your kingdom come and your will be done today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.“

Let’s close by singing, “Miracles” by Jesus Culture (click here).

-NB

Watch this video by John Wimber – “Doin’ the Stuff” (click here).

John 14:12 NIV
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

“Whenever I come to this passage, I am stopped dead in my tracks. Throughout the book of John chapters 14-17, Jesus says some things that I find incomprehensible in my limited human imagination. This is one of those times. Another moment occurs shortly after this passage, when Jesus says that it is better for him to leave the earth, and therefore, the disciples, and ascend to be with the Father, so that he could send the Holy Spirit to fill his people. How can this be? How can it be better for Jesus to leave and be away from us, rather than he still walking with us? How can we possibly do the same stuff, and even greater stuff than Jesus did? But this is God’s heart for each of his disciples – that they would live in the continuity and authority of the ministry of Jesus.” [excerpt from P. Nate’s message]

Let’s pray together:
“Lord, continue your ministry through our lives. Multiply the loaves and fish we offer you today! In Jesus’ name. Amen.“

Let’s close by singing, “Here and Now” by North Point Worship (click here).

-NB

Let’s read aloud together the following passage and prayer:

Psalm 119:33-37 NIV
³³ Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees,
that I may follow it to the end.
³⁴ Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law
and obey it with all my heart.
³⁵ Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.
³⁶ Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.
³⁷ Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word.

Cape Town Commitment – We Love God the Son (C.)
We proclaim Christ. In Christ alone God has fully and finally revealed himself, and through Christ alone God has achieved salvation for the world. We therefore kneel as disciples at the feet of Jesus of Nazareth and say to him with Peter, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,’ and with Thomas, ‘My Lord and my God.’ Though we have not seen him, we love him. And we rejoice with hope as we long for the day of his return when we shall see him as he is. Until that day we join Peter and John in proclaiming that ‘there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.’

Prayer:
“Lord, turn our eyes away from worthless things, and toward your word today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Let’s close by singing, “More To Come” by Passion (click here).

-NB