“In our western civilization
we have had propensity for and a preoccupation with
study and the pursuit of knowledge.
The church, today is worldly.
The church, today is westernized.
We’re so secularized
we’ve almost completely eliminated
the supernatural from our perceptions.
We’ve come to a place where we don’t anticipate
God to operate as God among us.
We’ve come to a place where we really think that
the pursuit of study has become an end in itself. …
But to study it without acting upon it is incomplete.
Both Jesus and James told us that
hearing without doing is incomplete. …
We not only need the illumination,
we need the illustration.
We need the Word
and the works.”
– John Wimber
Transcribed by Jeff Fenske
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gygnuTpTg7E]John Wimber Signs and Wonders – Westernized Churches
Excerpt from Signs and Wonders Conference
SIGNS, WONDERS & CHURCH GROWTH [13 DVD SET]
A.K.A. MC510 – This is the prerequisite teaching of “Healing” (MC511) by John Wimber.
Based on the class John Wimber taught at Fuller Theological Seminary, this is Johns most in demand teaching series to this day and is for the first time ever, NOW ON DVD!
Signs, Wonders and Church Growth is a foundational teaching series about the correlation between the Holy Spirit and church growth.
Recorded live in Anaheim California in the 1980s, this in-depth seminar taught by John Wimber includes hands on clinics where the audience puts in to practice the things they are learning!
genius
Too much word(the letter kills), you dry up. Too much Spirit you blow up. The word anointed by the Spirit, you grow up into Christ in all things.Jesus was and is the Anointed Word who went about DOING good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.(ACTS 10:38). See Gen.1. The Spirit was moving on the face of the waters and God said. The spoken Word working with the Spirit produced results.He ordained (appointed and anointed) us to GO and bring forth fruit. See John 15. Eternal life is Knowing God.It is relational/intimate knowledge, not head knowledge.
PhileoTruth
False dichotomy of “relational/intimate knowledge” and “head knowledge.” You can NOT be relational or intimate with someone you do not know. Love is the synthesis of what you think and feel about a person. It is not all of either. To pit “head” versus “heart” is a false dichotomy. Our relationship with God is as much an intellectual endeavor as it is how we “feel” about Him.
Leanne Odonnell
Everyone wants to have signs and wonders including myself, but heres a thought…..
Will God do it in the present Church Structure? I dont think so…Why? because he wants the whole body of Christ to be functioning in the proper order in which the prophets, apostles and Christ being the cheif cornerstone are the foundation, and not our organised Church structure of pastor as head. He wants us all functioning as a mature Bride……Its not happening, and so we arent seeing any signs and wonders, and miracles which should be follwing his body daily but isnt. How to tell if your church is healthy and functioning? When did you last see someone being raised from the dead?…you would think that if our organised Church structures were correct, then we would see and hear about signs and wonders daily….No one would be dying in your congregations, PERIOD!!!!!! But instead, our churches are getting sicker and sicker, and people are wondering why God isnt doing a thing….Gods waiting for us to get our act together. Hes running out of time, and hes starting to get ticked at us……Judgement begins in the house of God……I say bring it on Lord because good people are dying, and teenagers are going to hell while we are getting entertained.
Jeff Fenske
Leanne,
I agree with you totally if you mean that no one will die from sickness when we’re all ‘ONE’ with each other truly being in Christ.
Pastors (and also apostles) think they can make it on their God-given, attractive personality alone, which is their Achilles heel.
Wise pastors and apostles will seek out truly prophetic people so Jesus can be the actual Head, not a man with a all-smiles-all-the-time face.
The joy should come from within, not faked, as though everything is okay when it’s really a train wreck.
Not only are hardly any miracles happening, but the glory of the Lord is mostly absent. Remember when we would actually feel the presence of God during worship?
Why do pastors even bother to keep pastoring when the Spirit of God is no longer evident?
It baffles me how they can be so naive — and not afraid for what will happen to them when they see their Maker face to face.
Their gauge of how they’re doing apparently is whether the people laugh and applaud and keep filling out their tithe checks.
I’m very excited though, because I’m convinced that finally the balance of 5-fold leadership will soon be restored in one place. It only has to start in one place. And the Third Great Awakening (perhaps the greatest awakening ever) will be set ablaze and never go out!
jeff fenske
PhileoTruth
A wicked generation seeks signs– that’s what Jesus said in His day. Does it not still apply? Is not Christianity a religion built upon truth claims? Why do we need perpetual signs if we have the truth?
David Cacho
It all boils down to your UNBELIEF Leanne Odonnell!!!
Anonymous
You don’t seek signs. You seek Jesus. Signs and wonders are a natural result of being one with God through Jesus and Holy Spirit.