FLOODS UPON DRY GROUND, CHAPTER 14: OPERATING IN THE SPIRIT

 

     Nine months and fourteen chapters later, I’m finally finishing up my series of videos related to the “Floods Upon Dry Ground” book written by Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones.

     Talk about taking my time. Pastor Duncan gave me the book last July when he was filling in as a pastor at the Ashland Church of God, and he permitted me to make videos about it—and I’m finally done.

     I think that Chapter 14, the final chapter of the book, has perhaps the most important key to opening the door to bring about floods upon dry ground to a thirsty, dying world. The chapter title is “Operating in the Spirit”. The Bible verse found in Zechariah 4:6 says it all:

“ ‘Not by might nor by power, but My Spirit’, says the Lord of hosts.”

     Only by operating in God’s Holy Spirit can we expect changes in the hearts of men leading to revival—floods upon dry ground, if you will. It won’t come about by what Duncan and Jones term “manufactured religion that promotes the gifts of men over the gifts of God.”

     While the authors declared that the church in the Book of Acts was not perfect, today’s church atmosphere is a far cry from what happened in Acts. They wrote the following:

“But, with all the challenges to establish and maintain biblical balance, the church was a praying and powerful church, because believers knew their survival as a Christian community and their progress in fulfilling the Great Commission rested entirely on the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and their complete dependence on Him.”

     Then right after that, they offered the only hope the church has for that to occur. They wrote:

“In spite of the church’s misplaced priorities and shortcomings in today's culture, we can again become a powerful and evangelistic force in our communities and institutions. But that will only happen if we again operate within the realm of the Holy Spirit. We cannot organize and program revival. Nor can we determine in what manner the Lord chooses to move. For too long, some churches have been afraid of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in prayer and worship gatherings. Other churches have become fanatical, insisting on certain unbiblical worship practices they consider necessary to experience revival or have church.”

     So Duncan and Jones wrote that there is a tension between inaction (doing nothing) and over-action (becoming fanatical). They said to avoid this there needs to be four rituals:

1. Ritual #1 is “The Ritual of Prayer”: Duncan and Jones wrote:
• “True prayer is the Holy Spirit filling our hearts with heavenward longings, and aspirations, changing our prayer from cold form to heartfelt realities”.
• One very important verse about the ritual of prayer they cited is Ephesians 6:18 which says: “Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints."
2. Ritual #2 is “The Ritual of Worship”: Duncan and Jones wrote:
• “Worship may be offered through quiet meditation or through exuberant expression.”
• “But worship can easily become more self-centered than God-centered, more about receiving a blessing than about giving God a blessing.”
• Duncan emphasized that liturgical and Pentecostal worshipping can both be very meaningful as ways of reaching out to God. 
• Finally, they wrote about the ritual of worship, "The legitimacy of worship is always determined by the influence of the Holy Spirit on the worshipper and the worshippers' interaction with the spirit through his own spirit. This is true spiritual worship—not offered to impress people, but instead to bless and please God.”
3. Ritual #3 is “The Ritual of Service”: Duncan and Jones wrote:
• “Christian service often becomes tedious because many engage in it as a vocation or obligation.” If that happens they wrote that “the work itself becomes the object of our efforts and not the people”—and “does not spring from genuine passion but from legalism.”
• They cited Jesus, who condemned the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23, who did works to be seen by men.
• “Conversely, the Scriptures call on us to labor in the spirit of true Christian service”—"to labor with a passion to please God and to minister to the saved and the unsaved in whatever way we can, without the expectation or desire to receive recognition for what we do.”
• “The refreshing, reviving work of the Holy Spirit will enable the church to break away from the routine of doing good works to once more passionately serve God and man, with the ultimate goal of bringing all glory to God.”
4. Ritual # 4 is “The Ritual of Leadership” Duncan and Jones        wrote:
• The service of leadership may “involve spiritually leading a spouse, children, extended family, friends, and neighbors into following and serving Christ.”
• They said leadership training is a “noble” and “vital” pursuit, BUT it “often sidesteps the main issue—the issue of God’s leadership.” “Leadership from a Biblical perspective often becomes secondary”, and the church frequently relies too much “on human intellect, human agency, and human resourcefulness”, rather than relying on the power of the Holy Spirit. To not rely on the Holy Spirit for leadership is to “labor in vain.”
• Also, to “experience Holy Spirit-sent revival, leaders will shake off a form of godliness, ritual performances, and the shackles of self-centeredness, and operate not by personal might and power, but by the power of God’s Spirit.”

     Finally, Duncan and Jones wrote the following to give us hope:

“Yet, there is hope! But we must cry out to God with all our hearts that he will once again do as God said in Isaiah 44:3-5: “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: And they shall spring up as among the grass as willows by the water courses.”

     Well, this is the end of the book, “Floods Upon Dry Ground.” I pray that you found these posts meaningful. I know they won’t ever go viral, but that’s OK. I started my video posts first, for me to get out of my comfort zone. Secondly, to focus on the zone God has for me. And thirdly, to perhaps help a few people that will watch the videos and take them to heart.

     I also appreciate very much Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones for writing this very appropriate book in this very dire time. Lastly, I treasure immensely the friendship my wife and I have with Pastor Bobby and his wife Sandra.

FLOODS UPON DRY GROUND, CHAPTER 13: TRANSMITTING THE FAITH

(Note: I started this post with a portion of a video of a 4 x 100-meter relay race. You’ll see why later in the post.)

     We're in the final section of the book "Floods upon Dry Ground", written by Pastors Bobby Duncan and James Jones. The section is entitled, "Final Challenge", and Chapter 13 is entitled. “Transmitting the Faith”.  In my opinion, the chapter could also have been aptly named one of the following two titles:

1. “Revival or Irrelevance”. 
2. "Passing the Baton of True Faith to the Next Generation.”

     Pastor Jones is the author of this chapter. He opened with the following fairly long, but I think very important statement:

“If we are to pass the treasure of truth to the next generation, there must be a reviving of spiritual life today, for there is no acceptable alternative. Mass meetings will not suffice; more highly organized programs can only do so much. Applying all the updated leadership principles, although helpful, is not enough; and as beneficial as higher formal religious education is, it cannot address the deep spiritual needs of the church. Only the work of the Holy Spirit will accomplish what the church so desperately needs today, and that is a renewed awareness of God, an awakening to the need for the confession of sin, the need for improved intimacy with Christ, and the need to worship and serve with fervency of spirit. This is revival, and unless the church experiences it, much will be lost. It is either revival or irrelevance.”

     He then wrote emphatically, “The ground is dry and desperately thirsty for refreshing rain.” He said there is a dire need for the transmission of the true faith of the Bible to the next generation and not a watered-down version.
     Jones went on to give the example of a relay race in which his granddaughter ran. The three major keys to any successful relay race team are the following:

1. Having four fast runners.
2. Having three smooth passages of the baton.
3. The anchor leg runner has to have the baton in hand when crossing the finish line.

     Jones said that his granddaughter was the starting runner, and her team was well in the lead throughout the race. The anchor leg runner, however, was so distracted by the runners behind her that she kept looking back. She eventually stumbled and dropped the baton before crossing the finish line. Remember that it's the baton that has to cross the finish line with the anchor leg runner holding it.
     I included in this post a short video by Anne Graham Lotz about the importance of passing the baton of faith to the next generation, and not bobbling or dropping it before we cross the finish line.

     Finally, we as Christians need to do as Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14:

“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead. I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.”