Encountering the Holy
Spirit
Outgoing
North Georgia Conference Lay Leader
Rubin Perry made the following remarks
June 14, 2000 to clergy and lay
representatives attending the annual
conference gathering at the Classic
Center in Athens.
Mr.
Perry attends the
9,000-member
Ben Hill
UMC
in Atlanta.
Our theme
for this year's conference -- "Come
Holy Spirit, Wind and Flame, Fall
Afresh on Us" -- reminds of the
necessity of having a supernatural
encounter with the Holy Spirit if we're
to be successful in Christian service.
This is an encounter that is in
addition to our new birth experience.
This additional encounter is biblically
recorded and was ushered in at
Pentecost.
Jesus
told his followers, men and women, to
go make disciples -- but before going
forth to make disciples, to tarry, to
receive the supernatural power of the
Holy Spirit. He did not want them going
out unequipped.
My
desire is that not only will we
celebrate the history of Pentecost, but
that we will become equipped with Holy
Spirit power, by entering into a
personal knowledge of the Holy Spirit
Himself.
I
perceive that in the North Georgia
Conference we have only scratched the
surface and have much more to learn
about the workings of the Holy Spirit
-- and yet are slow to move into
encounters with the Spirit.
The
Holy Scriptures declare that Jesus will
"pray the Father" (John 14:16) and the
Father will send the Holy Spirit to
anoint us with power (Acts 1:4,8). If
there is anything I regret [about
my four years as conference lay
leader], it was my inability to
help us as a conference enter into an
intentional search to know the deep
spiritual movings of the Holy Spirit
that I've experienced....
God has
prospered many [churches] in
the North Georgia Conference
financially, [in] membership
[growth], and has given us, I
perceive, a growing sense of Christian
community. I think this conference
[session] has a spirit in it
like none other I have attended. I am
encouraged.
But
these blessings, I believe, are to
enable us to build a spiritual house
where all of the spiritual gifts are
freely exhibited....
Power to defeat
evil
Spiritual
forces of evil are real. They cause
sickness, depression, oppression,
broken hearts, suicides, divorce,
murder, conflict -- conflict in our
churches among laity and clergy,
conflicts in our homes, in our schools,
communities, nation, and the
world....
These
evil forces must be met and defeated,
but they will not be met with
intellectual reasoning and emotional
fervor only. These evil spiritual
forces laugh at us when we attempt to
explain them away. They will only
respond to the power of the Holy
Spirit, and be defeated only by casting
them out and [by] believing in
and using the name of Jesus.
We need
to know exactly what that means. We
need to know what "Holy Spirit power"
means....
Opening up
to the move of God
We
should expect the supernatural gifts to
operate through us -- gifts such as the
word of wisdom, word of knowledge,
faith, gifts of healing, miracles,
prophecy, discerning of spirits,
different kinds of tongues and the
interpretation of tongues, and even
more. All given by the Holy Spirit to
those who receive, and it's to profit
all.
I pray
God that the Holy Spirit will stir us
up to pursue a fuller knowledge of
these gifts and how to minister them,
and that we will be obedient to the use
of these gifts in His
service....
We need
to focus our attention as a conference
[toward helping] all of us
increase our experiences with the Holy
Spirit. I pray we all will get to know
Him -- not draw back, but open
ourselves to this marvelous move of God
that transforms us into power-filled
servants of the Most High God, equipped
to defeat the forces of
evil.
May God
bless you in your ministries. I thank
you for your trust.
