So, how do you know the people of Nineveh repented? How do you know it wasn’t just a reaction to being told they would be judged in forty days and that it was true repentance? The short answer is that Jesus said as much. Question men, but believe Jesus. Sadly, nowadays, within most denominations, the opposite is happening. We are believing men but questioning Jesus, then have the audacity to shake our fists at the sky because we’re not seeing what we expected to see as far as spiritual power and authority are concerned.
It wasn’t the focal point of a sermon but what is commonly
referred to as an auxiliary argument. Jesus explains to those listening to Him
that the men of Nineveh would rise up in the judgment against that present
generation for their hard hearts.
Matthew 12:41, “The men of Nineveh will rise up in the
judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the
preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.”
Jesus said the men of Nineveh repented at Jonah's preaching,
and given that God relented from the disaster He said He would bring upon them,
it is indisputable that Christ’s assessment is correct.
Who will stand in the judgment and condemn this generation, I
wonder? What does this generation lack as far as access to truth, instruction,
direction, freedom, and ability to serve God, yet here we are, daily trying to
find ways to do less for the Kingdom and more for the flesh? There will come a
day when past generations of men and women who suffered and died for the cause
of Christ will condemn our indifference, slothfulness, and laziness.
Being the prototypical church, the church of Acts is worth
studying to see what they did, how they operated, and what they practiced
consistently. It’s easy to wave off the power and presence of God and say He
doesn’t do that anymore, although I’ve never heard a good explanation as to why,
than to dig a bit deeper and consider that another possibility for why we are
not seeing the power and authority of God as past generations did is because we
are not as committed, and no longer practice the things they once did which set
them apart.
From the beginning, the primary church was one of fasting and
prayer. Even before the Holy Spirit descended, they were gathered in one
accord, praying and learning from the apostles' teaching. Once they got a bit
of experience under their belt and began going out to preach the gospel, what
they did, as far as their spiritual walk was concerned, didn’t change. They
still prayed, and they still fasted, but now, having attained the knowledge of
the message of the cross, they went out to preach it themselves.
Perhaps so many churches are lukewarm and rudderless because
we’ve gotten away from the things that facilitate the presence and power of the
Holy Spirit, not because we no longer have access to Him in our midst. Perhaps
God’s Word is true after all, and His hand is not short; it’s just man who
approaches Him in an unworthy manner, refusing to draw close and do the things
required for a greater portion of power and authority.
Acts 13:2-3, “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the
Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I
have called them.” Then, having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they
sent them away.”
When you read through the book of Acts and the writings of
Paul, you get the sense that much of their time was spent in prayer and
fasting. We don’t like to consider the sort of lives they lived or the sort of
devotion they exhibited in order to experience the things they experienced;
we’d rather throw the baby out with the bathwater and say that anyone who
experiences the presence and power of God, anyone who witnesses miracles, or
hears the voice of God is delusional and needs to be institutionalized.
Since the beginning of creation, men have heard the voice of
God. God has been active and present among His people from the book of Genesis
throughout the Old and New Testaments, but somehow, because a stuffy suit with
an overbite says that is no longer the case, we’re all supposed to take their
word for it.
What if the remedy for our lethargy was a return to Biblical
living? What if the cure for our spiritual drought was reacquainting ourselves
with the practices of the primary church and reviving the hunger they exhibited
to go to any lengths in order to lift high the name of Jesus?
What if the problem isn’t Him but us?
While the church of Antioch was ministering to the Lord and
fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke to them to separate Barnabas and Saul for the
work to which they had been called. They didn’t get on FaceTube and spent a
month telling people how the Holy Spirit had given a word; they went back to
fasting and praying, then having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on Barnabas
and Saul and sent them away.
These were men fully aware of the dangers that lay before
them. They were men fully aware of the reality that surrounded them and that to
be victorious, to overcome, they needed power from on high. How they obtained
power, grew power, and consolidated power is not a mystery; it’s not complicated;
it’s not something one needs a decoder ring for. They fasted and prayed, and
fasted and prayed, and once they’d fasted and prayed, they were sent out,
fasting and praying and doing the work to which they had been called.
I get it, though. It’s much easier to say that sort of thing doesn’t happen anymore, through anyone, anywhere, at any time, no matter the reason, and if it does, it’s from the enemy than to admit that the fault lies with us and if we’d do as they did, we’d have what they had.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea, Jr.
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