John Stumbo Video Blog No. 47

June 12, 2017

9:27

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John offers a glimpse of Alliance Council 2017 through a captivating montage of video highlights from the event, reminding the Alliance family that the Spirit of God is at work to move us forward as He directs.

Transcript

(John Stumbo) Hey Alliance Family! The final moments of Council 2017 are wrapping up right behind me. We’ve spent the week here in Battelle Hall in Columbus rejoicing in Jesus, listening to His Word spoken deeply to our hearts, doing the business of The Christian Missionary Alliance, and I didn’t know why that in my preparation for Council, I didn’t have a closing statement prepared. I had worked, I had thought, I had prayed. I had nothing to say to close Council. And now I’ve come to realize, as this service isn’t shutting down any time too quickly, I’ve realized there isn’t a closing word for this Council: that the work that the Spirit of God is doing among us is a beginning work, not a closing work. And so, you’re going to watch in a few minutes, a seven-minute or so summary of this week where we’ve tried to capture some of the themes, some of the emotions, experiences, sights of Columbus and this event. But what I really want you to know is the Spirit of God is at work in The Alliance Family. I know that none of us knows what that fully means. We’re not changing our doctrine. We’re just trying to live out what our doctrine has said for over a hundred years. We’re seeking a new openness to the work of the Spirit in our lives, and that’s not the only thing that’s been said or done this week at Council, but it’s my desire that that would be the only manner in which everything is said and done. The Church of Jesus Christ moving forward as the Spirit directs. This is His Church. We are Christ’s bride. Christ did His ministry in the Spirit. Why would we seek to do it in any other way? So, I rejoice in a family that’s seeking God together. You can watch the full services, at least the parts that didn’t have to be edited out for security purposes because the presenters, but you can watch those services in our Archives and joining with us. But it’s not so much about even what happened here at Council because God’s not limited to this place and this time. God’s at work among us, and may shields of faith be lifted up. May discouraged hearts be encouraged in these days that God’s alive and active. We’re not trying to tell Him what that looks like, but we are saying, “Lord, we don’t want to limit what You want to do among us.”

So, let’s keep our Bibles open and our hearts open. With Bible open and heart open, let’s stay in tune with the Spirit, walking in what He has for us. Enjoy these minutes that remain. God bless you, Alliance Family.

Well, Christ-centered, Acts 1:8 family, welcome to Council 2017 Columbus, Ohio. We’ve been preparing two years for your arrival.

(Aaron Shust) We believe that God sings over us, but we believe that God loves to hear us sing over Him. So, we sing.

(David Hearn) Oh, God stretch forth your hand and heal! Perform signs and wonders in the holy name of your servant Jesus! And the room in which we were meeting was shaken!

Thank you, Jesus!

(Congregation) Amen.

(Ty King) I believe that God is alive and active, and that He’s longing to revive His church. It’s His desire to see us made alive again by the Holy Spirit so that we can reach the world. It’s all about the lost.

(Speaker): Many groups across the country are beginning to call out, “Church, we need you back.” They were crying out for you to be back into the lives of people in our neighborhoods.

(Speaker): In times of crisis, it is imperative that the Church respond with prayer.

(Speaker TBD): Things can be absolutely out of control to the naked eye, and I can still have peace because my peace isn’t in circumstances; my peace is in Him.

(Melissa MacDonald) How many of you have ever been taught something by a child? Right? It’s so irritating. Then they shouldn’t be able to do that. Because we’ve got 24 hours in a year with kids, we better be doing our job well. It’s about giving them tools to do life as a Christ follower in a messy world.

(Stanley John) All our attempts to domesticate the gospel is challenged by the Holy Spirit’s call to move forward. The call of God for us as a movement is to be a Holy-Spirit led, Holy-Spirit sanctified, Holy-Spirit empowered movement. The goal of God for us as a movement is to confess, “Oh Lord, no limits, no barriers! Where your Spirit sends us, we will go and what your Spirit desires, we are open!” Hallelujah!

(John Stumbo) The New Testament clearly describes a Spirit directed mission. I feel that in the Alliance that I grew up in, there was an emphasis on certain aspects of the Holy Spirit, but we forgot and we still tend to forget that He only gave them power to do what He had directed them to do. It sounds like such a simple statement; don’t miss it. He only gave them power to do what He had directed them to do. He is in charge of the Church. It’s His Church. It’s His mission.

(Mark Ashton) If you ask me the question, “What is it that keeps me up at night? What’s the thing that bothers me most in my soul?” It’s the idea that there are half a million people in my own backyard who are headed to a Christ-less eternity.

If a church is going to be reaching lost people, then the people who are leading the church need to go first in reaching their own lost neighbor.

God wants us to reach one more.

(Myron Pierce) We believe that the gospel is for all people and certainly for people who are not qualified. God is doing something amazing among the Church, and we feel like this is our call as The Alliance. There are many people in your churches, many people in your neighborhoods who are church planters. Our shift in the way we think must be accelerated so that the gospel can be incarnated.

(John Stumbo) Alliance Family, let’s stay faithful to this task of taking the gospel to the least reached peoples of the world. It doesn’t have to be an either or. In Acts 1:8, there are no or’s. When my Holy Spirit comes upon you, you’ll have the capacity to take my gospel to your towns, Jerusalem, to your regions, Judea, to Samaria. People who are close to you, who are not like you and all the way to the ends of the world, and, and, and, no or’s. If you’re writing an or into the text, you’re not taking the text seriously because you have enough capacity by the Spirit of God as we bind together as a family for us to do it all well.

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