Oak Tree

Dear Oaks,

I hope like me that you enjoyed and benefited from our Pentecost service
last Sunday. It is timely that we are looking again at the subject of the
gifts of the Holy Spirit and at the moment the gifts of revelation -wisdom,
knowledge and prophecy. I will be looking at the area of visions and dreams
this next Sunday.

The big goal in all of this is that we can become more like Jesus. For too
long such a statement has meant to many simply being a nicer person!
Nothing wrong with that of course but God’s purposes for us are far greater.
He not only intends his transforming love to conform our characters to a
greater Christ likeness but our ministries as well. He fully intends us to
do what Jesus did!

What reaction do you have to such a thought?

Perhaps for some it will feel like too lofty an idea? For others a
prescription for failure? Or pie in the sky? Or just the great challenge
they have wanted to give their whole life in the pursuit of?

My response is to tell you about the Bumblebee.

Apparently by all rules of aerodynamics and physics, the bumblebee should
not be able to fly, but it can. Its God given purpose, to fly, is greater
than any natural law. So whilst I am told there is no scientific reason as
to how it can fly, God says it can and therefore it does! I wonder what
would have happened if someone had told the bumblebee early in life that it
was simply impossible to get off the ground? My guess is that it would have
believed it and lived under the false limitation of what might be.

I imagine that all of us have been told in one way or another that we cannot
fly. In the light of this when someone says we can do the ministry of Jesus
our natural response is simply to dismiss the idea as fanciful.

But I ask you which is actually true. Is it the purposes of God in your
life or the natural limitations that you have been placed under?

It is clear from John 10:1-6 that it is our birthright to be able to hear
the voice of the Good Shepherd. It is clear from Luke 4:18-19 that the
reason Jesus “flew” was because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is
clear from Pentecost (Acts 2) that the church was born in to a worldview
where the supernatural is natural and that we can bee high flyers in Jesus.

The Holy Spirit within you is the resource of God Himself so that you live
no ordinary life.

Let us learn from the bumblebee and let our purpose overcome our natural
expectations.

And finally: Yes it was deliberate – well spotted.

Blessings,

Mark