Healing on the Streets of Edinburgh

What a great training session we had, last night and today, for 'Healing on the Streets'. It was led by a baptist Elder, a Vineyard Pastor and a Church of Scotland Minister! A really wise and helpful introduction to ministering healing to people in the open street - something that I have never found easy and last did on the street like this 20 years ago! Gosh! ..... Today, the really helpful thing I learnt - I had never thought about it - was how to give out a leaflet properly! But very practical and it really helped. Didn't feel like a 2nd hand car salesman!

Now, you're asking, 'what on earth is he doing praying for people on the streets?' Well, we need to go where the people go. And if it's on Princes Street, that's where it has to be. But we really enjoyed it. The three of us who went on the training found it really uplifting - we all prayed with people who had very real and very genuine need. And we saw blessing too.  Yep - not the normal thing we do; but we have to reach people 'by all means'. Well worth it!

Simple faith

Over many years, I have been quietly obsessed by finding an adequate translation in modern English for a simple word in Greek: pistij. Usually translated as ‘belief’, ‘faith’ and sometimes ‘trust’. Well here it is: 'faithful focus'. It works. If you hold on to a faithful focus on Jesus Christ, you will be saved. Try it.

The Heart of the Matter

I wish I had really grasped this truth years ago, and never let it go ....

'If the mission of Christ through the presence and power of the Spirit determines the nature and ministry of the church, then we should expect that mission itself becomes the source of the renewed vision and life of the church. This is why mission, rather than ministry, expands Gods kingdom and renews the spiritual life of the church'.  

Ray Anderson, An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches, IVP, 2006, p. 186

Riots and righteousness

I woke this morning with a powerful sense of need to write down and express something of what we are presently seeing in God’s Word on Sunday mornings, and the implications of that for each of us. Our society is beginning to reap the rewards of the sin and decadence that have been among us for a long time. God is allowing the repercussions of abandoning Christ to be seen and felt in our nation, as in others. We are entering a difficult time when it is important to focus on what being a person of faith is really about. Here it is, spelt out in a fresh translation of Romans 3.21-26:

And now, apart from through Law, God’s righteousness has been revealed, which is born witness to by the Law and the Prophets. It is God’s righteousness, through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, for all who would be faithful. For there is no distinction – for all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, being brought into righteousness as a free gift of God’s grace. This free grace comes through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed as a mercy seat in the faithfulness of His blood. God did this for the purpose of displaying His righteousness in overlooking, in the forbearance of God, sins previously committed. And He did this for the purpose of displaying His righteousness right now, showing that He Himself is just and is the justifier of anyone who takes on board the faithfulness of Jesus.

This is what being saved – being a disciple of Jesus Christ – is all about. It is about stepping into the life of Jesus Christ through the door of baptism, being brought into eternal life through the power of His resurrection from the dead. This power comes into us by the Holy Spirit.

And let’s be clear. The Holy Spirit is not just a nice feeling. He is the fire and wind and water of life that comes from God. And because of what He’s done for us all through His sacrificial life and death, Jesus is the key to anyone receiving this Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit? Death. With Him? Life.

So let’s also be clear about what the Holy Spirit does. Jesus spells it out in John 16.8-11. The Holy Spirit brings us into the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. He shows us where there is sin in our lives, that we might repent of it. He shows us the path of righteousness, that we might walk in it. He shows us that the dark powers that would blanket us with fear and would control us in daily life are now judged by God and are impotent in the face of the Holy Spirit’s life giving power.

I invite you to take these teachings very seriously. Press on into renouncing sin – especially sexual sin - and resolve to walk in holiness! Pursue policies as church together that seek to express God’s righteousness through personal goals as an individual and well as a congregation! Show the world around us what it means not to live in fearfulness of a defeated devil! Show the world rather what it means to live a life of purpose and purity rooted in the love of God.

I believe that all of us have the potential of being a light of Christ to many. But we need to be faithful. We need to walk in righteousness.

Riots and justice

Today, in the face of the London riots, I want to recommend a book to you by Nicholas Wolterstorff, Justice: rights and wrongs, Princeton University Press, 2008.

In recent days, the issue leading to the riots was presented as being one of ‘justice’. But what is justice?

Constitutive justice is dependent on the establishing of a society that holds to virtues or convictions that are adopted, embraced and implemented. To do this, people have to have a vision of a social state that they are working towards.

Determinative justice depends on an environment where the judgements can be enforced.

As Christians, we are called to live in and generate, through church, an environment of constitutive justice. The country’s problems are not going to be sorted overnight! But as church, we can model something of what Jesus Christ began and continues to do through His disciples, as we wait for the New Society that will come on His return.

Determinative justice? As Christians, we believe that’s up to God. Our job is to live with a love that generates holy, healthy relationships and responsibilities. Let’s focus on this, on being salt and light. And be realistic as to how quickly / slowly things will change in our nation.

Whose in whose image?

Back from Bulgaria. Great holiday!
Play a game with me. Look at these options. Do you prefer:

a. i. to do a hard task by yourself (to prove a point)
   ii. have a hard task done for you (and you can’t do it!)
b. i. do what you think is best
   ii. do what you’re told by another
c. i. accept a gift with no strings attached
   ii. accept a gift that you are to use for a purpose

Each of these goes with different types of personality. My observation is that the ones most people struggle with are b.ii or c.ii. Which is tough; because the Gospel message in Jesus is that God brings us into eternal life and to be part of His Kingdom through Jesus Christ in sequence of a.ii, c.ii and b.ii.

So, I'm convinced. Not just culture and context, but the way your personality is shaped will itself shape your preferred way of thinking about God. It takes real effort to hear instead what the Bible says. Literal translations of the Bible into English are not always the easiest to understand! On the other hand, paraphrases can give a smoother reading but betray a particular interpretation, losing subtle points. Romans 3.21-26 is a case in point. Practically all the English translations are paraphrases. In this passage, how you translate two Greek words critically influences your reading and understanding. You can have either justice or righteousness. And you can have any of faith in Jesus, faith of Jesus or  faithfulness of Jesus. Here it is as rendered in Young’s Literal Translation (1862), which I like a lot:

And now apart from law hath the righteousness of God been manifested, testified to by the law and the prophets, and the righteousness of God {is} through the faith of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those believing --for there is no difference, for all did sin, and are come short of the glory of God-- being declared righteous freely by His grace through the redemption that {is} in Christ Jesus, whom God did set forth a mercy seat, through the faith in his blood, for the shewing forth of His righteousness, because of the passing over of the bygone sins in the forbearance of God-- for the shewing forth of His righteousness in the present time, for His being righteous, and declaring him righteous who {is} of the faith of Jesus.

Think about it. God is serious about getting us into the life of Jesus. Into His faith. The justice / righteousness of God made manifest when God’s Kingdom comes, together with the joy and peace the disciple experiences. This is the marvelous reality that Jesus Christ calls us into.

Temptations

I have been strongly drawn to reflect on the Temptations of Jesus and the surrounding narratives in Luke 4, which sees the transition from Jesus’ reception of the Holy Spirit, the subsequent testing in the desert and on into the beginnings of effective ministry.

There is no hiding in the Christian life. What we are in public, in terms of reflecting and being effective in God’s service, is fundamentally shaped by who we are in private. The proving of faithfulness lies not in productivity, but in fruitfulness.

We live in an environment where it is so easy and so tempting to be deceitful. Computers and private space can allow and foster secret indulgences and unhealthy habits. But what is formed in private leads to what is forged in public.

The fight against sin, and resolute resistance and learning to say ‘no!’ to the demands of our flesh, ambitions and insecurities is never an easy one. It has to find motivation in the face of Christ’s call to self-emptying, obedience and service  Only those who truly own allegiance to Jesus Christ will fight on and prevail in the battle that decides our destiny and demonstrates the true tenor of faith.

Faith works

Back to preaching through Romans again on Sunday mornings, after celebrating Pentecost and returning from the group trip to our partner church in Lom (photo).

For me, the Bible has increasingly become a book primarily about social ethics. ‘Aha', you think, 'has he lost the plot?’ ‘Has he given up on faith and knowing Jesus?’ Far from it. In fact, I think I’ve found the plot. The plot that is spelt out in the Law of God and that is worked out through Jesus Christ. I am more convinced than ever that unless faith leads us to seek out and persist in doing the good that pleases God, and looks to find God's power to help us to so do, then such faith is useless.

God shows no favouritism when He looks at our lives and assesses what He's done with them (Romans 2.11). Frightening, eh? Faith that doesn’t lead to significant adaptation and reorientation of our practical, day to day, ethical behaviour and focus is no faith at all. God is not concerned about spiritual myths and cosmic speculations. He’s interested in lives lived out in the shadow of His holiness, the radiance of His righteousness and dependence on His power. Obedience of God and divine empowerment are meant to go together. May God help you see this, pray to be enabled, and get on with living the life that matters.

Wind, Fire and Power

The opening verses of Acts 2 tell us what to expect when the Holy Spirit comes. They connect too with the words of jesus, when He speaks of the Holy Spirit coming to convict the word regarding sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16.8).

A violent wind: a wind that shakes the apathy and complacency in our lives. Who challenges our false securities and makes us vulnerable before God.

A fire that purifies and cleanses of sin, releasing us into righteousness and the pursuit of God's agenda. That enables the seed of God's Word to grow up in our lives.

A power that releases us to fulfill our purpose: to glorify God and to know Him with praise in our hearts for who He is. Empowering us for faithful living and witness in reaching out to others in Jesus' name.

This is what a real baptism in the Holy Spirit brings about.

Like a thief in the night

Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night   (1 Thessalonians 5.1-2).

Well, life is interesting. We had a visitor last night: an unwelcomed one! One of the guys went downstairs and met a teenager in the diningroom. They looked at one another, ‘visitor’ dived out through this little shower-room window. In an area of Bulgaria where there is such high unemployment and poverty, this is not unusual. Anything lost? A cell ‘phone that can be replaced without too much hassle ….

We felt secure, safe in our nice, big house. Who dare do such a thing?

Which gets me to thinking how Paul speaks of the ‘Day of the Lord’: When God calls ‘time out!’ on creation as it is now. When the time for tallying the score sheet and bringing in God’s complete, restored and renewed Creation will arrive.

What strikes me now is how none of us really finds this a welcome thought. It disturbs and violates our patterns, our securities. Better get rid of such pretensions now. God, like the thief, is close at hand.

Слава на Бога!

O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow (Psalm 144.3-4).

It is great to be here again in Bulgaria, joining with Sam and Sally in our house in Mezdreya and having the team come out to join us, from Bristo. I’m sitting in the garden right now, looking out at the incredible growth there has been since we were last here in April. The vegetables, the fruit trees, the grass, the flowers – and the weeds! Everything is green and growing with such profusion.

And it really makes me reflect on the lack of permanency there is to anything in the life that surrounds us. One minute – summer. And then, in six months, the barrenness of winter will be here. Living in the city, it’s so easy to miss this aspect of the seasons. Surrounded by monumental buildings and historic monuments, the illusion is there of a life that goes on with confidence and unwavering changelessness; but it is not so. The country and the village unmasks the illusion.

And where now I sit, I face the central Balkan mountains and think of Serbia on the other side, with all the tragedy and genocide of the ethnic wars that seems only yesterday. The destruction that a sinning, self-assertive and rebellious humanity is capable of engulfing itself in.

At such a time, it is good to remember what it means to be a Christian. To recall that God has not so much ‘crafted’ as ‘is crafting’. Forming and shaping and bringing through to a maturity and permanency that will be expressed in a renewed Creation, a ‘New Heavens and New Earth’.

For the moment, all is passing. But high summer, and a deeper and fuller fruitfulness awaits us. Слава на Бога! Praise the Lord!

Beautiful obedience

Rebellion is a terrible dimension to live in. It is the antithesis of obedience. Rebellion seeks to affirm self to the level of narcissism: me at the centre of my values and purpose in life. Rebellion is the aphrodisiac, the opiate, the intoxicating allure of self annihilation.

Obedience is beauty enfleshed. It is to recognise that the purpose of my life is to ‘glorify God and enjoy Him forever’. Obedience is to delight in the revelation of God’s way in the Holy Scriptures. Obedience is the embracing of true freedom and self-realisation through submission to our heavenly Father’s command. Obedience and submission are the hallmarks of Jesus, the man who is the gift of God's love for all.

And such obedience can be my only reason for seeking the Holy Spirit’s power to infill and flood my life. It is because of such longing to obey God, to rejoice in Him and glorify Him that I want more of the Holy Spirit. For without this power of Pentecost, I can never truly obey. Come, Holy Spirit!

Obedience

Obedience. ‘It is better than sacrifice’. Mmmm. Not a very contemporary thought, eh? But it is at the heart of the New Testament letter of Hebrews, and what is being expressed to the early Christians and also us right there.

It really struck me, in looking at verses 7-8 in Chapter 5 of Hebrews, that Jesus did not find obeying God easy. It led him into places and situations of struggle and suffering. And then I saw that, where it tells us that Jesus cried out in prayer with ‘loud groans and cries’, He was crying out to God for help in order to obey!

So then it really hit me that what every Christian I have ever known or met struggles with the most, is willingness to really obey God. To do it! It’s not easy. So often, we know what we should do but don’t do it.

And then, Jesus’ prayer again. He prayed for help to obey. Enter the Holy Spirit.

It’s Pentecost Sunday coming up. What did the Holy Spirit come for? To increase the ‘feel good’ factor in our lives? To enable us to be achievers of what we want – a sort of Christian alternative to witchcraft?

Nope. He came and comes simply to supply us with the power to obey our heavenly Father. Got it?

Hebrews 1-4

In recent weeks, we’ve begun working through the Book of Hebrews in the evening services. I’ve preached through Hebrews in the past more than once, but in preparing from the text this time I’m using commentaries less than before. Possibly for this reason, I have been startled by what the text confronts me with. Here are some of the observations:

1. The writer quotes from the Psalms so much because both he and his first readers would have known these references by heart: the ‘top 10’ religious songs they learnt from their youth. Helps explain the complicated quotes in first couple of chapters.

2. The writer is really more interested in affirming the real, ordinary humanity of Jesus rather than anything else. He’s not into metaphysics, really. He knows that Jesus said, ‘Come, follow me’. As God called His people Israel to obey and follow, so He continues to call to Israel and the world through Jesus.

3. People sometimes think that Jesus was always perfect: nonsense. Jesus didn’t start out as ‘complete’ or ‘perfect’. That category of thinking is not Jewish, but Platonic. Jesus becomes ‘complete’ or ‘perfect’ through suffering.

4. As it is with Jesus, so with us. In the first 4 chapters, the clear assumption is that a Christian is one who participates with Jesus. And when we realise this, it liberates us into a new view of suffering. Not as something that suggests that God is far away. On the contrary, we realise that it is the midst of suffering that God is close.

Thank God for that. It would be hard to deal with the real suffering I have to deal with with in people’s lives with a ‘candy floss’ understanding of blessing or a ‘Santa Claus’ picture of God. Here, in the Bible, is the real thing.

Some thoughts for our church AGM

Lots of good things about in the church right now, but we see that our focus needs to be on mission. Mmmm, let’s try this: ‘Mission - for this Season Jesus Christ is the Reason’?

Ah, strap lines really sound so terrible to me! But for some people, they really do work. For me though, they don’t do the job too well, probably because I like to get in real close to some depth of conversation and intimacy, and then move on to talk about Jesus when it seems to flow into the conversation. It’s likely I’m most happy with this style because I have spent a lifetime as a pastor using it; yet it is restrictive. The chance to get into deep conversation beyond pleasantries doesn’t arise with passing strangers so easily.

There’s three things I think I might have learnt about mission and evangelism, and probably lots more I should have. But, for starters ….

Firstly, any programme or method is only good for some people at some times, not all people at all times. We’re all different. The way I can reach others for Jesus is quite probably not the same way that God would use you to reach out to someone and introduce them to His Son. So the first question is, ‘Who is God calling me to reach out to in Jesus’ name, and how does He want me to do it?’ And I need to remember that, just because Christians close to me don’t want to do mission and outreach my way, it does not mean they are cold or indifferent towards God or others. If I really want to encourage others in their Christian witness, I need to try and explore with them how God would use them in mission and evangelism.

Secondly, I need to check my motive. Why am I doing this? The only valid reason I can think of is that it both glorifies God and bring salvation to others. My act of witness needs to be an expression of heartfelt love, both towards God and other people. And to touch others in Holy Love, I need to get filled with the Holy Spirit, in order to be authentic and genuine.

Thirdly, when all is said and done, I need to get on with it! As D L Moody once said to a critic, ‘I prefer my way of doing it to your way of not doing it’! Sometimes when I feel tired and get grumpy, I can become critical and dismissive of others and their efforts. That’s not good. I need to get on with what God would enable me to do.

So, who is God calling you to reach out to in Jesus’ name, and how does He want you to do it? Get guidance through Scripture, prayer and listening to God, get filled with the Holy Spirit, and get on with it!

A sad day in Scotland

Yesterday, in the face of gale force winds which struck the central belt of Scotland, a large and impressive tree at the top of my street was toppled, uprooted from its foundations of many years. Within hours, it was despatched with a chainsaw by local workers, having become a nuisance and hazard to both traffic and pedestrians.

Yesterday I also witnessed what I can only describe as a sad day in the history of the church in my home-nation of Scotland. I watched and listened, from beginning to end, to the Presbyterian Church of Scotland’s debate on same-sex relationships as that relates to leadership in the church.

As a young Christian, my thinking and understanding of the Christian life and the Bible was inextricably shaped by the great Church of Scotland preacher, James Philip. Sitting under that godly minister’s exposition of Scripture, I learnt a basic principle of theology that I have never departed from to this day. That is, I learnt to submit myself to the revelation of God that is found in and through the vast complexity of the books of the Bible, the Word of God. I learnt to enjoy having my developing yet defective theological formations knocked down, shattered and again rebuilt in the light of God’s revelation. I learnt to value the complexity and truths of Scripture above my own simple, sinful prejudices and perspectives. And I learnt to see that there was no contradiction between the rich revelation of God’s Word in the Holy Scriptures and the full revelation of Who God is in and through Jesus Christ.

This is why, to this day, I exhort men looking to a ministry of teaching from the Bible to learn both Hebrew and Greek. And, strange and sad as it was at the time, this is why I felt I had to leave the Church of Scotland twenty four years ago, when I came to see truths in Scripture that challenge a restrictive and narrow interpretation of baptismal practice.

Yet still I have a love of that great Scottish institution, and for that reason listened and watched close to tears at times, to comments sometimes being made that gave the impression that there was a conflict or even a contradiction between the revelation of Scripture and the revelation that is Jesus Christ. I can only say that, after 37 years of continuous, rigorous study of the Bible and deepening theological study, I can only explain such comments as being based at best on ignorance of Scripture and, at worst, on prejudices and life-preferences that have little or nothing to do with the Christian life that God calls us to.

So let me be honest and clear. As a Baptist pastor, I deeply feel for people who express their struggles in many areas of life to me. I seek to walk in the knowledge of God’s overwhelming love, mercy, compassion and grace; and also His judgement, wrath and condemnation of human rebellion and sin. As a Baptist scholar, I can only observe that I continue to find consistency throughout the Bible, both New and Old Testaments, on the subject of same-sex relationships. God in Christ neither encourages nor condones them. Same sex relationships are seen and recognised in the Bible to be a blatant manifestation of human sin and rebellion against God.

But please don’t mistake me. I know deeply that am a sinner, a man who makes many mistakes, saved for eternity only by the grace of God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. But I also am called by the Holy Spirit to seek to live a life that is being restructured. A life constantly being renewed in its understanding under the authority of the Bible, a life that is being painfully reshaped and rebuilt through the working of the Holy Spirit to be like Jesus Christ.

I discover who I am only by denying myself and seeking to follow Jesus. And I am so, so sorry that so many are being led and taught to approach the Christian life in a contrary way.

Yesterday was a sad day for many in the Church of Scotland. Those of us who are in other traditions, claiming to have a faith based both on the Bible and on living experience of God, should carefully and prayerfully watch, learn and discern the signs.

Waking up to reality

The section of Romans 1.16 – 2.1, where the righteousness and wrath of God are juxtaposed in 1.17 and 1.18, leads right through to 2.1:

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

It is good to be reminded that the Holy Scriptures present us with a realistic yet positive view of mankind. Paul, along with the writers of the history and prophetic books, are untied by the Holy Spirit is seeing mankind as frail and fragile, often failing and always fallible. So much potential yet proved to be, from Eden through Babel and beyond, pathetically impotent in realising that potential.

Until God takes hold of us in Jesus. And reshapes our humanity by the power of the Holy Spirit and directs and invites us under His care into the obedience of faith. All our lives are, in the light of Jesus, capable of rebooting and reorientation, as we view the Cross and hear the call to repentance and faith.

Paul well understands the real failure of all mankind. But he is no cynic, as so many who deal with the debris of human behaviour through the procedures of law and social work sadly become. The Apostle calls us to humility and recognition of the universality of human sin, including our own. But out of that, to respond to the invitation to be lifted up in the power of Christ’s resurrection, enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

God help us all to hold to such a perspective.

Faith follows

Preaching on Romans 1.16-18 and Hebrews 3 this Sunday, it really hit me afresh how much faith is confused with hope. At a popular-cultural level, faith is equated with 'belief', 'opinion'. How far from the Biblical picture that is! Hope is the response God wants us to have to what is revealed to us in Scripture and in testimony to Jesus Christ. We are to hope for the resurrection of the dead. Hope for eternal life. Hope for a renewed creation. All of these and other aspects of Biblical hope are things we believe in, want and long for. But they are not to be confused with faith.

Faith is our engagement in the task of serving the Kingdom of God now, as we hold on in hope. Hope is the font out of which faith and love spring, but all that matters now is faith expressing itself through love. Faith is the same as faithfulness. It's about getting on with the task of being guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit to purposefully participate in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

You don't yet have what you hope for. But faith is about getting our sleeves rolled up and getting on with the Jesus job, in the midst of the sweat, laughter, tears, tensions and sufferings of real living. Such faith is sourced and strengthened by the Holy Spirit and is not to be confused with 'works of the Law'. But it is real and demonstrated by action. It's fruitfulness in Jesus' name. And it makes a real difference, as salt and light.  By such faith you are saved.

Juggling Rainbows

OK - it's mixing metaphors. But it's important. It's so easy to reduce our view of the Holy Spirit into static monochrome. And we end up with far too little appetite for or expectancy of God actively intervening in our lives. The more I read and reflect on both the Holy Scriptures and the history of revival and renewal, the more clearly I see that we have to keep coming back to expand our awareness of how God acts in our lives, from the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit ministers to us:

Promises of God, expressed in the Scriptures

Presence and peace, the touch of His healing and deliverance from fear in our lives

Purpose and the nature of the Kingdom of God revealed

Participation in the life ministry of Christ, as we are baptised into His death and resurrection

Purification and purging of sin from our lives

Power to carry the Good News to others, with signs and wonders

Are you content with the measure of the Holy Spirit that is present in your life? If so, I truly pity you. But if you thirst for more, and ask God for it in Jesus' name, then I rejoice that you are journeying in the path of life.

Romans 1.5-7

Called to the obedience of faith, to be true to Jesus and to be holy people.

Ken Archer, in his recent book, The Gospel Revisited (Pickwick Publications, Eugene, Oregon, 2011), advocates the ‘fivefold Gospel’ of early Pentecostalism, which itself was a development of the ‘foursquare Gospel’ message of late nineteenth century Holiness teaching. The fivefold message is simple and well centred. It speaks of Jesus Christ as Saviour, Healer, Sanctifier, Spirit Baptiser and Coming King. Archer’s analogy of a wheel with Jesus as the hub and these five themes as the spokes is very effective and beautifully simple.

What strikes me most, however, is the acknowledgement of Jesus as ‘Sanctifier’. It is still emphasised among Wesleyan-holiness Pentecostals today. I can go with this. Holiness is what we need today: holiness carved out and filling our flesh with God’s Holy Spirit and making a holy difference. We can do with a lot more holiness among people who claim that they love Jesus.

Let us each start looking for this to fill us afresh: in the power of the HOLY Spirit.