Why is the Apostolic Doctrine best suited to affect our society?
Why is the Apostolic Doctrine is best suited to affect our society?
Experience.
Our society wants something experiential, not blind obedience to theology. They desire something tangible, not something philosophical. They want feelings to accompany their faith, to see the supernatural in the natural, to experience the unexplainable. They want to taste what God “supposedly” has to offer, something substantial that proves it is worth doing, it is worth living, it is worth sacrificing for, it is worth trying.
They want a salvation that will enable them to quit addictions, that helps them sleep at night, and gives them peace, courage, direction, wisdom, and forgiveness each time they stumble. They want to know they are “saved” and have become “right with God”, and to have a mile marker experience where they can look back and know exactly when it happened. They want a salvation that cannot be manipulated, something reliable in an unreliable world. They want something more than mere opinion and theology. They want an experience with God himself!
In almost every church that holds to the Apostle’s Doctrine and in homes or families that hold to this doctrine, someone at anytime can physically, emotionally, and spiritually experience God’s answer to these demands. Note: Apostles’ Doctrine or Teaching is a biblical phrase used in Acts 2:42 that refers to how people apply the Gospel to their lives, Acts 2:38. It is this application that is so crucial. Because “believing” in Jesus alone, as we have seen it in American Christian Society, is not enough. This only changes surface level behaviors. Our society needs a baptism of the Holy Spirit to infuse them with true life-changing power.
Bottom line: our friends, family, co-workers, and our society in general needs an experience with God.
The source of this experience is the Holy Spirit. This is not some lofty idea preached from a pulpit, but God himself manifesting himself to the person. In most cases, it is a tangible experience that becomes their concrete evidence of the invisible God. It becomes their proof of God. It becomes their proof of his love and care for them.
The very thing that our culture is seeking … some type of experience that changes them … we have. We do not believe a gospel that is only mental, but is spiritual and physical. God still heals. Miracles still happen. God still answers prayer. God still delivers from addictions. God still moves among us. God still speaks to anyone who will listen. God cares enough about us to be with us in the middle of our messy lives.
Our society needs this kind of church. And this is the kind of church I want to be a part of.
Join in and refuse to be content with a church that does not experience God. Strive for real relationship with Him. Push through your religious barriers and old unbiblical concepts of God. Invite Him to move on you, fill you, change you. Experience Him. Tell others about it. Watch God change them too.
