Connecting to Christ's Resurrection Power

Are You Plugged In?
Connecting to Christ's Resurrection Power

This past Saturday, I was presenting one of my How to Care Like Christ seminars (http://bit.ly/3YYAR4).

About five minutes into the presentation, my computer started to go into hibernation mode! Nothing I could do would stop it. The cords all seemed plugged into the power source, but it just shut down on me.

Imagine the scene. Put yourself in my shoes as a speaker.

My entire presentation is PowerPoint driven. Most of these people didn’t know me. The whole start and set-up for the entire day could be ruined.

What would you do? What would you think? How might you respond?

That’s When God Showed Up

The tech guys (always have tech guys!) discovered that someone had accidently unplugged the extension cord from the wall hidden behind the platform. We were disconnected from the power source.

As Forest Gump might say, “That’s when God showed up.”

God’s Spirit not only calmed my spirit, He enlightened my mind.

What Satan Meant for Evil, God Meant for God

I shared with the crowd, “Satan wants to ruin our day. God wants to empower our day.”

I continued, “My computer had been disconnected from the power source. It shut down, hibernated, because it has limited battery power of its own.”

I went on to say, “A major theme of the How to Care Like Christ seminar is that we must tap into Christ’s resurrection power (Philippians 3:10). The same power that raised Christ from the dead, is within every Christian (Ephesians 1:18-20).”

“Our limited power of the flesh is nothing compared to the infinite resurrection power of Christ. His power is not some impersonal force, for our God is infinitely powerful and infinitely personal. We tap into His power by connecting to Him; by fellowshipping with and worshipping Him; and by communing with Christ through spiritual disciplines.”

All of a sudden, every person in that room realized that God had shown up!

He blessed us with a disconnected power cord that shut down my computer and could have ruined my presentation because He wanted to teach us not to rely upon ourselves but upon the God who raises the dead!

Are You Plugged In?

At the end of the seminar, I always have us spend time reflecting on and sharing together about what most impacted us, about what we will “take home with us.”

Thankfully, many things we had shared in the How to Care Like Christ seminar impacted people.

But guess what impacted many people the most? Yep. It wasn’t anything I said or did. It was what God did. It was an unplugged power cord.

So many people shared, “What God taught me today is that in my Christian life, I have to stay connected to Him.” And, “If I am going to minister to others and care like Christ, then I have to stay plugged into Christ.”

Are you plugged in?

Or are you trying to live your Christian life on battery power?

The limited power of the flesh will eventually cause us to hibernate spiritually.

Let’s stay connected to our infinitely powerful and infinitely personal God.

Let’s stay plugged in!

Connect through the VineLine

Connect through The VineLine

Are you ready to be equipped? Then receive RPM Ministries’ free monthly e-Newsletter, The VineLine. For your personal subscription, email us at rpm.ministries@gmail.com with the subject line: “Please Add.”

What do you get in each issue of The VineLine? Every issue you receive:

*Links to free ministry equipping resources that empower you to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth.

*A timely, engaging article that relates Christ’s Word to your daily life and ministry.

*Updates about RPM Ministries’ speaking, writing, and consulting.

*News of note about what’s happening in biblical counseling and spiritual formation in the church and para-church.

*An opportunity to share your praise and prayer requests with a community of people who care.

*Special offers with major discounts on RPM Ministries’ equipping products.

What’s Up with The VineLine?

Many people have asked how I decided on The VineLine as the name for our e-newsletter. One hypothesis is that the Chicago Cubs used to have a magazine called The VineLine, named because of Wrigley Field's famous ivy-covered walls. Truth be told, that was part of my inspiration, being the diehard Cubs' fan that I am!

One novel idea was that it came from the song I Heard It Through the Grapevine! Well, the idea of keeping connected and communicating that is association with that imagery is intriguing, however the overall meaning of the song doesn’t quite fit the RPM image.

Abide in the Vine

No, the true source of the name The VineLine comes from John 15:5. “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Okay, “Great verse,” you say, “but how exactly does that connect to RPM Ministries?”

Ah, that leads to another little debate. People often want to know if RPM stands for “Revolutions Per Minute,” like “How many RPMs does your car have?”

Well, there is something of a play on words there with the concept of power. But . . . there’s more to it . . . much more.

What some people don’t realize is that RPM Ministries stands for:

Resurrection
Power
Multipliers

The Power of His Resurrection

And resurrection power multipliers comes from the theme verse for RPM Ministries: Philippians 3:10, where Paul says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection . . .”

Keep following the logic here. Think about another key aspect of RPM Ministries: "Equipping you to change lives with Christ’s changeless truth.”

Paul knows that it is Christ’s power that changes our lives. In fact, he prays in Ephesians 1:18-23, that we could be enlightened to know the incomparably great power at work in us who believe, that power is like the working of God’s mighty strength which he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead!

As new creations in Christ, we have the same power residing in us that raised Christ from the dead!

“But, but, but . . .,” we mutter and sputter, “then why in the world do we so frequently live such defeated lives!?”

Exactly!

The Creation of Adam

Here’s the final piece to the puzzle.

We live defeated lives because we are not tapping into Christ’s resurrection power. We must commune with Christ and connect with the Body of Christ if we are ever to experience Christ’s resurrection power and thus live victorious lives.

That’s why RPM Ministries is all about comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed biblical counseling and spiritual formation. Being formed into the image of Christ is the ultimate goal of all biblical counseling, of all biblical ministry. We want our inner lives increasingly to reflect the inner life of Christ.

We do that only as we connect to Christ’s resurrection power.

The RPM logo of The Creation of Adam (the picture of God’s hand reaching out to touch Adam’s hand) represents this concept. I bet you never realized that!

People have often wondered why Michelangelo painted Adam’s hand so limp and lifeless. Because he was lifeless! Michelangelo was depicting Adam just before God breathed into him the breath of life.

Without the breath of God, without the touch of God, without the resurrection power of God, we are lifeless. Defeated. Dead.

We must abide in the Vine. We must tap into the power already resident within us. We must connect to and commune with Christ.

The VineLine

The name of our monthly newsletter captures the mission, vision, passion, and commission of RPM Ministries. Through The VineLine we want to connect you to Christ’s resurrection power so your life can change and so you can change lives with Christ’s changeless.