Eligibility – Who Is This Movement For?

PETER AND JOHN
THE GOLD STANDARD OF MINISTRY

In Acts 2, the disciples - newly filled with the Holy Spirit which we often refer to as Pentecost - spoke to religious people who had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Feast.  They already knew the Scriptures.  Peter was calling them to repent, to turn from their old beliefs and receive the Messiah they had rejected.

We need to take note of the fact in Acts 3, Peter and John spoke not with words encouraging repentance but with love, giving healing to a broken man on the street who needed no sermon - only the touch of God’s compassion.

In Acts 3, we see that Peter and John were on their way to a mid-afternoon prayer meeting when they were asked for money by a beggar sitting at the gate who had been lame since birth.  He expected money, but he got so much more.

What I noticed in this Bible story is …

• Peter and John did not speak to the man about repentance.
• They did not imply if he was going to receive, they would have to go to church;
• He was not asked to ensure he cleaned up before he could receive.
• They did not even ask him to become a member of their fellowship.

When the lame man saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money.

Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, “Look at us!”  The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting some money. But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”

Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk! Then, walking, leaping, and praising God, he went into the Temple with them.

All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God. When they realized he was the lame beggar they had seen so often at the Beautiful Gate, they were absolutely astounded! They all rushed out in amazement to Solomon’s Colonnade, where the man was holding tightly to Peter and John.  (Acts 3:4-11 NLT)

I have spent time talking with people on the streets of our towns and cities.  They often talk of how they feel when professing Christians stop to offer them a tract, or a bible, an invitation to church, and then leave telling them they will keep them in their thoughts and prayers.

They are not impressed.  They only talk about how the person never sat with them, got to know their names or their life situation, never offered a sandwich or a bottle of water let alone prayer.  They could feel the person’s discomfort in not wanting to “get dirty” by even offering the person a hug.

So, these hurting people throw away the tract and usually the Bible, first because they have no where to keep their belongings, and second because they feel about these local missionaries the way the addicts in Hong Kong felt.

Please take a moment to put yourselves in someone else’s shoes …

Can you imagine the impact on that lame man when he received healing instead of money.  He was now able to walk and take care of himself.  I guess it’s similar to the saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach him how to fish and he will feed himself and his family for a lifetime.”

This becomes the brand identity of the Detox with Jesus movement.  We want people who represent our movement to leave the person they meet in any situation to be able to see “Jesus in us”.

Hopefully they will say they want what we have, but even if they don’t ask, we need to be like Peter and John, willing to take the time from our busy schedule to stop for the one in front of us expressing a need.

We may not have money to give, but we have infinitely more to offer.  And the world is tired of empty platitudes and settling for money thrown their way that keeps them living in poverty of spirit.

In the words of a famous song, “What the world needs now Is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of…”

For this reason, Detox with Jesus is branded around these three principles:

People-Helping-People

Not programs. Not performances. Not religious hoops. Not superficial solutions.

This kind of leadership: Loves long-term; Lives among the hurting; Is teachable; Intercedes; Advocates; Does not quit; Moves in the Spirit; Listens to God instead of relying on formulas.

Spirit-Empowered Ministry

Matthew 3:11–12 shows the dividing line: Some will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Others will be baptized with fire (because they refuse to change).

Detox with Jesus wants people who are:  Repentant (willing to unlearn religious thinking); open to the Spirit; walking in mercy; not divisive (Jude 17–23); builders, not scoffers and lovers of souls, not performers of religion.

Accountability + Integrity

Reinhard Bonnke testified after thousands come to Christ at one of his Holy Spirit Evangelical crusades there is true repentance, evidenced by the people returning stolen goods, leaving crime, confessing truth, living clean, no manipulation, no exploitation, no spiritual pride.

As a person who has always lived in Canada, this type of repentance is not usually seen.  People, like I did years ago, walk down the aisle of a church, decide they are going to give their lives to Jesus in exchange for a wide range of blessings.

I have never witnessed the kind of repentance Reinhard Bonnke talks about, or Jackie Pullinger describes in her book and in her YouTube video testimonials.

It is time for change.

It is time that spiritual leaders begin to model transparency and honesty.

Jesus was addressing the Jewish leaders in this passage, but I feel His words apply to all of us who fall into this category as spiritual believers:

But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely on the Law [for your salvation] and boast in [your special relationship to] God, and [if you claim to] know His will and approve the things that are essential or have a sense of what is excellent, based on your instruction from the Law,  and [if you] are confident that you are a [qualified] guide to the blind [those untaught in theology], a light to those who are in darkness, and [that you are] a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the [spiritually] childish, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth -  well then, you who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

You who preach against stealing, do you steal [in ways that are discrete, but just as sinful]?  You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob [pagan] temples [of valuable idols and offerings]?  You who boast in the Law, do you [repeatedly] dishonor God by breaking the Law? ²⁴ For, “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written [in Scripture].  (Romans 2:17-24 AMP)