The last couple months, as we have been reviewing the 2004 theme, A Year of Increasing Influence, we have been reintroduced to the eight "I" beams that form the foundations for this theme. These "I" beams are:

• Imminent Glory
• Intimacy and Intercession
• Inviting Hospitality
• Intentional Evangelism and Discipleship
• Intensifying Leadership Development
• Implementing Partnerships
• Investment Mindset
• Irresistible Influence

One of the greatest scriptural examples of a church living out these "I" beams and experiencing the reality of Increasing Influence is the early church, as pictured in Acts 2:42-47:

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

We are told here that the early Christians "continually devoted themselves" to several key practices that transformed them into a people of Irresistible Influence. To be continually devoted literally means "to have a steadfast, single-minded devotion to a course of action." The course of action the early church pursued was becoming:

A Feeding People: Interacting with God's Word

In his second letter to his protégé Timothy, the apostle Paul wrote:

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:14-17

The Spirit of God always leads the people of God to submit to the Word of God. How devoted are you to the teachings of Scripture? Are you hungry for His Word? Are you feeding on His Word?

A Fellowshipping People: Interacting with God's People

The Greek word for fellowship, koinos, means "experiencing a common life together." As the people of God, we enter into the community of God Himself as expressed in the Trinity. The apostle John put it this way: "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:5). It is out of our life in God that we share our life with one another. That is also the wellspring out of which generosity flows. The apostle Paul described the generosity of the church in Macedonia this way in 2 Corinthians 8:5: "And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will."

A Flowing People: Interacting with God's Spirit

The very atmosphere of the early church was charged with the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit. The miraculous, while it, by definition, was not necessarily commonplace, was certainly a normal, consistent part of the life of the church. A scripture the Lord has spoken to me very personally and powerfully down through the years, and again recently, is Galatians 3:3-5, where the apostle Paul wrote:

Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

The early church was utterly dependent on the Holy Spirit, and the flow of Irresistible Influence was the fruit of that dependence.

A Favored People: Interacting with God's World

"And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." It is the Lord Himself who wins souls to His kingdom. As He said in Luke 19:10, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

We have the privilege of joining Christ in this work. He is sending us out with His authority and anointing, just as He sent out the first disciples in Luke 10:2 and told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go!" The command of the Lord today is still "Go!"

In this Year of Opportunity, 2009, the Lord is inviting us to re-engage the eight "I" beams that are foundational to our calling to be an Apostolic House of Prayer for All Nations. As we devote ourselves to His Word, His people, His Spirit, and His world, we will naturally become a church of Increasing and Irresistible Influence. It is an opportunity we don't want to miss!

--Pastor Jim