Bible Study with David Hathaway - (David Hathaway’s weekly TV programmes)

(Recorded in Germany) In 1972, when I was in prison for Bible smuggling, my heart was full of desperation and pain. One day, as I was praying, a miracle happened: it was as if Heaven had opened, the cell was filled with a brilliant light, all the angels of Heaven seemed to crowd into that cell, and I began to praise and worship the Lord. I got to my feet and began to run around that cell singing, “Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art!” The glory of God filled my heart, changing me, the sadness and the pain were gone! I was locked in a prison cell, yet I was in the presence of God, experiencing the glory of God, something greater than I had ever known in a church – it was as if I was transported into Heaven!

Filmed in Germany: I’m so thankful to God for allowing me to serve Him for 75 years. God has been so faithful to me. From childhood, I wanted every day and every part of my life to be under the direction and control of the Holy Spirit. Now when I look back over 75 years of ministry I know with absolute certainty that there has been both purpose and direction in my life. God has been in control of all my days and all my experiences. Everything that has happened in my life was foreknown in His plan.

Recorded in Germany: From my youth, I have had a vision burning in my soul – a vision of Europe won for Christ: ‘Eurovision’. This vision is God’s vision, God’s desire – my vision – to see His Power, His Glory in Europe. I cannot rest until God fulfils this vision that He has put within my heart.

Jesus made a very strong statement in Acts 1.8. He said, “YOU WILL RECEIVE POWER! You will receive Power after the Holy Spirit is come on you!” I want to challenge you of the necessity in the Church of POWER! Power motivates and drives everything God does and everything that we do. We NEED the Fire and Power of God! There are three sources of Power open to us. ONE: you will receive Power after the Holy Spirit is come on you, (Acts 1.8). TWO: there is Power in our prayer. The prayer of faith will save the sick, James 5.14, and the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man ‘avails much’ - it is the Power that will move mountains! James 5.16. Elijah was no different to us! James 5.17. He prayed there would be no rain in Israel, and there was no rain for three and a half years until he prayed that it would rain. And it did! From my earliest boyhood I’ve experienced the Power of prayer. I learnt from my father! I’m the product of his powerful prayers. All my life I’ve experienced the Power of answered prayer. There’s corporate prayer, yes, but there’s private prayer when YOU get to grips with God! Still today, through the Holy Spirit, prayer, communication with God, is the source of my power. THREE: the Power of the Blood. Reading through Corinthians recently, where Paul is writing about the Communion, he says, 1 Cor .10.16, “Is not the cup of Blessing which we bless - the Communion - a participation in the Blood of Christ?” At the Last Supper Jesus told His disciples, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” In Cor 11.23ff, Paul writes, “I received from the Lord what I have passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He said, ‘This is My Body broken for you, do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way after supper, He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My Blood, do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes!”

Jesus comes into Capernaum, and a centurion comes to Him – he’s not a Jew, he’s a Roman soldier, an officer in the army that is occupying the land. But this officer comes to Jesus saying, “My servant is at home, sick of the palsy – paralysed – and grievously tormented.” Immediately Jesus responds, “I will come and heal him.” That’s Jesus – the willingness – He would even go to a Roman and heal his servant. But the Roman says, no, I’m not a Jew, I’m not good enough for You to come to my home. Yes, I’m an officer – but I’m not worthy of You! You can imagine what those Roman officers got up to, believe me! They weren’t normally kind, gentle people, they had the power to be brutal. Yet – and this is very interesting – he says, “I’m not worthy to have You in my house, but SPEAK ONLY A WORD, and my servant will be healed!” He recognised the AUTHORITY Jesus had! Stop here for a moment. You see, it wasn’t just the centurion who recognised the authority of Jesus, but the ordinary people, back up on that mountain in Chs 5,6 &7, THEY saw the authority He had! You see, the scribes studied and taught ‘from the Book’. But even the ordinary people saw that there’s a vast difference between ‘teaching from the Book’ and speaking with AUTHORITY as Jesus did – not from intellectual study, but from a life lived with practice and experience. Matthew 7.28-29.

'I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. Don’t you realise that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.' (1 Corinthians 9.23-27, NLT)

Paul speaks to the Corinthians as a spiritual father, correcting them out of love. His goal is restoration, not punishment. He reminds them that the Kingdom of God is not just talk, but power – genuine faith produces transformed lives, not just impressive words. 'So Apollos and I should be looked upon as Christ’s servants who distribute God’s blessings by explaining God’s secrets. Now the most important thing about a servant is that he does just what his master tells him to. What about me? Have I been a good servant? Well, I don’t worry over what you think about this or what anyone else thinks. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. My conscience is clear, but even that isn’t final proof. It is the Lord himself who must examine me and decide. 'So be careful not to jump to conclusions before the Lord returns as to whether someone is a good servant or not. When the Lord comes, he will turn on the light so that everyone can see exactly what each one of us is really like, deep down in our hearts. Then everyone will know why we have been doing the Lord’s work. At that time God will give to each one whatever praise is coming to him. 'I have used Apollos and myself as examples to illustrate what I have been saying: that you must not have favorites. You must not be proud of one of God’s teachers more than another. What are you so puffed up about? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if all you have is from God, why act as though you are so great, and as though you have accomplished something on your own?' (1 Corinthians 4.1-7, TLB.)

Paul had a problem with the church in Corinth. They were still ‘babes in Christ’ - 1 Cor 3.1. Anyone who has been a parent knows the struggle it is to bring children to maturity - to potty-train them, to train them to eat nicely, to share, and everything else… When you come to Christ, you leave behind worldly things to live in a ‘Christ dimension’ - a dimension so distinct and different from the world we grew up in. That’s why Jesus said you’ve got to be ‘born again’ - come on! You’ve got to die to the old, and, like a new-born, you’ve got to start and learn the basics. That’s why Paul says in v2, “I gave you milk and not meat, because you were not able, and you’re still are not able. You still behave like worldly people do…” Let’s face it - there are many in the church who live and speak like the world, like they did before they became a Christian… No difference. The biggest problem in Corinth was the strife, envy and division. That’s not Christ. Christ is one. In Him is no division. But some of the people in Corinth were saying, v4, “I follow Paul”, and others were saying, “I follow Apollos.” That’s not of God!

I don’t read anywhere in the New Testament that Jesus or the Apostles engaged in ‘spiritual warfare’, binding demons BEFORE they could minister freely somewhere. Talking to our Heavenly Father, yes. Seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, yes. Because, through Jesus, by the Spirit we have DIRECT access to the Father - Eph 2.18! The promise of the Father is that when we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive power to become Christ’s witnesses, anywhere on earth, wherever He calls us - Acts 1.4-5,8! It’s simple. Paul, writing the believers in the pagan city of Corinth, said, 1 Cor 2, “When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” That’s a powerful statement! I’m sorry to say that today our preachers preach all sorts of things that I would question. But Paul is very simple. Though he was a highly educated Jew with Roman citizenship from the city of Tarsus in Asia Minor, though he was a Pharisee, trained to a very high degree in Jewish Scripture, theology, teachings and traditions, and equipped with much ‘eloquence and superior wisdom’ from his studies in Jerusalem - when he came to these Corinthians, he came very simply, resolved to know and preach nothing else, but Christ and His Crucifixion. This is a challenge to the Church today, because I fear we’ve gone far away from the basics.