Podcast Episode Details

🙏 Sermon Summary: Walking in Step with the Spirit

This week, Jonathan Dunning challenged us to move beyond simply being a "nominally charismatic" church—one that sings the songs and waves the flags but "denies its power". Drawing from Galatians 5:25, "Since we're living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives", the message urged us to shift from mere information to impartation and to be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Call to Power and Purpose

Jonathan highlighted that being filled with the Holy Spirit isn't an "optional extra" but God's command and grace gift. Citing John Stott, he emphasized that what the church needs is not more eloquence or organization, but "more power from the Holy Spirit". This power enables us to be witnesses and missionaries, moving us beyond a "spirit of timidity" and into a spirit of "power and of love and of self-discipline" (2 Timothy 1:7). He asked challenging questions for personal reflection:

• When were you last filled with the Holy Spirit?
• When did you last stir up the spiritual gift in you?

How to Walk in Step with the Spirit

The core of the sermon focused on practical ways to "walk in step" with God's Spirit, using the metaphor of a journey:

1. Put God First and Deny Self-Will: This involves living a good and righteous life, obeying God's ways, and acknowledging Him so He can direct our path (Proverbs 3:6).
2. Listen and Obey the Nudge: Like sheep recognizing the shepherd's voice (John 10), we need to be attuned to the Spirit's inner voice, the prompt, the stirring, or the nudge. This inner voice is the same one that convicts us of wrongdoing.
3. Keep Pace and Time: We must avoid rushing ahead and lagging behind. Timing is key. Like the vision in Habakkuk, a clear vision is "for an appointed time" and requires patient waiting. We need to keep in step to catch the Kairos moment, the divinely appointed time where heaven touches earth.

The Spirit's Guidance in Jonathan's Life and MCF

Jonathan shared powerful personal examples of how the Spirit has led him through his life and ministry:

• Inner Voice: Sensing a clear call to pastoral ministry at age 17 and later feeling the distinct nudge to step down from a role, even with no clear path ahead.
• Impartation: Receiving an "anointing for ministry" through the laying on of hands and prayer from others.
• Prophetic Words: Receiving a word in his twenties calling him to prison ministry, which unfolded years later with a job as the UK's first free minister paid by the home office to serve as a prison chaplain.
• Scripture: Using Ecclesiastes 3 ("a time to uproot and a time to plant") to process a difficult transition in ministry.
• Closed Doors: Learning to "trust the closed door" when his "dream job" didn't materialize, which ultimately led him to stumble into ministry at MCF in Sheffield.

He concluded by stressing that walking in the Spirit is also for the church collectively. MCF's journey—from moving to the estate to receiving prophetic words about enlarging the place of the tent (Isaiah 54) and the river of God flowing (Ezekiel 47)—has been a result of people listening and obeying the Spirit's nudges, not simply "man's design". The final challenge: "You cannot walk with God without moving

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Published on 13 hours ago