FRESH WIND, FRESH FIRE STUDY GUIDE
CHAPTER ONE: THE AMATEURS
When Jim Cymbala, the new pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, realized the church didn’t have enough money to pay its mortgage, he prayed and asked God to provide. In what way(s) did God’s faithful provision of a one-hundred-dollar anonymous donation help to prepare Jim and his wife, Carol, for what was to come in their ministry?
After a Sunday evening service that began with Pastor Cymbala being too depressed to preach, God helped him discover that “God is attracted to weakness. He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him. Our weakness, in fact, makes room for his power.”
• In what way(s) have you seen these truths illustrated in your life?
• What effect(s) do you think pretense has on God’s Spirit?
• How does God respond when we humble ourselves before him and seek to depend on him fully?
A Time to Share
If you feel comfortable doing so, share a time when you had to depend totally on the Lord and his provision. What happened?
While Pastor Cymbala was on a fishing boat recovering from a lung ailment, he sensed God saying to him, “If you and your wife will lead my people to pray and call upon my name, you will never lack for something fresh to preach.” God then affirmed his commitment to provide vital funds.
Many times in the Bible, God uses the word if when talking about the way he wants to bless us: if we seek him, if we love one another, if we. Why does God sometimes make what he will do for us conditional on our hunger for him?
Throughout Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Pastor Cymbala emphasizes the importance of prayer. How would you describe the relationship between prayer and seeing the Holy Spirit work in our lives? In our churches?
CHAPTER TWO: CATCHING FIRE
“The format of a prayer meeting is not nearly as important as its essence—touching the Almighty, crying out with one’s whole being,” Pastor Cymbala writes. “What matters most is that we encounter the God of the universe, not just each other.”
• What is it about encountering one another that sometimesseems sufficient for us?
• Why do we need to encounter God?
Which things begin to happen when people draw near to the Lord, receive the Holy Spirit’s fullness, and rekindle their first love for God?
Why, as we seek to share the message of Jesus with hurting people, is it important for us to have faith in God’s ability to transform anyone’s life, regardless of his or her problems?
As people who attended the Brooklyn Tabernacle were energized by the Holy Spirit, what happened among the different races represented in the congregation?
Pastor Cymbala writes, “In America it would appear that there is more openness, acceptance, and teamwork in the gym [among people of different races] than in the church of Jesus Christ.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Illustrate your answers whenever possible.
Personal Reflection
What might you, and/or members of your church, do within the next month to increase openness and respectful acceptancebetween races in your church? In your community?
Over and over again, Pastor Cymbala and members of the Brooklyn Tabernacle congregation have wept and pleaded before God for last-minute help. How do you approach God when you need his intervention in what otherwise would be an impossible situation?
Why is it important for us to want to pray and to continue to call out for God’s blessing and help? What might be the result(s) if we stop praying and don’t believe that God is big enough to meet our needs?
CHAPTER THREE: A SONG FOR THE DESPERATE
It is no secret that many church leaders rigidly schedule their services, including the songs and hymns, and leave little room for God’s leading. Pastor Cymbala encourages those church leaders to trust God, long and pray for God’s presence among them, and allow God’s Spirit to govern the meetings. Sometimes, as the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir sings during a service, a spirit of praise descends on the people and the entire direction of the meeting changes.
• When you think about this happening in a service, how do you feel?
• What do you think the balance should be between spontaneity and the prepared order of service when the Holy Spirit is clearly at work within your congregation?
When she was delivered from the bondage of sin, Roberta Langella described how she finally knew “down deep” that God loved her and accepted her, so she could relax in his love. What is the difference between really experiencing God’s love and just knowing it intellectually?
The four Sunday services at the Brooklyn Tabernacle are each at least two hours long. In Pastor Cymbala’s words, “We have always felt we had to give the Holy Spirit time to work; we couldn’t rush people through some kind of assembly line.” In what way(s) is this approach to the Holy Spirit’s working in a worship service different than the approach used in other churches?
What do you understand Pastor Cymbala to mean by the followingcomment? “Prayer cannot truly be taught by principles and seminars and symposiums. It has to be born out of a whole environment of felt need.” In what way(s) does this perspective differ from what you have been taught concerning prayer?
Many of us would affirm, as Pastor Cymbala writes, that “prayer is the source of the Christian life, a Christian’s lifeline.”He then says that the greater emphasis on teaching in today’s churches is producing limited results because many listeners do not have an active prayer life.
• What are some of the reasons many Christians spend little, or no, time in prayer each day?
• What effects does this lack of prayer create in their lives? In the churches they attend? In their outreach to non-Christians?
Personal Reflection
Would you describe yourself as a person who is devoted to prayer? Why or why not? How might a greater devotion to prayer change your life?
In Genesis 4:26, we read, “At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD.” What would it mean for us to “call on” the name of the Lord with all of our heart and soul?
CHAPTER FOUR:
THE GREATEST DISCOVERY OF ALL TIME
Throughout Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Pastor Cymbala touches on God’s commitment to listen to our prayers and respond to us. He writes that God is not aloof, that God says continually through the centuries, “I’ll help you, I really will. When you don’t know where to turn, then turn to me.” And Pastor Cymbalashares how he and Carol had prayed for Chrissy, their daughter. In what way(s) does our view of God influence our desire and willingness to call on him in the day of trouble (Psalm 50:15)?
Personal Reflection
What difficulty are you or someone you know experiencing that you need to pray about? How is your view of God influencing your prayer life right now?
If you were to choose between attending a church in which the pastor uses preaching as a subtle form of entertainment and a church in which people really call on the name of the Lord and long to know him intimately, which would you choose? Why?
Pastor Cymbala writes, “The devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdomwill be damaged when we lift up our hearts to God.” Why is it so tempting for us to rely on our own cleverness and energy instead of humbling ourselves, calling on God’s name with all our hearts, and depending on him to do great things?
Sometimes Pastor Cymbala changes the flow of a church service in order to pray for a specific need. If that happened in your church, what might the consequences be?
CHAPTER FIVE: THE DAY JESUS GOT MAD
Why is it important for those of us who are involved in Christian ministry—pastoring, preaching, singing in a choir, leading a small group—to look at why we are doing these things, to examine whether we do these things with hearts that radiate God’s love or for some other reasons?
Pastor Cymbala writes, “I have seen God do more in people’s lives during ten minutes of real prayer than in ten of my sermons.”Do you agree that praying can be as, or even much more, beneficial than listening to great sermons? What results of real prayer have you seen?
A Time to Share
The Holy Spirit was poured out, as recorded in Acts 1–2, when the disciples were waiting on God. What do you think would happen if more Christians spent time waiting on God, letting him shape them, cleanse their spirits, and work in their hearts? If you feel comfortable doing so, describe a time when you experienced the fullness of God as a result of waiting on him.
If prayer is the key to strong churches and dynamic gospel outreach, what do you think is keeping more Christians from spending more time praying and calling on God’s name?
Personal Reflection
What do you think will happen if you begin to pray that God will reveal his power in your life and lead you toward people whom he wants you to love?
If you don’t already set aside time each day to pray and really talk with God about your troubles, your challenges, your persecutions, those around you who don’t yet know him, what’s stopping you from starting today? Set aside a few minutes today and talk to God about what’s going on in your life and the lives of others.
Most ministries of the Brooklyn Tabernacle are birthed by spiritually sensitive people who pray about a need and feel a calling to start a ministry to meet that need. In what way(s) is this different from hatching an idea during a church staff or leadership meeting?
Often Pastor Cymbala describes people who come to the Brooklyn Tabernacle as being in desperate straits. What happensin your church when “unusual,” desperate, or even very difficult people show up?
When we truly believe that God can change people from the inside out, regardless of how sinful or hopeless they may be, as opposed to viewing God as being somewhat powerless and uncaring, what changes occur in:
• Our response to God?
• Our prayer life?
• Our direct contact with desperate, needy people?
• Our congregations?
A Time to Share
Throughout Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Pastor Cymbala describes times when he and others have felt the Holy Spirit’s prompting to pray for specific individuals who had specific needs. Then God responded in wonderful ways.
• What did you think when you read these stories?
• What does it mean to “listen” to God’s voice?
• When do you believe you have “heard” God’s voice?
• Why is it important for people to join together in fervent prayer, asking God to meet specific needs?
Revelation 5:8 reveals that “the prayers of the saints” are so precious to God that he keeps them like a treasure! How might that truth encourage us in our daily lives?
It is easy to be pessimistic when we look at the evil in the world around us. But Pastor Cymbala offers a solution: “Only turning God’s house into a house of fervent prayer will reverse the power of evil so evident in the world today.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?
Personal Reflection
Which area(s) of your life needs prayer? (Your marriage? Your children? Your business decisions?) How much are you willing to invest each day in crying out for God’s grace and power?
Pastor Cymbala asks this question: “If a meeting doesn’t end with people touching God, what kind of a meeting is it?” In answer to this question, how would you describe the purpose of a meeting where people do not meet God?
Pastor Cymbala repeatedly emphasizes the importance of realizing that prayer is God’s channel of blessing—and then praying, not out of legalistic habit but out of strong desire. Where does this desire come from?
A Time to Share
Jesus’ disciples acted like cowards following his arrest. In contrast, Pastor Cymbala describes some of the things they did after Jesus’ resurrection:
• Received the Holy Spirit’s infilling.
• Did not create labels for one another—denominational or any other kind—that might have created division.
• Were unified.
• Went out to “do God’s work in God’s way.”
• Were guileless, sincere, and courageous.
• Often prayed together, calling on the Lord to help them.
How do these observations relate to us in our daily lives?
CHAPTER SIX: A TIME FOR SHAKING
In Ephesians 5:18, Paul writes that we need to “be always being filled with the Spirit” (literal translation). Why is it important for each of us—no matter whether we call ourselves evangelicals, fundamentalists, Pentecostals, or charismatics—to admit our lack of real power and be filled with God’s fresh wind and fresh power?
Pastor Cymbala mentions that “God has never lacked the power to work through available people to glorify his name.” What do you think it means, in practical terms, for us to be “available” to God?
Personal Reflection
In what way(s) have you accommodated yourself to what the world wants or expects from you? In what way(s) are you boldly, aggressively, and perhaps even militantly standing firm for Jesus? Even when you feel weak in your own strength, what might God be calling you to prayerfully and boldly accomplish for his kingdom? In your neighborhood? At work? In your family?
After a young man carried a pistol up to the pulpit while Pastor Cymbala was preaching, Carol Cymbala suffered from deep, oppressive fear that only went away after choir members joined together to pray after being prompted by the Holy Spirit.
• Why do you think Satan uses fear?
• How do Christians experience release from fear?
According to Revelation 3:20, God is ready to draw close to us and provide his love and power. Yet some of us refuse to open the door of our hearts and minds to him.
• Why do you think we do this?
• What are the real issues that keep us from turning to God?
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE LURE OF NOVELTY
A Time to Share
Pastor Cymbala writes, “In the church today, we are falling prey to the appeal of ‘New!’ The old truths of the gospel don’t seem spectacular enough. We’re restless for the latest, greatest, newest teaching or technique.”
• In what way(s) has the emphasis on “New!” impacted churches in your community? Impacted the spiritual walk of people you know?
• What are the “old” truths that need to be shared and will make an impact in your community?
• Why do you think people are attracted to things other than the “plain gospel” Jesus proclaimed?
Personal Reflection
As you look back on your life, what impact has the basic gospel message had on you? Contrast this with the impact that nonscriptural teachings and techniques have had on you. In what way(s) are you strongly attracted to “innovations” and “new spiritual shortcuts” and tend to lose sight of the “plain gospel”?
Pastor Cymbala describes the importance of humbling ourselves before God and returning to God’s “basics.” Prayerfully reflect on your spiritual walk.
• To which of God’s “basics” might he be calling you to return?
• Which step(s) will you take this coming week to move in this direction?
Pastor Cymbala writes, “The Bible speaks more about resisting the devil than it does about binding him [1 Peter 5:8–9].” Yet Christians in some circles emphasize “binding” rather than emphasizing their need to press on with old-fashioned spiritual endurance in their ongoing battle against Satan. Why is such endurance a vital part of our Christian walk?
A Time to Share
Pastor Cymbala explores Acts 11:20–24, which describes how God worked mightily in the city of Antioch.
• Which points stand out to you as you read these verses aloud? Why?
• How do these verses relate to what God wants to do through us today?
“Let’s forget the novelties,” Pastor Cymbala writes. “If we prevail in prayer, God will do what only he can do. How he does things, when he does them, and in what manner are up to him. The name of Jesus, the power of his blood, and the prayer of faith have not lost their power over the centuries.” How does this quotation relate:
• To us—as individuals?
• To us—as a body of believers?
• To the specific needs of people in our local community?
“As a minister I firmly believe,” Pastor Cymbala writes, “that I am not allowed to preach what is not in the Bible.”
• How is this belief similar to or different from the belief of other pastors, as evidenced by their preaching?
• Do you believe this completely biblical focus should be an essential part of church life today? Why or why not?
• What can happen within a church when its pastor(s) disobeys 1 Corinthians 4:6 and goes “beyond what is written” in the Bible?
Pastor Cymbala likens the Bible—God’s written, revealed body of truth—to a deep well that no human being can fathom. But instead of going down into this well, some of us have the tendency to “splash around in truth for a while” and then jump out side the well. What are some of the fads that Christians pursue rather than really probing the depths of the living waters inside God’s “well”?
After mentioning that many Christians have become enamored with what he describes as “deliverance from dark powers,”Pastor Cymbala goes on to say that some people in the church blame the devil instead of facing the sin in their lives and repenting of their own wrongdoing.
• What is it about the word sin that is so offensive to some people today?
• What is the result when people tend to focus on how they have been victimized rather than focusing on their personal responsibility and the transforming power of God that can enable them to work in his service regardless of their past?
Personal Reflection
What can you do this week to avail yourself of God’s promises concerning your life? Your family? Your church?
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE LURE OF MARKETING
After quoting Acts 4:29, “Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness,” Pastor Cymbala writes, “Boldness can only be impacted by the Holy Spirit.” Contrast this point with the belief that we can learn this kind of boldness on our own.
Do you agree with Pastor Cymbala that in order to build the church Jesus intended, we must have a “bold, aggressive attitudein proclaiming God’s Word”? Why or why not? Explain your answers.
What might happen within local churches if their leaders followedthe following admonition? “We have no permission whatsoever to adjust the message of the gospel. Whether it seems popular or not, whether it is ‘hip’ to the times, we must faithfully and boldly proclaim that sin is real but Jesus forgives those who confess.”
Do you agree or disagree with Pastor Cymbala that some Christians, even pastors, are afraid “to speak the truth about sin” in order to be nonconfrontational and appeal to a wider audience?
• If not, why not?
• If so, what effect is that fear having on our churches today? On our families? On our overall view of biblical standards?
Personal Reflection
Pastor Cymbala writes, “What has become of standing unashamed for the gospel of Christ? No one is smarter than God. When he says to do his work in his way, we can be assured that he will produce his results for his glory. We don’t need to get ‘creative’ on him. God knows exactly what we need to do and expects us to trust and obey him in childlike simplicity.”• Are you standing unashamed for the gospel—in your home, at work, among friends?
• Are you willing to obey God and allow him to produce the results he desires in his way?
• Are you trusting and obeying him in childlike simplicity?
CHAPTER NINE: THE LURE OF DOCTRINE WITHOUT POWER
In which area(s) of your life do you especially need to depend on God’s power to make an ongoing difference? Are you willingto call on God to revolutionize you in a supernatural way? How would you recognize God’s supernatural work?
A Time to Share
If Jesus, who will one day judge each of us, asked us pointblank,“Are you being boldly faithful to my Word?” which changes might we each need to make in order to answer, “Yes”? Break up into small groups of three or four people and discuss areas in which you are not being boldly faithful to the Bible—and the change(s) you will need to make in order to be boldly faithful.“
In too many churches today,” Pastor Cymbala writes, “people don’t see manifestations of God’s power in answer to fervent praying. Instead, they hear arguments about theological issues that few people care about.” What effect do you think this theologicalwrangling has on Christians attending those churches? On non-Christians who are observing “from the outside”?
Why do people—Christians and non-Christians alike—pay attention when they see and hear firsthand that God actually changes people and sets them free?
Just as Jesus touched lepers and died on the cross for all sinful, evil-hearted, unholy people, God calls us to reach out compassionately to people whose lives are in chaos, who are different, who are dirty, who are unlovely and need his love and forgiveness. But what are some of the reasons why we often hesitate to reach out to people like that?
Pastor Cymbala asks, “Where are the crowds of new converts? Where are the joyful baptisms? Where are the vibrant prayer meetings?” What is the value of thinking about these questions—and the changes we might need to make in our lives and in our churches?
Personal Reflection
Which person(s) in your sphere of influence desperately needs to be surprised by the power of the loving, almighty God? Will you pray for this person regularly? How might you reach out to this person(s) soon with the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Do you agree or disagree with this statement: “If we do not yearn and pray and expect God to stretch out his hand and do the supernatural, it will not happen.” Why or why not?
Why is it important, as Pastor Cymbala emphasizes, that biblicalteaching be combined with God’s power?
Pastor Cymbala writes, “Does anyone really think that America today is lacking preachers, books, Bible translations, and neat doctrinal statements? What we really lack is the passion to call upon the Lord until he opens the heavens and shows himself powerful.”
• Do you really believe it is necessary to have this kind of passion? Explain your answers.
• Do you really expect God to answer by opening heaven’s gates and showing himself powerful? Why or why not?
Personal Reflection
Are you experiencing the living Christ in your life? If not, in what way(s) would you like your relationship with him to be different? Which step(s) are you willing to take this coming week to draw closer to him?
God, through Jeremiah, said, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). If you have a close friend with whom you can discuss virtually anything, discuss with this person an area in each of your lives in which you passionately need to ask and expect to see God work with power in your life here and now, to do what only he can do. (At work? In your home? In a key relationship?)
Pastor Cymbala writes, “We must not succumb to fear of the Holy Spirit.”
• In what ways do you think Christians today are afraid of the Holy Spirit?
• What impact is that fear having on our churches? On our outreach to non-Christians? On our families? On our local communities?
CHAPTER TEN: TOO SMART FOR OUR OWN GOOD?
What happens when some of us who have been Christians for a while lose sight of what God has done (and is still doing) in our lives and de-emphasize our need for him? What are we missing out on?
When we seek the Lord, as young Asa did so many years ago in the land of Judah, why is it important for us to “clean house” and deal honestly and fully with the sin in our lives?
A Time to Share
Pastor Cymbala writes, “Sin grieves the Holy Spirit and quenches his power among us. Without his blessing we miss out on what God has for us and wants us to be.” What, then, are the reasons we so often rationalize our sin and refuse to completely “clean house” in confession and repentance?
If we truly applied the following verse, Hebrews 11:6, how might our lives—and the lives of people around us—change? “Anyone who comes to [God] must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Personal Reflection
How serious are you about seeking God’s blessing and giving him your first loyalty, which includes repenting of your sin and honoring him despite any social and cultural pressures you may be facing?
What causes Christians to stop feeling their need to seek the Lord, as the older Asa did when he cleverly (so he thought) used the Lord’s money to pay off King Ben-Hadad of Aram? We obviously don’t pay off kings, but what similar things do we do?
A Time to Share
Describe a time when you used “what worked,” instead of seekingGod’s leading and power with a heart fully committed to him, to deal with a situation. Then discuss the consequences.
As Pastor Cymbala points out in the story of Asa, how we respond to rebuke and correction reveals the spiritual condition of our hearts. Why do many of us resist godly rebuke and correction, preferring to go our own way and justify our sinful actions? What happens as a result?
CHAPTER ELEVEN: IN SEARCH OF ORDINARY HEROES
Pastor Cymbala points out that just as a group of courageous warriors assisted David in establishing his God-ordained rule in Israel so many years ago, mighty, deeply spiritual men and women who dare to take risks and fight valiantly in the power of the Holy Spirit will plant the gospel of Jesus Christ today in hostile cities. God, he writes, “meets us in the moment of battle.” What kind of risks is God calling us to take on the front lines to turn back today’s slide toward godlessness, prayerless churches, family breakups, and waning evangelistic fervor?
“God’s plan for the local church,” writes Pastor Cymbala, “has always centered in evangelism.”
• Why is evangelism so important?
• If few people in your church are converted to Christ, what is it your church is trying to do?
When we, as spiritual men and women of prayer and faith, attempt to do something significant for God, the enemy is sure to resist us.
• What are some of the enemy’s common tricks?
• What are the most important ways we can confront and overcome those tricks?
Personal Reflection
Do you believe God’s promises to use you to truly make a difference for his kingdom? If not, why not? If so, which steps will you take to “get into the spiritual battle” and step out in faith to obey God? He wants to use you in a special way!
What may be keeping you from taking God’s promises seriously and becoming a mighty warrior in the Lord? A personal or church situation that seems hopeless? The strategies of the enemy? What is keeping you from going boldly to the throne of grace and meeting the enemy at the very point of attack?