“Receive power from on high” by Fr. Daniel Poovannathil (Kerala, India)
on the occasion of virtual conference of Bishops and Priests
Introduction by Antony Joseph-
Praise the Lord, Halleluiah..
Your Excellencies, Revered Fathers and Brothers,
on behalf of Charis National Service of Communion,
previously known as the National Service Team,
I welcome you on this day of virtual conference
of Bishops and Priests.
MAMRE TENT 2020.
I am Antony Joseph, a lay Catholic full-time
missionary from Bangalore.
I’m greatly honored to welcome and introduce
today an eminent preacher – Rev. Fr.
Daniel Poovannathil – a well-known national
and international preacher of the Word of
God who will be sharing with us on the Word
“Power from above”
God’s power is available to us through His
Holy Spirit in us.
The Scriptures state in Ephesians 3:16-20
that it is the Holy Spirit’s power that
is at work in us and enables us to live differently,
to make change in our life.
Rev. Fr.
Daniel Poovannathil belongs to the Malankara
Archdiocese of Trivandrum.
He is a gold medalist in MA English literature,
served as Chief Editor of “Christhava Kaahalam”
magazine (in Malayalam language) and went
on to become a lecturer in English at Mar
Ivanios college.
Responding to a call, within a call, Rev.
Fr.
Daniel Poovannathil moved on to become a well-known
preacher of the Word of God.
Thus dedicating himself to work of evangelization.
A prolific preacher of the Word of God, Rev.
Fr.
Daniel Poovannathil, drew thousands of faithful
from all walks of life to the Mt. Carmel Retreat
Center in Trivandrum which was established
in the year 2018.
As per Luke 10:19, his ministry was blessed
by the Lord with great signs and wonders.
He is fully involved in conducting retreats
in India and abroad.
In the year 2019-2020 he was invited to address
the KCBC and CBCI in Kerala and in Bangalore.
He conducts Bible studies through YouTube
channel, and social media, and thousands of
people have benefited out of it.
To tell you the truth I have benefited from
his teaching a lot.
In brief, Rev. Fr.
Daniel Poovannathil is indeed an incredible
multi-talented man of God, an authentic charismatic
preacher in God’s kingdom.
Let’s put our hands together to welcome
this great man of God, Rev. Fr.
Daniel Poovannathil.
On behalf of Charis National Service Team of Communion,
his Excellencies, Bishops and Priests, I once
again extend a hearty welcome to Rev. Fr.
Daniel Poovannathil.
Praise the Lord and God bless us.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Let us begin this session by invoking the
presence and the help of the Holy Spirit and
the powerful intercession of Mother Mary.
Let us pray – Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women and blessed is
the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
Praise the Lord.
A couple of years ago, I happened to read
the autobiography of evangelist Reinhard Bonnke,
which he titled – “Living a 
life of fire”.
Ever since whenever I think of Christian life,
I can imagine it only as a life of fire, burning
from inside as well as from all the sides.
In Luke 12:49 we read, “I came to cast fire
upon the earth, and would that it were already
kindled.”
Jesus is telling His disciples – I came
to cast fire upon the earth and He wishes
that it were already kindled.
John the Baptist, when he prophesied about
the coming of the Messiah, he was preaching
that someone would come, One who would baptize
you with the Holy Spirit and with the fire
(Mt 3:11).
In the book of Leviticus we read in Ch 9,
after Moses and Aaron completed the construction
of the tabernacle, and when Aaron faithfully
arranged every requirement for the first sacrifice,
we see that it was God who lit the first fire.
God lit the first fire on the altar.
The original fire was lit by God Himself.
In Ch 6 of Leviticus there is a very serious
commandment given by God Almighty.
God gives this commandment to Aaron and his
sons – “The fire on the altar shall be
kept burning on it, it shall never go out.”
The Priest shall burn wood on it every morning,
fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually,
it shall not go out.
My dear brothers, so the commandment given
by God Himself is – Never your fire should
go out.
It should be kept burning.
The same principle can be seen in the New
Testament too.
On the day of Pentecost, the fire of the Holy
Spirit came upon every disciple in the Upper
Room.
The original fire in the New Testament, too,
was lit by God Himself and my dear brothers
it is our duty to keep this fire burning.
So in this regard, and in this context, I
invite all the Excellencies, my dear brother
Priests, to join me to search into the secrets
which helped the first century Apostolic Church
to be a “Burning Church”, full of Holy
Spirit and full of fire.
Only a fire-filled church can be a powerful
church.
Halleluiah.
Now we can identify certain key ideas from
the Acts of the Apostles, which I think, kept
them burning.
So what were the secrets; the context in which
they found themselves, which helped them to
be a burning Apostolic church?
I can give you four ideas regarding this theme
– 1) The real and living presence of risen
Jesus Christ before the Apostles’ eyes.
The real and living presence of Jesus before
their eyes.
The very first thing which the Acts of the
Apostles report is the fact that none of the
Apostles, nor the believers of the 1st century
Christianity ever doubted the presence of
Jesus with them.
In Act 1:2, 3 there is a beautiful text.
Act 1:2, 3 “Until the day when He was taken
up, after He had given commandments through
the Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom He had
chosen, to them He presented Himself alive.”
Listen to me carefully my dear brothers – To them
He presented Himself ALIVE.
After His passion, by many proofs, appearing
to them during 40 days, and speaking of the
kingdom of God.
Verse 3 – “to them He presented Himself
ALIVE giving them many proofs, appearing to
them during the 40 days, speaking about the
kingdom of God.”
They were 101% sure about the real presence
of Jesus among them.
See it was because of this particular reason
that Peter in his first preaching after Pentecost
he was able to speak out to the crowd – “I
see the Lord always before my eyes.
He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken”.
Since he could experience the real presence
of Jesus before his eyes that Peter tells
the lame beggar at the beautiful gate – “I
have no silver or gold, but I give you what
I have.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise
and walk.”
(Acts 3:6) He jumps on his legs and he is
completely cured.
See it was because of the real presence of
Jesus before his eyes that Peter and John
could publicly profess before the crowd, before
the Priests, before the rulers and elders
of Jerusalem that “There is salvation in
no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men by which we must be
saved.”
(Acts 4:12) See if we are able to proclaim
the powerful Gospel that Jesus is the ONLY Savior,
my dear brothers, it is through experiencing
the real presence of Jesus among us.
The presence of risen Jesus was so real to
the young Deacon, Stephen, that he did not
see the stones, nor the enraged crowd surrounding
him to kill; but he only saw heavens opened
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand
of the Father.
The real presence of Jesus.
It is because of the awareness of the real
presence of Jesus that after the brutal murder
of Apostle James, we see Peter being arrested
by Herod Agrippa to be trialed and killed
after the feast of the Passover.
We see in Chapter 12 Peter is sleeping.
Peter is not worried, not biting his nails,
he is sleeping.
Peter is peacefully sleeping without any slightest
disturbance or anxiety.
When he was arrested, chained and guarded
by 16 soldiers, the day before he was to be
trialed and killed, Peter was not worried,
not anxious, not looking worried, he was sleeping
peacefully without any disturbance.
My dear brothers, the real challenge we face
in this context, in our context, is – Are
we able to experience the real presence of
Jesus in our lives?
St. Paul experienced the presence of Jesus
on the road to Damascus.
It is very significant to note that Jesus
was very faithful to appear before every Apostle.
Jesus made it a point that He would appear
before every Apostle, every single Apostle,
after the Resurrection.
We read in 1Cor 15:1-9, a beautiful verse,
I will read it for you “Now I would remind
you brethren, in what terms I preached to
you the Gospel, which you received, in which
you stand, by which you are saved, if you
hold it fast—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance
what I also received, that Christ died for
our sins in accordance with the scriptures,
that he was buried, that he was raised on
the third day in accordance with the scriptures,
and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the
twelve.
Then he appeared to more than five hundred
brethren at one time, most of whom are still
alive, though some have fallen asleep.
Then he appeared to James, then to all the
apostles.
Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared
also to me.
For I am the least of the apostles, unfit
to be called an apostle, because I persecuted
the church of God.”
The basic criteria to be an Apostle or the
successor of Jesus was to experience the concrete
and the living presence of Jesus in their
lives.
To be a Bishop, to be a minister, to be a
Pastor, to be a Priest, means to have seen
the risen Jesus personally and to have encountered
His real, real presence.
This is a big challenge.
A church or apostolic ministry which fails
to demonstrate the living presence of Jesus,
forgive me brothers for telling this, a church
or apostolic ministry which fails to demonstrate
the real living presence of Jesus is a failed
church, is a failed religion, is a failed
Christianity.
Even after years of Christian presence, in
this land of India, when we miserably count
ourselves to be a microscopic minority it
is high time for us to fall on our knees and
repent.
Now we move on to the 2nd idea – which kept
the Apostolic church a burning church, a fire-filled
church.
We see the Apostolic church in the Acts of
the Apostles as a “high voltage church”,
HIGH VOLTAGE CHURCH.
A church in the Acts of Apostles was a high
voltage church.
For example, in Acts Ch 5 we see the episode
of Ananias and Sapphira, who come with a half-hearted
offering.
An act of hypocrisy is suddenly unraveled
and they die at the feet of apostle Peter;
at the very moment they die.
A church which was so holy and anointed from
head to heels – a church so holy and anointed
from head to toe, it was such an anointed
church that fake people could not stand in
its presence.
In the same chapter we read something very
beautiful.
Acts 5:11-14 “A great fear came upon the
whole church and upon all
who heard of these things.
Now many signs and wonders were done among
the people by the hands of the apostles and
they were all together in Solomon’s portico.
None of the rest dared to join them but the
people held them in high honor.
More than ever believers were added to the
Lord, multitudes, both men and women.”
It doesn’t mean that the Apostles were fiery
and terrifying but the outer world witnessed
a mighty God doing mighty deeds for His people.
See we see in the book of Joshua – the harlot,
Rahab, she speaks out in Joshua 2:9-10 and
she said to the men “I know that the Lord
has given you the land, and that the fear
of you has fallen upon us, and that all the
inhabitants of the land melt away before you”
She is speaking about the kingdom of Israel
or the people
of Israel.
“For we have heard how the Lord dried up
the water of Red Sea before you when you came
out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings
of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan,
to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed”
In Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John, and perceived that they
were uneducated, common men, they wondered.
And they recognized that they had been with
Jesus.”
Common, uneducated, common men.
Uneducated but speaking with so much power
and boldness.
They were terrified, amazed.
Is the contemporary church still able to create
such a reverential fear for all what she is
and the Lord does for her?
It is a very pertinent question that needs
to be answered by all its members.
Is the contemporary church still able to create
such a reverential fear in the community?
How do people evaluate us?
Do they condemn us, hate us, or accuse us,
for evil practices?
These are questions to be answered by the
members of the contemporary church, by us.
Now I am going to show you the third dimension
or the 3rd characteristic which helped the
apostolic church to be a burning, fire-filled
church.
See we see in the Acts of the Apostles, we
see in the lives of the Apostles, or the lives
of the early church - a beautiful blend of
the natural and the supernatural, a beautiful
blend of the ordinary and the miraculous..
A beautiful blend of the natural and the supernatural,
ordinary and extraordinary, ordinary and miraculous
– so it was a blend.
The apostolic era we see a beautiful blend.
See the event of a mighty wind and heavenly
fire on the day of Pentecost was so spectacular
that no human logic could explain it.
The miraculous conversion of Paul at the road
to Damascus, visions, prophecies, mighty miracles,
dramatic exorcisms – these were like ordinary
events in the apostolic church.
What I am trying to communicate is there was
a dimension of the supernatural, there was
a dimension of the miracles, dimension of
the extra ordinary in the life of the early
church.
See when I am telling this at the same time,
there are ordinary natural course of events
like the apostles beaten and arrested, James
and Stephen being martyred, believers dispersed
into other lands out of fear, Peter moving
to Antioch fearing persecution, difference
of opinion among the members of the church
– see these are ordinary experiences which
you and I face.
But early church was not a sum total of these
ordinary experiences alone.
Early church witnessed a blend of the ordinary
and the extraordinary, ordinary and the miraculous,
natural and the supernatural.
There were supernatural events like fire coming
down on the day of Pentecost.
Paul’s dramatic conversion on the road to
Damascus, dramatic exorcisms in Samaria by
Deacon Philip, mighty miracles done through
the hands of the Apostles.
The preaching and the ministry of the Apostles
were always attested by miracles, mighty miracles.
Even the shadow of Peter could heal people
out of their sickness, the handkerchief of
Paul could heal and deliver people from their
evil chains and their bondages.
In 1Cor 2:4 Paul summaries his own missionary
work.
It is worth noting.
I will read it for you.
1Cor 2:4 “And my speech and my message were
not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power.”
In 1400s when we read the history of the church,
there were 2 Popes, 2 Popes in the church
– one real Pope and the other anti-Pope.
See during this period, this period of turbulence,
and where faith is possible to be lost for
hundreds or thousands of people – in a period
of faith anarchy, crisis – God raised a
Dominican Priest named Vincent Ferrer.
More than anybody else of his contemporaries
he spoke about judgement and repentance.
See exactly for this reason he received condemnation
and criticism from every corner of his own
people.
One day he was publicly challenged for preaching
judgement and condemnation.
He was preaching God’s judgment.
He was asking to repent and he was being criticized
by his own people.
So once he was publicly challenged for preaching
this.
He brought his critics to a cemetery and commanded
a dead corpse brought to burial that time.
He asked the corpse to get up and speak of
what God thinks of Vincent Ferrer.
Now its interesting.
He asks the corpse to speak out, the dead
body to speak out who is Vincent Ferrer.
Ask God who is Vincent Ferrer.
The dead body got up immediately and cried
in a loud voice – “You are Vincent Ferrer,
appointed by Jesus to preach repentance and
judgement.
See this is church.
Church is not the sum total of some ordinary
experiences like all the other people in the
world.
They also have ordinary experiences.
What differentiates the experience of the
church from that of the experience of the
world is that church has a supernatural dimension,
church has supernatural experiences, church
has supernatural episodes and events in her
life.
The first authority that the Apostles received
from Jesus is a point of meditation.
In Luke 9:1-2 “He called the twelve apostles
together and gave them power and authority
over all demons and to cure diseases, he sent
them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal.”
In Acts of the Apostles they realized their
primary duty as the ministers of word and
men of prayer.
Apostles realized themselves as “men of
prayer” and “preachers of the Word”.
Their ministry and their vocation were understood
by themselves.
They understood their ministry and vocation
as “men of prayer” and “men preaching
the Word of God”.
In Ch 6, when the first dispute in the early
church arose regarding food distribution the
Apostles’ remark is commendable.
Apostles remarked when the first dispute arose
in the early church regarding food distribution
to the Gentile people.
You know the context.
In Acts 6:2 we read “Then the twelve summoned
the body of the disciples and said, it is
not right that we should give up preaching
the word of God to serve tables.”
My dear Bishops and Priests, when we cease
to be ministers of the Word and men of prayer,
we dilute our call to be administrators.
We don’t realize our call to be men of prayer
and preachers of word and we dilute our ministry
to be administrators.
It’s a very unlucky omen.
In the book of Prophet Malachi we read, Malachi
2:7-9 “The lips of a priest should guard
knowledge, and men should seek instruction
from his mouth, for he is the messenger of
the Lord of hosts.”
What does the prophet say?
The lips of the priest should guard knowledge.
In verse 8 “But you have turned aside from
the way.
You have caused many to stumble by your instruction.
You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says
the Lord of hosts and so I make you despised
and abased before all the people, in as much
as you do not keep my ways but show partiality
in your instruction.”
With due respect let me pause and ask you
something.
For what intention people approach us?
People approach us, that’s true, but what
is the intention of people approaching us.
What do they seek from us?
Do the people seek us – Priests and Bishops
for admission, job recommendations
or spiritual/prayer guidance?
When the disciples of John the Baptist questioned
Jesus regarding His Messianic identity in
Mt 11:4-6 we read the answer given by Jesus.
Someone is doubting His Messianic identity
so Jesus is elaborating on Messianic identity,
the identity of being Messiah.
What does it mean?
What does it express?
What is the answer given by Jesus?
Jesus answered to them “Go and tell John
what you hear and see: the blind receive their
sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed
and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised
up, and the poor have good news preached to
them.
And blessed is the one who is not offended
by me.”
My dear brothers our primary duty to be a
Priest, being a Bishop, being a minister is
not to be an administrator but to be the preacher
of the Word and a spiritual guide, a man who
guides people spiritually, leading them showing
them the path to heaven, to eternal life.
See there is a beautiful episode in the life
of Paul.
In Acts 20 there is a fantastic episode.
I’m so much delighted reading it, speaking
about it, its such a beautiful episode.
St. Paul, he was about to leave Ephesus after
his 4 year successful ministry in Ephesus.
He summons the elders of Ephesus.
Elders of the church are being summoned and
in Acts 20:18 we read “When they arrived,
he said to them: "You yourselves know how
I lived among you all the time, from the day
that I set foot in Asia serving the Lord with
all humility, and with tears and with trials
which befell me through the plots of the Jews.
How did I not shrink from declaring to you
anything that was profitable and teaching
you in public and from house to house testifying
both to Jews and to the Greeks of repentance
to God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ
and now behold I am going to Jerusalem, bound
in the spirit not knowing what shall befall
me there except that the Holy Spirit testifies
to me in every city that imprisonment and
afflictions await me.”
There’s a beautiful verse in 20:24 “But
I do not account my life of any value nor
as precious to myself, if only I may finish
my course and the ministry that I received
from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel
of the grace of God.”
India is a land of seekers and spiritual giants.
Whatever may the political alignment, the
Indian soul is ready to welcome real, genuine,
spiritual people.
Whatever may the political alignment be a
genuine Indian soul is ready to receive a
spiritual man.
Its my strong conviction that spiritual leadership
in India can attract hearts more than all
our institutional power, or pressure, or political
bargainings.
Now we move on to the last characteristic
which helped the early church to be a Holy
Spirit filled, a fire-filled church.
It was a church which only hearkened to the
voice of the Holy Spirit, guided only by the
prompting, ONLY by the prompting of the Holy
Spirit.
A church continuously listened to the voice
of the Holy Spirit.
Who are we listening to is a very serious,
decisive question.
When Paul is called, now his vocation starts,
there is something very noteworthy.
Its written in the Acts of the Apostles, when
Paul’s vocation is narrated, there is something
very striking in Acts 22:14 “And he said,
‘The God of our fathers appointed you to
know his will, to see the just one and to
hear the voice from his mouth.”
Paul is being called, vocation is being given
to Paul for 3 reasons – To know the will
of God, to see the just One and to hear the
voice from His mouth.
We see Peter speaking to the Jerusalem council
filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.
We see Stephen as full of grace and Holy Spirit.
We see young Deacon Philip carried by the
Holy Spirit to the road to Gaza.
We see Holy Spirit hindering Paul and Silas
from going to Asia and then guiding to Macedonia
through a dream.
Holy Spirit continuously guiding the early
church, giving instructions, giving prohibitions,
giving assistance, picking up somebody and
placing him on a road unknown, telling where
to go, telling where not to go, continuous
guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We see Paul going to Jerusalem compelled by
the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Only a church which can listen to the voice
of the Holy Spirit continuously can be a burning,
fire-filled church.
My dear brothers I thank you for listening
to me.
I kiss your feet with reverence and I thank
you all on behalf of all Priests and Bishops
of the Indian church for all the pain you
undertake to lead your faithful.
May Almighty God bless you and strengthen
you in your ministry and vocation.
Kindly pray for me too.
God bless you.
Praise the Lord.
