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ORLANDO, Fla. – The Holy Spirit will guide us during this time, the Rev. Sameh Maurice told more than 500 people Thursday night during the opening worship service of the New Wineskins Association of Churches' Convocation.

The Presbyterian Church in Egypt "was planted by you 150 years ago," he said. "We pray that you will stand strong in the Gospel."

Maurice is the co-pastor of Kasr el Dobara Church in Cairo, Egypt, which event organizers describe as the largest Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church in the Middle East – 7,000 people regularly attend services and reach out to the city and region through multiple ministries and activities.

Before Maurice began to speak, the Rev. Tom Edwards, co-coordinator of New Wineskins, told the audience at First Presbyterian Church that Maurice "walks in humility and boldness for the Lord." Kasr el Dobara Church, Edwards said, has "7,000 worshipping members in downtown Cairo. The number of missionaries the membership of that congregation sends out is 10 times higher than the Presbyterian Church (USA) has throughout the world."

Maurice's message was simple and direct. "Christ," he said, "is the center of the church. Christ is the head of the church, the Savior, and the message itself through him is that we have life in him. Through him, everything was created.""We believe in the centrality of Christ," Maurice said. "We believe that he is not just the Savior, but the Lord. Follow him and listen to him. This is the centrality of Christ. It's all about him. When the church forgets that, there is nothing left."

The centrality of Christ, he said, "is the most difficult thing at this time. Loving him means forgetting about ourselves. It's not me, not I, but him crucified." Maurice told the audience that we believe in the centrality of Christ, "but I'm not sure how much we live it. You need the Holy Spirit. Make him the center, but also receive the Spirit."

With the Spirit's help, people can go out and preach the Word and, "this will put you in more trouble," Maurice said. "This will put us in danger. Give us boldness to speak your Word." "Wait for the Holy Spirit," he said. "He will enable you to do it. You and the Spirit together will do the job. You cannot do it by yourselves."

All through the New Testament and the Bible, Maurice said, the Holy Spirit "enables the church to do the task, the commission, the purpose of our existence – to proclaim the Gospel, to testify to what we have seen to every man and woman." The Holy Spirit is needed, he said, "to be the power and the life of the church, to witness, to kindle the passion and the fire within us to speak the Word of God. Only the Spirit can do that."

Citing Luke 3:16, Maurice said John the Baptist said he "will baptize you with the holy spirit and the fire. This is exactly what happened during Pentecost – the Holy Spirit appeared as fire. He is the real fire."

Jeremiah 20:9 says, "His word is in my heart like a fire."

"We sometimes evangelize the believers with no passion," Maurice said, but we need "to find the lost, to go to them where they are – and they are everywhere. Many times, the church lost the passion to reach the unreached and save the sinners, so they will reject the Word of God. They are not interested because we are not interested, because we don't have the passion. Through the Holy Spirit, we can receive the passion in our hearts."

He also spoke of the courage the Holy Spirit will provide: "Courage to go to your enemies and tell them about the love of God. He is the one that can transform a church from being inside the walls, in a safe place, in a comfort zone. He is the one who can push the church outside the walls to the dangerous places."

The Holy Spirit, Maurice said, provides "the passion, the courage and the wisdom – when to say it, how to say it. Don't be worried, he will give you the words. Don't be worried, the Holy Spirit will teach you." "Do we live it?" he asked. "Do you have a fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Do you listen to him? Do you speak the words of wisdom? Do you speak with courage? Do you believe that the Holy Spirit will do the impossible in the hearts of sinners?" This is only the work of the Spirit, Maurice said.

"We have to testify to proclaim the gospel, but by the power of the Spirit, we see the results, we see the sinner coming to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. It's the grace of the Son, the love of the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit."

Craig M. Kibler is the Director of Publications for the Presbyterian Lay Committee and Executive Editor of The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at cmkibler@layman.org.