Posts Tagged ‘authority’
Your message of truth should get you in trouble…and set the captives free!
A strategy of self-preservation will result in a modified, powerless message that draws people to you instead of God.
If you are called as a prophet, you will feel moved to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to throw down, and to build and to plant (see Jeremiah 1:10). Intense spiritual warfare will be a frequent reality in your life. You will have a sense – a “knowing” – that you are being called to walk a narrower path than some around you. You will feel a sense of duty to honor God's will and be crushed with godly sorrow when you misstep. ~Jennifer LeClaire
So many don’t have a clear ministry goal, so I thought I’d offer one here. This is the calling of the end-time messenger:
The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. Mark 11:18
The call is to teach in such a way that people actually want to kill you! What a life mission that is!
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. Luke 6:26
While true prophets were hated, excluded, reviled, spurned, beaten, tortured, and killed (cf. Heb. 11:32-38), false prophets were well spoken of, for they prophesied what people wanted to hear. This is a warning against seeking the approval of the world rather than being faithful to God.
ESV Study Bible, The: English Standard Version.
There is a GREAT fallacy that has castrated the messages of the end-times: We have to appear to be humble, meek and loving.
I deal with this in detail in my article The Great Love Deception. The thought is that we must expend energy to convince people that we are humble, when that mandate is simply not found in Scripture. We are to BE humble, and that humility very often manifests as a fierce, fearless anger against the spirit of the age. The goal isn’t to affirm others when challenge and correction is necessary. We aren’t to put on a plastic smile with alligator tears pouring down to convince people we care.
Of course, we aren’t to be careless or unloving either. We just preach with a broken heart and the fear of the Lord. The messages in the Word are so often radically offensive that we just let the Holy Spirit do the work.
There are ignored, shunned messages that are coursing throughout the Bible that must be taught again—with such conviction that the religious, independent, self-serving resistors will want to eliminate us.
Thank God for those who have not shrunk back from preaching “negative” messages. People like Leonard Ravenhill, David Wilkerson and others have refused to shut up when the critics attack. We must boldly proclaim the Word of the Lord, no matter how bad of a light it shines on us or how open it leaves us to scrutiny.
Here’s one example of such a message:
SUBMISSION TO AUTHORITY
Submission to authority. GASP! Yes, I said it. Clearly, since I’ve been focusing on this topic in recent Facebook and Twitter posts, I must be reacting to some people who just won’t submit to my authority, right? I am overbearing, self-centered and insecure…motivated by my need for people to submit to me. Ha! Wrong. It has nothing whatsoever to do with me or my personal endeavors. (I actually just chuckled as I wrote this.)
On the contrary, this message is a core life message of our ministry that God has required me to communicate, and it’s not uncommon for me to spend a lot of time teaching on it. My book Covens in the Church addresses this issue in detail and I’ve been teaching on it in our school and at other venues for years. I spend time counseling people who are ready to leave their church due to wounding, controlling pastors and other very real issues. Simply, it’s a clear, scriptural and healthy message that most pastors avoid teaching due to their fear of accusation. However, pastors would do well to embrace it and teach it with boldness. The Absalom spirit would be diffused before he even began to operate.
But, unfortunately, the fear of accusation is too often too great.
Pastors don’t want people to presume they are being controlling, manipulative and self-serving by teaching on this particular topic, so they ignore it entirely—to the detriment of the church. Today people are scattered, disconnected and driven by a casual, independent spirit that has greatly compromised the mission of the church and has left them unhealed, bitter and defensive. This is a direct result of selling people a spiritual eat-what-you-want buffet instead of calling people as holy soldiers to sign up to die.
You see, I’m more concerned about the corporate mission of the church to set multiplied millions of people free than I am the reaction of the resistant religious (or true brothers and sisters in Christ who simply disagree) when teaching on submission to authority. Beyond that, I’m exhilarated by people who were once operating in a religious, independent spirit finding freedom through the message of healthy submission. It’s a win/win!
When people submit, the enemy tells them they are in bondage, but God reveals they are free!
From Covens in the Church:
The enemy has caused many to believe that we can’t experience freedom while being submitted. This is simply not true.
- Freedom from authority is rebellion.
- Freedom in the absence of authority is anarchy.
- Freedom under authority is liberty.
Why is it so critical that this sensitive issue be discussed? I’m fully aware that many have been wounded by poor leaders in their lives. While some difficult points will be discussed over the next several pages, it must be made clear now that while God desires leaders to serve with great love, humility, passion and care, there are some in the body who simply do not do so. While God will hold those leaders deeply accountable for their leadership, God will hold the rest of us accountable for how we respond to them.
The call is not to validate poor leadership. It’s to validate leaders who, in their weakness, were positioned by God. It’s to ensure that we go through the proper processes in the face of disagreement so as to keep all of us as holy soldiers in position. We simply must serve the greater mission in love and mature to the place where we can trust an infallible God, who is the one who actually appointed our leaders. We are to allow God to work with and through those leaders, who are without question weak and fallible (as we all are). If we don’t, the greater mission of the church is compromised. A failed mission at this stage of Church history is not an option, and we must weather some mighty storms if we are to succeed.
God needs these messages to be released! We can’t be afraid of teachings like this having the appearance of being self-serving. We can’t back down when the accusation flies. We must preach truth, take the hits, let our pride and ego die and trust that God’s wisdom in the Word will set the masses free.
Submission to authority is dealt with clearly in Scripture, and it’s critical for us to understand it, and communicate it without apology…because the church today has been compromised by a casual, self-interested people. We need to see a passionate army that’s locked in and unoffendable and ready to serve with precision at the sound of the alarm.
I continually run into people who are offended at pastors and other authorities in their lives, and they have absolutely no idea that they are largely disqualified from effective ministry until they rectify that. Why? Because nobody is teaching them about this critical reality.
They are stunned when I start to unpack the issues and share about healthy submission to their previous leaders. They most always had no idea how they should have acted toward them. Some of them have lived in defeat for decades due to this issue! God wants them free! I am much more afraid of God than I am of man, so the accusations that will be hurled won’t hurt as much as if God was bringing judgment to me!
“You will lose your job, and then die.”
I was talking with a powerful, humble man of God in another nation recently. He shared a fearful story that highlights how serious God is about honoring and submitting to authority.
A lady was making inappropriate advances toward this pastor, and while initially subtle, she became more emboldened as time when on. She was initially counseled and ultimately removed from the church. She became deceptive and would attempt to make contact with him via a false name. Eventually, the pastor said, “If you don’t stop inappropriately touching the man of God, you will lose your job, and then, if you still don’t repent, you will die.”
Within weeks she lost her job. Then she died. The man of God conducted her funeral.
That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 1 Corinthians 11:30-31
This is just one example of necessary, costly end-time messages. Will you preach the truth, or just the part that draws people to you?
EXPECT TROUBLE
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law– a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:34-39
The messages we carry should absolutely provoke people out of compromise, deception, apathy and slumber—and into challenging, costly, inconvenient and absolutely glorious truth.
Such messages might include calls to repentance and holiness, Hell and demons, unbiblical grace or unbiblical prosperity…and on and on.
Or, how about…Tithe. There I go again! If I talk about tithing, I clearly must want to use people and manipulate them so I can be more financially secure, right? Come on.
I’ve actually heard pastors say that they refuse to teach on financial giving because they want to gain people’s trust. I suppose their wisdom surpasses the wisdom of scripture?
Jesus talked about money more than any other topic other than the Kingdom of God. Maybe instead of avoiding the topic of tithing and giving so people will like us better, we should expose the demon named Mammon that is attached to so many of them today. Maybe instead of focusing on our own ministry and on self-preservation, we can actually preach the Word and set the captives free!
When you carry burning messages in your spirit, you have to know that the release of these messages will result in rejection, accusation and a fierce resistance by the religious spirits around us.
But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. Matthew 12:14
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” John 10:31-32
Even Jesus’ message was shut down by accusers and aggressors due to the trouble (salvation) he was bringing to the Earth:
After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. John 7:1
So from that day on they plotted to take his life. Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. John 11:53-54
THE SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS
In ministry, we must understand that MOST of those we are preaching to will soundly reject our message and will attack with a vengeance—oh, and these people are the spiritual and religious among us.
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Matthew 16:21
Preaching of the Word, whether it’s from behind a pulpit or in sound bites on Facebook and Twitter will always divide. Always.
It will provoke, trouble, challenge and set a standard. The problems come when that standard is higher than the standards of the religious.
Take six months and talk about nothing but holiness, repentance and Hell. I dare you.
Your attacks won’t come from the lost. The lost is actually waiting for a church that will have the guts to stand with such conviction. The assaults will come from your friends and family.
Read this in full:
Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Genesis 37:5-11
It seems every time I hear someone teach on this passage, they presume that Joseph was arrogant, that the problem was with Joseph for communicating what God had revealed to him!
We have become so resistant of bold, provoking, disturbing messages of God that we accuse the messenger of pride or arrogance when they simply reveal the truth! Has this fear stopped you? Repent. It didn’t stop Joseph.
It was actually every one of his brothers and his parents that wrestled with pride, not Joseph!
Notice how his father ultimately responded rightly in his heart by keeping the matter in mind.
However, we know the story—his family set out to destroy him…simply because of communicating a message from God!
“…So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. Genesis 37:17-18
Those close to you must be expected to react wrongly toward you! Don’t presume you are off track when the arrows start flying! Stay humble, stay teachable, but simply know that the more pure your truth, the more violent the attacks will be.
(By the way, those who read this and are rising up in indignation will still presume I’m affirming arrogance—even though I just wrote that we must stay humble and teachable. Read it again…I affirm humility and teachablity. OK?)
True humility results in true boldness that can look very much like aggression as the fear of man has disappeared. The fear of God takes over.
False humility results in false love that is focused on being affirmed instead of setting the captives free.
Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Mark 6:3
Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” Mark 6:4
PRESSURE FROM THE CROWD
Get a backbone.
If you can’t stand for truth in the face of resistance, what good are you? What impact will you have?
At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. Mark 6:25-28
When your family and friends and those you are trying to impress are in the picture, will you hold back or preach truth? Will you stay silent or sound an alarm?
Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. Mark 15:15
A sign of a growing ministry just may be small numbers and a message that will be rejected by even the most devoted Christians you know. Will you be OK with that?
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. John 19:25-27
If you are unmoved, God will give you such perfect, pure and life-changing relationships with those who will die daily with you…who will not forsake you when you bring the offensive messages of the Word…and you will be marked as a true minister of the Most High God for all eternity.
When the crowds come, get ready to follow the fearless example of Peter in Acts 2:
“Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. Acts 2:22-23
Trust truth. Preach truth. Don’t temper it. Don’t hide from the offensive issues. Most will reject you. Some will hate you. A remnant will thank you. God will celebrate you for eternity.
Hell, Holiness and Fear of Man | The true, prophetic church must emerge
When did it become hateful to warn people of the reality of Hell? Most go there and we have to get that message out.
Ephesians 5:11 (ESV) 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
I have no patience for the current trend in the church to ensure hearers of its messages suffer no troubled emotions or theological crisis.
If we read the Bible, and believe it is our blueprint for ministry, we cannot buy into this strategy. The Gospel troubles.
Ignoring Hell does not keep people from Hell—it increases the number who will perish. Ignoring sin in media, music and entertainment must stop—the church is devouring the vomit of Satan in media and is unconcerned about the effects because of an unbiblical view of an indifferent God.
We as Christians have NO OPTION but to shine the light on works of darkness, of unholiness—especially within the camp of the church!
There is a growing resistance by shepherds to the idea that judgment of God is in force today, and that somehow the better approach to the issue unholiness is to minimize its potency.
Romans 1:18 (ESV) 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Strong delusion has hit the church—and many in Spirit-filled environments are on a path to Hell, and they have no idea.
Christians are watching R and PG-13 rated movies like The Wolverine and Paranoia , TV shows like How I Met Your Mother and Two and Half Men and listening to music by Beyonce, Jay-Z and others.
YES, being entertained by sin, watching and listening to such media ABSOLUTLEY PUTS PEOPLE AT RISK OF HELL—Christian or not.
This is why the prayer movement is so critical! You cannot be fervent in prayer and be fervent in sin at the same time.
A lifestyle of fervent, burning prayer and legitimate salvation are more closely related than today's religious teachings reveal.
FEAR OF MAN
God is raising up a people who have the boldness of the Holy Spirit, and who will, in humility, stare the enemy in the face and renounce him and his strategies! It’s time to tear down our father’s altars!
You will lose friends! Family will shun you! Are you OK with that?
Judges 6:30 (ESV) 30 Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.”
It’s time we stop using Facebook to post pictures of kittens and start using it as a platform to expose darkness and to declare the word of the Lord!
The evidence of declaring truth is not a growing sphere of friends, but a growing revolt by those who want you shut down. I’m talking about other Christians. Truth presents a clear and present threat to the lukewarm, casual lifestyles of the majority in the church today.
Fear of man will keep you silent with a sleeping prophetic spirit as you embrace false-humility and false-love in the hopes of maintaining friendships.
I refuse to honor immorality. I will not respect darkness. I won’t befriend the lukewarm and rebellious. I will love them instead.
WILL YOU REJECT THE FEAR OF MAN AND HELP ME SOUND THE ALARM? Use Facebook, Twitter and other outlets daily to shake and provoke the sleeping church! Here’s the message:
Enjoying media and participating in activities that approve of sin will result in a delusion that puts even seasoned ministers and other Christians at clear risk of going to Hell. This is not a rare situation in the American church, but, rather is the norm! Many will be shocked to find themselves in Hell one day!
“There is reason to think, that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity.” ~Jonathan Edwards speaking on Hell
Jonathan Edwards had no fear of man, none that we could see anyway. Read on:
“It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long for ever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it; it is inexpressible and inconceivable: For “who knows the power of God's anger?”
“How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh that you would consider it, whether you be young or old! There is reason to think, that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats they sit, or what thoughts they now have. It may be they are now at ease, and hear all these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they are not the persons, promising themselves that they shall escape. If we knew that there was one person, and but one, in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing would it be to think of! If we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How might all the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him! But, alas! instead of one, how many is it likely will remember this discourse in hell?”
“Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom: “Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.””
And the reaction of the people that day? It is what we must see in today’s church!
“Before the sermon was done there was a great moaning and crying out throughout the whole house, “What shall I do to be saved?! Oh, I am going to Hell! Oh, what shall I do for Christ?!” etc. etc. So that the minister was obliged to desist. Shrieks and cries were piercing and amazing. After some time of waiting, the congregation were still so that a prayer was made, and after that we descended from the pulpit and discoursed with the people, some in one place and some in another, and–amazing and astonishing!–the power of God was seen, and several souls were hopefully wrought upon that night, and oh, the pleasantness of their countenances that received comfort.”
Lest one believe that Jonathan Edwards was dour and sad, here is the text of his sermon, Heaven, A World Of Love:
“…But heaven is his dwelling-place above all other places in the universe; and all those places in which he was said to dwell of old, were but types of this. Heaven is a part of creation that God has built for this end, to be the place of his glorious presence, and it is his abode forever; and here will he dwell, and gloriously manifest himself to all eternity. And this renders heaven a world of love; for God is the fountain of love, as the sun is the fountain of light. And therefore the glorious presence of God in heaven, fills heaven with love, as the sun, placed in the midst of the visible heavens in a clear day, fills the world with light. The apostle tells us that “God is love;” and therefore, seeing he is an infinite being, it follows that he is an infinite fountain of love. Seeing he is an all-sufficient being, it follows that he is a full and over-flowing, and inexhaustible fountain of love.”
(from http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2013/07/sinners-in-hands-of-angry-god-not-so.html)
THE CHURCH’S DIMINISHED AUTHORITY
Hosea 4:1-3 (ESV) 1 Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; 2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish…
We have a controversy in the land!
Swearing, lying, murder, adultery, bloodshed! It results in the Earth crying out!
The Earth is waiting for a holy army of sons of God to emerge!
Romans 8:19-22 (ESV) 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
I know that I will have no authority to preach in the anointing of the Holy Spirit on holiness if I enjoy anything that is unholy. The Spirit is holy, and for him to minister through us requires that we too are holy.
Revelation 22:11-15 (ESV) 11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” 12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Be holy!
1 Peter 1:14-15 (ESV) 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
Again, my authority to speak on holiness relies on my agreement with holiness!
If I watch a sitcom that has homosexuality as a theme, whether overt or subtle, I simply need to know that I will not be able to speak to that with anointing in my ministry. Why do you think it was so important for the homosexual agenda to overwhelm media with homosexual characters and situations? So the church would become entertained by that spirit, and, in turn, become sympathetic to it.
Did you know that a popular Disney show is introducing a lesbian couple? Good Luck Charlie has been extremely popular, and now, when hooked, Disney knows they won’t lose viewers when they introduce immorality into the storyline. http://www.christianpost.com/news/disney-channels-popular-sitcom-good-luck-charlie-to-feature-married-lesbian-parents-100704/
Do you wonder why the church has near zero impact on the increase of violence in the world? Pastors and their flocks are playing first person shooter video games, watching violence in movies and ignoring calls to holiness.
The church is deceived! People are being given up by God to a debased mind! A falling away has begun in the church!
Romans 1:28-32 (ESV) 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Every time we are entertained by a sin that required the death of Jesus, we are approving of those sins, and our future is terrifying.
Ephesians 5:10-12 (ESV) 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
If even talking about sin is shameful, how can we presume God is indifferent to us being entertained by it in media?
To approve of being entertained by sin in media, and to communicate that there is no fear of punishment, no repercussions, is to function as an end-time false prophet.
What about legalism? The moment we start preaching against something that we are participating in, we are devoid of power. But, we can preach the same message from a place of holiness, brokenness and Holy Spirit anointing and it will explode in power out of us! It’s not legalistic to call people to holiness. It is legalistic to call people to human works.
Sin hardens hearts, and deception and darkness will overwhelm us if we entertain sin.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 (ESV) 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Pleasure in unrighteousness will result in great apostasy and falling away—in the church!
Telling people only about the love of God without also discussing the fierce judgment of God not only won’t work, IT’S NOT BIBLICAL.
We see warnings from cover to cover, Old Testament and New Testament.
Check out this video. It’s simple, basic, scriptural preaching—and it actually made the www.rightwingwatch.org website. What?
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/georgia-pastor-day-tony-byrd-compromise-leads-catastrophe
WAKE UP CHURCH!
At the Detroit Prayer Furnace we are calling together those who are ready to be trained as loved-fueled prophetic messengers.
I want to invite you to participate in a movement of fire and holiness in Detroit. We are calling together awakeners!
Contact us TODAY: [email protected].
Here is the info about how you can become equipped and ready to move in boldness and fire that I posted yesterday:
Give leadership to the prayer movement in Detroit • The Detroit Prayer Furnace is a contending house of prayer for revival.
Habakkuk 2:2 (ESV) And the LORD answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.
The staff at Revival Church, theLab and the Detroit Prayer Furnace are focused on two numbers:
40 core leaders at the Detroit Prayer Furnace and 1000 intercessors for Detroit
the40
You are invited to join our team of revival minded core leaders at the Detroit Prayer Furnace. (Check out our NEW website here: www.detroitprayerfurnace.com.)
The process is simple and you are encouraged to start into it today!
There are three designations at the Detroit Prayer Furnace: theField, theLab & theCore
theField
Simply gather together with us and grow through prayer, teaching and by enjoying our community.
A variety of opportunities to grow are available to you including:
- Saturday Prep Room Prayer & Primary Weekly Service
- Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday Prayer & Teaching
- Friday Prayer Events
- Prayer Watch Teams (coming soon!)
- Life with John and Amy (monthly small group)
theLab
We strongly encourage everybody in our community to enroll in theLab University. This is a focused, intense training environment that will unlock your destiny and set you ablaze!
Everybody interested in joining theCore, a team of 40+ leaders in the Detroit Prayer Furnace, must successfully complete one three-month session of theLab.
You can learn more about theLab University here: www.thelabuniversity.com
theCore
A team of 40+ leaders will head up the Detroit Prayer Furnace revival movement.
Opportunities for those on theCore include leading prayer watch teams, teaching, developing ministries and advancing the prayer movement with a family of burning men and women of God.
theCore team is devoted to consecration and modeling the lifestyle of an end-time forerunner.
This commitment includes:
- Three prayer & ministry events per week
- A high standard of holiness
- Traveling locally (and further if available) for ministry events
- Financial partnership (tithe)
- Continuing education
If you are ready to start your process toward leadership as a part of theCore at the Detroit Prayer Furnace, talk to us at an upcoming Saturday service. We can’t wait to help you get started!
the1000
theCore are automatically a part of the1000 intercessors for revival in Detroit.
That leaves an additional 960 people who are needed to respond to this prophetic assignment!
The commitment is simple but significant:
- Sign up for a weekly prayer watch through www.hiddenonesmi.com (Transformation Michigan’s prayer effort)
- Sign up for our email alerts so we can communicate with you
- Attend a monthly prayer event at the Detroit Prayer Furnace OR another connected prayer ministry
- Communicate monthly by filling out an online form
This enables us to stay connected and locked in while serving in our various local ministries.
If you want to join the1000, we want to hear from you! Please email us at [email protected] TODAY! We will give you info on how to get started.
Is there unbelief regarding revival? Listen to this unusual Revival Church event.
Are you part of the cross-bearing company of fire-breathing awakeners that God is raising up? Listen to this heavily anointed event and respond!
The past week in Manitou Springs, Colorado resulted in a shaking and weighty awakening for every person on our team. Listen as I share the encounters here: media.johnburton.net/6936545
Trust me, you WANT to listen to this…the last half of the audio includes an other-worldly prophetic session where the calling for revival was revealed AND clips from each of the three services, including our attack against witchcraft and the drunkenness I was rocked with. High entertainment value for sure!
We are gathering an army of carriers of fire who will travel with us to the cities of the Earth. The team that we took to Manitou flowed in such extreme authority and power that everybody was hit dramatically. We dealt with heavy witchcraft and strategic demonic attack at a high level, and watched as God then flooded that place. Humbled.
The three nights revealed a very clear strategy for all of us:
- Night One: Personal breakthrough. We battled and experienced fire and joy and breakthrough on a personal level.
- Night Two: Holy Spirit arrival. I was drunk most of the night as the Holy Spirit poured out. Many want to camp here, but we cannot.
- Night Three: Militant attack. Full of the Holy Spirit, we experience an extreme level of witchcraft in the room, and we went after it with authority and power.
This is a pattern of advance for all of us. I break it down and share sound clips: media.johnburton.net/6936545
CARRIERS OF FIRE
Are you ready to invite our team to your city for an event that will bring deliverance, shock and awe? We are broken and humble people, emboldened by the fire of God and ready to serve you.
Visit www.johnburton.net/booking for more info. I’d love to talk with you directly.
You will have the opportunity to listen to four of our team members in the audio from last night here: media.johnburton.net/6936545
HOUSE OF PRAYER
The house of prayer must be launched NOW! NOW! NOW!
Julia Palermo prophesied with trembling urgency regarding the house of prayer in the Detroit region. It must be launched now!
Are you ready to help build a night and day center of strategic, revelation driven prayer? Contact us!
We need to add fresh intercessors, musicians and others. We need to raise at least $44,000 more. You can donate here: www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/donate
YOUR IMPENDING ADVENTURE
I also want to invite you to listen to a message that will provoke you to fulfill your ministry. It’s titled Your Impending Adventure. It’s a NOW word and will help you take very clear steps toward a completed calling. I’ll include the notes below.
Listen here: media.johnburton.net/6936482
AUDIT THELAB CLASS “BECOMING UNOFFENDABLE” THIS THURSDAY
Offense will cause many to fall away and go to Hell. It’s a big deal.
This is my most requested teaching, and you can audit the class THIS THURSDAY at 7pm!
Simply show up at 7pm this Thursday and pay $25 at the door.
Revival Church meets at CENTRAL CHURCH, 1529 E. 12 Mile Rd, Madison Heights, MI 48071.
Here’s the notes for Your Impending Adventure
Your Impending Adventure
I. Adventure
a. Nobody was called into an average life.
i. Certainly not now! At the end of the age!
ii. Adventure
1. An undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature.
2. a risky undertaking of unknown outcome
3. An undertaking of a questionable nature, especially one involving intervention in another state's affairs.
4. “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered” [G.K. Chesterton All Things Considered]
iii. British Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) placed this advertisement in London newspapers in 1900 in preparation for the National Antarctic Expedition (which subsequently failed to reach the South Pole).“Men Wanted For Hazardous Journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”Shackleton later said that “it seemed as though all the men in Great Britain were determined to accompany me, the response was so overwhelming.”
1. Yes! The adventure is there for you!
b. All you have to do is sign up and pay the fee!
i. It costs your dreams, plans, comfort and safety!
ii. Your adventure will impact many!
II. Isaiah
a. Step one: Isaiah sees God (These steps come from Ungers Handbook)
i. Isaiah 6:1-4 (ESV) 1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
1. Most people don’t get to this point!
2. Your adventure begins by laying down everything so you can see God!
3. Go after him! Burn! Pray! Devote your every breath to knowing him deeply!
ii. Step two: Isaiah sees himself
1. Isaiah 6:5 (ESV) 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
2. You cannot see God without having a revelation of your own wretched condition!
3. Jeremiah 17:9-10 (ESV) 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
4. Hebrews 3:12-13 (ESV) 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
5. 1 John 1:6-7 (ESV) 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
6. The closer the look on our own condition, the greater the revelation of our fruit.
a. Matthew 7:17-20 (ESV) 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
b. We must repent, confess, let God search our hearts continually.
i. It’s in the Lord’s Prayer
ii. Matthew 6:12 (ESV) 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
iii. Believes must live a life of confession and repentance.
iv. Matthew 3:6 (ESV) 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
c. Acts 19:18-20 (ESV) 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
d. Luke 17:3-4 (ESV) 3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
e. Let God search your heart continually in the place of fervent prayer.
i. 1 Chronicles 28:9 (ESV) 9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.
ii. Jeremiah 17:10 (ESV) 10 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
f. Torrey's Prescription For Revival “I can give a prescription that will bring a revival to any church or community or any city on earth. “First, let a few Christians (they need not be many) get thoroughly right with God themselves. This is the prime essential. If this is not done, the rest that I am to say will come to nothing. “Second, let them bind themselves together in a prayer group to pray for a revival until God opens the heavens and comes down. “Third, let them put themselves at the disposal of God for Him to use as He sees fit in winning others to Christ. That is all! “This is sure to bring a revival to any church or community. I have given this prescription around the world. It has been taken by many churches and many communities, and in no instance has it ever failed; and it cannot fail!”
i. This is huge!
ii. We must get thoroughly right with God! Let God search us! Is there any impure thought? Do we ever lie? Do we ever gossip? Do we ever disobey God?
iii. Torrey said: This is the prime essential. If this is not done, the rest that I am to say will come to nothing.
iv. You may have heard a theology out there that says Jesus forgave our sins past, present and future. That’s incomplete, and it leads people away from confession and repentance and dying daily.
1. Jesus did what he needed to do, but, unrepentant sin, ignored sin, cannot go unresolved! You can sin in the future and have it not be covered!
2. Spend hours in the prayer room and you will discover issue after issue… and it’s glorious!
3. If we cover unrepentant sin with sugar and honey, it’s still diseased on the inside. You can dip rotting meat that’s full of maggots into chocolate, and attempt to hide the corruption… but the realty remains, the inside is spoiled.
4. I shared the following on Facebook: The false belief that we are exempt from penalties of future sins with no confession or repentance is dangerous beyond measure.
5. Someone responded: Who believes that way?
6. I said: Millions of Christians. It's a huge false movement.
7. He said: Guess I'd have to go to a church that preaches a false word to know…praise God for the Baptists.
iii. Step three: Isaiah is cleansed
1. It’s good to let God reveal wickedness in us so we can be cleansed by fire!
2. Isaiah 6:6-7 (ESV) 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
3. 1 John 1:9 (ESV) 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
4. Hebrews 12:1 (ESV) 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
5. Psalm 51:10-12 (ESV) 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
a. The reason it’s so good to let God search out the corruption in our hearts, is because we can be freed from it!
b. Amazing!
iv. Step four: Isaiah is commissioned
1. Prophetic messengers will have the boldness to proclaim the word of the Lord regardless of its tone!
2. Wiersbe Outlines: Now God can call Isaiah and use him to preach His Word. The prophet is no longer wrapped up in his own needs; he wants to do the will of God. He is no longer burdened by sin; he has been cleansed. He is no longer discouraged; he knows that God is on the throne. Now he is ready to go to work.
3. Isaiah 6:8-10 (ESV) 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
4. This is God’s cry! Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?
a. Matthew 9:35-38 (ESV) 35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
v. Step five: Isaiah is given the outcome of the commission
1. Isaiah 6:11-13 (ESV) 11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, 12 and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13 And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.
a. We see in Mt 13 that Jesus spoke in parables because of this very judgment!
b. Matthew 13:10-14 (ESV) 10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “‘“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
c. And also in John:
i. John 12:37-41 (ESV) 37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
d. And in Acts:
i. Acts 28:23-26 (ESV) 23 When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. 24 And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. 25 And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: 26 “‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
e. This is why we need prophetic messengers with a bold spirit of awakening on them!!!!!
2. Ungers: How long would this spiritual deterioration go on? To the complete blotting out of Israel's testimony to the one true God? No, came the divine answer. Only until the complete devastation of the land and the removal of its inhabitants to Babylon were accomplished. Thence a remnant would return to Palestine. Even this tenth part would be further reduced, yet a holy posterity would survive in whom the ultimate hope of Israel would rest and in whom the covenants and promises would be realized.
b. You have an impending adventure if you simply sign up! Be available!
i. Sometimes God will draw you into adventure to cause you to become addicted to adventure!
ii. Wildman story
1. Fearful situation
c. God is looking for a people who are ready to give up the tired, old dreams of man for an adventure that will change societies!
d. Go after it! Don’t fear the risk! Don’t fear failure!
e. A study made a number of years ago said the more education a man has, the less likely he is to be an inventor. Now the reason for that is quite simple. From the time the boy, or girl, starts in school he is examined three or four times a year and, of course, it is a very disastrous thing if he fails. An inventor fails all the time and it is a triumph if he succeeds once. Consequently, if education is an inhibition to invention, it is due entirely to the form by which we rate things and not because of any intellectual differential. —Charles Kettering
Powerful teaching video : Prophetic Authority
The faith in the room was pulled on during this powerful and challenging teaching—watch now!
We are called to move from a life of low level prophetic influence, to a much more effective level of prophetic authority. Discover how in this teaching, Prophetic Authority. You can watch the video or listen to the audio at http://media.johnburton.net.
I received several comments about this teaching. It really hit home and impacted people deeply.
Here are some quotes from the video:
- When our prayer moves into the place of deep groaning, we move from intercession to legislation.
- Our natural analysis that fuels our prayer and our prophecy is locking us into a lesser life.
- Doubt fueled prayer actually causes more damage than good.There's power of life & death in the tongue.It would be better not to pray at all.
- Unbelief can cancel out even the most accurate and weighty prophecies and plans of God.
- Regarding petition: we should stop wasting time in prayer trying to convince God to do something we don't believe he'll do.
- If we don't deal with unbelief, our ministry will actually transfer unbelief to others, which will result in them being condemned. (Mark 16)
- In a day when we're trying to get the church praying more, there's actually a deeper
graduation into a life of less petition. - Unbelief keeps us from moving from having mere influence to a place of operating in great authority.
AND, don’t forget to submit dreams, visions and prophecies to www.detroitprophecy.com!
The Absentee Church : Time of extreme risk : George Barna
Leaders are increasingly alarmed about the body’s casual approach to the mission of the church
Even the most spiritual and mission-minded Christians seem to be pulling back from the corporate gathering, from the church in America.
I recently talked with a pastor who said he was disturbed that a couple of his key leaders were absent from a special church event. He was beside himself. Apparently they didn’t replace this mission critical event with something of more spiritual significance, but simply to relax and enjoy a night out on the town.
In this biblically historic season, the potential is great but the church is at extreme risk of becoming nearly powerless in most of American culture. The call must be to gather continually and to pray fervently.
Kay Sharpe, a friend of mine, sent me this email:
We had revival (I mean, full-tilt, make Brownsville Toronto and Lakeland look tame) … we were about to ramp it up… and suddenly most of the people who make it all “work” had “other things to do” —
I wept.
George Barna discovered in a recent poll:
Although there were a few subgroups that were more likely than average to experience church-based accountability, there was not a single segment for which even one out of every five people said their church does anything to hold them accountable.
The people are pulling back, often only attending a church service a couple times a month (statistically, twice a month is considered regular church attendance). There is little accountability and an increasing resistance to a raised bar of commitment to the mission of the church. There’s also an alarming trend to adopt personal spiritual missions (usually good and God given) but outside of the context of their local church. The calls and mandates that God lays on our hearts must be carried out within the structure and context of the broader corporate mission—the church.
Barna:
In a society in which choice is king, there are no absolutes, every individual is a free agent, we are taught to be self-reliant and independent.
There are other issues that keep people away from a diligent commitment to the local church. I taught recently on “The Spirit of Insignificance” and would recommend strongly that you take some time to listen to it (www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/teaching). I’ve discovered that most people believe that it matters little if they pull back and miss church services, prayer events and other ‘all church’ corporate meetings. If we understood that our absence has an exponential impact on the rest of the body and on the mission of the church there’s no way we’d miss an event (with very few, rare exceptions), regardless of how many times a week the church doors are open!
Another key issue for the departure from the church is that people tend to treat the church like an number of other places they visit throughout the week. People to go the grocery store to get stuff. They go to a restaurant to get some food that satisfies. They go to a baseball game to be entertained.
The church, however, must be treated with a much different approach. The church isn’t like a grocery store, but it is very much like a military. While there are personal benefits to enrolling in the Army (free food, insurance, etc.), the call is to serve. There is surrender of a lot of personal freedoms for the sake of the health of the nation. Time freedom, how we spend our money, comforts, the way we live all changes as we embrace our assignment in the church. Of course, the blessings that are attached to this kind of commitment, the spiritual impact, is phenomenal. However, with that in mind, consider this additional finding from Barna:
Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.
Again, people want to go to church to learn life skills, to gain some nuggets of inspiration that will help take them through the next week. They want the church to make their life better instead of their life making the church better. To use the church in this manner is tragic. I have found that people are invigorated and inspired when deep, challenging and Holy Spirit communicated spiritual principles are taught, but it’s rare to actually respond by living up to that level of challenge.
Barna:
When asked what matters most, teenagers prioritize education, career development, friendships, and travel. Faith is significant to them, but it takes a back seat to life accomplishments.
Americans consider survival in the present to be much more significant than eternal security and spiritual possibilities.
Most will participate in church to a degree when they receive help, discover friendships, feel connected, etc., but it is truly a special and rare thing to find true soldiers who connect and commit because they have a plan and a call to pour out and serve regardless of disappointment, frustration, other life focuses, offense or rejection.
Allow me to state this clearly: The call to the church as it prepares for revival will not be easy, convenient or fulfilling much of the time. It will often be exhausting, disappointing and slow to develop. However, the cost is worth it as we trust that God will, in time, impact people for eternity.
The Spirit of Absalom/20 Elements of Revival teaching
The Spirit of Absalom
This has to be the fastest I’ve ever uploaded a message… but it had a great response, and I thought you’d be impacted as you listen to it.
Just a few hours ago I taught on the divisive spirit of Absalom… it’s one of my most requested teachings, and it sheds a bright light on the brilliance of the enemy to draw God’s people to himself.
Also, here’s some diagrams for you to follow along with the part of the teaching on the spirit of Absalom. It’s from my book, Covens in the Church.
You are NOT the church : The scattering movement : What about church online?
THE SCATTERING MOVEMENT
To say that I’m concerned would be a gross understatement. There is a scattering movement in the nation that’s causing deep harm to the mission of the church. This scattering of believers is so widespread that we are seeing theologies and philosophies emerging that support the idea that it’s actually healthy to disband and withdraw. It becoming common to hear people say things like, “The church isn’t a building,” or, “I am the church, so I don’t have to go ‘to church’.” The idea is that people have become so wounded or dissatisfied with their experience in the church that they have decided that it’s not only better but actually biblically acceptable to minimize participation in an organized church setting. This mindset is threatening the corporate mission to a terrifying degree.YOU ARE NOT THE CHURCH
If we understand the meaning of the word ‘church’ we could never presume that we alone are the church. That idea is contrary to the origin of the word (ekklesia, meaning “assembly”). In fact, that word has secular origins. It literally means an assembly of people who have been called together by an authority in the city or region. Wow! That sheds a lot of light on what the church is. The church is an assembly of people organized under defined governmental leadership. It’s a regular gathering of people who are deeply agreed and in pursuit of mission advance under God’s apostles, prophets and other governmental leaders. Further, the pure definition of the word reveals that it isn’t used as easily in the context of the global company of believers as it is in the regional and local gathering of believers. The definition reveals that it’s a well defined local group vs. a loosely defined larger group of people (who mostly don’t know each other at all). We can’t be a part of the church if we aren’t gathered together with other parts of the church. Church is corporate. Additionally, the church is a group of people who assemble, fellowship, pray and respond together to apostolic teaching. That can’t happen in a more nebulous global context. The church has inherent in it’s core call the expectation of assembly and a corporate response so as to ensure the local mission is fulfilled. Again, a fulfilled mission can’t be realized without this type of intentional and faithful participation at a local level where communication and commonality are clearly defined.WHAT ABOUT HAVING CHURCH ONLINE?
I agree that there is much to enjoy and gain from this amazing technological world. We can watch church services online (I was watching one myself just tonight), listen to worship, meet Christians in forums and on Facebook, pray for one another and involve ourselves in Kingdom business in very unique ways. However, if this is the limit of one’s involvement, there are some key issues to be considered:- DEVOID OF APOSTOLIC LEADERSHIP—There is most probably (there are exceptions) no clearly defined apostolic leadership involved. We have to know who we’re called to serve with. We have to all hear, together, in our local congregation, how we are to respond in mission advance. What’s God calling our leaders to focus on? How are we to participate? What are the goals? What steps must we take to prepare ourselves to see this come to pass?
- LACK OF STRATEGIC CORPORATE INTERCESSION—While not impossible, it’s very hard to involve ourselves in the number one purpose of the church this way—corporate intercession. We just have to be together to pray with unity and consistency if we are to have the sufficient strength to see significant impact.
- NO ACCOUNTABILITY—Accountability and discipline are nearly non-existent outside of the context of the local church. Most who flock from the church and into alternative spiritual activities do so to avoid conflict, accountability and correction from leadership. We have to understand that this is a critical part of the refining process. We must be receptive and humble and ready to be challenged—even if the leaders God established for us are exceptionally flawed and out of touch with our needs.
- PROMOTES MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH—It can quite easily reinforce a wrong understanding of the purpose of the church. I would say this is the most serious issue. The prevailing thought these days is that the church is there for us. Whatever needs we have, we can get many of them met in the church. So, we attend if we are ministered to. Or, we may determine that we can get what we’re looking for without regular church attendance. So, the church becomes unnecessary to us. Friend, this concept is a defilement of the church. I can’t say it any less striking than that. We are called to gather together with other believers primarily to intercede for the nations. We are there to give, to leave offerings, to serve, to minister, to pray, to grow. The church isn’t primarily there for us, we are to be there for the mission of the church. We may say that we don’t need the church but have we considered that the church needs us?