Posts Tagged ‘church’
A Warning Dream : IHOP : International House of Prayer
I had a prophetic warning dream targeted at those who are spiritually fervent.
I have to make it abundantly clear to everyone who reads this that I am a huge supporter of the prayer movement that is being facilitated through the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. I believe God is too!
The reason I have to make that clear is because IHOP was the focus of the dream. Amy and I had the honor of serving as the Directors of Intro to IHOP for a year and I also served on the graphic design team. IHOP is a wonder in the Earth!
First I’ll share the dream and then reveal what I feel are the key takeaways:
I was at IHOP and there was the usual God-centered activity all around. People were worshiping God, praying to God, talking about God in small and large groups all over the campus. These were extremely fervent and devoted people who spent their lives going after the deep things of God.
I was there among some of the groups of people who were on the campus and was increasingly burdened with a message of holiness and fiery pursuit of revival. I then saw Allan Hood and quickly shared the burden with him. He got everybody’s attention and with a serious look on his face he told them to stop what they were doing and listen closely to me.
The crowd was quite large where we were. I began to preach prophetically and call everybody to a serious and consecrated focus of holiness and revival. I felt fairly confident that as I preached that the crowd would quickly grow as the message was just what that type of community thrives on.
Not so. The unction on me was increasing but the crowd was quickly yet politely breaking up and moving on to their regular activities. It was then that I noticed that Allan Hood also left. I was shocked and saddened.
There was a hallway at the back of the room where I was and there were some offices and small prayer rooms connected to it. One room had maybe 5 or 6 people in it and they were listening to what I was saying. I could tell that the message was difficult for them to take in as well, and they were tempted to leave as the others did, but the fought the urge and stayed. They listened.
When I was done I was further heartbroken as I saw where the crowd dispersed to. Most of them were in another nearby large room where they were all singing “The First Noel.”
That was the end of the dream.
Here’s the takeaway:
IHOP: Like I said before, this is not an anti-IHOP warning. Not even close. IHOP is a ministry that I’m familiar with which gives me a grid to work from that’s understandable. I believe this prophetic message is targeted at those who presume themselves to be fervently devoted to the deep things of God. Streams of revival and prayer are filled with zealous people who are bright and shining lamps in these end times. Their caution is twofold:
- First, simply belonging to a highly focused ministry or stream doesn’t mean we are somehow exempt from the responsibility to respond to God’s broader Kingdom directives. In the dream there was a false sense of safety as the crowd emitted a corporate aura of exemption and elitism. Their ears were closed to messages that didn’t obviously affirm what they presumed was ‘the message of the house.’
- Second, be ready to receive messages and directives from outside your stream. A certain level of exclusivity and protecting the message of the house is important. I do affirm that. We have to run without apology with what God has specifically given us to steward. However, be careful not to entertain a deaf spirit in the process! He who has an ear let him hear! Don’t be surprised when very focused, exclusive movements receive revelation and direction from streams and prophetic messengers that are quite unlike their own.
Again, this isn't about IHOP specifically, but it's about movements, it's about fervent people advancing together with passion and fire. IHOP is a great representation of devoted, humble and focused people who love God deeply.
Allan Hood: For those of you who know Allan Hood know that he’s the perfect person for God to use in my dream. He is a sober and powerfully anointed messenger of Christ. In my dream he represents leadership that is clearly locked on to the cross, to the cause of Christ. His affirmation of the message I was delivering was key for the crowd who was gathering around. The warning? Allan represented a key leader who is both highly anointed and fully human. The sharpness of the message was apparently not timely or simply not what Allan wanted to continue listening to. He politely slipped out. Just as his affirmation of the message was key, so was, unfortunately, his slipping away.
I will qualify again, this is not about Allan, it's about leadership. Allan Hood is a hero of the faith and I believe God honored him by including him the dream. He's more devoted to the cross of Christ than anybody I know.
The people in the room in the hallway: The small number of people in that room were actually smiling and excited to hear what I was saying. Again, however, that’s not to say that they weren’t troubled or tempted to slip out themselves. But something was different about them. I believe they were in that room before I arrived studying and praying. The didn’t have an elite heart. They, in humility, knew they had much to receive from the Lord. They battled through the tension and struggle of the message they were hearing and even though Allan and the masses left, they remained. They represented the remnant within the remnant. It’s easy to presume IHOPpers and other people like that are the remnant. However, there is a greater remnant. Just as Gideon saw his army diminish in phases as he finally discovered the remnant that would take the city with him, I believe there’s a remnant that does have an ear to hear what the Lord is saying.
The First Noel: Keep in mind my dream came Christmas morning (2011). I sensed that the desire of the larger group was to focus on celebrating the first coming of Jesus (which is wonderful!). However, the message of the hour conflicted with that happy, joyful seasonal message.
We must have ears to hear. The times are increasingly severe and God is looking for an alert and ready Church. Get ready to divert from your current ministry plans as God announces new blueprints and mandates. Leaders, be doubly aware of what God is saying. Don’t trade the Rhema word of God for the expected, accepted message of the season or message of the house.
Thoughts?
(This will also be posted in the Dreams and Visions section of our brand new forum: www.thegodforum.net.)
The God Forum is open for business : Talk about God
The God Forum is LIVE and ready for new discussions!
Talk about God.
There is much to say, and I’d like to invite you to start and/or participate in discussions with a new community at www.thegodforum.net.
Available forums include:
- The Church
- Giving & Finances
- Family
- Eternity
- Signs, Wonders, Miracles & Healing
- Theology
- Pro-Life
- …and more!
Do you have a suggestion for a new forum topic? Just let us know!
Brand new XPmedia video: Ambition, production and works in the church
There’s a false grace message that’s lulling people to sleep and renouncing the call to extreme Kingdom production.
Check out the brand new XPmedia.com video Ambition, Production and Works in the Church. Here’s the link: http://www.xpmedia.com/IQTFz2STVhCt
I’ll include my notes below (granted, they are quite simple).
I’d love to hear some feedback!
Email me at [email protected].
If you’d like me to teach on this or other messages in your church, head on over to www.johnburton.net/booking!
REVIVAL CHURCH CHRISTMAS PARTY TOMORROW!
Thursday at 6pm the festivities begin!
Bring your family and friends for a night of food, gifts and fellowship!
CHRISTMAS MORNING SERVICE
Ambition, Production and Works in the Church
I. Casual approach
a. We often see in the streams that I am most familiar with a tendency to take a casual approach, to take a wait and see approach.
i. Detroit—wait and see
ii. Some people pray for more than they are willing to work for.
1. We need an aggressive, pioneering, entrepreneur spirit in the church.
2. Wake up in the night burning, wake up on the morning producing!
3. I am looking for leaders who are self-starters, who are conquering the cares of life, who are building, developing, committed, on time, in position, producing! What is your goal, what are you doing?
4. Catherine Mullins—on the front row, alert, intent, engaged.
a. Titus 3:14 (ESV) 14 And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.
iii. We must discover the biblical message of works again! We must produce! Fruit comes through work!
b. Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV) 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
i. A misunderstood verse
ii. We were saved not by works, but for works! We work!
iii. This has eternal implications!
1. James 2:14 (ESV) 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
2. Wow! Can faith save? Not if it’s dead faith.
3. James 2:17 (ESV) 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
iv. Matthew 25:29-30 (ESV) 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
c. Mom telling me to send out resumes
i. It takes just as much energy to wish as it does to plan.
ii. Dreaming has its values, but never should it become a substitute for work that needs to be done.
1. I’m a dreamer!
2. But without action I’ll be nothing more than a dreamer.
iii. Good intentions die unless they are executed.
iv. Our nation became big by starting things.
d. Steve Gray—always do two things at once… be productive.
i. We must live our lives producing, working!
ii. The cares of life must be annihilated!
Sunday Revival Double Header : Join revivalist and author John Burton on the road
The Revival Church worship team and John Burton will be on the road this Sunday morning and at Revival Church Sunday evening!
We are very intentionally developing a culture of portable revival and our plan is to take the masses with us on the road as we carry the fire to other cities and churches.
YOU are invited to join us on our journeys!
Travel to Attica (only about 40 minutes away from Revival Church) and help us release the fire of revival into an amazing church!
The service starts at 10am and the address is 4411 Newark Rd., Attica, MI 48412.
THEN, the fun has barely begun as we continue in the flame Sunday night at Revival Church!
Join us for wild and burning pre-service prayer at 5pm and dive into the furnace as worship begins at 6pm.
See you Sunday!
A wave of revival hit Revival Church : Revival Church moving or switching nights
The thought of having a church service without the manifest glory of God just doesn’t make sense.
We’ve been declaring an atmosphere of signs and wonders, and last night at Revival Church several experienced gold dust. Someone who had it manifest in the children’s ministry just posted on Facebook:
I still have it on me! It comes and goes……its wild!
The packed out church was covered with the fire and glory of God as Catherine Mullins and Matt Sorger released the life of Jesus.
This atmosphere must be stewarded… and the company of burning ones at Revival Church are invested in this magnificent process of fire in Detroit!
HUMILITY AND HOLINESS
I continue to be wrecked by the fear of the Lord. It’s increasing. As the pressures of revival increase we must understand that the only way we’ll stand is if we fall to our knees.
Let’s continue to embrace holiness and humility as we strategically go after God unlike any time in our lives. The times are quite serious and we can’t casually handle the fire.
We have adopted what we consider to be the best advice for launching a full scale revival. Evan Roberts, the great revivalist, said:
"Congregate the people who are willing to make a total surrender. Pray and wait. Believe God’s promises. Hold daily meetings.”
A COMPANY OF BURNING ONES
We have already assembled the best team of emerging leaders I’ve ever been associated with—but we are just beginning!
The call is to gather the hungry and surrendered and pray. There is a groaning intercession movement that has already started to take Detroit by storm in theLab, and you are invited to join the ranks! Learn more about the strategy to see revival engulf Detroit!
Visit both www.revivallab.com and www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/revivalcompany for info on how to connect in theLab prayer movement and in Revival Church
HOLD DAILY MEETINGS
This is the next step in our strategy, but we need your help! Our host church is starting their own Sunday night service the first of January, which means we have a decision to make.
The ultimate goal is to secure a property that can hold thousands for major prophetic/revival conferences and events along with room for dorms and theLab internship. If you have ideas, I’d love to talk. I can connect you with the team involved in our property search. When we have our own property, we will be able to start developing the 24/7 church. Not only will there be daily meetings, but there will be hourly events around the clock. Imagine continual teaching in one room, non-stop groans of intercession in another and fiery revival services in another!
Since we only have a little over a month for something to happen, it looks like we may end up moving from Sunday night to Saturday night beginning the first week of January, 2012. So, clear your calendars now for this shift!
THELAB INTERNSHIP DEADLINE
If you want to save $200 on the next internship session, you have to register by November 30th! Go here: www.revivallab.com/apply.
The religious system’s fight against revival : A threat is coming to the church
Revival is a serious threat to the prevailing church structure as it will put at risk every comfort zone we know.
The reformation that revival will facilitate will cause quite a resistance even from many of the most devoted Believers due to some significant threats to their comfort zones.
It’s important to understand that it’s a religious spirit that is the force behind anything that might resist a costly revival.
Religion is: man’s attempt to use God to get what he wants
Jesus threatened the church of the day—so the church killed him. They got what they wanted.
Today, it’s normal for many to attempt to use God or to use the church to get what they want. They want life to be comfortable and convenient. They want the church experience to be a certain way. They might shop around until they find the spiritual experience that meets their desires and demands. If people aren’t careful, they can unwittingly embrace a spirit of religion while minimizing the cost, the cross and the mandate to surrender all for the sake of Kingdom advance.
As revival approaches, here are some of the issues we will have to wrestle through:
- All traditions are at risk: Traditions have the power to void the Word of God (Mat 15)! It’s no wonder God is so intent on resolving this issue. The coming reformation will impact many traditions that have become signatures of church as we know it. It’s imperative that we don’t resist the change that will affect the days and times we gather together, the style of worship we’ve become familiar with, programs, etc. The coming church will look nothing like the church we know today. Kim Clement said recently, “The church as we know it is being abolished.”
- Pastors will have to face the risk of losing people, money and their reputations: The pressure for church growth, and the temptation to compete with other pastors and churches for the best ministry, is pretty extreme. Additionally, drastic change to the familiar church experience will be a serious threat to pastor’s salaries and retirements. The fear of loss will hit many. If people who are unwilling to buy into such a drastic change and such a zealous experience decide to leave the church, their money leaves with them. Further, if people leave the church, accusations of pastoral failure will start to fly. Reputations will be lost. The question is, is a move of God more important than security and position?
- Local church missions will have to adjust: When revival lands, it will probably land in a single location. That location most likely won’t be our specific church. This means that local church leaders will have to have open hands and and be quick to release the people in their church to participate at a high level in the revival. The pastors will need to lead the people out as they join forces with the greater city church. When I went to the outpouring in Lakeland, Florida I was saddened that no church marquee gave any indication that they were cancelling some services so they could participate in the revival. Not one. I wonder if the threat of that revival caused them to lock everybody down and keep them far from that tent where the fire of God chose to manifest.
- Investment will increase radically: The time, money and focus required to steward a revival is off the charts. Cares of life must finally be dealt with and preparations to spend day after day and dollar after dollar must be made. Lesser priorities will have to take a back seat to the coming ‘all hands on deck’ season.
- Acts 2:46 (NKJV) 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple…
- We will have to release control: The Holy Spirit is going to manifest in such bizarre and extreme measure that those who are nervous about such environments will be tempted to shut it down.
- Acts 2:12-13 (NKJV) 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” 13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”
- Most people don’t like change, and that is a problem: Leaders tend to shy away from alienating the people they are leading, but a crisis is coming. The change that’s coming to the church will cause most to vehemently resist. Will we as leaders respond to God or man? Peter, interested in man ahead of God, unwittingly renounced the great change and cost of the cross, and Jesus gave him one of the strongest rebukes in scripture. Peter was embracing religion, the desire to use God and eliminate the cross. This religious disposition is a serious risk to revival.
- Mark 8:31-33 (ESV) 31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
- Sharp yet love filled prophetic messages must be preached: In Acts 2 direct and prophetic teaching was a direct result of the outpouring. The days of sloppy grace and tickled ears must come to an end.
- Acts 2:36-37 (NKJV) 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
The systems that we have developed are about to be destroyed as God paves the way for the coming church. The revival that’s nearly hear will be both great and terrible. It won’t be a series of nice meetings, but rather it will break a lot so that the love and abundant life of Jesus can be felt in much fuller measure.
Ten Audacious Church Goals : The unapologetic passion of Revival Church
The goal of the church must never be to blend in—NEVER.
au·da·cious adj
1a : intrepidly daring : adventurous <an audacious mountain climber> b : recklessly bold : rash <an audacious maneuver>
2: contemptuous of law, religion, or decorum : insolent
3: marked by originality and verve <audacious experiments>
Every definition of the word audacious fits perfectly in the definition of the mission of the church. It certainly does for the church I am so honored to lead, Revival Church in the Detroit area.
In a season where most of the church in the Western world has been marginalized, the time is now for daring, bold, and yes, reckless leaders to pierce a stagnant, stale and religious culture with the sharp sword of the Spirit of the Lord. Now is the time for burning men and women to shock the nations.
REVIVAL CHURCH
I will never apologize for the white hot passion we have for the presence and plans of our wonderfully fearful God. In fact, we are still quite far from the level of trembling and zeal that will soon be here. The fire must get perpetually and exponentially hotter.
We refuse to get excited about any goals that don’t require ridiculous faith and that don’t cause the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of religion to shudder. Those kingdoms are coming down.
The plan of action includes the pursuit of extreme Holy Spirit activity. Signs, wonders, miracles and experiential manifestations of the glory of God are key. We are going after God with abandon!
So many people believe that we are waiting for God to bring revival…and that we have to jump through hoops to cause him to do it. What a frustrating life to live! Jesus let us know that he was done. He said, “It is finished.” He sent the apostles to do the work that Jesus used to do when he was on the Earth. He said he’d send the Promise, the Holy Spirit, to enable them. So they waited for the Holy Spirit…but we don’t have to! He has been empowering us for 2000 years! Now we literally carry God and we have every resource right now to release revival into the world! We aren’t waiting for God, he’s waiting for us!
It’s time to gather together, to receive ridiculous vision, stir up crazy faith and plan the impossible! We can bring revival to Detroit now!
TEN AUDACIOUS GOALS
- It’s all about the numbers. At Revival Church we are fearlessly going after those that yearn for God, and we are out to build the largest and most impactful ministry in Detroit—and every other pastor in this region should have the same audacious plans! If the Detroit Lions can hold Sunday services and unapologetically draw in 70,000 people to Ford Field, you have to be kidding if you think Christian leaders should have a problem with determining to have a greater impact. I see stadiums filled week after week with fervent lovers of Jesus in Detroit. (I can’t wait for TheCall on 11/11/11, but it’s an indictment against the church that months of cheerleading and mobilization must take place prior to the event just so the church would show up for one service at Ford Field—and the tickets are free!)
- Acts 2:47 (NKJV) 47 … And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
- The culture will never drive us. It’s time for the church to repent for succumbing to the busyness and distractions of American culture. We are calling people to a fully immersive life of Kingdom activity. Instead of cancelling services out of respect for the distracted we are calling a company of forerunners to blaze a trail of Acts chapter 2 style devotion and urgency. Someone asked Pastor Steve Gray, the leader of the Smithton Outpouring, “How is it that you can be at church six nights a week?” Steve replied, “How is it that you can watch TV six nights a week?”
- Ephesians 5:14-17 (ESV) 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
- We are planning on hosting and serving one of the worlds greatest revivals in history. The times are urgent, and the harvest is waiting. We acknowledge that many other amazing churches are building according to the critical plans God has given them. But, the vision we have cannot be found anywhere in Detroit, so we are provoked to build. There is a Nehemiah cry that is resounding at Revival Church. The project is massive and the time is short. We both praying and working simultaneously so the masses have a place to go on any weekend or weekday to experience the revival they so crave.
- Nehemiah 4:1-2 (NKJV) 1 But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish–stones that are burned?"
- We are to be a threat to the status quo. The religious structures are coming down. We embrace the principles of the story of Gideon. Religious altars are coming down and an army of fearless warriors is being raised up to take a city. We have no option to blend into the prevailing church landscape. It’s time to war!
- Acts 17:6 (ESV) 6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
- The 24/7 church will be the norm. If the Tigers and Red Wings can dominate the night here in Detroit, and if thousands converge together in unity to celebrate them, we won’t stop until the same level of devotion is found in the church.
- Acts 2:46-47 (NKJV) 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
- We are believing for millions of dollars to come into Revival Church. We are boldly praying and asking for the resources to complete our mission. A religious spirit will attempt to shoot down such a focus, but if a person can believe for his household bills to be paid then you better believe we are expecting God’s mission to be financially covered. The provision will match the vision.
- Philippians 4:19 (ESV) 19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
- The church isn’t a building, but it meets in one. We’re planning on a property to hold thousands of people, dorms, a school of ministry and much more. Read more here: https://burton.tv/2010/08/20/you-are-not-the-church-the-scattering-movement-what-about-church-online/
- We’re going to annihilate the sheep stealing myth. At Revival Church we have open hands. We don’t own the sheep at Revival Church and we have no patience for any controlling doctrine that teaches otherwise. While we do encourage people to a high level of honor and commitment, we also honor them and understand that God may lead them to participate in other churches and ministries. We have an open recruitment policy here as well. Any pastor can come into Revival Church and attempt to recruit anybody on my staff or team without any guilt or fear. You can read more here: https://burton.tv/2011/09/06/church-competition-and-the-sheep-stealingtransfer-growth-myth/
- Revival is coming to Detroit. With all of the phenomenal and hungry revivalists in Detroit, and with the prayer movement and other strategies expanding all over the region, the time is now to experience revival. However, we also believe that revival will probably be hosted in one primary location. We are preparing for that location to be Revival Church. But, we’re also pretty smart and we realize that the chances are high that it will land in another church. The call will be to travel, to lead the people out, to go where the fire is. So, in that case, we will be highly invested there in addition to developing the supporting ministry of Revival Church.
- Exodus 13:21 (ESV) 21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
- We have names and faces. We fully embrace the heart of the nameless, faceless movement. Extreme humility is mandatory. However, that movement has in some places adopted a strange false-unity ideology. Leaders are being renounced in favor of equality in function. This just isn’t biblical. We expect to have so many humble, surrendered people who embrace the cross of Christ that they will be promoted by God to have influence over millions of desperate people. We can’t hide. We can’t blend in. We can’t espouse false humility. There are prophetic messengers arising and the world will know who they are and they will fall in love with Jesus who they carry.
- 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NKJV) 1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.
Gold dust, wonders, miracles, signs and revival in the cities of the Earth
This is a remarkable video of a manifestation of gold dust at Bethel Church’s Open Heavens Conference!
Church it’s time to contend for a culture of supernatural life that’s filled with wonder!
Check out this video of a visible cloud of gold during a fire tunnel at Bethel Church’s Open Heavens Conference in Redding, California. It was posted by their Youth Pastor, Tom Crandall.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2310539496490&mid=504592
MARK 16:17-18 REPENTANCE MOVEMENT
Mark 16:17-18 (ESV) 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Repentance? I believe so. We have done a great job of talking about the Kingdom, but have been satisfied with a lack of demonstrating the Kingdom. There must be a movement of repentance in the church for this reality. God must grip our hearts!
As Christians, we have no option to remain removed from a supernatural life of signs, wonders and miracles. We are mandated to experience God in this fashion as a normal part of our ministry.
It’s sadly rare to find a church that highlights a culture of miracles, but that is going to change. If we want revival, it must.
Bizarre and monumental phenomenon’s are coming to the church, and I am convinced that Detroit will be one of the forerunner cities. The glory cloud of God will be visible in this city!
I was amazed several times over two specific weekends when many people noticed a visible glory cloud at Revival Church. Then, I found out that it was also at Pastor Joe Sazyc’s church in Dearborn Heights.
Get ready church for a reformation of understanding of what it is to know God, to encounter him and what it is to go to church! The masses are coming and they aren’t coming for one of our nice church services! They won’t settle for anything less than the tangible, weighty glory of God! I won’t either!
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From my new book : The Coming Church : Everything is threatened
Every church, every pastor and every Christian will tremble as God invades the landscape of the church.
I started writing the book and I thought I’d give you a sneak peek at what’s coming.
Let me know what you think!
~ One ~
The Encounter
Spiritual encounters, whether they are visions, dreams or visitations can go a long way in preparing individuals, groups, and even nations for the otherworldly, dramatic and critical shifts that God is setting into motion. Of course, we know in scripture that spiritual things must be discerned spiritually, and it’s important to understand clearly what’s being communicated. We also know that all dreams, for example, are not necessarily spiritual dreams. That must be discerned. I challenge you to stay up until 3 AM and then eat a bucket of hot wings, a can of Mountain Dew and a half a gallon of ice cream and see what kind of crazy images dance around in your head when you finally fall asleep. Experiences like that won’t shake nations. However, the encounter I had absolutely must.
I had a vision of the soon coming church. For me, a spiritual revelation, a message delivered directly by the Creator of the world, is usually very easy to discern. It’s rare that I have to go to someone seeking out an interpretation. The scene and the message are almost always extremely vivid and revealing. I immediately understand what the players and the atmosphere and the story line are attempting to communicate to me.
This particular encounter was no different – in fact, it was so striking, fearful, engulfing and overpowering that the imagery and message will keep me trembling in my spirit forever.
In order to appreciate the magnitude of the message that was communicated to me in the vision, it will be helpful to understand the context. If you can imagine, at least to an incredibly small degree, the picture of the church that God himself sees, it shouldn’t be a stretch to realize the picture of the church that we see on the Earth clearly cannot match up. Meaning, when God drew up the glorious church leading up to its launch in the book of Acts, that diagram that was before him looks little like the church we see today. God’s church looks little like the church we have come to know.
Acts 2:1-3 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
Do me a favor and read that passage in Acts chapter 2 one more time. I want those three verses to dive into your spirit and shake you up. When God started diagramming the church, this is what he envisioned — this is where he started. When you compare this passage of Scripture with descriptions of the modern-day church as we know it, it seems like were comparing apples and oranges.
I’d like to ask you to read the passage one more time. As I’m writing this, I feel the Spirit of the Lord starting to burn in my inner man. Let me pray for you right now just before you read it again:
Mighty God, I pray the burnings of your Spirit would be transmitted into your friends heart. Give them a glimpse into the supernatural yet strikingly real realm of the church. Give them the capacity to release old paradigms, structures, traditions, mindsets and cultures as they come alive to the reality of the church as you see it. Amen.
Okay, go ahead and read the passage in Acts chapter 2 one more time.
Acts 2:1-3 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
Is it becoming a little bit easier to understand just what the church should look like? You see, as God designed and then launched the church, it was literally blowing and burning and every one of them in that upper room experienced it. As we begin to embrace the truth that passages like this are not science fiction, and that they communicate actual phenomenons that are to be normal for us as Believers, it will become easier to leave behind what we know and press toward the soon coming church. We will suddenly find ourselves so deeply dissatisfied that any thought of maintenance becomes quite insane.
Now, keep in mind that this fiery reality was communicated to us by Jesus, by the Word. This passage is the Word of God, not simply a descriptive, historical report. So, God’s plan is for the church to be a supernatural raging furnace of Holy Spirit activity.
I have heard it said that the only thing more powerful than the Word of God is tradition. The traditions of man overpower the greatest power in existence — Jesus Christ himself. Do you feel the weight of that? Is it possible that we need to embrace the fear of the Lord again? The thought of allowing man-made concepts, structures or agendas to push aside and nullify God’s plans seems ridiculous. Yet it happens with stunning regularity every day all over the world.
Mark 7:13 …making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down…
Of course it’s true that the definition of the church cannot be limited to one perspective of one segment of the greater structure. It is certainly true, as is revealed later on in Acts chapter 2, that the healthy church will include wonderful fellowship, breaking of bread, powerful preaching, discipleship, evangelism, prayer and other critical activities. However, what we see in the church today is a lot of activity, even good activity, but usually without the tangible burning and blowing of God’s Spirit.
The Crater
If you take a look at the cover of this book, you will see a futilely poor attempt at visually communicating what I experienced in my vision. In the vision, I found myself in a dramatic, apocalyptic scene. Everything seemed to be colorless, or at best a variety of dark blues, grays and greens. The ominous clouds matched up with the dark and wild landscape all around me.
Directly in front of me was the focal point of the vision, a tremendously massive crater. I can’t begin to describe in human language the overwhelmingly weighty, urgent, and fearsome atmosphere that gripped me and demanded my complete attention. I was trembling as I looked at the edge of the crater in the distance. As I slowly walked toward the gigantic hole in the ground, I knew I could not approach it casually. The fear of the Lord surrounded me. I couldn’t imagine what type of alien invasion could have created an impression this deep in such solid ground. The force had to have been greater than anything my human mind could comprehend.
As I was analyzing the drama that I was experiencing, God revealed to me that the crater that I was drawing near to was the church. The church? My mind certainly couldn’t even begin to analyze what that meant, but my spirit was raging. My mind presumed I should be looking at a small, white church building with a steeple, but that was not at all what my eyes were seeing.
My spirit was provoked and alive, but I knew that those who were more logical than spiritual in their life experience would most probably resist what is just over the horizon.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Note, this doesn’t mean the unsaved, it means those who are naturally minded. That’s a lot of Christians. Here’s what Paul says next:
1 Corinthians 3:1-2 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;
I continued to tremble as the increasingly intense, colorless atmosphere engulfed me, and as I ever so carefully, fearfully, yet with intense curiosity approached the edge of the church, the crater.
Again, I realized I couldn’t casually participate. This was a very clear message that I was receiving. The days of casually connecting in the church were over. The shaking and trembling rocked my whole being as I approached this invasion of Heaven into Earth.
Once at the edge, I was stunned and my senses were overwhelmed as I looked at what seemed to be alive. While everything else around me was gray scale, I saw vivid, bright and glowing hues of orange, yellow and red and a prism of colors in between. The bright, colorful, burning lava was living and active. It was moving, coursing throughout the crater. My trembling intensified.