MOVING ON TO MATURITY
“(Until)
we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
Eph. 4:13
A
couple of years back, I was reading and meditating on the Day of Pentecost as
it is found in Acts chapter 2.
With a
sudden burst of clarity and revelation, the Lord planted something in my spirit
that I have never been able to shake. It was the conviction that the last day’s
outpouring of the Holy Spirit would come within the context of blood and fire
and columns of smoke.
On that
day, Peter was giving a message that applied to that first Pentecost, but even
more so to the final outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our day. The problem is the
church as a whole has never reached the maturity and unity that must be in
place before God’s people can receive the full promise of the Father, the outpouring
of God’s Spirit in these last days.
In my
understanding there will be two polar unities in the last days:
1.
There will be a polar unity based upon
compromise and a following after the things of Satan, the lusts of the flesh
and a global conglomerate religion under antichrist.
2.
There will be a church of the first born, born
again, baptized, filled with the Spirit, seeking God with all their hearts,
walking in obedience of God’s Word and bearing testimony to the wonders of the coming
King of kings.
3.
The question remains then: How will God bring
such a church to maturity and unity?
Right
now we have the sheep and the goats together. We have the wheat and tares in the
same field and we have the wise and foolish virgins sleeping and deaf, even
though the Bridegroom is well on His way. What is going to separate these
factions from one another so that we can “come into the unity of the faith and
of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ?”
The general
visible church today is absolutely corrupt, immature and living mostly in
rebellion against the disciplines of the Lord. They think they are on the glory
train, but many are on a fast track to hell. We have almost completely lost the
understanding of the Priesthood of all believers. We are called to be priests
unto God and priests unto the dying world. Instead we are sitting on our hands,
sucking on milk bottles and waiting for the rapture. There is no longer any
concept of maturity.
I am
taking a graduate level course written by Dr. Michael Lake entitled, “The Priesthood
of All Believers. In it he shows four things that should mark the true believer
today.
1.
FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD: including intimacy with
God, Hearing His voice, Ministering TO God in worship and praise and
ministering FOR God. (Speaking His will into the earth.)
2.
LEARNING THE WAYS OF GOD: Which includes a study of the Torah, the Prophets, Gospels and
Epistles within a solid foundation of fellowship with God.
3.
DOING- TO WALK IN THE WAYS OF GOD IN EVERY AREA
OF OUR LIVES:
What
good is learning if we are not doing what we learn?
We
have too many lecturers and not enough doers
Doing
is actually the second part of learning. If we do not “DO” have we really
learned anything?
4.
TEACHING: Once we have personal transformation through
fellowship, learning and doing, we can then teach others to experience the same
thigs we have in God. Our REAL TESTIMONY
is the greatest witnessing tool and motivation for others to go on with God.
According
to Peter, we are “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a Holy Nation, a People
for God’s own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has
called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light…”.
Each of
our own individual journeys out of Egypt is unique. We each bear a unique
testimony of God’s saving grace that only we can tell. 1 Peter 4:9. If we will
walk in the anointing of theHoly Spirit then God will take us to those who will
respond to our testimony.
Somehow
we must begin to lose our denominational sense of corporate purpose and we must
begin to perceive the Body of Christ that goes beyond these superficial
divisions. Those who know their Shepherd will have true fellowship with God.
They will be learning the ways of God. They will be walking in the ways of God
in every area of our lives and we will be teaching the people to observe all
that the Lord has commanded… taking every thought captive to the obedience of
Christ… and we will teach others to do the same.
We are not
perfect and neither were the disciples, but we, as did they, press on into maturity
learning to live our lives by divine appointment. This is how Jesus lived. He
did only those things that He saw the Father doing. Our success rate will go
way up when we do only what God tells us to do rather than running ahead of
Him.
It is
also becoming clear that our growth and perfection (finishing the journey) will
not be completed while we are looking at ourselves and monitoring our own progress,
for indeed, the greatest part of our growth will take place in our service and
ministry to others. Holiness does not come from isolation, but from
participation in God’s great harvest.
The
Body of Christ is not labelled with denominational tags. Unfortunately in this
day and age, we have made God just one of our friends. He is no longer the
sovereign of our lives. When He is, then we will be the church, the called out
ones, the Remnant people of God… priests unto God and priests unto the people.
A
picture of the true remnant church of our time is found in Ephesians 2:20-22
and this is the church with which we must begin to identify:
“Having
been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together
grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together
for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
This is
the church that will be called out of the churches in the last days. All other
structures will fall away and crumble in the coming storm. We must be found
standing upon the foundation, the Rock of Christ.
Far too
often people have sought intimacy with a church and its programs while
remaining largely a stranger to Yeshua. He is just one of their friends that
they go to church to see. But often they don’t even take Him home with them. He
becomes a sort of mascot at their games rather than the strength and power by
which the game is won.
Moving
into maturity will take us into realms that even most church members do not
understand…neither can you fully share it with most Christians. They have been
hardened by multiple trips to the altar in which no real change, no exchange of
lives has taken place. The old man of sin remains alive in them and they
struggle through every day being at war with the Spirit of God that dwells in
them.
Christians
are becoming exhausted trying to tread water… trying to do good... trying to
look good and feel good. It is that one big thing that stands in the way… ...death
to self, in order that the Spirit of God may become the power of our lives.
Some
people, because of their doctrine of immanency ignore thangs that God says must
happen before He returns. Maturity and unity are two of them. And the way I
look at it, the church is still fractured and immature. Only hard times and
persecution will bring us to maturity. We have proved that times of ease and
riches and blessings will not do the job… so our Loving Heavenly Father,
desiring to rescue us, will now bring on that which will bring us into
maturity.
Benjamin
Faircloth, a man whom I consider to be a prophet of God, sees the blood moons
of 2014/2015 as being a sort of gate and warning that we have entered into that
specific period of time in which He will bring His church into maturity as well
as to judge the sins of our nation. “Fear God and give glory to Him for the hour
of His judgment has come. Worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and the
sea and springs of waters. Babylon is fallen… come out of her My people.” Rev
14:6, 7
Of
course the warnings of the three angels of Revelation 14 have sounded
continuously throughout the church age, but now the signs in the sun, moon and
stars are telling us that the final and primary fulfilment of these warnings is
at hand. To ignore them now will cost people their lives.
The question
we must ask ourselves now is are we members of the true and transcendent Body
of Christ, or are we just card carrying members of an organization? There is
perhaps nothing wrong with the organization per se, but we must do more than
show up at church. We must now become intimate parts of the Body of Christ. We
must be founded upon the foundation of Apostles and prophets with Yeshua as our
chief corner stone. And we must do more than stand on Him. We must come to the measure
of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13. What
He has started, He will finish.
Listen:
we are all in this together. I am not sitting in some ivory tower telling you
to be holy like me. Heavens no! I am merely sharing with you that which I am
confronting right now… along with the conviction that this is where we must go.
The things that the Lord has been doing in my life are a marvel to me. His Word
and His power are working in me to form me into the image of Christ.
More
and more I see just how little I actually have to do with it and how much I
need Him for every ounce of progress. “For grace are you saved through faith
and that not of ourselves. It is the gift
of God.” I see that now and I am beginning to experience the transforming power
of God in my life and I am doing my best to keep my hands off of it. “for it is
God who gives us both to will and to do His good pleasure.
Next on
our agenda is to stop looking at ourselves and to begin to be priests unto God
and unto those around us. Selah.
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