THE TRUE CHURCH
THE TRUE CHURCH
The
true church in the world is not an organization, but an organism. It is a
living entity because of the Holy Spirit and its members live by that Spirit,
being dead to the flesh and alive unto God. As
an organism, the church needs many parts. It needs eyes. (Prophetic vision) It needs
ears (Sheep who hear His voice) A nose. (Discernment of the spirits) Mouth. (To
speak forth the word of God) Hands (to serve and to bless others) Feet. (To go
into all the world and preach the Gospel) Organs (to serve all of the needs of
the body carrying the blood to every part and carrying away impurities)
As
parts in the body of Christ, we each have a vital role to play. Bodies that
have missing parts are sick or crippled, disabled. A church without prophetic
vision will lose its way. If its members are not hearing from God then it will
walk in the flesh. IF it has no discernment of spirits, it will be deceived and
so on.
Unfortunately
in today’s church a majority of its members are more like tumors than organs. They
look like organs, but they don’t contribute to the body, but only take from it.
Tumors draw life and strength from the body. They feed themselves, but they
give nothing back. They use the blood for their own benefit, but they do not
purify themselves or share the blood with others.
God’s
last day church must be purged and purified. This is why a great shaking along
with persecution and tribulation must come. There must be a great falling away
of every tumor and of every soul that is not drawing its life and strength from
the Spirit of Christ. Every branch that is not connected to the Vine will be
pruned and thrown into the fire.
A day
of reckoning is now upon us. The church is about to be sifted for as Paul says
in 1 Cor.3:11-13. “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is
laid which is Jesus Christ." Now if any man builds upon the foundation
with gold, silver , precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will
become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with
fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.”
There
is a progression in our walk with the Lord and so few people in the church are
following that progression. After 40 years in the church, they are still
babies, still stubborn, still immature, still guided by the flesh just as they
were at the beginning… having overcome nothing.
The progression
we must follow in our relationship with Christ is as follows:
1.
Servants
2.
Friends
3.
Sons
4.
A Bride
AS SERVANTS: We stop
being tumors in the church and we become useful organs. We become a part of the
living organism. We put away the flesh and begin living by the Spirit and the Word.
We begin coming to church not for what we can get, but what we can give. This attitude
revolutionizes not only us, but the church. Rather than sitting back and
criticizing the Pastor and the temperature of the air conditioning, we are now
disciples meeting the needs of others, praying for others, helping,
volunteering, willing for every need.
AS FRIENDS: We are walking with Jesus Christ. We find all of
our needs met in Him. We are no longer needy. The Pastor can quit his job as
babysitter and concentrate on ministering the Gospel. As friends we walk and
talk with the Lord and as such, we can invite others to know our Friend. We
have a testimony of what He has done and is doing in our lives. We have a
passion for Yeshua and His Word. We are alive in the Spirit and can minister to
others.
AS SONS: We begin to
reflect the image and character of our Father. We are growing up into the fullness
of Christ unto the mature man. (Eph. 1:22, 23, Eph. 4:11-16) We are operating
in the gifts of the Spirit. 1 Cor. 12:28. We manifest the fruit of the Spirit and
we are known for our love.
AS THE BRIDE: We are betrothed to Yeshua. We have eyes only
for Him. We have left all other suiters, we have come out of the world and we
are doing everything with a view to the marriage. We are growing in intimacy
with Him. We walk and talk and commune. We talk to Him about everything. WE are
learning to trust Him in every part of our lives. We look forward eagerly to the
marriage. We love Him with our whole heart.
In
Genesis 24, we see this progression as Abraham sends his trusted servant to a
far country to find a Bride for his son. Abraham did not want his son to marry
one of the local Canaanite women so he sent his trusted servant to a far
country to people of his own kind.
Here we
begin to see the attributes of the woman that the servant would choose for
Isaac’s bride. First of all, she came daily to draw from the well. She drank
from the living water of the Word and was filled with the Spirit. Rivers of
living water flowed from her innermost being.
Secondly
the servant prayed that when he asked for a cup of water she would offer to
water his camels too. So Rebekah came to
the well and she was beautiful and the servant ran out to meet her. This should
have scared her off because the customs of the day forbid talking to strangers
and men in particular. But she had discernment. She recognized the voice of the
Holy Spirit. She gave the servant a cup of water and then offered to water his
camels. The servant had brought ten camels loaded with gifts. They would drink
many gallons of water. Ten is the number of testing.
You see…
this is the story of the Father in heaven, sending His Holy Spirit to a far
country (This earth) to find a bride for Yeshua.
So Rebecca
invited the servant to her father’s house when she found out that the servant
was from the house of Abraham. A deal was made and the price was paid for the
bride. Laban tried to bargain with the servant to let her stay for ten days,
but the servant said “No” we must not delay. So the family asked Rebecca what
she wanted to do and she said, “I will go.” So the servant gave gifts to her
family and he put rings and jewelry on Rebecca as a bride adorned for her husband
and they made the long trek back to the Father Abraham’s house. And while she
was still afar off, the Son, Isaac came out and met her in the middle of the field
and took her home to his tent.
The
Lord God spent more space telling us this story then He used to tell of the creation
of the world… why? It is because this is the main theme of the Bible. Everything
in scripture points forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb. It shows the Father’s
part, the Son’s part, the Holy Spirit’s part and the Bride’s part in this love
story. She came never having seen Isaac, but she trusted the servant (The Holy
Spirit) and He guided her to His Father’s House.
The ten
camels that had at first been her testing now became the ride to her marriage.
Do we
understand our purposes in the living church? Do we understand the progression
in our relationship with Yeshua? Are we preparing for the marriage? Are we
willing servants? Are we developing our friendship with Yeshua? Have we come
into our adoption as sons and daughters? Are we beginning to reflect the character
of our Father? Are we betrothed to only One? Have we come out of the world to
begin our trip to the Father’s house? Have we received His gifts and are we
wearing them? Are we eagerly pressing forward to the marriage of the Lamb?
Have we
stopped being tumors in the Body of Christ and become organs that operate in the
blood and in the Spirit? Are we blessing the Body or are we just using it? Have
we become self-sufficient in the Word and in the Holy Spirit, or are we still
draining the Body with our perpetual neediness?
It is
time to grow up into the stature of Yeshua. It’s time to function fully as a
part of the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Eph.1:22, 23.
The
virgin is about to give birth to the man child and God has placed this sign in the
heavens to tell us what is about to happen. Our time of testing is coming and
we must prove that we are Bride material. We need to be found as servants, friends,
sons and daughters, and as a Bride adorned for her Husband.
It is
my belief that the man child that is caught up will be that Bride that has made
herself ready even as the rest of the church must go through the time of
testing that will come upon the whole earth.
It is
not the entire church that will be caught up, but only those that are a
functioning part of the Body of Christ. If you have been 40 years in the church
and you are still the same old grouch, impatient, judgmental, carnal, stubborn
and largely unchanged, you will have to go through much tribulation and be
refined as through fire.
But if
you have been growing in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, (2Peter 3:18) then you can look
forward with eager anticipation to His soon return. And as Jesus pointed out;
those who came at the end of the day received the same pay as those who worked
through the heat of the day. Even at this late hour we can still prepare as a
Bride adorned for her husband. We can still be invited to the marriage supper of
the Lamb.
“Let us
rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has
come and His bride has made herself ready. And it was given to her to clothe
herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous
acts of the saints. And he said to me, “Write, Blessed are those who are
invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
Along
with everything else that is going on in the world, why did God arrange from
the beginning of time, to have this configuration to appear in the heavens?
What is He saying to us? The total eclipse came on the first day of Elul, which
means that it is one of the biblical signs of a 40 day time of repentance,
leading up to Yom Kippur, (The Day of Atonement) It is a time for making sure
our names are written in the books and that all of our sins are under the blood
of the Lamb.
Beginning
on the Feast of Trumpets this year, ( Rosh Hashanah) September 19/20th
the church will be given an additional 10 days of awe in which to clear our
accounts with God and to get our spiritual houses in order before the Day of
Atonement on September 29th.
The big
question is, given the great wonder in the heavens; will there be a rapture of the
Bride this year on the Feast of Trumpets? Nobody knows, but it certainly looks
like the Tribulation (Time of Jacob’s Trouble) is hastening and about to come
upon us. Do we really want to sit back on our doctrinal chairs and presume that
these things mean nothing?
We live
in unprecedented and momentous times and I, for one (and there are many)
believe that we are entering into an irreversible series of events that will
carry us without delay to the second coming of Christ. This is the event that
happens at the end of the tribulation, but the first resurrection (Also called the special resurrection or rapture)and
catching away of the Bride comes before that event, for scripture is clear that
when Jesus returns at the second coming, His Bride returns with Him in glory.
Revelation 19:14, Zech. 14:5, 1 Thess.3:13. And at that time He will also bring
with Him, those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 1Thess. 4:14.
Right
now we are experiencing the beginning of sorrows spoken of in Mt. 24, Mark 13
and Luke 21. The great tribulation as Jesus called it, may occur during the last
3 ½ years. Only time will tell.
It is
high time to get real with the Lord. Do you know Him? Does He know you? Call
upon His name today. The harvest is about to begin and we have been brought
into the kingdom for such a time as this. Don’t think that you are not good
enough. It is His blood and His righteousness. All we have to do is to believe
it and receive it and walk in it.
The true
church is not the one we see in institutions and buildings and such. We are the
temples of the Holy Spirit. We are parts of a living organism called the Body
of Christ. We begin as servants, then friends, then sons and daughters and finally
as a Bride, in which the two become one forever. Make sure your lamp is filled
with the oil of the Holy Spirit so that you will be ready to go into the wedding
feast. Amen.
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