THE CHURCH AS A LIVING ORGANISM

THE CHURCH AS A LIVING ORGANISM

                So often we have a myopic view of church. There is a pastoral staff that does what they are supposed to do. We come, we listen and we leave.

                I spent many years being on stage in churches of all kinds and I want to tell you that there is no lonelier place in the entire world than being up front in a dead church. If there is to be a smile, you are going to have to provide it. If there is to be a positive atmosphere, you are going to have to provide it. IF there is to be any inspiration or excitement or conviction, you are going to have to produce it, even as the entire congregation sits glumly staring at their laps.

                In a living congregation, when you pray the congregations prays with you. When you sing, they sing along or clap their hands in time to the music or lift their hands in praise to God… whatever they do, they are alive and instead of a performance, your song or your preaching becomes a group hug so to speak.

                Likewise a living church knows that people come with all kinds of needs and all levels of maturity. Some come knowing virtually nothing, but the desperation of their own souls and they will either leave having been hugged and blessed and prayed with and inspired or they will walk away, thinking that church wasn’t the answer after all.

                One thing I love about Pentecostal congregations is that worship is a group event. Everyone sings… everyone prays… everyone claps their hands in worship as the Bible instructs…Everyone says “Amen”…everyone joins in until worship becomes a symphony of praise to the Lord.

                Jesus had to go it alone because the Holy Spirit had not yet been poured out on anyone but Him. He had to tread the winepress alone, so to speak. But after Pentecost, the whole church came alive. Everyone sang. Everyone prayed. Everyone witnessed. Everyone spoke in tongues. Everyone blessed each other, shared with each other, ate together… the church became a living organism. Jesus was the Head of a living Body and everything and everyone was connected.

                I believe that God is calling for this again as we prepare for the harvest. Jesus is
going to pour out His Holy Spirit with a power never before seen even at the first Pentecost. And along with bringing in a great harvest, that anointing is also going to unite us as a family, as a living Body of Christ. The church is going to come into the power that Jesus promised and we will indeed finish what Jesus started in this world.

                One of the key requisites for true revival is unity. There can be no factions and squabbles going on and God is going to either heal the rifts or shake the trouble makers out of His Body so that it can function in unity and power. If we have anything against anybody, now is the time to settle our differences and to learn to live by the fruit of the Spirit as we have received it. These are not options. They are the very core of the Gospel that Jesus imparts into our hearts.

                God bless the peacemakers. God bless the healers and the encouragers. God bless those who build up the Body of Christ rather than tearing it down.

                Paul encouraged the young Timothy to rekindle, to stir up to kindle afresh the gift of God which was in him through the laying on of his (Paul’s) hands.  God has not given us a spirt of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. 2 Tim. 1:6-7.

                Today so much of the church looks so very little like the early church looked, and yet we are called to do greater works than they did and to finish the race and to bring in the great harvest.

                It is time for us to pray for unity and for the Holy Spirit power that animated the early church. We need to pray for even more. We need to pray for the glory of the Lord to rise upon us and that our congregations experience once again the smoke of his presence, and the weight of His glory as it fills His temple.