BEHIND THE WALLS

As I sat in my office today at the church preparing for the weekend ahead this thought crossed my mind. Church is operating behind walls to often. We preach behind the walls, worship behind the walls, train behind the walls and it makes no sense. The Church was designed to operate outside the walls! The Church is much more effective outside the four walls of our grand buildings. The Gospel message must be taken to the streets, schools, malls, and workplaces. So many that we come in contact with would never agree to come to our building but would receive a message of hope. I wonder if the church inside the walls has become our church that we are building and not the church He is building. It seems the mentality of many of so-called Christians feel they must get people inside the doors of the church before we feel we are successful. Take it outside, take it to the neighborhoods. In the Old Testament they contained God in a box and He broke free on the third day and now 2000 years later He has been put in another box we call CHURCH

Where Are You Going?

I have heard many people say ” I don’t know how ended up at this place in life” and my answer is simple, its the path you took. If we want to end up at a specific location (dream, vision, goal) then we must map it out. To many times we wander from place to place without any real direction in mind. I know it sounds so simple but the direction you are heading today determines where you end up. Goals and dreams are not enough, there has to be a direction set in order to arrive at the place you have in mind. If it seems that you never arrive at the place you want to it probably is because you have taken the wrong road. When we set out to achieve a goal we must have a clear route planned. Where do you want to end up? What road are you on and will it get you there? These are questions we must ask ourselves if we want to avoid the frustration of never getting to the place we intended.

Does God Go To Church?

“He who is near the church is often far from God”  French Proverb

The above quote caught my attention today and started me thinking. I know that where two or three are gathered together He is in the midst but I wonder sometimes if God is bothered by being contained in our boxes we call churches? Oh I know God is everywhere and we couldn’t contain Him if we wanted to but we do limit Him to a building with our religious paradigms. “Let’s go to church so we can feel God and see His miraculous acts” is what we think and speak while Jesus Christ is trying to build a “church” or extension of himself outside our boxes. Whether intentional or not we wrap Christ up in a pretty package and let Him out on Sunday and the world is crying out to see and feel Him and we present that it is not possible unless they come to church. Instead of inviting the lost world to church why don’t we bring the church to them. Let’s let God out of church and let’s become the church!

The Kingdom of God

Supernatural healing’s would seem to confirm that God’s kingdom is functioning through the Apostolic church operating in the power of the Holy Spirit. So if we are not seeing the miraculous happening in our churches, at our jobs, in our schools and on our streets then it would suggest that we have not come to the knowledge of the purpose of Christ’s church. Those who claim to be Apostolic stay true to the Apostolic Doctrine and they are Apostolic in Power but most lack the Book of acts commitment. We must make a commitment to operating in the Power of the Spirit

Created To Serve

Mark 10:45, For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (NIV)

MINISTER – Greek: Diakoneo – to be a servant, attendant, domestic, to serve, wait upon – to minister to one, render ministering offices to. Wow I wonder how many “ministers” are living this definition? I see many “ministers”  living with the attitude of wanting to be served, attended to, waited upon and having everyone minister to them. Boy do we have it backwards. And we wonder why our “saints” are self-centered and selfish well could the reason be that they are learning from the best?

The Servant Leader is focused on the glory of Christ, not of self! So, he or she does not fear losing authority when God is our authority. If you are in a position of ministry and it is all about your authority then you have missed the point. I believe that God has placed us here a agent of service and it has very little to do with who the boss is. Because we know who the “boss” really is.

As leaders and ministers of Christ we must become agents of change not being manipulative and controlling. We must learn to empower people and not operate as schemers to get them to do what we want. I have seen so many church leaders manipulate and control everything and everybody and never portray a servant spirit.

“If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:33–35). Remember this and things will go much smoother for you.

REAL CHANGE IS EASY!

1 Samuel 10:6, 10 The Spirit of the Lord will come UPON you in POWER, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be CHANGED into a DIFFERENT person…. [10] When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying. If we are looking for real change we must realize that it only comes when God’s Spirit moves upon us! So many times we think we are changing because we have read a book on change or have went to a conference on change but real change comes when we hit our knees and submit to the presence of God almighty and then He changes our very character. Jacob was a liar and a cheater until in the presence of God his named was changed, his character was changed, his outlook was changed and even his enemies heart was changed. I desire a real change in my life and in the life of the church I pastor. I don’t need another self help book on how to better my relationship with Christ, I don’t need another message preach to me about the changes I need in my life, I  simply need to allow God’s spirit to come upon me and change me into a different person.

A SAD PLACE TO LIVE

I believe that there is nothing more dangerous to a man than living a life without dreams. So many give up their dreams so easily because other belittle them but remember that people that put down your dreams are just small minded people. If you have no hope in the future then you will have no power in the present. God gives you and I the dreams not only for us but so in due time we can help other people and many times our dreams completed end up helping the very people that belittled our dreams. Joseph was a dreamer and his family put him down and sold him off but in the end he was the rescuer for his family. The church needs to be filled with leaders that will dream and dream big. I know that Satan hates our salvation, our walk with God, our praise and worship but what he hates more than anything is a dreamer.

Gloria Steinem: Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.

If our churches are to grow then there must be a dreamer so that we are not just shooting aimlessly at the future but aim high and shoot straight so that we can accomplish what God has put in our spirit. There are to many CEREAL Christians laying in the bottom of the bowl soaking up the milk. We need Christians that dreaming and seeking for more.

IN THE MELTING POT

During the reign of Oliver Cromwell, there was a shortage of currency in the British Empire. Representatives carefully searched the nation in hopes of finding silver to meet the emergency. After one month, the committee returned with its report. “We have searched the Empire in vain seeking to find silver,” they said. “To our dismay, we found none anywhere except in the cathedrals where the statues of the saints are made of the finest silver.” To this, Cromwell replied, “Then let us melt down the saints and put them into circulation.” In today’s world Christians have become as statues, we look pretty and look the part but we are not doing anything.We have become like silver statues in our beautiful sanctuaries influence of the mindset of security and safety. I pray that we would be melted down and put into circulation. It is time to allow the hand of God to turn up the heat and cause a melting of our hearts so we can be remade to serve our purpose of reaching every man, woman, boy and girl with this great Gospel. We have become so comfortable in our salvation that we do not want to be disturbed and called into the field. We must lay down our pride and allow God to use us in the way He planned for us. We tell God “you can have this and that but don’t touch this area. God wants all or nothing and remember He doesn’t drive parked cars. It is time to get out of neutral and become all for the KINGDOM!

The Time To Act Is NOW!

In July 1976, one hundred and three Jewish hostages were taken by terrorist in Entebbe, Uganda. The Jewish nation sent secretly their commandos into Entebbe to free their people. The problem was tremendous; how do they free one hundred and three of their own people from seven terrorist? Their plan was simple. They entered the area where the hostages and terrorist were together and shouted in Hebrew “GET DOWN NOW, CRAWL!” since the terrorist didn’t understand Hebrew and all the Jewish citizens did they simply shot everyone still standing after they yelled this! It was a great success as an escape story! All seven terrorist were killed and all one hundred and three Jewish hostages were freed! Only two Jews were hit during the firing, one because he hesitated to obey, the other because he stood back up too soon.

I believe God is shouting out orders to the church in 2010. He is calling us to new levels and a great and mighty move of His spirit. We are in the last days and it is not time to sit back and wait any longer! I am challenging you to not hesitate. I am convinced that those who hesitate will not succeed in fact will miss out on the greatest moment in church history. The time is now for the Apostolic church to become what God has intended us to be. Signs and wonders should be following us but will not if we do not hear the voice of the Lord shouting out “GET UP NOW, AND MOVE FORWARD”. As a Pastor I can not afford to miss my moment in church history and I have heard the voice of the Lord and am responding. THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW!!!!

IF YOUR ON EMPTY ITS OK!!

In II KINGS Chapter we find a woman that had two sons and was in debt. The creditors were about to take away her boys and put them to work to pay the debt off. We know that she called upon Elisha and he told her to collect as many vessels as she could find and begin to pour into the vessels the only thing she had left in her life (the oil) and when she ran out of vessels she ran out of oil. I believe God is looking for some empty vessels to pour into. And I and convinced the reason the oil is stops flowing in our churches is because we stoop bringing empty souls. Remember the earth was void and without form and look around at what God did, God flung the universe into a expanse of emptiness/ he hung stars upon nothing. (He turned nothing into something , then hung it on nothing.) In John 6 – 5000 plus empty stomachs were filled with almost nothing. In John 2 – Empty washpots – filled with water and turned into wine! Its time to empty pour out of ourselves into this lost world so God can pour more anointing into us. Are you running on empty? Good because God can’t fill a vessel that has no room to por into. An empty cross! An empty tomb! Without an empty tomb. There is no Savior. No salvation. No hope and no power in us. So if you are on empty God has you right were He wants you.