wash n' word
Menu
CHURCH WITHOUT CHURCH
DEALING WIth impending radical change.
Church without Church
A local priest and pastor stood by the side of the road holding up a sign that said, "The End is Near! Turn yourself around now before it's too late!" They held up the sign to each passing car.
"Leave us alone, you religious nuts!" yelled the first driver as he sped by. From around the curve they heard a big splash. "Do you think," said one clergy to the other, "we should just put up a sign that says 'bridge out' instead?"
It has always been an underlying goal and commission of mine when I was a pastor to equip the saints. To prepare those whom God sent to be ready. Ready to fight, to pray, to stand, to be equipped for ministry and to edify the body of Christ…Not my words…Ephesians 4:11-12 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ
The following statement may surprise you…Sometimes the greatest hindrance to the Church (God’s people), is the Church (man’s building).
In other words, within the walls of a church, there are tools and gifts and hearts that create an atmosphere of Christ-like fertility. A breeding ground of equipping and ministering. There is love, friendship, worship and prayer. For all the good that is confined within, there are also elements that counteract the main goal of a saved sinner. That main goal?
The main goal of a saved sinner is to share the gospel they have received.
Matthew 10:8
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
What am I getting at? We have become so comfortable within our 4 walls that we have grown complacent, cold and concealed. But this is not about how much we do or don’t do as believers. You have heard that sermon before. This is about getting back to what once was, and what I believe will once again be, when it comes to defining church.
In the past 2000 years some amazing churches have sprung up. Some not so amazing. But let us turn our attention to Bible teaching, Spirit leading, Jesus loving bodies of Christ that have existed over the past 2 millennia.
I want to talk to you today about church dynamics. An average church has its grocery list of needs and demands. Things like rent/mortgage, A/C, electric. There is staff, supplies, phone, internet, tithe funded ministries. It is no surprise or mystery to any Christian that it takes money to run a church, it is the natural way and order of things in such a world that we live in.
We have grown used to a certain model of what we call church. Naturally, because the way the world is set up, we have a certain way that everyone understands. Society, culture and tradition have molded and has been molded by the typical methodology of what we call, "doing church." It has changed shaped over various decades, but that shape always reflected the culture it grew up in.
But what if it that model changed? What if that which dictates a certain mandate were to cease to exist, or cease to exist the way we have grown so accustomed to? What I am saying is…
What if church as we know it were to dramatically be altered?
Since the church is the devil’s greatest enemy, you can believe he is working to destroy it. He has been in the church for many, many years. How could the way we do church dramatically be changed or altered?
logic says that if the way we do church has been dictated by society, culture and tradition, then certainly a major change in society, culture and tradition would dramatically alter the way we do church.
I started thinking about the goals of the early church founders. For instance, the goal of Christ was to prepare his disciples to function effectively without him. The goal of Paul was to train and equip the churches he formed to function without him. The goal of Titus was to establish leaders and elders that one day would be able to function without him. Just as a mother lion to her cub or a parent to child, …and on and on.
You see Christian, were never meant to rely upon anything other than the Spirit Himself. Our reliance is upon, not a man, but a loving Father. Not a religion, but on Christ. Simply put…Church is not the end game of Christianity.
I am not trying to dissuade you from going to church. There is no greater institution in the world. And in this age of grace, God has ordained the church building to house the church people.
My focus and concern is not upon escaping or liberating oneself from the walls of the church. Again it is a God ordained establishment. Jesus initiated the church. But Jesus also initiated the Christian commission. Go out unto the entire world!
So church is a great place, a place of equipping, of challenge, change and conformity. But just as we look back to the early model of the church as an example, so too we can look ahead to the model of the church in the future. HUH? How can we look ahead to something that has yet to happen and use it as a model?
Because sometimes the future has already happened in the past and thus in the present we can prepare. (If you have started to fade a bit during this long message, focus back in because its about to hit home)
An accelerated model of the church in the USA for the near future has already been given to us by past cultural experiences. Many dominant countries of the past once free in Christ, once dripping with the overflow of the Holy Spirit, once a beacon of freedom to the world which it existed in, have now become a stench, a sewer, a slope of destruction and ineffectiveness. Please read the following carefully…
“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage
Communist countries, dictatorships, third world slavery, Muslim takeovers. Many of these places once exhibited a clear goal of Christ first. Europe, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy and others. Now we look at their Christian representation and find underground churches, secret meetings, confined and controlled Bible teachings…Governmental oppressions, Muslim opposition, Etc.
Remember Harold Camping? The guy who was predicting the end of the world in 2011…He was wrong. But during his campaign there was one thing he spoke about that really stuck with me.
Revelation 18:4
Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
He said Babylon was the Church! Bold statement. He also said God is going to judge the Satan led organized churches. Now I vehemently disagree with church being equated with modern day Babylon. But also,
1 Peter 4:17
For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
In Matthew 24 Jesus gives many natural signs and clues as to the end of the age. The age of grace or the church age. Among them are earthquakes and war and rumors of war. There will be famines and pestilence. Nation will rise against nation. The church will undergo persecution and apostasy.
While these external signs are prevalent today, there were some other interesting things God said. Things not so external…
2 Timothy 3:1-4
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--
This is spoken of people in the church, the church age, the church goers. These are not external signs of nations and nature…How do I know? Because that scripture goes on to say…
"They have a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." and...
2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
In other words, the end times church (the organization) will include those who profess belief in Christ but who are, in fact, children of disobedience. The Lord Jesus Christ foretold of this reality in His parable of the "wheat and the tares." (Matthew 13:24-30).
Back to Harold Camping and the church. His main theory was that God had left the church since sometime in the 80’s. 88 I believe he said. There is an interesting connection between that time period and the state of the church today. Let’s face it, there have always been false teachers, bad doctrine and wolves in sheep’s clothing. But the past 30 or so years, unprecedented shifts within the walls of what we call modern churches, is undeniable.
Now to the crux of the message.
The reason we go to church is 3 fold,
The state of the church as we know it today is on the verge of a radical change.
If I am right, then the question is…Will you be able to do church without church?
In my final words to my congregation before we left Florida for TN, my final preparation, my final equipping, I wanted them to know something that I truly believe in my heart…I believe it based on Biblical examples, past track records, current observations and forthcoming prophecies…
The United States of America, as we know it, is on a long walk off short pier.
Or as the opening illustration pointed out, turn around, the end is near.
But I am not concerned with encouraging you to stockpile food and water. Truth is, prudence, along with hurricane experience, should tell you that the grocery store shelves empty fast during a crisis of even imagined magnitude. You should have some reserve food, water and batteries at all times. How much you have is directly related to your desire to be with Jesus.
What about guns and ammo? Is owning a gun a lack of trust in God? Again it depends. Personally, I choose to exercise my 2nd amendment right and at least have the ability to protect my life and my family. If and when it comes to that, I will worry about whether or not I’ll use it. I will not willingly roll over and give my life to some demon led new ager just so he can rape my wife and then do who knows what to my child. Why should my wife be a widow and my kids fatherless because someone hates God and wants to steal his way through a tough time.
There is only one preparation I am truly concerned about for you,
When America collapses and the church model is no more, will you still do church without…church?
I do not what the world will look like, I do not know what type of money there will be or who will rule over us, but I do know that people will need Jesus even more then.
I can’t stress that enough. Decide now that, come what may, I will do church even if there is no church. Your preparation should be more mental than tangible.
When all around is chaos, marshal law, China, Muslim, New age, or whatever take over there is, will you in those circumstances, even unto death, remember these words I’ve written?
We must press on, we must stand strong and we must remain faithful to the faith. Be blessed.
A local priest and pastor stood by the side of the road holding up a sign that said, "The End is Near! Turn yourself around now before it's too late!" They held up the sign to each passing car.
"Leave us alone, you religious nuts!" yelled the first driver as he sped by. From around the curve they heard a big splash. "Do you think," said one clergy to the other, "we should just put up a sign that says 'bridge out' instead?"
It has always been an underlying goal and commission of mine when I was a pastor to equip the saints. To prepare those whom God sent to be ready. Ready to fight, to pray, to stand, to be equipped for ministry and to edify the body of Christ…Not my words…Ephesians 4:11-12 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ
The following statement may surprise you…Sometimes the greatest hindrance to the Church (God’s people), is the Church (man’s building).
In other words, within the walls of a church, there are tools and gifts and hearts that create an atmosphere of Christ-like fertility. A breeding ground of equipping and ministering. There is love, friendship, worship and prayer. For all the good that is confined within, there are also elements that counteract the main goal of a saved sinner. That main goal?
The main goal of a saved sinner is to share the gospel they have received.
Matthew 10:8
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
What am I getting at? We have become so comfortable within our 4 walls that we have grown complacent, cold and concealed. But this is not about how much we do or don’t do as believers. You have heard that sermon before. This is about getting back to what once was, and what I believe will once again be, when it comes to defining church.
In the past 2000 years some amazing churches have sprung up. Some not so amazing. But let us turn our attention to Bible teaching, Spirit leading, Jesus loving bodies of Christ that have existed over the past 2 millennia.
I want to talk to you today about church dynamics. An average church has its grocery list of needs and demands. Things like rent/mortgage, A/C, electric. There is staff, supplies, phone, internet, tithe funded ministries. It is no surprise or mystery to any Christian that it takes money to run a church, it is the natural way and order of things in such a world that we live in.
We have grown used to a certain model of what we call church. Naturally, because the way the world is set up, we have a certain way that everyone understands. Society, culture and tradition have molded and has been molded by the typical methodology of what we call, "doing church." It has changed shaped over various decades, but that shape always reflected the culture it grew up in.
But what if it that model changed? What if that which dictates a certain mandate were to cease to exist, or cease to exist the way we have grown so accustomed to? What I am saying is…
What if church as we know it were to dramatically be altered?
Since the church is the devil’s greatest enemy, you can believe he is working to destroy it. He has been in the church for many, many years. How could the way we do church dramatically be changed or altered?
logic says that if the way we do church has been dictated by society, culture and tradition, then certainly a major change in society, culture and tradition would dramatically alter the way we do church.
I started thinking about the goals of the early church founders. For instance, the goal of Christ was to prepare his disciples to function effectively without him. The goal of Paul was to train and equip the churches he formed to function without him. The goal of Titus was to establish leaders and elders that one day would be able to function without him. Just as a mother lion to her cub or a parent to child, …and on and on.
You see Christian, were never meant to rely upon anything other than the Spirit Himself. Our reliance is upon, not a man, but a loving Father. Not a religion, but on Christ. Simply put…Church is not the end game of Christianity.
I am not trying to dissuade you from going to church. There is no greater institution in the world. And in this age of grace, God has ordained the church building to house the church people.
My focus and concern is not upon escaping or liberating oneself from the walls of the church. Again it is a God ordained establishment. Jesus initiated the church. But Jesus also initiated the Christian commission. Go out unto the entire world!
So church is a great place, a place of equipping, of challenge, change and conformity. But just as we look back to the early model of the church as an example, so too we can look ahead to the model of the church in the future. HUH? How can we look ahead to something that has yet to happen and use it as a model?
Because sometimes the future has already happened in the past and thus in the present we can prepare. (If you have started to fade a bit during this long message, focus back in because its about to hit home)
An accelerated model of the church in the USA for the near future has already been given to us by past cultural experiences. Many dominant countries of the past once free in Christ, once dripping with the overflow of the Holy Spirit, once a beacon of freedom to the world which it existed in, have now become a stench, a sewer, a slope of destruction and ineffectiveness. Please read the following carefully…
“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage
Communist countries, dictatorships, third world slavery, Muslim takeovers. Many of these places once exhibited a clear goal of Christ first. Europe, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy and others. Now we look at their Christian representation and find underground churches, secret meetings, confined and controlled Bible teachings…Governmental oppressions, Muslim opposition, Etc.
Remember Harold Camping? The guy who was predicting the end of the world in 2011…He was wrong. But during his campaign there was one thing he spoke about that really stuck with me.
Revelation 18:4
Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
He said Babylon was the Church! Bold statement. He also said God is going to judge the Satan led organized churches. Now I vehemently disagree with church being equated with modern day Babylon. But also,
1 Peter 4:17
For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
In Matthew 24 Jesus gives many natural signs and clues as to the end of the age. The age of grace or the church age. Among them are earthquakes and war and rumors of war. There will be famines and pestilence. Nation will rise against nation. The church will undergo persecution and apostasy.
While these external signs are prevalent today, there were some other interesting things God said. Things not so external…
2 Timothy 3:1-4
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--
This is spoken of people in the church, the church age, the church goers. These are not external signs of nations and nature…How do I know? Because that scripture goes on to say…
"They have a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." and...
2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
In other words, the end times church (the organization) will include those who profess belief in Christ but who are, in fact, children of disobedience. The Lord Jesus Christ foretold of this reality in His parable of the "wheat and the tares." (Matthew 13:24-30).
Back to Harold Camping and the church. His main theory was that God had left the church since sometime in the 80’s. 88 I believe he said. There is an interesting connection between that time period and the state of the church today. Let’s face it, there have always been false teachers, bad doctrine and wolves in sheep’s clothing. But the past 30 or so years, unprecedented shifts within the walls of what we call modern churches, is undeniable.
Now to the crux of the message.
The reason we go to church is 3 fold,
- To worship Jesus
- To be conformed through the teaching of the Word.
- To fellowship with other believers.
The state of the church as we know it today is on the verge of a radical change.
If I am right, then the question is…Will you be able to do church without church?
In my final words to my congregation before we left Florida for TN, my final preparation, my final equipping, I wanted them to know something that I truly believe in my heart…I believe it based on Biblical examples, past track records, current observations and forthcoming prophecies…
The United States of America, as we know it, is on a long walk off short pier.
Or as the opening illustration pointed out, turn around, the end is near.
But I am not concerned with encouraging you to stockpile food and water. Truth is, prudence, along with hurricane experience, should tell you that the grocery store shelves empty fast during a crisis of even imagined magnitude. You should have some reserve food, water and batteries at all times. How much you have is directly related to your desire to be with Jesus.
What about guns and ammo? Is owning a gun a lack of trust in God? Again it depends. Personally, I choose to exercise my 2nd amendment right and at least have the ability to protect my life and my family. If and when it comes to that, I will worry about whether or not I’ll use it. I will not willingly roll over and give my life to some demon led new ager just so he can rape my wife and then do who knows what to my child. Why should my wife be a widow and my kids fatherless because someone hates God and wants to steal his way through a tough time.
There is only one preparation I am truly concerned about for you,
When America collapses and the church model is no more, will you still do church without…church?
I do not what the world will look like, I do not know what type of money there will be or who will rule over us, but I do know that people will need Jesus even more then.
- Will you still gather to pray? It doesn’t get much easier to pray freely than it is right now. Yet, prayer meetings are one of the least attended functions in church.
- Will you gather and sing or will fear of being heard silence the voice of saints praising Jesus.
- Will you still tithe? Sure we may all be broke, but tithing “money” is only a part of what the word tithe means.
- Will you still sit under anointed preachers and pastors? Or will the lone ranger Christian mentality finally win over the corporate mindset?
- Will you still read your Bibles and have Bible studies? The first century church was formed in the midst of great persecution and is an inspiration to us.
I can’t stress that enough. Decide now that, come what may, I will do church even if there is no church. Your preparation should be more mental than tangible.
When all around is chaos, marshal law, China, Muslim, New age, or whatever take over there is, will you in those circumstances, even unto death, remember these words I’ve written?
We must press on, we must stand strong and we must remain faithful to the faith. Be blessed.
Proudly powered by Weebly