Acts 1: 4-5 &8 (ESV) “And while staying with them He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, He said, ‘you heard from Me; John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’”
About five weeks later:
Acts 2: 1-4 (ESV) “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
What was to happen:
Acts 2: 16-21 (ESV) “But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on My male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out My Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”
One more:
Acts 2: 47 (ESV) “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
I’m only going to talk about the issues the Church has this one time. I fear my own frustration and do not want to get bogged down in writing about what is wrong. But you need to understand why things are not following God’s plan right now. So please don’t get mad or angry at me or your fellow brothers and sisters.
First, we are trying to follow the system of man instead of God’s plan. There were already dissentions beginning in the Church right at the start. And once the Catholic church was formed all semblance of the Holy Spirit was removed from the Church and replaced by religion. Man’s religion disguises itself as holy, but it is shallow and lacks true strength. It also lacks the purity of the Holy Spirit which is impossible to fake. Yet we continue on as if we are honoring God and ‘doing the Lord’s work.’
Next there comes a disturbance in some folks who band together and say, “This is not enough, we need something different!” So, they split off. They know they want something different, but they only know from where they came. So, they buy a building, choose a pastor, set up elders, get a worship team together, and start services. The only difference between them and the church they left are one or two arguments over doctrine or the fact they felt unwanted. What they establish, however, is a copy of what they left behind. Nothing is truly different!
Now over the centuries, we have done this so many times that there are 450,000 denominations of Christianity throughout the world. Can you agree with me that this is a sign that something is wrong? Being dissatisfied with what you have but going ahead and recreating what you ran from is insanity at its core.
One more thing about church splits. I’ve never heard anyone say, “There was just too much love there. We left because those people were too kind and loving.” So, the truth of the matter is, doctrine divides, and love unites. Doctrine will always bring arguments. Love will soothe any ill. Paul warned us of this! There will be no unity in the new church that is formed because of a disagreement over doctrine or procedure. However, isn’t there a saying that, “Love conquers all?”
If you leave a church in anger your new church will have a false foundation. You might have left because you could not feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, but you forgot to bring Him with you! This is why things are the way they are. You might tell yourselves that all is well, and things are much better than before, but you have a high percentage of chance that those who left with you will become dissatisfied with your programs and split again. A vicious cycle has been established and all the while Satan is laughing at us from behind the scenes.
When a new church is established, they will bring with them from the old church the things they liked or programs they feel are still necessary. Things like Awanas, recovery groups, men’s breakfasts, lady’s prayer groups, etc. What they do not understand is that these things were part of the problem. Bringing a broken system with you will not provide what is really necessary to fill your needs. You might object to my line of reasoning, but these things are just not biblical. They are manmade. You can never blend manmade programs with the Holy Spirit. And manmade programs will never set people free the way the Holy Spirit does.
In making and multiplying these programs, the Church has brought herself too close to the world and fallen into a parallel path with the world. In this condition she will never have true success. My reason for saying this is the Holy Spirit will not join in with paralleling the world. The Spirit is the complete opposite of the world. So how can you expect Him to bless you? I’ve listened to pastors tell me that they are pleased with little miracles that come from their church’s programs. But the works of men have nothing to do with miracles from God. So, these little miracles are not of God, they happened just because.
Good change in a person’s life must come only from God in order for it to have any lasting value. Man cannot set another person free. That is up to God. And if you are carrying on services without the presence of the Spirit then you are actually wasting your time. I know that sounds cruel but going through some religious motions will never produce good fruit.
Now, my concern for the leaders is that I’ve noticed fear amongst you. Fear that you might lose your job if you get too close to the truth. Yet truth is exactly what you are supposed to bring to the people. Another fear is the fear of man. Shouldn’t you fear the Lord instead? And maybe the most hurtful of all, the fear of loss of control. None of these fears are any good! If you have chosen to lead, or if you are called to lead, then lead. Good leaders do not push their people forward, they lead from the front through humility and perseverance. If you want people to follow Christ, then you follow Christ first in all His ways.
Our teachers walk the most dangerous path of all. They run the risk of teaching something that will cause their listeners to sin or to walk a wrong path. Luke 17: 2-3 (ESV) “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.” We do not rebuke ourselves anymore. Our teachers are coddling us into lethargy not vitality. The scriptures are not to be brushed over but searched out vigorously!
Now back to the elephant in the room, without the active participation of the Holy Spirit living in and moving through your church, everything you do will be inferior to God’s ways. So how do you get Him to join you?
First, you must admit that what you are doing isn’t really working and ask the Spirit for help. Second, you must search the scriptures for only through them will the answers come. As you delve into the book that He wrote, you will begin to discover His personality, His attributes, what attracts Him, and what offends Him. I’m sorry, but you will discover that most everything you are doing is offensive to Him. Do not be discouraged.
Let me give you some personal examples. The Spirit will not share glory with a human being. When I am arrogant, I close off communication with Him. When I am selfish, that also closes off communication. When I lack faith, it grieves Him. When I am unloving and speak ills against my brothers and sisters, He is quenched and cannot work in my heart. When I act in a way that does not honor Christ or I show disobedience to the Father, the Spirit will place His conviction on me. If I don’t get that right, then the consequences become more drastic. Yet, He is patient and continues to work His correction into my heart. But I must be open to His correction. I must accept His correction. And I must make a change!
But before all this, you must decide if you want Him controlling and correcting your life towards righteousness and Christlikeness. Or are you satisfied with only little gain and religious pretense? The Holy Spirit at work in an individual and in a church body is both vibrant and immeasurable in value. Just as the Father is infinite, so is the Spirit. He is also omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. He is the one who is here on earth to work spiritual health into us. We must turn to Him, trust Him, and learn His ways.
He did not want us to organize ourselves for the cause. But that’s exactly what we did. And here we find ourselves so far off the path that we have become completely lost and bogged down in the quagmire of doing things instead of loving God and each other. Without Him we are weak and faithless. We covet, we quarrel, we fight, when we pray, we ask wrongly to spend it on our passions. We have aligned ourselves with the world and made friends with it. This should not be!
The Spirit wants us to listen for His voice and follow His whispers. He will show us the way of Christlikeness and holiness and purity. Shouldn’t that be our goal?
The determined disciple knows this to be true. But most likely in today’s spiritual climate the sense of loneliness within is burdensome because true disciples are few and far between. But if we band together for the strengthening and building up of each other, then the Spirit can move through us to the aid and wellbeing of the true Church. Complacency and satisfaction are our enemies. Rituals and programs are our enemies. Man’s ways are failing ways. The Spirit’s ways are full of vitality and are eternal. Search the scriptures, you will find this to be true. We can no longer afford to only glance through the bible casually. We must dig deep to find the truth!
What say you?
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