Well, here I go on a topic that has been on my heart for a while.
As I stated in my previous post this is something I felt the Lord gave me in September 2003. I was of all places taking a bath. I apologize for that, but it must be brought up. As I was relaxing I felt the words "before revival there must be reformation" come into my mind. Then a lot of scriptures followed. I knew it was from God because at that time I haven't had something like that happen. He gave me a whole bunch of scriptures and showed me how to piece them together into a teaching. I got out dried off and put on some clothes. Then I went to my table with the bible and some paper in hand. He gave me visual pictures to go with all the scriptures.
Once I had everything done, I knew I was supposed to teach this at the church I was attending.
When I had approached the pastor about it, he was real hesitant. He was new and didn't want to share the pulpit. Does that sound familiar? Anyway he finally gave in and gave me certain Sunday to teach.
Here is what I got to say.
For a while now the Lord has been stirring my Spirit, with this question. "Why are the gates of hell prevailing in the church?"
We are becoming a nation of mega-churches. People can say we are seeing church growth, what is really happening is a church shifting. The Lord is shaking the foundations of the old mainline churches and people are wanting more from the Lord. I feel that even the mega-churches aren't fulfilling the real purpose God has set before His church. The church in America is a consumer minded church. We get just enough of certain things, then we go home bloated, but not filled.
We don't wait long enough for the Holy Spirit to fulfill His purpose for us. The result we go home still feeling broken down and depressed. And when the saints aren't feeling great we don't go out and reach the lost. The result is we are not seeing many people saved.
Again what I just wrote was given to me in 2003.
The Lord had given me pictures to draw. I put each of those pictures along with scripture in a box.
This is what I said again, "What is in this box is some areas the Lord has pointed out to me for the church. In order for us to learn from and to see change. This is just a part of what He of what He has shown me. The box represents where we put things until we need them or we carry them around so we can have excuses on why we can't follow through with God's promises. But as you will see there are the things the Lord wants us to do in order to truly see church growth and to fulfill His biblical purpose of the church.
I titled the message. The gates of hell shall not prevail, but why are they in the U.S. churches.
1. I had a picture of a building and a gate. Why has the gates of hell seemed to have prevailed in the church of America. Matthew 16:16-18
2. I had a picture of a clock. It represented how much time do we give to God. Psalm 31:15
3. I then had the words; masonry, witchcraft, and sexual immorality on a paper and how they have entered the church. Ephesians 5:11-12, Duetoronomy 18:10-14 and Proverbs 7.
4. Then I had the words Programs and Agendas. Representing where our priorities are.
Acts 1:8, Revelation 2:2-7
5. Pride: Proverbs 8:13
After saying all of this and pointing out to some obvious problems the Lord gave me some word and scriptures showing the way out.
6. Get Directions; 2Thess. 3:5, Ps. 5:1-3
7. The Cross: Romans 8:3-6
8. Then I had a picture of people coming together. Hebrews 10:25
9. Needing to be on the same page. Acts 2:46-47
10. Picture of praying hands. Acts 12:5, Ephesians 6:18
11. The word Laborers; Matthew 9:37-38
12. In doing #11 we should be able to reach the lost and see the kingdom grow. Acts 2:46-47
13. A picture of a musical note. Worshipping God!!! Revelation 19:5
14. The word GOD!! In order to accomplish these things we must not put God in a BOX! Revelation 19:6, Revelation 22:13
Then I was reminded to let the people know the importance of praising God and the result being we will have favor with people. Acts 2:46-47
You see most of our modern church services don't reflect what the scripture says.
I titled this post the three R''s because just as with old Israel they would fall far away from Gods original purpose. Then God would set a new king up who would find the law of God and cry out for forgiveness. He would repent (change) the way they were going and return to where God had them. Reformation. So Saturday as I was walking the Lord put it in my heart that what is going on in the body today. We have become like old Israel having strayed far away from the original purpose of the New Testament church. We have introduced our own traditions and left the original design of the church. I feel what He is telling us is to Repent! Change from what we call church and go back to the way He set things up. Reform! Then as we do this we will have Revival! The body will become healthy as each piece does it's part. 1 Corinthians 12:7-14,14:26; Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:20-22, 3:8-11, 4:11-16; Colosssians 2:19, 3:15-17; 1 Peter 4:8-11.
More to come....dreams and visions about the church....
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