Getting the Bigger Picture

One of Man’s errors of thinking is that his mistakes won’t make a difference when looking at the big picture.  That thinking couldn’t be farther from the truth.  Each man’s works and words are a foundation for more to be built upon, and with their silence and mistakes comes more error and dysfunction in what is being built: the Church.  You’ll notice in the book of Revelation that the Lord saw each church’s failure to overcome as a very serious thing.  His warnings are commensurate with the dire legacy of dysfunction that the Church would leave to the following generation.  The ensuing spiritual warfare that followed each church’s demise became heavily weighted against future Christians.  Without the gifts God desired to bestow on them, the next generation of Christians lacked the resources to by which to win.

We have inherited many of the bad fruits from prior generations, but some good fruits also.  In the 1900s God brought back the ministry of the Holy Spirit, which became the second rain (Joel 2:23 James 5:7).  God is looking for a harvest from His seeds planted by the faithful.  He brought the baptism of the Holy Spirit once to begin a work and He again baptized these seeds with His rain.  Though the Church had lost much after the former rain, the second, or latter rain renewed the gifts of the Spirit, and then also the callings of Prophets and Apostles.  God is completing His Church, making His Bride ready for the Bride groom.

Raising up spiritual leaders and Prophets caused problems in the modern churches. These men and women do not fit into the dysfunctional religious system handed down to us from previous generations.  During the past dark times pastors led churches, some finding good works and spreading the word of God.  They managed without the help of the Apostles and Prophets, and it is no wonder that most do not see the need for them now.    Some Pastors who have labored hard to start a church feel as if they own the church, and have a sense of reward from the benefits the church brings them.

In the 20^th century, it was hard enough for most of the pastors to control the movement of the Spirit, much less share authority in their churches with newly arriving Apostles and Prophets.  Some pastors have let the Holy Spirit move through them and share what He is speaking, but they fear chaos would result if their congregants ministered to one another in the Spirit.  Surely these restrictions prevent building the body of Christ up into maturity, as the five-fold ministry is called to do (Eph 4:11-13). Though pastors were the “glue” that held churches together in previous generations, it was through the losses of the first century churches that this happened.  Though these leaders are reluctant to listen to and incorporate the words of Apostles and Prophets, nevertheless, it is God’s design that they be installed in their rightful place in the church. It is only the full ministry of all five ministries that will bring the body of Christ into her fullness and prepare her for her Groom, Jesus Christ.

In my next lesson I will write about the devastating losses of each of the first century churches and how their failure to overcome affected Christianity today.  Those things which the Lord sought to put into place through people in the churches had the ability to shape the Bride.  If we look at Jesus’ letters to the seven churches in Revelation we see an invitation to overcome, paired with warnings of what the alternatives would be.  In examining their failures we will see many reasons for the lack of power and faith we see in our present-day Christianity.  Amen.