“WITHOUT SPOT OR BLEMISH”
Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, even as
Where is the church? You can go into any community in America and find several buildings that have a name above the door or on a sign in the front yard with the word church in it but how can that constitute church when the closest definition of the translation from the greek word ecclesia to the english word church is: congregation or assembly. So church is not a building but a body of people, and not even necessarily a religious gathering but rather it is “an assembly of people with one common interest”. With this in mind, wouldn’t it make more sense that the local auditorium in a community (where all people of common interest meet to discuss certain issues; whether those issues be political, personal, business, or religious) would have the word “church” over its doors to advertise “this is where the assembly meets” rather than several buildings in a community where just a few people meet in each one with supposedly one common interest.
It would appear that if there are several groups or assemblies who can not come together but claim to have “one common interest”, then that common interest is not of building God’s Kingdom but of building their own kingdoms. Why are not the lame, the poor, the blind, the naked, and the brokenhearted being drawn into the “church” doors? Because the One who draws is only interested in building God’s Kingdom and will have no part with building a kingdom of man.
Just imagine if all the believers in a community would come together and the only purpose or agenda was to build God’s Kingdom and give praise to the Lamb who was slain for our transgressions; that would truly be a city on a hill that could not be hidden. It would truly be a drawing force for all who are seeking. If this is something you have been desiring and been praying for, or if there is a burden in your spirit to see God glorified and your community changed, then you are one of the remnants God is calling in this day and hour. Now the question is how willing are you? What cost are you willing to pay?
I want to make it clear first of all that I am not implying nor do I suggest that you should disengage from the local church that you now attend, if any. I do not believe there is a set pattern; that everyone should leave their particular assembly or that everyone should stay where they are at. God will guide you if you are willing to be obedient. The very purpose for this call to build God’s church has nothing to do with tearing down the local assemblies. It is a call way beyond the Sunday morning worship and church programs. If the following words insult you, you are probably not the remnant God is calling in this hour.
The first thing you need to have is a vision to see the church as pure and holy. You must not compare this pure and holy church in any way with what you see as “church” today. You must let the Lord completely deprogram you from everything you have been taught or learned from the man made church system that exists today and let Jesus fill you back up with His knowledge and foresight through His written word and through revelations from Him of what He wants to be His church (that He might present to Himself a glorious church). This is not saying that God won’t use some of what is in the church system of today, but this is saying He don’t want you to pick and choose what to keep and what to get rid of. He doesn’t want you to try to put new wine in old wine skins. It is His church and it has to be build by Him and Him alone. Unity: In this vision there has to be unity. Jesus prayed for it in John 17; He said to His Father, as you and I are one; let those who believe also be one. Why do we take this so lightly? How have we corrupted the precious words of the gospel? If we want to see the glory of God in our community, we first have to see unity amongst the brethren. Repentance: In this vision you have to be willing to look into the depths of your heart continually as though through a magnifying glass to stay pure and sinless. You can not focus any of your attention on the faults of brothers and sisters around you but you have to ask the Father to expose your heart to the heavens and then to repent and make right the wrongs He shows you. Prayer: In this vision you have to have such a desire to see Jesus glorified that you cry out day and night like in Isaiah 62; I will not rest O’Lord and I will not give you any rest my God until I see your glory.
Once you have this vision burning in your heart the next
thing you need to have is a desire to carry it out at any cost. The most important part of the deprogramming
of the church system process is “tearing down walls”. Tearing down the walls of the box we have put
God into first and then tearing down of walls we have put up between us and
people of: different views, different doctrinal beliefs, different
denominations, different income brackets, different nationalities, different
races, and different parts of town, state, country, and world. Don’t sit back and wait for them to change,
or for them to conform to what you think or believe. Are you building God’s Kingdom or yours? It is not about you or your doctrinal
beliefs, or your personality preferences; it is about the creator who made the
heavens and the earth and you and every other brother and sister in His
image. Who do you think you are judging
them because they were taught by their “church system” to pray to Mary, or to
wear head coverings, or to speak in tongues or not speak in tongues, or to
baptize infants or to not baptize infants.
While you are sitting around grumbling, judging, gossiping, and
distancing yourself from them because of your “conviction of doctrinal truths”,
there is a world full of people dying and going to hell. Tear down the walls and come together for the
sake of the gospel. You don’t have to
agree with others doctrines, but you are required to love one another and
submit to one another as
In John 17:23 Jesus is praying to the Father that we (the believers) would be made perfect in one and that through that the world would know who (God the Father) has sent Him (Jesus) and loved us (the believers) that many (the unbelievers) would be saved. The question is once again, how willing are you? Is the passion of the vision burning so hot within you that you are willing to hang with, pray with, witness with, work with, and love unconditionally that annoying person who is the bible answer man, or that person who is the drama queen, or the one who smells so horribly, or the one who is always trying to start an argument, or the one who is constantly gloom and doom, or the one who is so self righteous, or the one who sings in tongues all day long. You might say, I didn’t put up any walls and I am willing to join with any other believer anywhere, anytime. Good, then don’t just talk about it, do it right now. Make the effort, be persistent, don’t stop because of rejections, and continue on without haste. Maybe you say, but they aren’t willing, or they have put up the walls. So what, it doesn’t matter where the walls came from, the only thing that matters is that they come down and we are made perfect in one.
It is going to be awkward and clumsy at first. It will more then likely be noisy and disorderly. Don’t give up, keep up the effort, seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and it will quite down and by God’s hand we will be made perfect in one. Look at the dry bones of Ezekiel, when they first started coming together to form a body or bodies they were rattling, noisy, disorderly, not knowing which bone went where to form the perfect bodies. They were lifeless at first but as they were persistent in forming the bodies and let God breathe life into them they became a well formed productive body in unity. So it is with us, if at first it is trying (to say the least) don’t give up, stay focused on the one common bond, the blood stained cross.
The focus is on
I just feel Jesus saying to us as He did to His disciples in Luke 9:41, “you faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you?” If we want to see our city changed and the power and presence of God illuminating over us, then we need to change our focus from doctrinal differences to the commands that Jesus gave us; love your neighbor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, take care of the orphans and widows, preach the gospel, raise the dead, heal the sick, and cast out demons in My name.
If you think you are already in an assembly that totally promotes unity, and the unadulterated gospel then check it against these terms and see if it stands: ask the pastor and the elders if for the next few Sundays instead of having a morning service they could announce and promote that the whole congregation including the pastor and elders would go to a church down the street or across town and then stay and fellowship with them afterwards. Try to arrange to do that at a different congregation every week for four or five weeks in a row. That way you would get to know other believers in your community and that would be a great start. If your church is like 99.95% of the congregations in America, you’re going to get shut down but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it yourself if you truly want to get connected to the body of remnants that have the same fire in them as you do.
The second thing to consider when determining if your
congregation’s heart is about building for the
This is a call to the remnant. If you have something in your spirit that is
unsettled about “church” and