40% Missing

What if you received your paycheck and 40% of what you expected is just simply missing. You approach the boss and or payroll dept. and they explain to you that “they don’t believe you needed it” so they left it out. You reaction would be “Oh well, that’s ok, we’ll make due with the 60% we did get…………… NOT!!!!!!!!!!! The Word of God states in Ephesians 4 that God gave 5 gifts (in the form of men & women) to the church. 1. Apostle, 2. Prophet, 3. Evangelist, 4. Pastor & 5. Teacher. However, there’s a segment of the church of Jesus that has decided that we don’t need the Apostle and Prophet any longer. Some believe that 40% of God’s gift is no longer necessary, viable, important and in some cases unscriptural. A segment of the modern church holds that we should just “make due” with the remaining 60%. Why should we live with 60% of HIS gifts when WE NEED 100% of what God has given us, His Bride??!! “Let’s just make due without these two gifts from the Lord…………..” NOT!!!

Got Church??

The Church. The Church. The Church. What does it all mean??? Does The Church have a place in the world today? Does it even matter? Does The Church have a voice, and more importantly, does she carry any weight on earth today??? The answers that I would get on these few questions would be as diverse and varied as the people who would give their opinion. I am certainly not an “expert” on the subject (nor is anyone else), but Jesus said he would build The Church and the gates (stationary objects meant to keep things out) would NOT be successful in keeping The Church from being successful. That answers these questions for me!! YES, The Church matters, YES, The Church has a place and a voice, and YES, The Church can and should be successful……The Church just hasn’t figured that out yet. I love The Church; we just have to get on the offence (as opposed to always being on the defence) and love The Church MORE than the devil hates her. Got Church?

Imagine (No, not John Lennon’s Imagine!!)

Imagine with me for a few fleeting, yet wonderful moments what mature, grown up believers can accomplish for God’s kingdomn and God’s glory. Imagine with me the damage we can do to the enemy’s plans if we would just be “adults” in our relationship with God and in particular our relationship with other believers. If we focused on fighting the devil and not each other, the unsaved would be saved; the prodigals would come to their senses and turn toward home. The sick would be healed, the hurting would no longer hurt, the bound would be free and the church of Jesus would do EXACTLY what she’s been created to do. What’s that??? Be a church, a people, a bride that continued book of Acts exploits, as well as seeing Jesus literally reign over states, cities, towns, villages, homes and churches!!! Imagine!!!

Drowning Babies

One of the major tragedies of immaturity is drowning in seas of unstable, ever changing doctrine. When Paul admonished and warned about immaturity, he specifically used the word “infants” or “babies” or as in the NLT below, “children” being tossed around by winds & waves of varying doctrines.  Ephesians 4:14 “Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.” So we can safely say that if we do not choose to grow up, we remain “lightweights” and we’ll eventually be lost in an ocean of confusion, lies, deceits & spiritual schemes of false believers.

Are we there yet?

Steven Grey, Senior Pastor of World Revival Church in K.C., Missouri recently wrote a book called “My Absured Religion.” Love that title by the way…… While I’ve not yet read the book, I can probably accurately predict the context of that publication (although I could be wrong). A great part of “the church” which is a nice word for “people”, have complicated what the REAL meaning and purpose of the church is. Ephesians 4:11-16 gives some us some remarkable insight into what the PRIMARY purpose of our existance is. Read it and tell me what you think……Don’t comment on what you were TAUGHT TO THINK, tell me what YOU think it means.

The Church Grows Up

Paul the apostle dealt with such incredible immaturity in the churches that he planted that he actually told them to Grow Up. He said you’re eating/drinking milk but you’re at the point that you need meat. The church, in many areas, is in the same condition today, and at times worse. Bickering, fighting, backbiting, adultery, gossip,  lying, tightfistedness, and the sad, sad list goes on and on. Thus, “The Church Grows Up” conference hopes to be a time to putting an end to the immaturity and start growing up, maturing and seeing a wonderful display of God in our churches.