Dare we judge?

Oh how that River runs deeper & deeper to those who surrender to it;

“Do not speak against each other, my brethren, for he who speaks against his brother or judges his brother speaks against The Written Law, and judges The Written Law; if you judge The Written Law, you are not a doer of the law, but its judge. One is he who lays down The Written Law and judgment, who is able to give life and to destroy. Who are you who are judging your neighbor?” (James 4:11-12)

Here is an example: We all know someone who continuously speeds (cause we know we don’t speed) – now the reality of this situation is this person looks at the 55 mph speed limit and judges that it is not a good law – they are one who does not obey the law rather they are one who sits in judgment over the laws deciding whether they are just or not. – Do we not see that we do this very thing when we slice & dice the Word of God seeking only that which we feel comfortable about and disregarding the rest – We are sitting in judgement over the Bible as to whether it is Just or not!!

All are not called to evangelize, Right?

All are not called to evangelize, Right?

by Russ Welch

The Lord really poured it on me this morning as I was preparing for the nursing home – Of course I was looking to speak about the Resurrection – yet over the past several months the theme of Evangelism has been in our conversations heavily (The Lord & I) I shared what He gave me this morning with both barrels blazing and Praise God they not only received, I got a double portion of it as the Lord dug it deeper into my spirit.

 

The message was about coming out of the grave “ourselves” and having been baptized with Christ in death, we come out the other side resurrected  in the NEW Life of Spiritual rebirth in Jesus Christ – and in such the old nature has passed away as have the desires of this world -

 

Now we read the Word and see this truth for John got it, Peter, James, Philip, Paul , and the other disciples got it- Along with many others throughout the generations – That soul shaken powerful revelation of the resurrection power – Such a revelation moves ones heart to share the gospel with everyone before the hour comes (The Bible speaks of such an hour) when the Heavens shall be closed and they shall no longer will hear His voice. We can not continue to remain asleep, we must be awakened to the True Spiritual Truth.When one has truly grasped the Resurrection and what it entails for us the believer we walk in a new spiritual dimension of authority and power – it is then we see the power of the resurrection flowing thru our hands and the sick are healed, blind eyes are opened, deaf ears hear,  all praise and glory to God, it is then the dead are raised.

 

You see when one gets the clear picture of what God did in raising His Son from the dead, we realize that God left nothing unfinished – and He shall leave nothing unfinished in the lives of those who are as surrendered to Him, as was His Son, knowing that the cross was not the end of the finished work. No the truth is that the finished work was finished upon the rising of Christ Jesus from the Grave – For it was then that the power of death (sins penalty) was crushed, Glory to God for then the final verdict that sins penalty of death could not hold the Messiah and all Praise to His Name it cannot hold His disciples either!!!

 

………That trail is too deep to write down right now so I will get back to the evangelism part.

 

You see,  it is when one has been put to death – that is in regard to ones desires, their selfish ambitions. For there we find ourselves, on the other-side of the baptism, not the going under but the coming up, new an refreshed for we have now come thru that resurrection power. It is at that moment that something is transferred into our spirit, the very power of Christ’s character especially in regard to the hunger for the lost. Oh man how I can remember this, when I gave my life to the Lord at 15, having heard a message from David Wilkerson at one of his crusades in Bangor, Maine. I was on fire to share the gospel message, I even preached to my dog, yet slowly with out fellowship, without soaking in the Word, without fellow believers help these flames burnt out. (Oh Lord revive the doctrines of true discipleship according to Your teachings)

 

Now as the Lord was sharing this with me I really had to set back and take this in, having come out from years of teachings in regard to “Gifts” and the offices of such. Yet Holy Ghost showed me that much of that which I any many others have been taught has been false doctrines and we have been deceived to feed the laziness and prideful ego’s of those that have taught us. For theirs is about building and promoting programs and names for themselves so they dismiss the lack of evangelism as they are operating in a different gift.

 

Now, Holy Ghost took me on a journey thru the history of the Church right back to the upper-room. If we study the Word we see that all the followers of Christ after Pentecost were evangelistic even as was the Lord. Some did indeed operate in certain gifting s yet they we all related to reaching the lost and nurturing the new babes. So in reality the enemy has attempted (and done a good job is some instances) of stripping the Church from it’s true call and turned its focus back to individualism i.e. all about me and what I can get from God. This was not the teaching of Jesus nor that of the apostles – The Apostles walked in the authority of the commission Jesus gave upon His returning to Heaven:

 

And Yeshua spoke with them and he said to them, “All authority has been given to me in Heaven and in the earth; in the manner in which my Father has sent me, I am sending you.”  “Therefore go disciple all the nations and baptize them in the name of The Father and The Son and The Spirit of Holiness.”  “And instruct them to keep everything whatever I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you every day, even unto the end of time. Amen” (Matt 28:18-20)

 

Today we have Churches filled with people who believe they have been excused from service because they do not have the “gift” of evangelism. We have men and women in the pulpits who call themselves shepherds with not one once of desire for true evangelism – thus we have nation which houses of God are filled with false Shepherds for I find no verifiable evidence in the Bible that one can lead a Church and have no hunger for the Lost. Oh they will call themselves prophets and apostles and such but they are as Paul and Peter would warned, wolves in sheep’s clothing. For when you look at the  true prophets of the Lord in the Bible they were those calling people back to God, not unto themselves with false words of prosperity that keep the people chained to their every word. Or the true apostles for that matter, they operated in all the gifts till the Lord matured those in the groups to rise up – yet each gift was focused on ministering too, edifying and instructing the saints along with evangelizing the people around them.

 

It really hit me hard as the Lord shared this with me for not only was I taught wrong (not by all those teachers in my past), I had also taught others wrong encouraging their disobedience by excusing their lack of desire to reach the lost with “Well maybe that’s not your gifting”. I praise God that over the past 2-3 years Holy Ghost has been cutting away at these false teachings and has been replacing with with the pure doctrines of Christ our Lord.

 

The honest to goodness scriptural truth is friends, when it come to the lost around us we are all called to reach out to them – if we do not have the hunger and drive to do so we need to firstly repent for being disobedient and secondly ask the Father to allow us to experience the true power of the resurrection – For then our hearts will be filled with the same compassionate Fire for the lost that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ HAS…..

 

So the good news is up to this point you may not have known the truth – The bad news is Now you have heard it so you must either obey the Lord or walk away even as those who heard the message on the flesh & the Blood = For from this day forth you are definitely without excuse!!!!!!

 

But hey, that His (Holy Ghost’s) Story and I am sticking to it.

 

All I know is that we do serve an Awesome God!!!!!

A Call to Radical Disciple-making

Is God trying to get our attention?

I have never seen anything like it. Pastor David Platt of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama released his book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream in May of this year. It already has 370,000 copies in print and is in its 18th printing. It has spread largely by word of mouth across the country. A neighbor came up to my wife recently and spontaneously asked, “Have you seen this great new book called Radical?” It has been as high as #18 on Amazon and has even caught the attention of columnist David Brooks of the New York Times. (See his column of September 6.)

Popularity is not usually an important thing to measure, but when a book with such great biblical content starts to catch on, we have to ask, “Is God doing something new in our day to awaken his Church?”“Is He calling His people to radical discipleship for the sake of God’s glory in all the earth?” I believe He is, and that the Church is in desperate need of the biblical message that David Platt presents in Radical.

David’s message has the potential to change the way we do both church and mission. It calls us to reorder our priorities to what God cares about. With a clarity and passion that is rare, David boldly lays out a vision of the Church’s mission in this world that is wholly biblical and God-centered. David writes,

“The message of biblical Christianity is ‘God loves me so that I might make Him—His ways, His salvation, His glory, and His greatness—known among all nations” (Radical, p. 70).

David calls the Church to a sacrificial commitment to reaching all of the un- reached peoples so that God’s glory is made known in all the earth. This needs to be the guiding vision and purpose for every church. Without it we are set adrift on the endless rolling sea of a self-centered gospel where the believer’s only destination on the horizon is his own blessing. We report on this stunning new book and its young author starting on page 6.

In addition to Radical, Floyd McClung has released his new book Follow: A Simple and Profound Call to Live Like Jesus. Both of these books are calling the church to “radical discipleship.” On top of this, the latest edition of Operation World, which helped lead David Platt to his mission vision, is now available. We have arranged special quantity discounts on all three books for MF readers. See page 16 for more information.

Doing Church as Jesus Intended

How do we determine whether a church is successful or not? Is it the size of the church service on Sunday morning? Is it the size of the church budget or the number of activities for kids, young adults, women, etc.? There are many criteria that we could use, but the real question is whether we are doing what Jesus has called us to do. The only standard that counts is His. If we are not doing what Jesus has called us to do, then it does not matter how many people we can get into a building on any given day of the week.

Making Disciples

So what has Jesus called us to do? In Matthew 4:19, Jesus says to Peter and his brother Andrew, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We are to be followers of Jesus who, with God’s power, make other people followers of Jesus too. We call this discipleship. Jesus confirms this calling for us all in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Paul clarifies this calling in 2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” This is what Jesus has called the Church to do—to make disciples who can make disciples. Everything we do as a church must be evaluated on the basis of whether it helps us accomplish the goal of making disciples who can make disciples, both within our own culture and cross-culturally in every people. That must be our standard for success as the Church.

So how are we doing overall? Are we effectively making disciples that are making disciples? As I reported in my editorial in the Sept.-Oct. 2009 issue, over half of our young people are walking away from the church in college. Josh McDowell says that unless something is done quickly to change this situation, the current adults will be “The Last Christian Generation.” According to George Barna, only a small minority of the people in our pews hold to sound biblical doctrine. Even fewer share their faith with others. The overall American church is not growing. At best it is barely hanging on against the onslaught from a hostile secular culture. Our common model for doing church is for people to “pray the prayer and sit in a chair”¹ and listen to the pastor. It is not making disciples who can make disciples. The global missionary effort will never succeed if we simply bring this broken model of doing church to every tribe and tongue. But if we make disciples who make disciples, as God has designed His Kingdom to grow, the gates of Hell will not stand against the onslaught of Christ’s advancing Church.

What is the Problem?

Like the culture at large, our church culture in America is centered on entertainment, not on equipping people as effective disciple-makers. The pastor is the “performer,” and the people are the spectators. Most churches think they can grow if only they have a gifted speaker who can draw a crowd on Sunday morning. They spend much of their energy, time and money on perfecting the Sunday morning “show.” How many churches focus on looking for pastors who have a demonstrated ability to make disciples who can make disciples? There is nothing wrong with having a wonderful worship service, or a pastor who is a great teacher, but if that is the main focus of a church then it is out of focus on what really counts.

Disciple-making takes place through intentional relationships where spiritual life and maturity can be passed on from one person to another. A pastor cannot personally disciple hundreds or thou- sands of people by himself, but that is what our current church model expects him to do. The Sunday morning sermon is not discipleship. We need a new biblical model for doing church that equips all believers to be disciple-makers, not just the pastor. Here is one notable example from which we can learn.

From its founding, Real Life Ministries of Post Falls, Idaho has been commit- ted to creating a new model for doing church. They determined that absolutely everything they did would be to achieve the goal of making disciples who can make disciples. They are based in a small town of just 26,000, but in just 12 years they have grown from a church plant of four couples to 8,500 members.

They have also established six other church plants in their area, each with over 1,000 members. From 2002-2006, they were the fastest growing non-denominational church in America. Every year hundreds of people come to faith in Christ for the first time through their 600+ home-based discipleship groups. It is not the pastor of the church who is leading these people to faith. It is the disciples of this church making new disciples.

The late Avery Willis, former director of operations for the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptists, believed this was the best model of church-based discipleship he had ever seen, and he gave the last days of his life to promoting it. NavPress has also been so impressed with their work that they are partnering with them in developing discipleship materials.

The church provides frequent training for church leaders in their disciple- ship model. For more information, go to  and check out “An Overview of the Discipleship Process” (23 min. audio), or call 208-777-7325.

We need to learn from each other if we are to develop new church models that work. The global Church must learn how to make disciples who can make disciples, or the task of discipling the nations will always remain a distant and unattainable vision. We must answer God’s call to radical disciple-making.

by Rick Wood

Has the Church been sold back to slavery?

Has the Church been sold back to slavery?

by Russ Welch

We live in a day when slavery has surpassed any other generation along with that we are faced with imprisoning vices on all sides. Has the Church grown powerless or has it in a large part sold out to the customs of this world?

We must, as radical Christians realize that “Though worldly cultures and customs are apt to change with each generation the culture and customs of the Kingdom of God are eternal!

There appears to be a war within the very House of God, the lines have been drawn and the gulf is getting larger and larger. The liberal Christians [Those accustomed to feeding the flesh] have drawn a line called legalism and regretfully many good intentioned Christians have taking a stance that any social justice is outside of their calling.

For a number of generations the Church has remained silent on subjects that it should have released the roar of Heaven over. Today we see human trafficking happening right here in the USA and the Church to a large part remains silent

Why? Has the Church become ruled by a King other than our Christ? Has in it in its attempts to avoid taxes sold out its sovereignty to the Government of this land?  And in doing so has it sold its authority and power to that of the rule of mere men?

Immorality indorsed by national leaders!

When we see young ladies seated before the government of this world proclaiming a life of sexual immorality many are more outraged that people would question her life style rather than the fact that she is living a immoral life and expects others to pay for it.

We have the leader of this nation saying she should be proud. The very same leader who stated if his daughters had a “mistake”, he would not expect them to live with that mistake, rather that they should have an abortion! Since when is a creation of God labeled a “mistake?

This nation voted in the last presidential election with their first gripped about their wallets, while seated upon their morals and hide the Bible and any sense of Christian values in the closet. Saul this nation wanted, and Saul the Lord has giving this nation. And many Church leaders in this nation not only endorsed this mane, they proclaimed him as the hope of this nations future!!!

What has happened to America and especially the American Church (Maybe that is the problem ,it is the American Church and not Christ’s Church).

Idols of the American Church setting the stage for immorality.

Today sexual immorality has become a large scale erosion of the character of men and women within the Church it self along with greed and selfish ambition.

We have high profile pastors such as Paula White and Eddie Long who can divorce their husbands and wives and still be promoted as good, ethical, moral, holy and righteous Church leaders by the Main Stream Christian circles.  We have pastors committing horrendous sexual acts and paying off their accusers and the stories swept under the carper. We have high profile pastors being brought up on corruption and tax evasion charges, yet told this is part of the persecution of the saints!

What this is a corrupted generation of leadership at its best and they are trying to hide under the guise of holiness and proclamations of self induced persecution because they have not only broken the laws of the land, they have broken the very laws of a Holy God!!

We can see that 1Timothy 6 states a clear picture of our day;

A godly life brings huge profits to people who are content with what they have. We didn’t bring anything into the world, and we can’t take anything out of it. As long as we have food and clothes, we should be satisfied.

 But people who want to get rich keep falling into temptation. They are trapped by many stupid and harmful desires which drown them in destruction and ruin. Certainly, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people who have set their hearts on getting rich have wandered away from the Christian faith and have caused themselves a lot of grief. (1 Tim 6:6-10)

Now Paul instructs Timothy how to battle such a plaque in verses 11-21;

But you, man of God, must avoid these things. Pursue what God approves of: a godly life, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for the Christian faith. Take hold of everlasting life to which you were called and about which you made a good testimony in front of many witnesses.

 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and in the sight of Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony in front of Pontius Pilate, I insist that, until our Lord Jesus Christ appears, you obey this command completely. Then you cannot be blamed for doing anything wrong. At the right time God will make this known. God is the blessed and only ruler. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the only one who cannot die. He lives in light that no one can come near. No one has seen him, nor can they see him. Honor and power belong to him forever! Amen.

 Tell those who have the riches of this world not to be arrogant and not to place their confidence in anything as uncertain as riches. Instead, they should place their confidence in God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Tell them to do good, to do a lot of good things, to be generous, and to share. By doing this they store up a treasure for themselves which is a good foundation for the future. In this way they take hold of what life really is.

 Timothy, guard the Good News which has been entrusted to you. Turn away from pointless discussions and the claims of false knowledge that people use to oppose the Christian faith. Although some claim to have knowledge, they have abandoned the faith. (1 Tim 6:11-21 GWT)

If we opened up the Bible to Romans Chapter 1, we would see that we are living in the very days described therein.

Has the Church taking a step backwards?

Sadly many in the Church today have taking on the Garden Mentality” in that they believe they question every aspect of God’s Word if it intrudes in their own life style and agenda not realizing that they are surrendering the very liberty that the Word brings to their lives.

Those of the grace, grace, grace movement who cry out “legalism” the loudest have birthed a generation of rebellious, anti –obedience people who have set them selves in the very seats of those whose name they label all who would disagree with them “Pharisees”. They claim to live a life filled with grace, yet they attitude towards those who are not holding to their doctrines is nothing short of that which John the Baptist called the Pharisees of his day “Brood of vipers” for they would eat their own if they disagreed with.

We must take a radical stand in our day and open the prison doors!!!

Unless the Church radically falls upon it’s face and repents and returns the sovereign rule of the House of God back to Jesus and out of the hands of men, this generation will not see the Glory of the Lord falling upon the earth.

We must wake up for the harvest fields are white before us, we must be willing to go on radical fasts, spend radical amounts of time engulfed in the Word of God & in prayer. We must radically raise our voices in the face of such rebellious acts against the Lord and His Word.

We must be a people who are radical in grace and mercy, who radically change our life styles of comfort in to that of servants. We must go into the highways and byways. We must not cower before the calls of social justice rather we must radically grab hold of these causes and impart the compassion, grace and mercy of our God into these situations.

We must radically change how we tithe and give of gifts. We must radically change our self-willed lives into that of Spirit lived lives.

Yet in all these things we must realize that we, in and of ourselves can not do it.

No, my friends, we must take that radical step towards the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Radically surrendering our wills and picking up our own crosses that have been dipped in His blood, baptized in His death and walk the life of obedient disciples, laying our lives down daily for the sake of the Kingdom of God, for the sake of the Gospel Message, for the sake of a lost and dying world, for the sake of seeing our lives break forth in such a way that His Glory is released throughout the world via broken and surrendered vessels such as we are called to be!!!

Let us step out of the prison of self indulgence today and into that of Radical Disciples of Jesus Christ for indeed we do serve an Awesome and Mighty God!!!!

If your life were a book, what would it’s Title be?

By Russ Welch

If people could really read our lives like a book, what would the title of yours be? Better yet what would the story be……….A horror story?….A perverted story?….A book of lies?…..A sad and miserable story?……..A book of scandal, deception, gossip, slander and hate?

“But we all see the glory of THE LORD JEHOVAH with unveiled faces, as in a mirror, and we are changed into the image from glory to glory, as from THE LORD JEHOVAH, THE SPIRIT.” (2 Cor 3:18 ABPE)

Now, as Christians who are to be transformed into His image here on earth (not in some distant future in some far off place) should our lives read as a book of life, hope, joy and peace? In Kingdom reality our lives should be a story of Love, obedience, sacrifice, righteousness and holiness.

“And do not imitate this world, but be transformed by the renovation of your minds, and you shall distinguish what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.” ( Rom 12:2 ABPE)

So again if someone were to read your life as a book and looking at the page being written right now, what would they see? Maybe it’s time we stop trying to write our own stories and surrender to Holy Ghost that our stories be aligned to that which our Creator planned for us! Less of us and 100% of Him, that is the Spirit lived life.

We read in the Bible that we must not become so well-adjusted to our culture that we fit into it without even thinking.  Instead, we are to fix our attention on God.  By doing so we’ll find that we are being  changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from for each of us, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around us, always dragging us down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of us, develops well-formed maturity in us.

Fellow disciples we must know and trust with all our hearts that God the Father has only good, pleasing, and perfect plans for His children. He wants each of us to be transformed people with renewed minds, living to honor and obey him. Because He wants only what is best for us, and because He gave His Son to make our new life possible, we should joyfully give ourselves as living sacrifices for His service.

We can read in the scriptures how Paul warned Christians: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world” that are usually selfish and often corrupting. Wise Christians decide that much worldly behavior is off-limits for them. Our refusal to conform to this world’s values, however, must go even deeper than just behavior and customs; it must be firmly planted in our mind: “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” It is possible to avoid most worldly customs and still be proud, covetous, selfish, stubborn, and arrogant. Only when the Holy Spirit renews, reeducates, and redirects our mind are we truly transformed.

With so many idols around us, including the self made idols of TV evangelism we must remain on guard as to which imagine we desire to become – that of men or that of the Son of man. We see almost daily scandals upon scandals happening in the Church and we need to beware. Marriage vows have been declared unbinding by the very leaders whose lives should shine with the Glory of marriage as the Father intended it to be. Unrighteousness has been rewarded from every denomination as the popularity of pleasing men has far outweighed that of pleasing God the Father.

We are in a day that has grown ever so dark and the world is desperate for the Light of  the Lord’s Bride to break-forth. Many may indeed be able to fool Church members who have grown dull in their spiritual gifts knowing nothing about discernment. Yet, with the many mask’s they wear the world has not be fooled, it has spotted and pointed out the hypocrisy of a backslidden generation who has put the treasures of this earth over the treasures of heaven.

Let us rise up in these days and seek after the face of our God and trade in being a bless me, bless me generation to one who shines with the Lord’s Glory reflecting off from our lives. Let the world know and let Hell shake as we are transformed into to a generation of “Let us Bless you God” true and radical disciples of the “THE LORD JEHOVAH”.

But again let us remember we can not simply will to be transformed as true spiritual transformation doesn’t come through human effort rather by the empowering grace of Father God through the work of Holy Ghost. Many, including this writer have tried with every fleshly once of might we could muster to change leading to frustration, self-rejection, guilt or the white knuckling works of the flesh. No, true spiritual transformation comes as a result of having your mind renewed daily by the Word of God. As you agree with God, believing that what He says is true, change automatically begins. You start to think differently, then talk differently and finally act differently. Be patient with yourself: it’s a process that develops in stages.

So again I ask you if someone were to read your life as a book and looking at the page being written right now, what would they see?

Is God trying to get our attention?

I have never seen anything like it. Pastor David Platt of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama released his book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream in May of this year. It already has 370,000 copies in print and is in its 18th printing. It has spread largely by word of mouth across the country. A neighbor came up to my wife recently and spontaneously asked, “Have you seen this great new book called Radical?” It has been as high as #18 on Amazon and has even caught the attention of columnist David Brooks of the New York Times. (See his column of September 6.)

Popularity is not usually an important thing to measure, but when a book with such great biblical content starts to catch on, we have to ask, “Is God doing something new in our day to awaken his Church?”“Is He calling His people to radical discipleship for the sake of God’s glory in all the earth?” I believe He is, and that the Church is in desperate need of the biblical message that David Platt presents in Radical.

David’s message has the potential to change the way we do both church and mission. It calls us to reorder our priorities to what God cares about. With a clarity and passion that is rare, David boldly lays out a vision of the Church’s mission in this world that is wholly biblical and God-centered. David writes,

“The message of biblical Christianity is ‘God loves me so that I might make Him—His ways, His salvation, His glory, and His greatness—known among all nations” (Radical, p. 70).

David calls the Church to a sacrificial commitment to reaching all of the un- reached peoples so that God’s glory is made known in all the earth. This needs to be the guiding vision and purpose for every church. Without it we are set adrift on the endless rolling sea of a self-centered gospel where the believer’s only destination on the horizon is his own blessing.

In addition to Radical, Floyd McClung has released his new book Follow: A Simple and Profound Call to Live Like Jesus. Both of these books are calling the church to “radical discipleship.” On top of this, the latest edition of Operation World, which helped lead David Platt to his mission vision, is now available.

Doing Church as Jesus Intended

How do we determine whether a church is successful or not? Is it the size of the church service on Sunday morning? Is it the size of the church budget or the number of activities for kids, young adults, women, etc.? There are many criteria that we could use, but the real question is whether we are doing what Jesus has called us to do. The only standard that counts is His. If we are not do- ing what Jesus has called us to do, then it does not matter how many people we can get into a building on any given day of the week.

Making Disciples

So what has Jesus called us to do? In Matthew 4:19, Jesus says to Peter and his brother Andrew, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We are to be followers of Jesus who, with God’s power, make other people followers of Jesus too. We call this discipleship. Jesus confirms this calling for us all in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Paul clarifies this calling in 2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” This is what Jesus has called the Church to do—to make disciples who can make disciples. Everything we do as a church must be evaluated on the basis of whether it helps us accomplish the goal of making disciples who can make disciples, both within our own culture and cross-cul- turally in every people. That must be our standard for success as the Church.

So how are we doing overall? Are we effectively making disciples that are making disciples? As I reported in my editorial in the Sept.-Oct. 2009 issue, over half of our young people are walking away from the church in college. Josh McDowell says that unless something is done quickly to change this situation, the current adults will be “The Last Christian Generation.” According to George Barna, only a small minority of the people in our pews hold to sound biblical doctrine. Even fewer share their faith with others. The overall American church is not growing. At best it is barely hanging on against the onslaught from a hostile secular culture. Our common model for doing church is for people to “pray the prayer and sit in a chair”1 and listen to the pastor. It is not making disciples who can make disciples. The global missionary effort will never succeed if we simply bring this broken model of doing church to every tribe and tongue. But if we make disciples who make disciples, as God has designed His Kingdom to grow, the gates of Hell will not stand against the onslaught of Christ’s advancing Church.

 

by Rick Wood

http://www.vergenetwork.org/2011/11/03/a-call-to-radical-disciple-making-part-1/

The Spirit Gives Life

A fresh intensifying move of God has begun in spots. However, it is coming down universally as a world-size sheet of God’s substance and glory. The spots are where it is being gladly received by God’s people. The fresh intensification move is not the same as the previous moves in recent history. It is going to another level. In brief, the new thing is a fire of purification of life bringing true Spirit-empowered holiness. Mixtures of seeking anything apart from or in addition to becoming one with God in intimate relationship, as a child of the Father and the Bride of Christ, are being cleansed. This intensifying spiritual work of God is the kingdom of heaven advancing on earth.

The intensification of love and power is exciting to say the least. It brings fresh hope and increasing faith. However, it is also severely and at times abruptly changing many of our lives. Relationships are changing as God is realigning connections in preparation for the awesome works of God coming in this new season.

There is greatly intensified freedom to worship and praise God full-out without reservation. There is also increased freedom to boldly move in the gifts of the Spirit that powerfully ministers to people. Prayer is becoming an intensified experience with powerful results. A resurgence of praying in the Spirit is producing strengthening of our spiritual lives and opening doors to increased powerful spiritual resources of God.

For reasons that perhaps only God knows, a spiritual veil remains upon the eyes of some that limits their vision of the fresh move.

The veil is lifting from those who are fully yielding their lives to the “Spirit of the LORD” to become filled with His life of freedom.

2 Cor 3:17-18:  Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Freedom comes by the Spirit. Freedom is in the Spirit of the LORD becoming our lives.

“Kingdom Freedom” requires the total elimination of the restraining influences of fallen human flesh and religion that works through our souls to hinder or prevent the Spirit of the Lord from fully living and reigning in our hearts and being expressed outwardly in our lives. It is the total release of the Spirit of the Lord to have full authority to rule and reign in our hearts and lives.

Religious bondage involves the restraining of the Spirit of the Lord in us by our human souls that have been trained in the letter of law through understandings derived from interpretation of the Bible and through life experiences that were both filtered through a grid of imperfect human �wisdom.� Religious bondage relates to the pride of life and establishes a life of mandatory human control posing as God. It is an abomination standing as God in the temple (our bodies) where it ought not.

Worldly bondage has to do with the restraining of the life of the Spirit of the Lord in us caused by our seeking to meet human needs and desires of our flesh. Human desires drive the soul to devise repetitive actions to bring temporary satisfaction (pseudo peace) to our lives. The body and soul become dependent on the effects of the repetitive actions or substances for a false sense of “well being.”

Both religious bondage and worldly bondage are forms of spiritual harlotry. Both are seeking from other sources, other gods, what the Spirit of the Lord has provided for us. Religious bondage relates mostly to the soul and could be called bondage or control from the soul. Worldly bondage relates mostly to the flesh or needs of the flesh (lusts) and could be called fleshly bondage or control from the flesh.

Both of these bondages are strong hindrances to living and walking in the Spirit of the Lord, the kingdom of God lifestyle.

Experiencing Kingdom Freedom

Kingdom freedom involves the death of worldly fleshly drives or dependencies. It also involves the destruction of all religious controls, beliefs, and practices that were not planted in us by God. This has to do with the cross we are to take up daily, the death by crucifixion with Christ Jesus of our fleshly living, and the willing destruction or removal of our religious rocks.

The fullness of the resurrection life of Christ Jesus cannot live in us and through us until there has been death of our natural soul-controlled past lives. Resurrection life can only come after there has been a death.

THIS IS NOT OUR WORK. It is God who works in us by the Spirit of the Lord. HOWEVER, IT IS OUR WILLINGNESS and OUR DECISION TO UNRESERVEDLY YIELD OUR LIVES TO HIS COMPLETE CONTROL. It is our willingness to come to Him and lose control of our lives and our control over the lives of those around us. This seems like a death process to our souls. In reality, it is only the transition from our souls controlling our lives to the Spirit of the Lord guiding and empowering our lives. It is the transformation from self or soul control to Spirit of the Lord control of our lives.

God provides the power for this transformation through death unto resurrection life by the Life of Christ in us by the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord, the crucified resurrected ascended and returned Spirit of Christ Jesus, is the only power capable of ending our past lives and filling our bodies, souls, and spirits with HIS LIFE, HIS SPIRIT.

His love, righteousness, power, wisdom, peace, and joy fill our lives where once lived our controlling, striving, judgmental, spiritually weak lives that were masked with a pretension of godliness. Shouts of joy emerge from our set-free hearts filled with His abundant life. The rule and reign of God fills our hearts and overflows outward in explosive bursts of His glorious light and rivers of living water. Pure waters of the Spirit of the Lord flow out to the dry thirsty land of the waiting people who are seeking more of God.

God is again calling, “you who thirst, come to the waters, come to the mighty river of the pure Holy Spirit of the Lord.”

Isa 55:1: “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.”     

Deep Rumblings

In the past we have experienced revivals, spiritual awakenings, and renewals that called to us to come to receive from God and to give our lives fully into His loving hands. Now, in this day, in this season, there is a powerful spiritual roar of deep rumblings, as if it were deep within the earth about to explode like a volcano of fire shaking the earth and changing forever the landscape of life.

Can you feel the spiritual rumblings deep in your being shaking your insides; bringing tears flooding your eyes from a rush of unexplainable awe of anticipation ” of joy unspeakable and awe-filled worshipful fear of All Mighty God ” anticipation of Heaven come to earth in power and indescribable glory? The awe-filled reverent FEAR of God is returning. Men’ hearts will fail in anticipation of the awesome works of God.

Multitudes are going to come running to the mercy seat of God seeking the place of cleansing by the blood of Christ Jesus and the rivers of living water washing and filling their lives with the pure holiness of the liquid fire of God’s love.

God is preparing an army of able ministers of the Spirit to help prepare the way for the Spirit of the Lord to fill the trembling multitudes that will come by the miraculous works of God. Spiritual gifts are increasing explosively among those who have faith to minister supernaturally to the thirsty people of the land. Build yourselves up in the Spirit by praying profusely in the Spirit and expect supernatural support from Holy Angels to bring forth the mighty works of God to bring freedom to a world in bondage.

Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor 3:6)

“So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”  (Mat 20:16)

Keep on pursuing Love. Love never fails
and His kingdom never ends.

Ron McGatlin

www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net