April 3rd
Church Mobility in an Ever Changing World
God never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. That doesn’t mean God is not moving forward and He is not doing anything new. In other words, we can say that the Spirit of God is moving. He moves and emphasizes different aspects of His truth each time. No one revival is the same. Every revival is a move of the Holy Spirit bringing back a truth. The reason churches get ‘stuck’ in previous revivals is because they are not able to see and know what God is doing now. Sadly, they continue to remain in the last revival that has already waned; remaining in the spiritual wilderness like the nation of Israel which died murmuring and complaining.
When there is a new move of the Spirit of God, the people from the last move will complain and criticise the people whom God is using to start the new move. They will not only criticise but also fault their doctrines. It seems like, as far as church history is concerned, we never find that God used the same person in the previous move of the Spirit and again in the next move.
We have observed that every move of the Spirit or revival prepares the Church for the next move of God. It is never meant for the church to remain stuck in their denomination or in the previous move of God.
His Will is His Grace
As a local church we need to be conscious of the fact that God is always moving forward. He never changes but He is always doing something new and refreshing. For us to be aware of what God is doing next, we need to seek to know our God and our Lord Jesus Christ; seek to carry out His will on earth and not to build our own ministry.
His will is His grace, so when we seek to do His will then our work becomes His work of grace. If we seek to build our ministry, then we may or may not succeed. If we do succeed, then there is a tendency for pride to creep into our soul. Pride causes us to fall from His grace. Works of the ministry that is apart from the will of God will get legalistic. Our focus then becomes centred on building our ministry instead of people. Our work is no longer the work of grace. Inevitably we fall from the fulness of His grace.
Mobility Not Continuity
I have heard church leaders say that big churches whom God is using mightily
now will have a continuity problem. They are saying that they don’t have the
structure in place to cultivate a successor to continue his legacy after him.
Well, firstly it is God who has raised up this present leader for the present move of the Spirit. Therefore God will continue to raise up someone else to take his place when the time comes. Furthermore if this present big church cannot be used by God any more, God has the foreknowledge and He would already have prepared someone else way ahead of time to do what He has planned to do in the next season of the move of the Holy Spirit.
I once said to a leader of a big denomination, ‘What good is a denomination with a few hundred years of history with a good structure in place to raise up new leaders to replace the old to ensure continuity but God cannot use your denomination?’ What good is your son who takes over your ministry but God cannot use him?
To God, every believer is His son and He can use any of His sons to bring the next revival or move of the Spirit. And He will use one of His sons to carry out the next phase of His plan on this earth. Any church that God cannot use because they refuse to move with the Holy Spirit is like the nation of Israel that wandered in the wilderness. God just waits out on them till they have all passed away meanwhile raising up a new generation.
There is Denominational wilderness, Pentecostal wilderness, Charismatic wilderness and the Word of Faith wilderness. Why do I call them such? These are all past revivals or past moves of the Spirit. After their season was over, people who were part of these revivals, who do not want to move on to embrace the next revival or move of the Holy Spirit are like the Israelites who preferred to stay in their spiritual wilderness.
A church needs mobility and not continuity. If you have mobility with continuity that will be great. Most importantly, the church constantly needs to be mobile; be moved by the Holy Spirit into what He has determined for us.
We Be Mobile as a Local Church!
How can we be mobile and agile spiritually and then physically? By knowing what is the next move of the Holy Spirit. Can we know what is the next move of the
Holy Spirit? God already knows but will He show us? Yes, He will because He needs to prepare us for the next move of His Spirit. He needs to get our minds ready to accept the workings of the Holy Spirit. He always prepares a people for Himself to carry out each phase of His plan on this earth. Be open to what He is doing next and whom He will be using. How will we know all these? By asking God and seeking Him diligently.
God’s Plans and Purposes
God planned for Jesus to come to earth as a newborn child and God has planned His next coming to take His Church out of this earth. Jesus’ coming back again does not depend on us preaching the gospel round the world to every tribe. God has a plan for Jesus to come back and He knows who will accomplish His plan with His program. No man is going to bring Jesus back and no man is going to hasten His coming. God has a plan and an appointed time for Jesus to return. As a local church we need to pray out the mysteries of His plan and to know His purpose; then follow His ways of pursuing it to fulfillment. We cannot continue in the old saying of ‘bring Jesus back and hasten His coming.’ It is all by His grace, building by His Spirit!
By the grace of God, He will show us in the Word and guide us by His Spirit.
