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Thread: Pond Or A River-Church Shifts !

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    Pond Or A River-Church Shifts !

    A POND OR A RIVER, 10% OR 90%?David Walters

    I often get invites from churches to go and hold meetings in foreign fields, such as India, Africa, Asia, tropical islands and other countries. Although I have a desire to go, I usually don't for the following reasons. Most of the churches want the new wine, but they want to keep their old wineskins, in other words, more of the same. "Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved."(Matt 9:17)

    It's like having the air conditioning on in a house, but keeping the back door wide open. All the financial cost and energy put into the trip is wasted. Just to have someone come and increase their religious traditional vision is not what I'm about. Religious tradition will always quench the freedom of the Spirit and the leaders will increase their control over the people and entrench their positions even more. Numbers of them have an ambitious spirit and operate in witchcraft with their control over the people.

    Until church these leaders are willing to let go of their power over the people and equip the saints to fulfill their spiritual destiny, any revival is wasted and it will fade away quickly after the meetings are over. Unfortunately in much of church leadership is all about money, fame and control.

    Too many anointed gifted and dedicated preachers have given their all with very little lasting results. We need to learn how to sow in good soil, not in old, dry, hard clay that eventually dries up the fresh fruit and crops. Just because some churches are large with plenty of people attending, doesn't always mean it's a spiritual success. It could be a continuation of the same old ragged wineskin.

    Churches should never operate as ponds where the fish stagnate. They should be rivers where there is a flow in and a flow out. The ministry gifts depicted in (Eph 4. 11-12) "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ." is the true format.

    To contain people in a local church for years and years in order to support the leadership with their tithes and attendance seems to me to be contrary to the New Testament vision. When we teach on giving, we should never just major on money, we should have the broader vision of giving people away for the work of the ministry, then the Lord will bring in more people to disciple and release. Permanent members of a church should be limited to those that are involved in practical training in soul winning and imparting the power to the Holy Spirit to new believers. The idea of people finding a local church and being planted there for the rest of their life to create a social family of friends and attend all the church functions is not what Christianity is all about.

    Have you ever considered that around 10% of the church congregation are involved in some kind of ministry at the church and the 90% are just pew warmers that tithe to keep the system functioning. Christianity will never turn the world upside down as it did in the book of Acts with only 10% operating in ministry. Instead of 10%, imagine 90% operating in ministry in their everyday lives. Are we not all called to be able ministers?
    "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think as being of ourselves but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us as able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit for the letter kills, but Spirit give life." (2.Cor.3:5-6
    "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2.Cor.3:18)
    Note that Paul says, "We all." Not just us. To minister does not only mean a Bible college student, a seminary professor, or an ordained minister.
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    The first time the word "minister" is used in the Bible it refers to the work of the priests under the Law of Moses. "Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest, Aaron and Aaron's sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar" (Exodus 28:1). Under the Law of Moses the priests were set apart from all of the other people of Israel and given special work to do - a special area of service. They offered sacrifices for the people. They stood between God and the people of Israel. In fact, the Hebrew word translated "minister" in this passage literally means "to serve as priest."
    Now contrast what is taught in the Old Testament about priests to what is taught in the New Testament. Look at 1 Peter 2:9-10: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."
    Notice that Peter was writing to "the people of God." He was writing to Christians. What we learn from this passage is that Christians make up the royal priesthood of God. In other words if you are a Christian you are a priest. Each individual Christian has the responsibility to serve as a priest - to minister in spiritual things. So in the New Testament church there is no such thing as the "clergy" and the "laity." There is no distinction made between priests and other Christians. If you are a Christian there is no one who has any more access to God than you do. You do not need some person to approach God on your behalf. You, yourself can approach God's throne of grace with boldness to find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). * (Ron Hutchinson)
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    Many church pastors desire a large congregation to support their ministry which gives them plenty of loyal people to preach to. The pastors may preach good sermons on how to live a positive life and how to study the Bible, but usually they give their congregation just enough to keep them coming back for a little more. They give the impression that the congregation will need a pastor for the rest of their lives. It's like controlling parents who can never release their children. Coming each week to learn, but never allowing them to graduate. There're encouraging people to come every week to receive, but are never trained to give, except for their tithe. Thus you have the pond, instead of the river. Fear of not having enough finances to support one's ministry or vision should never be the motivation for having a church.

    Untold numbers of Christians are leaving churches, because they are frustrated and tired with the old worn out Sunday morning rituals. They feel that Christianity must be more than Sunday morning church attendance and staying out of trouble.

    A few of weeks ago I visited a large local Baptist church's Sunday morning service. The church was just up the road from our ministry premises. They had a large upbeat band with singers perform on the platform. The majority of the congregation just stood up and didn't get too involved in the praise and worship.

    The associate pastor preached on how we should be making disciples to share the good news, which was a timely message. I wanted to know if there were any weekly events such Bible study, prayer meetings, men's fellowship, etc. So I filled in a visitor form and gave my cell phone number. A friend told me they had a group of charismatics that met at their church building.

    About two hours later, I had a call from the associate pastor. I was surprised to hear from him. He first wanted to know if I was new in the area. He then wanted to know what I did, so I told him about our ministry. When he found out I wasn't new to the area he wanted to know what church I was a member of. When I told him I wasn't, he asked me where I tithed. I explained to him that we were a ministry and supported several overseas missionary works.

    I explained to him that I didn't attend Sunday morning church much, because although I liked to receive, I also liked to give and Sunday morning there was no opportunity to give, except for a tithe, unless I was a guest speaker.

    I offered to meet for coffee so we could talk more and he could get to know me.
    I explained to him that if I attended his church, I would be willing to offer my ministry for free as I was trained in making disciples which was an answer his sermon. I wouldn't be tithing, although I would be open to financially supporting something that their church was doing if the Lord led me. But it seemed he was just looking for new tithers to support their church's program.

    Sometimes I think that religion is much like politics. Most politicians want to hold on to their jobs and power and put themselves first. In church politics, Holy Spirit "movements" end up as "monuments" to the past. The flesh, even religious flesh, wants to highjack the freedom of the many saints and keep them under control. So we need more than just a revival, we also need a paradigm shift to break down man's temple and establish God's temple.

    As the radical Muslims seek to take over the world, we Christians cannot survive having church as usual. Until we are willing to raise disciples, rather than churchgoers and equip every saint to do the work of the ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are doomed to spiritual failure.




  2. #2
    YES and AMEN

  3. #3
    Frozen Chosen A.J.'s Avatar
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    That's good! Thank you!

    Do you have a link so I can share it with some friends?

    It speaks right into where we've been as a church and where God is showing us to go.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by A.J. View Post
    That's good! Thank you!

    Do you have a link so I can share it with some friends?

    It speaks right into where we've been as a church and where God is showing us to go.
    It's from David Walters Facebook page.

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    A.J. (08-07-2016)

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by A.J. View Post
    That's good! Thank you!

    Do you have a link so I can share it with some friends?

    It speaks right into where we've been as a church and where God is showing us to go.
    Quote Originally Posted by LionHeart View Post
    It's from David Walters Facebook page.
    https://www.facebook.com/davidmwalte...26452174130425

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