God Is Doing A New Thing!

On Easter Sunday, I spoke that God building His church and it won’t look the way it has in times past. Reading Matthew 16:18 Jesus said to Peter. “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

Jesus came to this earth for a specific purpose. He did not come just to save us from hell, but to redeem us unto himself. In order to fulfill God’s eternal purpose he came to earth and took upon himself a human body. He chose to experience flesh and blood mortality so that he might life humanity to his divine life and immortality. Jesus Christ purchased the Church with his blood, and confirmed it by his resurrection (Acts 20:28; Eph. 2:13-16)  

Jesus made it clear from the beginning that the church as God intended it would have Christ as the Builder. He is the Originator of the Church. He leads it. He alone is its Head. The church had not yet to begin … it was a promise for the future. Not only is Christ the Originator and Builder.  He is the Head of the Church Col. 1:15-18 

God gave gifts for the purpose of building his church:

“He “ascended” means that he returned to heaven, after he had first descended from the heights of heaven, even descending as far as the lowest parts of the earth. The same one who descended is also the one who ascended above the heights of heaven, in order to begin the restoration and fulfillment of all things. And he has appointed some with grace to be apostles, and some with grace to be prophets, and some with grace to be evangelists, and some with grace to be pastors, and some with grace to be teachers.And their calling is to nurture and prepare all the holy believers to do their own works of ministry, and as they do this they will enlarge and build up the body of Christ. These grace ministries will function until we all attain oneness in the faith, until we all experience the fullness of what it means to know the Son of God, and finally we become one perfect man with the full dimensions of spiritual maturity and fully developed in the abundance of Christ. And then our immaturity will end! And we will not be easily shaken by trouble, nor led astray by novel teachings or by the false doctrines of deceivers who teach clever lies. But instead we will remain strong and always sincere in our love as we express the truth. All our direction and ministries will flow from Christ and lead us deeper into him, the anointed Head of his body, the church. For his “body” has been formed in his image and is closely joined together and constantly connected as one. And every member has been given divine gifts to contribute to the growth of all; and as these gifts operate effectively throughout the whole body, we are built up and made perfect in love.” Ephesians 4:9-16 (TPT)

God is breaking down and removing  old mindsets that we have to worship only one way. We worship Him in Spirit and in truth. John 4:24 (TPT), “From here on, worshiping the Father will not be a matter of the right place but with the right heart. For God is a Spirit, and he longs to have sincere worshipers who worship and adore him in the realm of the Spirit and in truth.”

Legalism in the church sets boundaries so that you can’t go beyond tradition or how we’ve always done things.  It limits God’s grace to formulas. It confines the movement of God in His Church, and limits God with our traditions. Scripture says, the kingdom is shut up so that others cannot enter in because of man’s unwillingness to allow others to experience the reality of the kingdom realm.

Legalism: excessive adherence to law or formula.

“Great sorrow awaits[a] you religious scholars and you Pharisees—such frauds and pretenders! You do all you can to keep people from experiencing the reality of heaven’s kingdom realm.[b] Not only do you refuse to enter in, you also forbid anyone else from entering in!” Matthew 23:13 (TPT)

The Word of God is not bound. Religious structures are breaking … little by little.

2 Timothy 2:9 (TPT) says, “This is the reason I am persecuted and imprisoned by evildoers,[a] enduring the suffering of these chains—but the Word of God can never be chained!

Embrace the new thing God is doing!

Dr. A