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Focus & Jesus #2

10/25/2014

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Hi all,
An awakening happened a few months ago when the same lady who has cut my hair each month for years, asked with a straight face after my latest shearing: "Would you like me to trim your eyebrows?"

Her question was like a thunder clap. I didn't know whether to be insulted or submit to the sudden realization my body is getting old. No one had ever asked to trim my eyebrows. Not even Barb. Trim a few ear and nose hairs maybe, ok, after all I am 16 years past 40.

How far I've come down the path of hair maturity! When Barb and I were dating she asked if I thought I'd have sideburns and more than 3 chest hairs by the time we were married! Not only have I sideburns, I have a forest on my chest and the 'leaves' are starting to turn with the season too - gray.

The worst thing was, I had no idea they needed trimmed!

And this is like the body of Christ, how???
Proof that we are eternal is that inside we feel the same as we did when we were teenagers. Our body changes around us but inside we feel the same, proving we don't need these bodies to live eternally, making the issue merely one of destination. When I look in the mirror I feel like I'm looking at the same 17 year old I've always been, but the reflection has changed these last many years. Eternally we live forever, but we can choose how mature we are when we enter the next life.

Babies are focused on self and easily distracted. If they are fussy we dangle shiny and noisy car keys just out of reach, and they focus on that for a few minutes. But that gets old and more than one parent has resisted better judgement and for lack of something else safe to give them, given them the whole key ring to keep them entertained, figuring they'll take care of the germs later. And when that gets old and nothing else works, sticking a Binky* in their mouth might do it. (*Brand name of what my generation called a pacifier)

I shared last week from Ephesians 4:14, a characteristic of spiritual babyhood is running here and there to the latest 'wind of teaching', making the comparison between babyhood and spiritual growth. Many Christians reach for the spiritual keys dangling before them for a season, and then they finally get that key ring and slobber all over it for a time, then they move on to something else to pacify them for a season.

Sadly, the Lord then becomes their servant, having to provide something else for them to become distracted with until they reach a point they desire maturity, then He can begin to help them grow. 

Babies can't help but grow into toddlers, who can't help but grow into children, who can't help but grow into teens, who can't help but grow into adults. Not so spiritually. We choose to grow, it isn't a process that takes over and we have to deal with the changes as they happen. We choose the changes. We choose to grow. We choose to make right decisions. We choose to be Christ like, or not.

If a person decides what Jesus is asking them to do is too difficult - forgive a person for instance, or refrain from spreading gossip, or stop defiling themselves with the world, and so forth - if all that is just too hard, then Jesus will do what He can to meet them where they are, but will be limited by what He can do in them.

Focus...
During a visitation years ago the Lord said He wanted to teach me how He teaches people. I was a young pastor and had been seeking the Father for wisdom. A pastor friend told me he didn't do any 'counseling' to members of his congregation. He said he would listen to them, show them the Word and what it said, and tell them to come back after they'd obeyed the Word. He said he rarely saw them again after that.

But another pastor spent hours and hours with people, confiding in me he was worn out because more often than not people merely wanted to vent or have a shoulder to cry on, or build their case on why they did what they did, rather than wanting serious answers to their questions.

One day when I was worshipping, the Lord came and told me He wanted to teach me how He teaches people, and it would answer many of the questions I'd asked the Father. The whole teaching lasted about 30 minutes as He talked of spiritual growth, but here are a couple main parts. 

He opened by telling me the events of John 3 & 4
"Remember when John was baptizing people and the Pharisees heard I was baptizing many more than he was? When I learned the Pharisees heard that about me I left Judea and went into Samaria on my way to Galilee. Do you know why I did that?"

I said, "The text says you needed to go through Samaria to get to Galilee, but why did you choose that particular route?" He responded: "Because I knew they (the Pharisees) would not follow me into Samaria. I used their prejudice as a filter, for if their hearts had truly been repentant they would not have had a problem following me into Samaria. But they had refused to submit to John's baptism of repentance and wanted to skip repentance to 'jump ahead' to my baptism, and I couldn't allow that, so I left. Learn this: I won't let people grow in deeper things until and unless they have first grown in what is before them."

"I often bring the secrets of a person's heart before them that they might deal with those things, and like the filter of Samaria, they cannot follow Me into deeper things until and unless they deal with what I am asking right then, as the Pharisees had to accept John's baptism of repentance before they could go on in Me. And like most of them, not everyone makes the choice to grow in me by dealing with their heart."

He elaborated a bit and then said: "For instance. Often I will talk to a person something that is meant to be just between us. What you would call 'pillow talk', which isn't intended to go outside the bedroom. I will tell them something I intended to be just between us, but they will call their friend and tell them what I said, or maybe over lunch share with a friend what I considered intimate and between us. Thus they have demonstrated they are not worthy of that level of intimacy, and I will stop talking to them (in that way) for a season...giving them an opportunity to seek out why their spirit was grieved when they shared it, which confuses them because they knew it came from me, yet not knowing why their spirit was grieved. That is why."

"And they will wonder for a time why I have stopped talking to them intimately, though I will of course still share with them on other things. But few seek it out, which shows how they value Me and intimacy with Me, or lack thereof. Remember I said the value that you place on what you hear is how it is measured back to you*. If a person does not value what we have together, but cheapens it by sharing it with others, they show me the low value they place on Me and our time together." (At this point, tears welled up in His eyes reflecting the passion with which He spoke.) *Mark 4:24-25

I was stunned. Up until then I had never considered He truly is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That He used difficult parables and brought prejudices of our heart before us, making us go back to cover old ground when we didn't learn the first time - it often isn't the devil bringing up issues we think are being brought up to harass us, it is sometimes the Lord trying to get us to deal with our heart and to go on in Him, and He won't move us on until we have learned our lesson. I sat speechless.


He had just opened up His heart to me and demonstrated an emotion that caught me totally off guard. I didn't expect Him to be so...human. The fact He could be speak intimate things between me and Him, and then do that with everyone else in the body of Christ as well, and then be so disappointed when we share what was intended to be just between Him and us, AND knowing that must happen all the time...was overwhelming. 

There was silence between us for what seemed to be minutes, as I just stared at Him and He at me. Part of me wanted to hug Him, part of me wanted to fall at His feet and repent. Even today as I tell this visitation, which I've never told of it anywhere start to finish with all the details (and won't so don't ask), and even now am just telling a part of it, the weight of it sits upon me.

He loves us so much and is in this relationship for the long haul. Ephesians 2:7 says the Father will use the ages to come to show us the riches of His love for us. Isn't it time we focused on Him? More on the above visitation next week. Blessings,

John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

 

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Manipulation, Focus, and JesusĀ  #1

10/18/2014

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Hi all,
Chris has a motorized wheelchair he travels around the neighborhood with, greeting the neighbors, dogs, children, and keeping a running conversation and commentary going about everything he sees. 
Picture
As a result, his path down the gravel roads of our neighborhood zigzag based on where his focus is for the moment - a squirrel chattering at him from a tree trunk here, and over he zigs to talk to it. "Hello naughty squirrel, what do you think you're doing?" he asks with a chuckle to himself. Just then 'Shadow', our neighbor's black Giant Schnauzer will bark a greeting to Chris and off he zags to see him responding 'Hello Shadow, I'm coming, I'm coming", and on through the neighborhood we zig zag down the road and drive ways of the neighbors - he rides, I walk! It is 1/4 mile (.40 km) from our house to the mail boxes at the edge of the neighborhood which is our turn around point, meaning we turn around and do it all over again, often for 1 - 1 1/2 hours at a time, back and forth, back and forth. 

As Barb and I were talking about the latest craze to grab the attention of Christians, The Mystery of the Shemitah (Which I enjoyed), I aked this question: "I wonder how many Christians realize they are being manipulated?  

She asked what I meant, and I replied that the "Christian" business system pushes things so that just as one hot topic begins to cool, another is pushed to the forefront, so that the body of Christ's attention zigzags from one 'hit' book, teaching, event, or movie to the next in a never ending parade. Some of it is by design, some by a spirit attached to it. Much of the body of Christ goes from one 'fad' or 'hit' to the next, like Chris zig zagging around the neighborhood. 

You don't find that behavior in the New Testament nor taught by its writers.
Barb and I have known the Lord since the mid-1970's, and we've seen zigzag Christians all our lives. Back when I was a teen a spiritual book (but not Christian) my mom pushed on me was Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and before or after that (I don't recall) she insisted I read 'Born Again' by Chuck Colson. After that it was 'From Goo to You by Way of the Zoo' by Harold Hill, which I remember as being funny and entertaining. Then "They Speak with Other Tongues" by John Sherrill, and so on. 

But rather than go forward from the 1970's, how about going backward from the present. Here are a few: The Mystery of the Shemitah, before it 'The Four Blood Moons'. Before it 'Heaven is For Real', and stretching it out a bit we had The Harbinger, the Left Behind series...going back still we had The Prayer of Jabez...and you get the idea. Many of you can fill in the blanks because you've seen the pattern too. 

Not only were there books and movies, but also 'outpourings' and the related preachers and teachings that went with them, or at least were part of the culture temporarily. There was a time of named/naming angels, going to heaven at will, open heaven, personal prophecy, pleading blood lines, gold dust, feathers, demon related teaching/deliverance, inner healing, name-tag 'apostles', 'bishops', 'prophets', paying for personal prophecy, and going back further to name it claim it, get rich quick, the 100 fold return, and so on...

The Lord is saying FOCUS!
Last week I shared how the Lord has now 3 direct times this year in visitations with me plus another time in a ministry situation, told me the season of the body of Christ now is for us to know to whom we belong. That means it is a season in the Spirit to focus our attention, to narrow our investment of time and money to the important things - the people we fellowship with, are on the same spiritual page with, and stop zig zagging to the many Christian headlines screaming for our attention.  

I love to be in the presence of the Lord. But I've never chased His presence nor felt I needed to. He lives in me, what more could I ask? His outpouring is first in me so why do I need to chase the newest Christian superstar? But there is a stream in the body of Christ that flocks to each latest 'outpouring', some of them living event to event which are spiritual highs, only to return home to real life which are spiritual lows. 

And I love a good mystery, don't get me wrong. I love how there are many symbols and signs in the Word that speak of spiritual mysteries. But there is a stream in the body of Christ that makes that their focus, to find some deeper mystery of the lining up of world events with scripture so they may divine the future, searching for some key to unlock the date for the rapture or WWIII or an invasion of Israel.

The spirit of fear - this is important!
Perhaps the biggest single thing getting the body of Christ's attention right now isn't a single event, book, teaching, or movie. It is the spirit of fear. In fact, the spirit of fear is what motivates a lot of people who devote great mental and emotional energy to all these things. Cloaked in spirituality, the truth is they run after these things because they are afraid of the future. 

They are afraid their way of life will change. They are afraid money will fail. They are afraid they will be left behind to go through the Tribulation, or persecution, or hardship. They are in fact afraid because they don't know Him well enough to be in His presence where there is no fear, only love, peace, and certainty. They deal with the spirit of fear and worry about the future by running after the fad rather than getting alone with Him who lives within.  

Beware of the spirit of fear attaching itself to Christian teaching, books, and 'outpourings/events'.  

The characteristic of children
"We are not meant to remain children at the mercy of every chance wind of teaching and the jockeying of men who are expert in the craft presentation of lies. Be we are meant to hold firmly to the truth in love, and to grow up in every way into Christ, the head. For it is from the head that the whole body, as a harmonious structure knit together by the joints with which it is provided, grows by the proper functioning of individual parts to its full maturity in love." Ephesians 4:14-16, JB Phillips Translation. 

Most translations translate 'children' (Greek: nepios) 'babes' or 'babies'. A more literal translation of 'every chance wind of teaching' could be 'tossed by the waves and whirled about by every fresh wind of teaching.'

The word translated here as 'expert in the craft presentation' is the Greek word, 'cubos', in English, cube, and refers to one rolling the dice in a game of chance to trick and manipulate those in the game. The rest of the phrase in Greek is 'panourgia' and literally means men who are 'ready to do anything'. 

It means we as the body of Christ are not to remain babies or young children, running to and fro from one slick presentation to the next for it is actually deception cloaked in Christian spirituality. It makes our spiritual lives like one floating on the waves of a storm.  

We are to grow up in love in Christ, focusing on our single goal; To be like Him. Drop every distraction that takes away from that singular goal. Grow up body of Christ, stop being distracted by the manipulators. Be distracted by Him and pay the price to learn how to get in His presence, the discipline, the lifestyle of Him - the meek and lowly of heart Servant of all - we are to be like Him! 

Do you know Him?
Many Christians don't truly know the Lord. They know OF Him. They know ABOUT Him. They have corporate experiences of His presence in some church meetings. They know some principles of His kingdom. But they either don't know Him well enough to NOT be afraid, even sometimes, those who've known Him for decades. Or they've never learned to discipline and control their thoughts and emotions to bring them captive to His Presence in their spirit. 

As a result they zig zag in their spiritual focus like Chris zigzags around the neighborhood. As the Lord told me in the visitation of February 2001: "See what I see; people running to and fro to this meeting and that looking for the spectacular, thinking THAT is supernatural, while they miss the supernatural work in their midst, even in their own heart, for the process of discipleship IS supernatural." 

This series is prophetic in nature and is what He is saying about growing up instead of running to and fro. This is about how to grow up and truly know Him. More next week, until then, blessings, 

John Fenn

cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

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Being Spiritual vs Being Christian #6

10/11/2014

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Hi all,
I'll summarize this series first, then share some things the Lord has told me for the body of Christ. 

In this series I've talked about spiritual people: People who call themselves Christians, yet really aren't. Jesus said on the last day there would be many who call Him Lord and claim to have moved in charismatic gifts like prophesying and casting out demons, as well as claims of doing things for Him, yet He will admit to them He never knew them, and in fact they lived unrighteous lives. 

I shared about Gnosticism which we see all around us today. It is the demon inspired belief that a person can be spiritual, believe in Jesus, yet live sinful lives because the body is inherently evil and the spirit is inherently good and saved, therefore you can live sinfully because you are a born-again Christian. This means we have people among us claiming to be charismatic, claiming to prophesy and cast demons out and doing good things for the Lord, yet He doesn't know them, as per Jesus' teaching about false brethren in Matthew 7:15-22. 

I shared a bit of history how the Great Commission is relationship based about others observing and doing what He commanded us to do, and how when the church moved out of homes and into the auditorium, Greek thought took over which turned relationship based knowledge into mere concepts and principles. And that is how we ended up with 'believers' who aren't truly born again disciples of Jesus. 

If a person is truly born again, the New Testament indicates there will be a change in their lives as they become more Christ-like. If you look at the sins listed in Ephesians 4 they were struggling with, ranging from sexual to stealing, it is clear a person can be a Christian while struggling with sin. The key indicator is progress and growth in the struggle to overcome these sins. 

When a person claims to be a Christian yet lives a sinful lifestyle is where Jesus said to judge people by the fruit of their lives. Not judge their heart, but judge the fruit of their lives.  

In I John 1:1-3 it says "Now are we the sons of God and it isn't revealed what we shall be, for when He comes we will be like Him and see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself..."  

There are many who are spiritual, claiming to know the Lord, yet are not purifying their lives because they don't have that hope in them - their lifestyle and their growth as people and as Christians isn't motivated from wanting to see Him, they love the world and all that is in it, and want to be more like it, not Him. 

People are wondering and wandering...
About 10 years ago during one of our house church meetings we were in the midst of worship and suddenly the Lord came walking through the closed sliding glass door to my right. He stood next to me as I was seated during the worship. 

He started talking immediately about what I'd see in the body of Christ in the coming years, but while He was talking to me a woman stood up and began singing a worship song at full volume out of her heart, but her voice was as finger nails on a chalkboard - horrible! She had the kind of singing voice that only her shower should hear, and it was very distracting. 

I interrupted the Lord and asked if He would tell her to be quiet so I could concentrate on Him. That may sound either incredibly callous or maybe bold, but when you are in the Spirit things seem so natural and normal that you don't realize you are in the Spirit, and being around Jesus is as relaxed as being around your best friend. That is why Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration suggested they build shelters for Moses, Elijah, Jesus and the 3 with Jesus - It all seems so normal you don't realize you are in the Spirit. 

The Lord replied, "I will not, for you don't know what she has come out of and been through, and is worshipping me from her heart. Her voice sounds wonderful to me, and I suggest you adjust your heart so her voice sounds wonderful to you too." Ouch. "I'm sorry Lord, you're right, go on."  

And He continued talking about how people were going to be leaving the churches, many that considered themselves cutting edge because those people are looking for fulfillment in Him and not finding it. He said friendships would be broken as some stayed and some left, but He said many of those who left their (traditional/auditorium) churches were going to leave without knowing what to do next, just that they could not continue where they were.  

Over the last 10 years we've seen that happen with many Christian headlines talking about how the traditional church is losing membership and so forth, and my email in box certainly fills up with people searching online for what to do next and hearing about us and house church in general. 

So far in 2014 the Lord has visited me 6 times, 3 of those in ministry situations in which others also saw or felt or knew He was there ministering to them, and 3 that were direct to me. In each of those 3 visitations and 1 of the other that was in a home church/ministry situation, He spoke of the body of Christ now. The first time this year He said this below, and has repeated the same general message each time, meaning it is important. By repeating the point to me it is like the gospels when he said 'Truly, truly', the double 'truly' meaning it is especially important. He reminded me of that visitation of 10 years ago and then said:"Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. The time is coming and now is, for my people to know to whom they belong." I asked for an example in scripture to know what He meant, and He said "In Acts 4:23 when Peter and John were released they went to their own. They knew to whom they belonged." 

"The season now is for my people to know to whom they belong. They have had time (these last 10 years) to wander here and there, to examine fads that rise and fall only to discover they are not lasting,  to discover in many cases by process of elimination, what is not for them. Many have wandered, searching where to belong, only to learn more where they do not belong than where they do." 

"Many of those who have wandered some or most of these past 10 years or more are now ready for the real, for what I told you that February; 'As it was in the beginning so it must be now, I am moving in relationships'. This means it is time for my body to grow up and know faith, know me, know who they are what they believe. This is a season of growth for many in my body, for times are coming in the west when those who thought they knew what faith is, will discover they knew nothing of faith, but only formulas and ritual. For those who have an ear to hear, they will be ahead of the times and be prepared, others will have difficulty because they have lagged behind in what they've known they were supposed to do." 

I'll share more in my e-newsletter around the 20th of the month, plus another word He gave me, but for now... 

Being spiritual versus being Christian
It is time in the body of Christ to drop the spirituality and become real, humble, certain in Christ but always willing to learn and adapt and change. When Jesus said in Matthew 25 that at His return He is looking for a church who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, visited the sick and imprisoned, the context was us - home based, family based, real people - He wasn't saying a church prison ministry did it, or a church hospitality program did it, or a church clothing drive did it. He said WE do those simple tasks of taking care of the needs of those we are in relationship with. It if simple, humble, and very much like our Lord as we lay down our lives for each other. 

Being spiritual puts people above all that, for they know too much, they are too spiritual and will argue their point endlessly and make great claims, and never apologize nor take the higher ground for the sake of peace. Disciples of Jesus will back away from arrogance refusing to join in, in order if needed to be poorly thought of by the super spiritual that they may become more like Christ.  

The season is upon us, as the Lord has told me now consistently this year, to know to whom we belong, to be serious about our faith, and to be serious about our relationships. Make disciples by teaching them by our lives to observe and do all things He commanded us.  

New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

 

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Being Spiritual vs Being Christian #5

10/4/2014

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Hi all,
How did we get to the place church culture focuses on being 'born again' rather than making disciples?  

I made a statement last week that Jesus never told us to get people born again. That is true. He had a private conversation one night with a man named Nicodemus, recorded in John 3, in which Jesus explained what happens when a person believes with the intent to become a disciple, likening it to being born a second time, but by the Spirit of God not regular birth. That is true.  

That was one private conversation between Jesus and 1 man, not a teaching. There is no parable to the masses about a born again mustard seed. There is no 'Sermon on the Born Again Command'. It was a private conversation late at night between 2 people and never was that conversation repeated or enlarged upon as a general teaching or command, nor seen in the other gospels nor epistles. 

Yet a whole church culture has been built around the efforts to get people born again with the goal of 'closing the deal' by getting someone to "pray the prayer of salvation" with us. WRONG! THAT ISN'T IN THE BIBLE. 

What did Jesus really say? 
"All authority is given to me both in heaven and in earth. Go therefore to all nations...teaching them to observe and to do all things I've commanded you..." 

In Acts 2, when Peter preached at Pentecost, did he ask everyone 'with every head bowed and every eye closed' to pray a prayer (along with the 120 so no one would feel embarassed) so they'd be born again? When Peter went to Cornelius' house in Acts 10 to tell them about Jesus, did he ask for a show of hands for all who wanted to pray a "prayer of salvation" so they'd be born again? 

No where do we see any of the apostles preaching being born again, nor leading them in a seeker friendly non-embarrassing "prayer of salvation." The prayer of salvation is one of those man-made doctrines that people assume is in the Bible, but isn't. 

The reason you don't see it in the Bible is the apostles were obeying Jesus. Jesus said "...teaching them to observe and do all things I've commanded you", and within Jewish culture of the day, it is automatic that the discipleship process is relationship based. In other words, they can't observe and do all things Jesus commanded me unless they observe me doing all things He commanded me!  

THAT is the Great Commission, to let others see Christ in us so they may learn from us. Paul said imitate me as I imitate Christ, and when people express amazement over that statement it reveals they don't understand the culture of the kingdom of Jesus. Paul was merely restating the Great Commission - observe and do what I observe and do. (I Corinthians 4:16, 11:1, Ephesians 5:1, Philippians 3:17, etc) 

Oriental culture - Israeli culture
Israeli culture is oriental. That is why Israel is said to be in the Middle East. China and Japan are called the Far East, but Israel is still in the east, it is oriental. Thus we see customs like bowing at the waist from Abraham through the gospels, in some cases people meeting Jesus by falling to the ground in obeisance to Him just as we see in Oriental royal court protocol. Ancient Chinese art shows their leaders seated on a chair carried on poles on the shoulders of servants, and we see the Ark of the Covenant carried on poles on the shoulders of the priests in the Old Testament. Israel is Oriental.  

Another part of being Oriental is the honoring of parents and elders, this honor flowing outward from home and family to others through multiple generations. The older are expected to train up the younger, and having a meal at one's house is the highest form of fellowship there is.  

Gnosticism revisited, the making of false brethren
Greek culture however is not based on relationships, it is idea based, concept based, mental ability based.  

When Paul was in Athens, Greece in Acts 17 he preached Jesus just as he had done elsewhere, but this time they laughed at him when he brought up Jesus being raised from the dead, while others asked him to return the next day to share more about his concepts and ideas.  

They had no intention on believing in Jesus, they just wanted to hear new ideas, new teachings, filling their itching ears and journals with revelations from this new teacher. As a result we don't find a strong group of believers in Athens. There is no letter to the Athenians. They just wanted to hear ideas. 

A little history
As the church became more Gentile/Greek in culture in the late 200's and early 300's AD and less Jewish/Oriental, it became more intellectual and less relationship based. The church met in homes for the first 300 years, not due to persecution as some would suppose, but because the first church in the house was Adam, Eve, and the Lord, for where 2 or more are gathered He is in their midst. He invented home and family. The early synagogues were meetings in homes with several families, so at Pentecost they just continued what they had been doing, meeting in homes. God has never left the home and family as His primary and preferred way of bringing revelation and the knowledge of God into the earth.  

By the 300-400's AD Christianity had been legalized and Christians were called out of home meetings to meet in former pagan temples along side existing pagan temples still in operation, which were auditorium and podium structured. In those structures a single priest had to be in charge to lead the people, thus the function of pastor was elevated for the first time in history to be the lone voice of God week to week.  

Rather than being participatory in nature as the home meetings where, the auditorium requires just 1 person to speak, sharing concepts and ideas with the masses assembled. Ideas from the pulpit require no relationship with anyone, for they are just principles, concepts, thoughts on how to tackle this or that problem. Notes are taken, journals filled, but they are merely 'new revelation', not something lived out in relationship with others.  

That is the point where an emphasis on being 'born again' separated from being a disciple. Up until that point being a disciple meant you were born again. But when Greek thought started dealing with ideas and concepts from a pulpit rather than in home and family based demonstrations of how to live and walk with God, the concept of being born again came to stand alone as its own doctrine, now separated from the process of discipleship. 

First relationship is with the Lord, and if flows from there
When the gospel gets dissected into ideas and concepts alone rather than ideas and concepts imbedded within the discipleship process involving multigenerational relationships, we end up with an anemic body of Christ that is used to being spoon fed ideas, but with little practical knowledge on how to walk with God in those concepts. People who are hungry for God find themselves hungry for more but don't know why. Their heads are filled with God's concepts, why aren't they happy? Why do they feel so empty? 

Today many in the body of Christ are discovering they are hungry for God though they go to church. They are tired of being fed principles and concepts they've heard many times before; they are looking for relationships and real 'meat' in their faith.  

"Teaching them to observe and to do all things I commanded you" requires you see in me what He commanded me. The Great Commission is about walking with God within relationships, flowing from the individual in the home and outward to naturally existing spheres of relationships - family, friends, neighbors, co-workers - which are seen throughout the gospels and New Testament letters. 

Next week I'll share prophetically some things the Lord has told me this year about what He is doing in the body of Christ, and what we'll see in the coming years, which will tie this series together. Until then! Blessings,

John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

 

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