Pre-fab Doesn't Exist In The Kingdom Of God

Some of you may have been wondering about some of my postings over the past week or so. The subject matter has changed, as well as the tone of my writing. Couple this with the fact that we shut down our Saturday night meeting at Rapha and it appears that we might have a mystery. Well, we don't. Truth be known, we are just allowing God to set our course, both personal and corporate.

The verses from Psalm 127 really have followed me around for a long time.
"Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain."
While the house referred to in the verse is undefined, I see "church" as the house. To me, it means that man's plan's do no figure into the equation when it comes to building a church (not the building but the people). Seems to me that a lot of effort is put into the brick and mortar to make it appealing to those who might come. A lot of effort goes into the way the building looks....the sound system.....the chairs........the carpet. When the effort should be going into teaching the Word of God...the effort should be directed toward the hearts.......the spirits........the soul.........the minds of the people who become a part of this church. The effort should be found in equipping a people to "do the stuff" or the works of the Kingdom of God.

The success of any church is not found in the bank statements. It isn't found in the number of people who attend. It is found in the quality of people it produces. Do the ones who attend your church show a genuine love for Jesus? Have they fallen in love with the Savior of their souls? Do they take the Kingdom with them when they go back into their homes, into their workplace, into the market. Are they praying for those around them? Do they engage with people and love them?

To me the biggest mistake made by churches today is the mindset that is created where we all gather to hear someone stand up front and deliver a message. We look to the pastor or preacher to give us a vision of what God wants to do. When we don't have one or can't see one, we give ourselves to the vision of the pastor. IS that a bad thing? On the scale of human endeavor, no. But what it does perpetuate is the idea that the congregation are just worker bee's to carry out the vision of the Queen bee.

What's the advantage of being connected to a church family? The power found in being many! A group can do so much more than an individual can. But we must never forget that an individual with purpose and direction from God can do more than the group can also.

During my early days in the Vineyard, I read a statement made by John Wimber as to the call of God on every believer life. "If you can take care of one person....then you can take care of ten. If you can take care of ten, then a hundred will be easy." I was taken with the idea of taking care of, ministering to one person. Lo and behold, God took me up. Through a series of invitations I wound up at the home of a lady who was not able to physically leave her house. I went with a friend of mine to meet her and pray with her. She was a wonderful, gentle woman who was lonely. She didn't have much contact with anyone except over the phone. As we finished our meeting, we asked if we could pray for her and she agreed. I don't remember much about the prayer, but I do remember that when we finished, she grabbed me by the arm and said to me, "Don't let this be a lie." I was puzzled. "A lie?" She went on to say that many had come to pray for her but they left and she never saw them again. She wanted to know that she mattered to someone. She was a believer, but her illness had taken her away from her church family and she had become one who was forgotten. I told her that I'd be back.

The next night, Vicki and I returned.
There in her home, we became the church.
I told the lady that if it was o.k. with her, we felt like God wanted us to have a meeting in her home. She was totally overcome with joy. The very thought that the church was coming to her changed her entire outlook. Over the course of the next year, we met twice a week at her home. We'd worship....we'd pray together...we'd pray for each other....we read scripture and then share what God was doing through the passages. Over time, the woman began to invite her neighbors. After a while we had a small group who joined us and became a part of our home church. We taught them how to hear God and how to pray. We showed them that they had value in the Kingdom of God and that they could reach others with the same message they'd heard. We encouraged them to pray for the sick. To identify when demonic spirits were at work in people and how to break them off so that God's Spirit could fill the individual.  Like I said, we did this for over a year. The funny part in all of this, as the year progressed, the lady who we originally came to meet with and pray for got better. Her health improved and she got her strength back. She began to take short trips to town and to the grocery store. She was being healed.

The point in all of this, is that it really isn't about me. It's about God and what He wants to do in all of us. We can't be the Kingdom if we never take it outside the walls of our church. Jesus called us to be "Salt"..........well, salt is no good if it remains in the salt shaker. At some point, everything has to be turned upside down and shaken...then the salt comes out. Ask God to give you a divine appointment today with someone. Someone that you could begin to pray for and with. Someone who needs to run into the real-deal Jesus.
It could be a really good day....who knows?

God on you....
mb