A Call To The Bride Out of all the intimate encounters with individuals in the book of Matthew—“intimate” defined as when someone in particular is singled out for mention, or receives a word or touch from Jesus, or Jesus receives a word or touch from them......only one takes place in church....ONLY ONE Furthermore, all of the most “famous” stories about Jesus—his birth, baptism, trial in the desert, calling of his disciples, turning water into wine, raising the dead, transfiguration, walking on water, feeding of the five thousand, Sermon on the Mount, calming the storm, Last Supper, dark night in Gethsemane, crucifixion and resurrection—not one of them takes place in church. ..NOT ONE! This is no coincidence. Jesus came to the most religious people on earth, and much of what he had to do in order to bring them to God was to free them from their religion. I believe one of the reasons is because He was not welcomed in the synagogues and the other being this; Mark 16: 14-18 14. Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17. And these signs will follow those who believe : In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18. They will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. This is our purpose.... But I have found that even our church experience largely hinges on verse 15. And to be honest weve reduced that verse to this: rather than us go into all the world we would rather have the world come and listen Have you ever questioned your Christian experience? Im certain most believe what they believe out of what theyve been told rather than a personal encounter for themselves. Its completely amazing to me how we can look at another religion like Islam and so easily judge everyone of them as having been indoctrinated and brainwashed and never give second thought to whether our Christian experience has succumbed to the same indoctrination. Furthermore, if we havent given a second thought to our Christian experience then how do we even know what we are saying and doing is even remotely close to what Jesus intended. According to my Bible ....we....and me..... have and are missing anything that even resembles verses 17 and 18 aside from having a New Tongue. And how about verse 18. They will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. Really? Does that look anything like what Jesus said as we proudly announce out of concern for others and being considerate of the other Christians that well just stay away and home from Christian gatherings as to not infect the rest. If He said I could drink deadly poison and and it not harm me I hardly think your sniffles will take me out.............moving on. I left verse 14 in there for this purpose in case you missed its significance. For those in Leadership who think If God is going to speak to you about your ministry that He will speak to you first... you a gravely mistaken. This passage honestly blows me away. The men that were with Him the most were not the ones He went to first after He resurrected.......HE BROKE PROTOCOL. In fact He rebuked them for their unbelief. .....HE OFFENDED THEIR INTELLECT. Wow!...Amazing! He Rebuked Them. He rebuked the 11 men that would change the world. Let me say again; HE REBUKED THE 11 MEN THAT WOULD CHANGE THE WORLD. Today if God rebukes the church we quickly dismiss it as a mistake and influenced by the flesh. God would never say anything negative to His church. Would He? Did I mention that HIS word said He rebuked the people He poured into the most....the ones who shouldve gotten it right... and yet we feel He would never say anything to us that might break our spirit. We are full of it.....full of pride to think it would never happen to us. Again Jesus is reiterating to them that no matter how much You think you know, you can be easily mistaken.....even if Hes been closer to you more than anyone else in the world it does not mean that He will not OFFEND YOU INTELLECT and your RELIGIOUS PROTOCOL. You see, The religious spirit is like the flu—it is constantly adapting to the environment Religion gives the impression of having Christ, while it inoculates you from experiencing the real thing. I realize only a few will read this and less will take it to heart and even less will realize it has anything to do with them. I challenge you to ask yourself the tough questions. Does your walk with Christ resemble anything like Mark 16: 14-18. I will repeat myself and say again that we have become completely comfortable with giving the world our goodness rather than demonstrating His greatness. He became what we are so that we could become what He is.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 03:21:46 +0000
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