The attempt of the church to be broad functioned has made her lose sight of her core function. This is not an attempt to criticise the church of Jesus Christ in the land of which I am a part and represents both her failure and success. This is an attempt to redirect our focus to that which is essential, to that which is basic, to that which is at the core of our calling. In his letter to Timothy, Paul defined for us the core function of the church, one of my beloved Pastor opened my eyes to the truth of scripture in
1 Timothy 3:14-15,
"These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
From what we have read according to Paul, the church is
•The church of the LIVING GOD. The living God is in our midst and His presence ought to be demonstrated in power, signs and wonders. Zephaniah 3:17 says, the Lord your God in the midst of thee is mighty to save, he will heal and deliver. The presence of the LIVING GOD is proven by the manifestation of the supernatural and therefore this must be the indicator each time people come to the church, the supernatural must become the natural order of experience
•Secondly the church is the pillar and the ground of truth. The word PILLAR only appear once in the new testament and it is here in this scripture. There is only one place that has the sole ownership and is the sole custodian of the truth and that is the church! Every other organisations and institutions has the fact only the church has been saddled with the truths. Pontius Pilate asked a question of Jesus of which he never got an answer: "WHAT IS THE TRUTH"? However earlier in John 17:17 Jesus told the disciples what is the truth, he said
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth"
The word of God is the truth and the church is the sole custodian of that truth. Every other word are the words of the gods, the words of men, but the LIVING WORD of GOD can only be published by the LIVING CHURCH OF CHRIST! And it is in this I believe we are been distracted as a people! Our attempt to be all inclusive has stretched us too thin so much that we have majored in the minor and minor in the majored.
Today as you read this online services are ongoing been streamed by many. And after devotion with my family I intend to stream one of the churches I love. But as I check through their program for today I learned what will be on their service are team of medical experts and health officials who will be telling us how to navigate these times that we are in! Immediately I saw that I told myself I will not be streaming that service!
Why? Is it because I have anything against medicine and medical science and good advice and sensible health guidelines? Far from it. Ever since the outbreak of the corona virus I have read volumes and crunch every available facts, data, health and otherwise to understand what we are faced with and how to deal with it. I have listened to all the medical experts on CNN, BBC, and read all that needs to be read medically to prepare for this! Many thought from my articles I am saying to ignore medical advice, no! All I am saying is that the spiritual truths of the word supersedes and offers way more certainty and protection than any medical advice in the world, whether you like it or not, this plague that is ravaging and killing is of the devil (John 10:10). If medical advice and practices are enough to safeguard our lives then medical personnel themselves won't be infected with the virus! But all over the world health officials are getting infected by the day in the face of the virus. Science has limits, only the power of God is unlimited!
Science has given us definitions of this crisis, only God can give us lasting solution to this crisis! For is there anything impossible for God to do? Nothing!
The certainty to which you say amen to that prayer is dependent on the level of your faith in God. Because someone on social media was asking me to set aside God because we are faced with "real life situations" as if real life situations are outside of the scope of the power of God. And by the way that person is a believer too, makes me wonder what we believe all along!
And so the reason I won't be tuning in to that church live stream is because I have had enough of the information that they want to be dispensing today, health information! All these information are presently been dispensed by the government, health organisations, the media, we have had enough! The reason I won't tune in is because what I want to hear, the TRUTH, which only the church can dispense and which the church has refuse to dispense! What WHO and the rest are dispensing are FACTS, what the word of God says is the TRUTH, the truth which can save to the end of the earth!
As much as we need medical and health diligence to battle coronavirus we also need spiritual truths and power to defeat this demonic virus ravaging the word! And so WHO, CDC are doing their part to provide the word with these medical informations and health guidelines, which we all need. You will then think that the church will provide us with the spiritual truths that we need to beef and guard our heart against the fear of death and corona virus? No! The service will probably spend about 90% of the time talking about these same health guidelines, 10% just to remind us to pray and read the word, and nothing more!
What you will not see the WHO or CDC across the nations do is telling us what scriptures to read to fight the fear of coronavirus or prayers to pray, no they won't do that. It's not their calling even if the head of the WHO is a believer. It's outside of the core of what WHO stands for. However the church in our bid to be broad functioned will spend time doing what WHO would have already done, abandoning the core function of our own calling, dispensing SPIRITUAL TRUTHS!
We are currently facing two challenges in our world
•the outbreak of corona virus and all its attendants consequences of health, social and economic impacts
•The release of the spirit of fear over the world and the spirit of fear is essentially the spirit of death! And this, more than the outbreak of coronavirus is the greatest threat we face.
Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us,
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage"
Fear puts in bondage; the fear of death is the beginning of death itself. After the release of information on the likely potency of chloroquine in treating the virus, many people in fear and panic have gone on to overdose on chloroquine in Lagos, Nigeria! This fear is the greatest danger that our world is facing at the moment and any address from any president of any nation of the world cannot solve that, it's the message of hope, faith and power from the church that can. Only the truth from God's word can give hope to the world. And this is where the church calling must come to the fore! This is the message that should come from us. Enough with regurgitating the same medical instructions that we have heard all over from everywhere and everyone. Paul in Ephesians tells us what is the call of the church.
Ephesians 1:19-21(msg)
‘This energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name, and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence’
The influence of the church is not determined by the size of its building but the strength of it's voice in influencing the world for God, because you see as Paul said, "the church is not periphery to the world, the world is periphery to the church"
The church isn't necessarily about the building; it is ABOUT THE VOICE OF CHRIST sounding through the church (you and me) to exert influence in the land. Now it’s time for you and me to speak up, speak faith, hope and power into the land, and its inhabitants. In this hour of uncertainty it's time to speak the certain truths of the word! This is our calling!
Read full blog post here COVID(3) CHRIST OVER VIRUS INFECTIONS AND DISEASE - THE PLACE OF THE CHURCH
1 Timothy 3:14-15,
"These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
From what we have read according to Paul, the church is
•The church of the LIVING GOD. The living God is in our midst and His presence ought to be demonstrated in power, signs and wonders. Zephaniah 3:17 says, the Lord your God in the midst of thee is mighty to save, he will heal and deliver. The presence of the LIVING GOD is proven by the manifestation of the supernatural and therefore this must be the indicator each time people come to the church, the supernatural must become the natural order of experience
•Secondly the church is the pillar and the ground of truth. The word PILLAR only appear once in the new testament and it is here in this scripture. There is only one place that has the sole ownership and is the sole custodian of the truth and that is the church! Every other organisations and institutions has the fact only the church has been saddled with the truths. Pontius Pilate asked a question of Jesus of which he never got an answer: "WHAT IS THE TRUTH"? However earlier in John 17:17 Jesus told the disciples what is the truth, he said
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth"
The word of God is the truth and the church is the sole custodian of that truth. Every other word are the words of the gods, the words of men, but the LIVING WORD of GOD can only be published by the LIVING CHURCH OF CHRIST! And it is in this I believe we are been distracted as a people! Our attempt to be all inclusive has stretched us too thin so much that we have majored in the minor and minor in the majored.
Today as you read this online services are ongoing been streamed by many. And after devotion with my family I intend to stream one of the churches I love. But as I check through their program for today I learned what will be on their service are team of medical experts and health officials who will be telling us how to navigate these times that we are in! Immediately I saw that I told myself I will not be streaming that service!
Why? Is it because I have anything against medicine and medical science and good advice and sensible health guidelines? Far from it. Ever since the outbreak of the corona virus I have read volumes and crunch every available facts, data, health and otherwise to understand what we are faced with and how to deal with it. I have listened to all the medical experts on CNN, BBC, and read all that needs to be read medically to prepare for this! Many thought from my articles I am saying to ignore medical advice, no! All I am saying is that the spiritual truths of the word supersedes and offers way more certainty and protection than any medical advice in the world, whether you like it or not, this plague that is ravaging and killing is of the devil (John 10:10). If medical advice and practices are enough to safeguard our lives then medical personnel themselves won't be infected with the virus! But all over the world health officials are getting infected by the day in the face of the virus. Science has limits, only the power of God is unlimited!
Science has given us definitions of this crisis, only God can give us lasting solution to this crisis! For is there anything impossible for God to do? Nothing!
The certainty to which you say amen to that prayer is dependent on the level of your faith in God. Because someone on social media was asking me to set aside God because we are faced with "real life situations" as if real life situations are outside of the scope of the power of God. And by the way that person is a believer too, makes me wonder what we believe all along!
And so the reason I won't be tuning in to that church live stream is because I have had enough of the information that they want to be dispensing today, health information! All these information are presently been dispensed by the government, health organisations, the media, we have had enough! The reason I won't tune in is because what I want to hear, the TRUTH, which only the church can dispense and which the church has refuse to dispense! What WHO and the rest are dispensing are FACTS, what the word of God says is the TRUTH, the truth which can save to the end of the earth!
As much as we need medical and health diligence to battle coronavirus we also need spiritual truths and power to defeat this demonic virus ravaging the word! And so WHO, CDC are doing their part to provide the word with these medical informations and health guidelines, which we all need. You will then think that the church will provide us with the spiritual truths that we need to beef and guard our heart against the fear of death and corona virus? No! The service will probably spend about 90% of the time talking about these same health guidelines, 10% just to remind us to pray and read the word, and nothing more!
What you will not see the WHO or CDC across the nations do is telling us what scriptures to read to fight the fear of coronavirus or prayers to pray, no they won't do that. It's not their calling even if the head of the WHO is a believer. It's outside of the core of what WHO stands for. However the church in our bid to be broad functioned will spend time doing what WHO would have already done, abandoning the core function of our own calling, dispensing SPIRITUAL TRUTHS!
We are currently facing two challenges in our world
•the outbreak of corona virus and all its attendants consequences of health, social and economic impacts
•The release of the spirit of fear over the world and the spirit of fear is essentially the spirit of death! And this, more than the outbreak of coronavirus is the greatest threat we face.
Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us,
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage"
Fear puts in bondage; the fear of death is the beginning of death itself. After the release of information on the likely potency of chloroquine in treating the virus, many people in fear and panic have gone on to overdose on chloroquine in Lagos, Nigeria! This fear is the greatest danger that our world is facing at the moment and any address from any president of any nation of the world cannot solve that, it's the message of hope, faith and power from the church that can. Only the truth from God's word can give hope to the world. And this is where the church calling must come to the fore! This is the message that should come from us. Enough with regurgitating the same medical instructions that we have heard all over from everywhere and everyone. Paul in Ephesians tells us what is the call of the church.
Ephesians 1:19-21(msg)
‘This energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name, and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence’
The influence of the church is not determined by the size of its building but the strength of it's voice in influencing the world for God, because you see as Paul said, "the church is not periphery to the world, the world is periphery to the church"
The church isn't necessarily about the building; it is ABOUT THE VOICE OF CHRIST sounding through the church (you and me) to exert influence in the land. Now it’s time for you and me to speak up, speak faith, hope and power into the land, and its inhabitants. In this hour of uncertainty it's time to speak the certain truths of the word! This is our calling!
Read full blog post here COVID(3) CHRIST OVER VIRUS INFECTIONS AND DISEASE - THE PLACE OF THE CHURCH
