Still on.....

Happy New year beloved of God

Hiswordxray:

Still on

Still on

Hiswordxray:
It's another Sunday

Still on

It's another Sunday

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Still on

Yes God is very compassionate.

You sound like you are upset with God.
God is not a bank where you deposit all your blames. And he owes you nothing. He owes no one anything. We owe him our lives. We need him, he doesn't need us. We are nothing, insignificant, in comparison with this transcended Being, existing from eternity to eternity. We are alive today and tomorrow we are no more; like flowers that appears so magnificent today and tomorrow it has wither.

We are nothing but mere creation. How many times have you bought a phone and discharge or damage it? It is just a mere creation of man right? How many times have you slaughter a chicken or a fish for food? They are just mere animals right?

So does that mean you are void of love? Or should we conclude that you must a very evil person?

Stop being so full of yourself. Humble yourself. You are nothing, complete nothing. A mere dust of the earth.

tobechi74:
Paul remixed Bible

Hmmm

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Happy Sunday

Still on

The New Testament Worship (Part 2)

In the Old Testament, Sacrifices were placed on altar, and the altar represents a reality in Christ. An altar in the Old Testament is usually erected just after an unveiling of a revelation of God. When God reveals Himself and do something miraculous the witnesses are struck in awe, and they immediately errect an altar. It happened with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, etc. We would look closely at some of these instances. The first time the word "altar" was found in the scripture was after the flood of Noah's time.

At that time man had gone astray, they had rebelled against their Creator and they were living their lives for themselves. They had no regard for the One who created them and they did whatever they like with their lives. Then God came and reminded man that He created him and man's lives were in His hands. He did this by wiping those people away from the surface of the earth, sparing only a family to be a witness to this revelation. And upon this revelation Noah erected an altar, and God was appease and he made a promise to never destroy the world by water again (Gen 8:20-21).

The altar was erected out of the revelation of the supremacy of God. Every other altar in the Scripture was erected as a response to the sighting of God. The second time we saw altar in the Scripture, it says, "Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said... And Abram built an altar there" (Gen 12:7). God unveiled himself to Abram, and gave him a word. And upon that revelation an altar was erected. "And the Lord said to Abram, "... all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth;"... There he [Abram] built another altar to the Lord." (Gen 13:14-18).

The last time Abraham built an altar was when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. But then God provided a substitute for the sacrifice; "Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”)." (Gen 22:14). God unveiled to Abraham that He is the great provider, and upon that revelation Abraham built an altar. This brings us to Isaac; "Isaac built an altar" (Gen 26:25), when and where, "the Lord appear to him" (Gen 26:24). Then we come to Jacob as "he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him" (Gen 33:7).

The Israelites were to fight with the Amalekites. This was the battle where Moses raised his rod and the Israelites won the battle. Then the Bible says, "And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner;" (Exo 17:15). You must have gotten my point by now. Altars are built upon the revelation of God. What this means for the New Testament people is that our worship (our sacrifices) are offered on the revelation of God. In order to worship God you need a revelation of God. This is why we pursue a revelation.

We do not pursue the revelation of God in order to add to our head-knowledge. Rather we do so out of a great desire to worship God. You cannot worship on ignorance, for true worship to take place you must get a genuine revelation. The more genuine the revelation is, the more pure the worship would be. When we sing unto God, we do not sing out of ignorance otherwise such singing is not worship at all. We sing out of a revelation of God. You are to pick a revelation of God, fix your eyes on it so intensely that you lose yourself completely upon that revelation. It is when we lose ourselves that we are able to die to self.

When you lose yourself and die to self then you are set on fire by the Holy Spirit, and something so pure and powerful would begin to pour out of you unto God — that is true worship. This is what we do when we are singing. We pick a song, position ourselves and fix our eyes on God through the revelation he has given us. As we sing we are strengthening our gaze until it becomes so intense that we lose ourselves. Yes, we are lost in the gazing of Him, pouring out with adoration, love and appreciation. We are set on fire by the Holy Spirit and the worship becomes so mighty that God comes down in his presence to dwell in that worship

This is pure worship, this is the kind of worship that God comes to manifest His presence. This is the worship where the atmosphere of heaven comes down and angels gather around us. Oh, if only we master this pure worship, not just in singing but in the way we live our lives. So how do we practice this worship in the way we live our lives? How do we live a life of worship?

Living a life of worship involves spending your life in the pursuit of the revelation of God. We study, meditate and walk closely with God in order to get this revelation. After getting the revelation we still continue to meditate upon it, but this time not to get more knowledge. This second meditation is to teach our hearts to fall in love with this dimension of God that we now see through revelation. We just fix our eyes and adore him. We fall in love with each dimension of God that is unveiled to us.

We fall in love with all of God, we grow obsessed with his beauty. He suddenly becomes the center of our world. In fact, he is all we see, he is all we want to look upon. We are lost in the gaze of him, we are addicted to the pursuit of him. It is this addiction that makes it difficult to run away when the cross is presented to us. No matter how badly we want to run, no matter how much everything inside of us is begging us to run, we just can't. We know we can't live without him, we are addicted to this reckless pursuit and we cannot even bear taking a break.

So our love and obsession for him humbles us. It compels us, turning us into a gentle and quiet lamb led to its own death. So humbly we lay ourselves on the altar of sacrifice awaiting our inevitable end. It was love that humbled God and brought him down to die for us. It is only love that would bring one so willingly to the cross. We choose the cross cause we've loved too much. We've become so emotional attach that we can't quit anymore, even when death comes knocking at our door. If this love walk with God brings us to the cross, we would rather embrace it than to give up on the walk.

No, we would not allow anything come between us and this walk with God. Even if we have to pass through the cross to secure this walk, we would do it. Anyway, the point I am stressing at is that it is only love that can make us strong enough to face the cross. No, it is not an obligation to religion, it is not a duty to the pastor or your church. In fact, all of that would flee the moment you come face to face with the cross. Those things will abandon you, and leave you overcome with fear. It is only love that can keep you strong, comfort you, and make you bold enough to face the cross

Anyway, it is the sweet smelling aroma that pour out of us as we lay dead on the cross, that God is after. In fact, it is what this world needs, the whole of creation needs it. That pure thing that is Christ himself. That powerful smoke that fills your life with God's presence, cultivating your reality to harbor heaven on earth. As long as you remain on that altar, dead and burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit, sweet fragrance will continue to pour out of your life. Everywhere you go it will just continue to pour, cultivating the environment for the manifestation of the kingdom of heaven on earth

Oh we need these kind of priests walking about our streets, pouring out like incense, terraforming the earth for the invasion of the Kingdom of heaven. This thing is not just about prayer. Yes intercessory is good, but what is coming needs more than intercession if it would fully manifest. What we need are priests who are truly doing their job. Priests all over, filling everything with that thick smoke and sweet fragrance that would lit up the world with God's power. Yes, power exploding at every corner, every little thing leads to the miraculous. Any little prayer and there is a answer. This is beyond having an open heaven, this is an invasion of heaven on earth

Warning: when heaven invade earth like this, it will not just be characterized by quick answers to prayers, but quick judgment on sin. Like what happened to Ananias and Sapphira when they lied to the church (Acts 5:1-11). Heaven cannot stand unholiness, it would judged it, it will consume it. "you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem... You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things... Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a consuming fire." (Heb 12:22,23, 28,29).

Thattallgirl:
I really love this!!! I'm glad Nigerians are getting to know about the gospel of grace and not the 10 commandment Christianity we once knew. Gradually, people will begin to realize that they don't need pastors or "spirikoko" people to pray for them and bless them. Embracing Christ and His finished work at the cross is all we need. Thanks for this Op

Yes the Lord is doing a lot of reformation in this generation. He is scattering the merchandising in the temple and ensuring true worship. He would not rest till he had a glorious bride

The New Testament Worship (Part 1)

In the Old Testament, they worship by laying a sacrifice on the altar. And another way they worship is bowing. You will never see such statements like, "worship song", or "sing worship". Worship was never about singing. Although one can sing "praise". But when it comes to worship it is about laying a sacrifice on the altar. Today in Christianity we've developed this idea that worship is about singing slow songs. But you will find that nowhere in scripture. To the people in the Bible, whenever the word "worship" is mentioned the thing that comes to mind is "sacrifice"

Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman and she asked, "tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” (John 4:20). Jesus answered and said, "the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem... when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way." (John 4:21-23).

The Old Testament people "worship only at the altar in Jerusalem" (2Kings 18:22). This was the religiously approved way to worship God. Worship was done at the altar in Jerusalem, it was done by setting up sacrifice before the Lord at the altar. But that was the old system, Jesus said we are now in a new system where worship is done by going into the spiritual reality (which is Christ) and worship God the way it is done in this reality. This brings us to the question; how is worship done in this reality?

In the Old Testament worship is about going to Jerusalem and offering sacrifice and bowing down before God. In the New Testament the venue for worship shifted to the spirit. We would see that in Jesus statement to the Samaritan woman. Even Paul teach the same thing, "For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh," (Phi 3:3). In the New Testament you won't see anything like, "place of worship". Worship to the New Testament people has nothing to do with a physical place, it is in the spirit.

In the New Testament there is nothing like "house of worship". Worship has nothing to do with a physical place (I am emphazing this because it really needs to sink into our head). We "worship in the spirit", that is what Jesus and Paul taught. But whatever we do in the spirit has an expression or manifestation in the physical. How do you know when someone is worshipping in the spirit? You will see the physical manifestation of that worship. So what are the physical manifestation of our spiritual worship?

That is when we come to holy living, singing, giving aims, etc. They are the physical manifestation of our spiritual worship. They are not the worship in themselves, they are only the physical manifestation of that thing you are doing in the spirit. So what are you doing in the spirit? What is that thing we do in the spirit when we want to worship God?

In the Old Testament, everything is physical. They were spiritually dead men that could only engage God in the physical not in the spirit. But now God has made us alive to him in the spirit. So the Old Testament worship involves laying a sacrifice on the altar. It is not singing, it is not giving money, or whatever. Worship is going to Jerusalem to make a sacrifice. So what we the New Testament people do is that, we are already in the realm of the spirit, so we identify with Christ's sacrifice. It is only in his sacrifice do we truly make sacrifice. We cannot make any other sacrifice other than his sacrifice. We make sacrifice each time we identify with his sacrifice and come into oneness with that sacrifice. How is all this done?

"For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 6:10-11)

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;" (Gal 2:20)

Whenever we reckon ourselves dead or crucified with Christ, then we have offered a sacrifice. And whatever we do by reckoning ourselves dead is the manifestation of that worship.

If you sing, without coming before God in the spirit — coming into Jesus death, laying on the altar and watch yourself die, burning as sweet smelling aroma rises to God — than your singing is not a worship no matter how slow the song may be. If the singing is not coming from a soul that is reckoning herself dead, and pouring out Christ unto God, then that singing is not worship. I might need to go deeper.

Now when you approach God in the spirit and reckon yourself dead in Christ's death, what would happen is that something pure begins to pour out of you. It is not coming from your flesh (it is not coming from you in the flesh) it is coming from Christ in you. In fact, it is Christ pouring out onto God as sweet smelling aroma as your flesh lay dead, burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit on the altar. For example, when you reckon yourself dead to sin and dead to your righteous work, then a pure righteousness begins to pour out of you (you will start doing certain works of righteousness) — a righteousness that is utterly Christ. And it is pouring out unto God, not man. That is worship.

If it is just you singing, if you are not dying to self, and if you are not burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit, then that singing is not worship.

If you are only giving because they say you should give. If that giving does not involve you dying to self, and if it is not done by the Spirit, then your giving is not a worship, neither is it a sacrifice, no matter how large that giving may be.

If you are living holy by your own holiness. Then such holy living is not worship.

I hope we understand that what I am trying to correct is the mentality that all you have to do is sing some songs and go to church weekly, and then you have fulfilled your religious duty and you are hereby a good Christian? God doesn't just want your church time, he wants the whole of you. He wants you to worship him with the whole of your life. And worship cannot be done carnally, otherwise it is not worship at all. You can't do these things just for doing sake. You must put your heart into it, press into the spirit, because until it touches the spirit and establish itself in the spirit, then it is not worship.

I once heard a testimony of an atheist who was watching a bunch of teenagers worship. He couldn't help but notice the effort these people were putting into the worship. These teenagers were singing and pressing, trying to touch something in the spirit. As this atheist watch he was astonished at what was happening. Just by looking, he could tell that these people were transacting with another realm. This was an atheist who did not believe that there is a spirit realm. But looking at these teenagers he could tell that this is beyond anything physical. It is not the sweetness of the voice, the soothing sound, or the beauty of the music. It is something utterly heavenly.

Let's not forget that one of the work of a priest is to detect imperfections in sacrifices. The eyes of the priest must be so sharp that it is able to spot faults in sacrifices no matter how small that fault is. This is to ensure that only true and perfect worship are offered to God. As priests we must all know what true worship is, and which worship is not perfect. Our eyes must become so sharp (discerning) that we can easily detect faults in our worship, and then work toward offering a more perfect worship, acceptable unto God.

Happy Sunday brethren

hashtagged:
Bro I feel you, after reading Paul's words I feel Paul even though never meeting Jesus is one of the pet who really understood him.

Yes that's revelation. He knew Jesus according to the spirit not according to the flesh. And that's shows that knowing Jesus according to the spirit is even much better than knowing him according to the flesh. This means we can do better today than even the apostles

Happy Sunday beloved of God

otechnologies:
I want to buy Facebook account 09025689700

Are you still willing to buy?

The course is Still on

GforGee:
I like how you have tried to establish the truth and facts of the faith. I hope people will continue to hear the Gospel truth as preached by Jesus, the Apostles and Paul.
Many people refuse the Gospel today because they feel it gives them a set of rules to follow, and this problem comes from the preachers of the Word who themselves have no clear understanding of the Word.

May God lead us into all truth and feed us daily with His words that we may grow thereby.

Jesus is Lord. We win.
Shalom!

Yes dear, if we take the right approach towards the gospel then we would definitely see greater result. Christianity is unlike any other religion in the world. It is firstly about completeness and rest, not rules and regulations.

How Paul Handled The Gospel (Part 2)

I am not saying you shouldn't tell them anything about what's right and what's wrong. All that can be emphasized later. Your first goal as a minister of the gospel is to establish the believers in the reality of Christ. Let them know the reality in Christ, let them become awaken to this reality, let them come to a point where they are interacting with this reality, teach them how to navigate the reality of Christ and manifest its infinite dimensions. Only after you have done a considerable amount of work on this can you move on to other things.

We read the letter of Paul and we see things, "women submit to your husband, and husband love your wife, do not be drunk with wine, fornication is a sin, child obey your parents, etc", and then we assume this is the main he taught, or this is what the gospel is about. We forget that he had spent months and even years establishing this people in the reality in Christ, teaching them nothing else but Christ.

"For while I was with you I was determined to be consumed with one topic—Jesus, the crucified Messiah." (1Cor 2:2).

Paul preached no other topic than Christ for months and decades. He didn't teach don't and dos, he didn't teach holiness and sanctification (in the reality in Christ we are already holy and sanctified), he didn't teach eschatology and mysteries. No, he focused on one thing only, and that is unveiling Christ. It is only when Christ have been properly unveiled and the people have become awakened to his reality that they will have the grace to do what is right and avoid the wrong things.

"May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord." (2Per 1:2).

You get more grace as you grow in the knowledge of God. Therefore, abandoning the revelation of Christ to teach people what is right and what is wrong is a very terrible thing to do because they now know they have to this thing and not do that thing but there is no power in them do follow through with the rules and regulations. As such they end up in frustration, they begin to feel God has set a standard for them that they cannot meet, and they are overwhelmed with that feeling of being a failure.

Those that have some measure of success had ended up doing these by the works of the flesh. Anything that the flesh does produces death. If it tries to do righteousness, it produces a filty righteousness, a dead thing. When it tries to submit to her husband it does it carnally and such a carnal submissiveness ends up producing problems one way or another in the relationship. When it tries to be humble it does it in a dirty way. When it love, it is a selfish love. Everything the flesh does produces more death.

Hence, you need to get the people from the flesh into the reality in Christ. As long as they are in the flesh, whatever rules and regulations you give them, they will end up doing it in a way that it produces death. Jesus came to give life and give it abundantly (John 10:10). The goal of the gospel is to give life, not to produce more death. So if you are handling the gospel in a way that it is producing more death in the life of people, then you are doing the gospel a great disservice. So get them established in the reality in Christ so that they will produce life in every of their actions.

Paul spent months or years unveiling the reality in Christ to this people. Then he would leave them for months or years so that they grow into this reality. After that he would require of their progress and write letters certain issues about how they have been manifesting the reality in Christ. These letters would first of all remind them of the reality in Christ before addressing issues on how this reality is meant to be lived out. This is like the job of a gardener who comes to plant the seeds and allow it grow first before coming back to intervene by trimming the plants in order to allow healthy growth.

We must understand that when it comes to Christ we are dealing with life. As such our approach should be the approach of one dealing with life. Focus on building life in people through the gospel, then observe how that life grows, and if necessary do the necessary adjustments. The gospel is not about don't and dos, rules and regulations, right and wrongs. It is about life, and when we start treating the gospel this way, we are bound to see more progress and manifestation of Christ in the life of believers.

How Paul Handled The Gospel (Part 1).

We have to understand what the gospel truly is. We simply cannot continue like this. If you look at all of Paul's letters, it always starts with unveiling Christ. After he has used like 65% of that letter to unveil Christ, then the remaining 35% will be used to explain the proper response to the sighting of this unveiled Christ. Or rather he paints a picture of how practically living in the this Christ looks like. Look at Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, they all follow the same pattern.

Let me start from Romans, because Romans is the largest letter he wrote. While writing this letter Paul had never been to the ecclesia in Rome before. He could not go to Rome for many years because Jews were ban from Rome. But Emperor Nero lifted that ban. This resulted to the Jews — especially those who are Christian, both old convert and new convert — returned back to Rome. After returning back, they had to gather together and form an ecclesia.

Nobody planted the ecclesia in Rome. It was more like a transplanted ecclesia, because people that were planted in other ecclesia all over the Greco-Roman world came together to form an ecclesia in Rome. By looking at this background story you will understand why this letter is very lengthy and why the content. Paul was writing to an ecclesia he didn't planted, an ecclesia he had never visited before. This is his first sermon or teaching to this ecclesia, so he had to include everything he believe they should know about the gospel.


He started the letter by explaining that we are justified simply by faith in Christ. Just as Abraham believed God and that faith was counted to him as righteousness, so also have we all been declared righteous because we believe in Jesus. Then he moved on to explain that we don't have to worry about the issue of sin and death, for it has been dealt with on the cross. Sin is no longer an issue, so let's talk about Christ and the righteous in him. However, Paul recognized that some people would still not be ready to let go of the issue of sin, they will still want to fight sin with the Law, rules and regulations, don't and dos.

So in chapter 7 he tried to demonstrate how the law, rules and regulations, don't and dos, only make things worse. They don't help at all.

"I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died." (Rom 7:9).

Without the law he was alive, but the moment the law came he died. The law made everything worse. This is because once sin sees the law it holds a revival meeting and begins to burn with a renewed passion. I pray God will help you understand that.

As a result of death in man's members, man has become naturally rebellious. The moment you tell him that something is bad and that he shouldn't do it, that is when a passion to do that thing will just arise from within him. He would suddenly realise that everything inside of him just want to do that thing that you said he shouldn't do.

"And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway." (Rom 7:18-19).

You are not helping matters by telling man that "this thing is right do it, and this thing is bad don't do it". You are only making things worse. Stop it, just stop it! So what then should we tell man to help them overcome sin? This is where Paul brings us to chapter 8 as he begins to tell us about the reality in Christ. He started explaining the laws and the reality that is in Christ, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:2). He began describing a whole new reality, a new creation that operates with a different law than the old creation.

In essence, Paul was saying, what you are supposed to tell Christians, the only thing we are supposed to discuss is the reality in Christ. Forget the issue of sin, that is no longer a problem. Forget don't and dos, rules and regulations, they only makes things worse. Focus on teaching and describing the reality in Christ. In Christ you are not struggling to be righteous, rather you effortlessly doing righteous things because it is who you are. Tell them who they are in Christ and teach them how to walk in that reality.

Happy Sunday to the beloved of God

petra1:


There is no Pastor that claim ownership of members. Just as youe earthly father can't claim he owns you. When we say " he's my member or my sheep " or he's my pastor and my shepherd. It is not about ownership. Its the fact that we are members of one another .

Ephesians 4:25
. . .for we are members of one another.

If that is the way most pastors see it then there will be no need for this post. But it isn't so. There is an issue that needs to be addressed — something that is even gaining more power due to our choice of words.

When you keep saying things like, "my sheep... my sheep", even if you mean it in a none possessive way, you are already passing an idea to other ministers that they own the sheep under them. The carnal nature is originally possessive. Hereby, promoting the use of a possessive tone, will end up bringing out that possessiveness in ministers.

Yes, if you continue to say, "my sheep... my sheep", you are tempting and provoking that possessiveness in your carnal nature. And in just a matter of time this possessiveness will grow and start finding other expression in you. The servant of God must remain empty and poor in spirit, like Job that after he lost everything he got up and said, "well, there were never mine in the first place. I was only a steward". We are to be stewards of whatever God put in our care.

It will be dangerous to give the devil a chance to cause you to become possessive. No one in the Bible ever said, "my sheep" or "my flocks". If we say we are following the Bible then why insist on going down that path?

"Shepherd the flock of God which is among you," (1Per 5:2). These are the kind of language the apostles used. And if we are truly following their examples then we would be saying things like, "the sheep of God who attend the church I pastor", or, "these are the Lord's sheep that I pastor".

Why did we have to change our language, if not because at some point in the history of the Church the clergy became possessive, laying claim of members and exerting control over them? This same spirit of possessiveness and control have been passed down to us through the simple use of the term, "my sheep". We must return back to that state of emptiness and poverty that a slave — a true servant of God — is supposed to possess.

In Christianity, a true spiritual leader is a servant leader

You will often hear pastors talking about how they own the sheep. They claim their church members belong to them. Is such a claim Biblical? Are pastors the owners of the sheep in their care?

"The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;" (1Per 5:1,2).

“So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders." (Acts 20:28).

"Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;" (1Pet 5:2).

It is clear in Scripture that the pastors do not own any sheep. The sheep belongs to God and God alone. In the body of Christ the leaders do not own the people. In fact, it is the other way around. It is the people who own the leaders.

"So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God." (1Cor 3:21-23)

Paul, Apollos and Peter are all spiritual leaders. Yet Scripture tells us that they do not own the people, rather the people owned them. The people own the ministers, the people are the inheritance of Christ — Christ owns them — and God owns Christ. Can you see the structure? Today in the body of Christ we have turned the structure the wrong way. We feel God own Christ, Christ own the pastors, and the pastors own the people. This is unbiblical, it is not how the early Christians practice this faith, and it is not how Jesus taught us to practice Christianity.

"Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up." (Eph 4:11-12).

The ministers are slaves given to serve the people. Jesus gave these ministers as gifts to his people. Jesus love his bride so much that he gave her slaves to serve are, dress her up and prepare her for the wedding party.

"Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself." (Rev 19:7).

The bride has prepared herself. Jesus is not the one that will prepare her, she will have to prepare herself for the wedding. But how would she prepare herself? This is where Jesus comes in to help by giving her slaves who will dress her up. This was how it was during the first century. Slave was is how you know how wealthy one is. A king who is very wealthy will not only have many slaves, but he would have the best slaves. He would have the best cook, the best cup bearer, the best maid, the best launder, and so on.

If this king is about to marry and he wants to show how much he loves his bride and wants her to look absolutely glorious on the wedding day, he would give her the best of his slaves to prepare her and make her glorious for the wedding. Yes, he would give her the best hair stylist in his court, the best dress maker, the best makeup artist, and all of his bests slaves that are skilled in preparing a bride for wedding. This is exactly what Jesus did for the Church. These ministers are our hair stylist, dress maker, makeup artist, and all the slaves we need to prepare ourselves for the wedding.

They are our slaves because they belong to our bridegroom. He gave them to us in order that they might serve us. If they are not doing their work properly we can report them to our bridegroom to deal with them and send us a more qualified and diligent slave. Yes, they must be very careful otherwise we would report them to our bridegroom and they will be in big trouble. Note that anything done carnally has no power in heaven. If you are acting in the flesh and not as the bride, then the bridegroom has no business responding to you. He is committed only to his bride and not the flesh.

The flesh is condemned to the cross and the bridegroom has no business with it. The bridegroom doesn't even want to see the flesh, much less listen to anything it has to say. So as long as we are being the bride and acting as the bride, we have the right to rebuke and report slaves (ministers) that are not doing their work well. They are meant to serve us, they belong to us. This is how it is in the Kingdom, and it is time we start living out this reality.

"Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." (1Pet 5:3).

The people not the ministers are the special ones. They are God's heritage and treasure. As such, the ministers are to treat them the way they would treat a king's bride, giving them special care and serve them humbly. Ministry is meant for spiritually mature people, and if you are truly spiritual mature you will realize how special these sheep are to God. They are so precious to the Father that he would do anything for them. Ministers are to look at the people through the eyes of the Father and see them as very precious people that are to be cared for.

"If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea." (Mark 9:42).
"We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed." (1Cor 4:10).

Can't you see, the people are the special ones. They are the ones that gets the special treatment. The Lord guards them very jealously. They are the ones that are honoured, not the minister, and that was how it was in the first century. That was how Jesus taught Peter and John to practice Christianity. The little ones must be given special care, and they must be honoured. Paul came on the scene and did the same thing, for he was trained by the Spirit into a mature minister. A minister that treat the people like trash is carnal and babyish. A minister that treat the people like they are his property is not fit to be a minister for he is spiritually immature.

One of the marks of immaturity is being too possessive. It is just immature to go about claiming these people are your sheep and that you own them like some kind of property. Grow up, and stop being such a baby. You have been given a responsibility to care for the sheep and prepare the bride. Do it with all humility and let the people feel that they are the special ones and the father loves them very much. It is immaturity to be so focused on trying to make the people feel you are special. You are still full of yourself, still a baby. We need mature ministers in the body of Christ.

[b]Note: [/b]I am not trying to divide the body into clergy and laity. My point is that the moment you are playing the role of a minister, it means you are being a servant — a slave. The word "minister" means servant. Each time you play the role of a minister you are coming out of the body to serve as a slave to the bride. The bridesmaids do not own the bride, they can never own the bride no matter how much value they add to the bride. It is the bridegroom that owns the bride. In the medieval time the bridesmaids are slaves and servants, serving under the bride. The bride owns them, they belong to her, for they are her servants. This was what Paul was trying to say when he said to the Corinthians, "everything belongs to you whether Paul or Apollos or Peter" (1Cor 3:21-22).

Yes, even apostles do not own the people, rather the people own them. They are all slaves and servants to the bride. To understand more about authority, service and submission, check out this post:
[url]https://www.hiswordxray.com/2018/10/authority-service-and-submission.html [/url]

Have you read this yet?

Have you read this yet?