God never intended to start a new religion when He spoke to Moses,
He planned to bring Israel back into a relationship lost,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua had relationship with the Father.
They referred to the God of their fathers, not their God.
10 commandments, (as we call them, when they became commandment not relationship) became the start of religion, before religion they were part of the covenant. You do this, I’ll do that.
God said to Moses if you (as a nation) do this, I will do that.
If you - worship me, honour me & live a life that honours me in the sight of the gentiles,
I will provide for you,
protect you and bless you,
and you will be revered among the nations.
EG. Walking arm in arm,
Relationship is not a list of do's and don'ts,
It is like walking together, protection provided, like an umbrella.
If you walk away from my covenant, there will be no protection or provision from the Father.
But rather, if you behave in this manner it honours me.
That will bring my blessing on you.
Moses was not religious, he knew God,
Neither was Joshua. he stayed in the tent of meeting after Moses went out.
He was the next to lead Israel.
After him came a slide into religion.
The things God commanded Moses as behaviour to show honour, became rules without heart.
People lost the relationship and kept the ritual and Judaism was born,
a religion that Jesus did not want any part of.
He criticised its leaders for doing the minor things but not the major things
Israel knew religion in Egypt, they also knew commandments, (whip).
God wanted something more from His chosen people.
He wanted people who loved him from a free will & heart,
not following a set of rules someone made up to avoid penalty and judgement.
The prophets came saying that God said,
"A new heart and a new spirit will I put within you, I will take out hard cold stony heart & give you a heart of flesh."
They said, "sacrifices I have not desired."
David the shepherd king knew God, he wanted to please him, he often failed, but his heart always came back to God.
God made with him an unconditional everlasting covenant.
He set out to build a temple to honour God's name, God told him , "no, but your son will build it. "
The early years of Solomon’s reign were the pinnacle of the nation of Israel, they enjoyed relationship, (because of the Godly leadership of David and Solomon).
Sacrifice was a pleasure, not a duty. Sacrifice was generous, not begrudging.
It indicated a deeper relationship happening between the Father and Israel.
Jesus said, "You tithe but forget love and justice." You are majoring on minors but forget the most important things.
"You travel the world to make one proselyte but make him twice the son of hell as you."
You teach rules not relationship.
Jesus set us free from that,
I have come that you might have life, and life more abundantly."
100’s of years of church history have taught us that man (leaders of religion) put us back under the bondage.
• Do this - Attend ceremony.
• Eat this - Don’t eat that.
• Perform this way.
• Pay indulgence, tithe- sacrifice.
• Only come to the pastor for prayer.
• Come to church to honour the bishop.
• Healing and special prayer is the domain of the few in control.
All to keep religious leaders in power and control,
because men love control, they refuse to teach relationship with God because they fear losing control.
In fact the leaders that show the way of relationship enjoy more reverence and respect,
Because people are free, they learn how to know God for themselves,
to pray and use their own faith for miracles and are also able to show others the way.
Say to this mountain, “be removed and cast into the sea, ……… whatsoever YOU SAY will happen." Mark 11.22-24
No more, “come to the pastor for prayer,” but rather “come to my God through faith. “
Pastors can still pray, (lead by example) but prayer for any kind of need is not their domain alone.
Over the last 500 years or so this pattern of
revelation, relationship, ritual, relegation,
has been repeated and repeated.
Marin Luther nailed his thesis to the church door,
salvation is by grace through faith and not through works.
John and Charles Wesley,
brought up in the Anglican Church, studied for priesthood - they had a revelation of God & his interest in relationship. They went the length & breadth of the country preaching salvation - the only place big enough for the crowds were the open fields.
They ended up starting a church that followed a new method, personal relationship with God.
John Wycliffe - Preached to massive crowds, repentance & salvation were hallmarks of his meetings.
Salvation follows repentance. - It does not follow ritual, sacrifice, indulgences,
It’s a heart thing not a religious thing.
Great leaders like these and many others, John Knox, Charles Finley, William Booth, Into 1900’s John Seymour-
All bringing people into relationship, their followers understood and continued the work after they passed, but by the 2nd generation the work in almost all cases descended into ritual and religion. Living organism became structured organisation, with form but not life.
Pentecostals in many places are just as religious as the long established church they once criticised.
You can’t legislate for men to love God, they either do, or not, by their choice,
some (many) follow religion out of fear and
Some out of laziness (because they won’t search out God themselves),
rules neither give life or salvation.
Men want to control men but God wants to set them free.
Men want the recognition from others that their prayer was important.
God said your faith in me is important.
John the Baptist said it best, "He must increase and I must decrease."
We have people in the pulpit that should not be there.
People running an institution, a denomination, a church, like a company - for profit, personal gain and reputation.
Many will come in that day and say, didn’t we do miracles, cast out demons in your name,
Jesus will say, "Depart from me, I never knew you."
Structure, wisdom, practises and policies are required for good governance, but the governance is NOT to control people into an orderly sub ordinate unit,
But to bring freedom & release for people to know their God & do exploits (Daniel) not to control, Lord it over them.
Working together requires cooperation, communication,
Coordination for the complete performance of a thing.
Proper. prior planning. prevents pitiful. poor performance.
When we have done our part, let God do His.
Sometimes structure can descend into Godly chaos.
EG. day of Pentecost. Acts 2.
What is this?
Where are you on the freedom continuum?
LEFT Stickler for the rules, control and power,
Or
RIGHT Good governance -orderly flow of grace into lives of individuals, who know & honour God out of a free will, who are living in freedom, faith and personal relationship. Set free and setting others free.
It's time to bring back the relationship with the Father in our own lives.
You can’t set others free if you are not free - You can’t show the way if you don’t know the way.
Do you need repentance from doing your own thing?
Decide to seek His way and bring people back to knowing God themselves.
Teach transformative principles.
Teach the church the Foundations.
Show the church how to be disciple duplicators.
We don’t need more followers, we need more leaders.
We don’t want to gasp in awe at how many are in your church,
We want to be excited about how your church is creating new believers, new disciples and new churches.
How many have you sent to the mission fields?
• So they go out and do exploits,
• Win people for Christ
• Heal the sick
• Overcome the devil
• Change circumstances
• Set others free
This is revival
Re- viving that which was once alive and is now dead or dying.
NOW
Allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you.
Repent of your controlling ways.
Ask forgiveness.
Search for Christ.
Ask for healing in your life or others.
Ask to be filled with Holy Spirit, for the first time or again.
Ask for revelation, wisdom, and empowerment by Spirit language.
Until we have revival in the church and the ministers are prepared and equipped to lead freedom, we will not have transformation in society.
You are the ministers,
Not those who have completed cemetery/ seminary,
But those with a passion to pursue the presence of God.
Respond now.
Your comments on this topic are welcome below.
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