3/4 - The key to transformation By Salum
4) “I’ll pray about it”.
Clearly everything we do should be accompanied by prayer and complete dependence on God. However a common excuse that is often used when resisting change is to say that one is going to pray about it, when in fact nobody is going to pray about anything at all.
5) “I’ll ask the Pastor.”
The leadership structure in the majority of churches is centered on the “pastor”.
No change occurs in the great majority of churches if the pastor doesn’t first experience the change himself.
The principle of authority ought to be preserved because it is biblical, but any authority that impedes the creative operations of the Spirit of God in a church is anti-biblical and abusive.
And for any authority to be genuine it must be biblical.
However, the protestant model of church authority and leadership is modeled on the Catholic model, where the priest exercises the “whole ministry” usurping the working of the Body of Christ. Therefore there is a crisis of authority when the Biblical teaching concerning the authority of every Christian is not observed.
Every saved person is a priest and king of the Almighty and is just as anointed as his leader. The teaching of the priesthood of every Christian should be taught in contrast to Catholic and Protestant practices. Biblically, no one is the exclusive representative of God on Earth; every believer is an ambassador of God and minister of Christ.
6) “I’m not sure if this is the original Greek version of the Bible".
One of the biggest excuses that are used to resist something that we don’t accept is to appeal to a source of information that we ourselves don’t know well and that the people around us don’t have access to.
7) “I’m sure this will offend some of the church members”.
Any kind of change is going to offend people, especially those persons that are compromised and dependent on the current structure.
The idea of a “pastor” is basically related to what José Rego do Nascimento, the father of the Brazilian Spiritual Renewal movement during the 1960’s called “the professionalization of the faith.”
We must be willing to let go of anybody and many things that otherwise are going to really harm us if we truly desire to test and prove the perfect, good and pleasing will of God.
8) “We have to follow the rules”.
Every system when it is established self-generates rules to defend and preserve its own existence.
The rules are put in place to impede any initiative for change. They have the purpose of “loving” the organization and structure which then becomes more important than the people.
This is how the love of denominations comes about. This is how absolute loyalty to confessions of faith, to statutes and constitutions comes about without even taking into account the common good of neither the people nor the Word of God.
Any structure that becomes more important than people is “Antichrist”. I don’t refer to the eschatological person, but to the concept of being against Christ. Only the authority of the Word of God is absolute.
9) “That’s your opinion.”
Creativity is killed when the individual can’t express himself.
One person is so important to Jesus that He hears his prayers individually.
“No one comes to the Father except through me” echoes like the opening of all the gates of Heaven for all who call upon God in the Name of Jesus.
The Father draws near to Him who draws near to the Father in the Name of Jesus.
They who are heard in Heaven have the right to be heard on earth by whomever they may wish.
God may reveal Himself through any of His children and not exclusively through pastors, apostles and evangelists.
The only and unique exclusivity in the universe is reserved for Jesus Christ, and not for any human individual.
10) “This will probably cost a lot.”
This is the phrase that has caused the burial of more dreams, ideas and projects throughout all the ages.
The providence of God is available on earth in the same environment where His ideas, projects and dreams were generated.
God always begins with people. When He created the universe and planted the Garden of Eden, He already had in mind the man and the woman, just as if He had already created them.
The providence of God is given out upon the taking of each obedient step.
Other destructive phrases, enemies to changing!
Clearly everything we do should be accompanied by prayer and complete dependence on God. However a common excuse that is often used when resisting change is to say that one is going to pray about it, when in fact nobody is going to pray about anything at all.
5) “I’ll ask the Pastor.”
The leadership structure in the majority of churches is centered on the “pastor”.
No change occurs in the great majority of churches if the pastor doesn’t first experience the change himself.
The principle of authority ought to be preserved because it is biblical, but any authority that impedes the creative operations of the Spirit of God in a church is anti-biblical and abusive.
And for any authority to be genuine it must be biblical.
However, the protestant model of church authority and leadership is modeled on the Catholic model, where the priest exercises the “whole ministry” usurping the working of the Body of Christ. Therefore there is a crisis of authority when the Biblical teaching concerning the authority of every Christian is not observed.
Every saved person is a priest and king of the Almighty and is just as anointed as his leader. The teaching of the priesthood of every Christian should be taught in contrast to Catholic and Protestant practices. Biblically, no one is the exclusive representative of God on Earth; every believer is an ambassador of God and minister of Christ.
6) “I’m not sure if this is the original Greek version of the Bible".
One of the biggest excuses that are used to resist something that we don’t accept is to appeal to a source of information that we ourselves don’t know well and that the people around us don’t have access to.
7) “I’m sure this will offend some of the church members”.
Any kind of change is going to offend people, especially those persons that are compromised and dependent on the current structure.
The idea of a “pastor” is basically related to what José Rego do Nascimento, the father of the Brazilian Spiritual Renewal movement during the 1960’s called “the professionalization of the faith.”
We must be willing to let go of anybody and many things that otherwise are going to really harm us if we truly desire to test and prove the perfect, good and pleasing will of God.
8) “We have to follow the rules”.
Every system when it is established self-generates rules to defend and preserve its own existence.
The rules are put in place to impede any initiative for change. They have the purpose of “loving” the organization and structure which then becomes more important than the people.
This is how the love of denominations comes about. This is how absolute loyalty to confessions of faith, to statutes and constitutions comes about without even taking into account the common good of neither the people nor the Word of God.
Any structure that becomes more important than people is “Antichrist”. I don’t refer to the eschatological person, but to the concept of being against Christ. Only the authority of the Word of God is absolute.
9) “That’s your opinion.”
Creativity is killed when the individual can’t express himself.
One person is so important to Jesus that He hears his prayers individually.
“No one comes to the Father except through me” echoes like the opening of all the gates of Heaven for all who call upon God in the Name of Jesus.
The Father draws near to Him who draws near to the Father in the Name of Jesus.
They who are heard in Heaven have the right to be heard on earth by whomever they may wish.
God may reveal Himself through any of His children and not exclusively through pastors, apostles and evangelists.
The only and unique exclusivity in the universe is reserved for Jesus Christ, and not for any human individual.
10) “This will probably cost a lot.”
This is the phrase that has caused the burial of more dreams, ideas and projects throughout all the ages.
The providence of God is available on earth in the same environment where His ideas, projects and dreams were generated.
God always begins with people. When He created the universe and planted the Garden of Eden, He already had in mind the man and the woman, just as if He had already created them.
The providence of God is given out upon the taking of each obedient step.
God never gives out all the resources at one time; He has it stored and provides for us as we walk along our way.
Every human being is born a millionaire. The cost of maintaining a human life from birth up until death is extremely high. Some lives will cost up to $1,000,000.00, others $2,000,000.00 and yet even some others up to $5,000,000.00.
For each of us there is a different cost associated to provide food, water, shelter, etc... But the cost is always high.
There are very few people out there that had all their money and resources available to them at birth. However we are guaranteed that will have all these things provided for us along our lives, covering all that we will consume and need for our lives up until we reach 70 years old.
It is for this that Jesus said: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
These things that Jesus was referring had already been given to everyone even without seeking the Kingdom of God first. God provides for all men just as equally as He clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the birds in the air.
It is unjust acts that cause all types of human suffering. However in concern to eating, drinking and clothing, God will provide the necessities even unto “the gentiles.”
But this is not why we search the Kingdom of God. The Scripture doesn’t tell us to seek the Kingdom of God to have all these things added unto us. All of us, the saved and the unsaved will have these things.
What Jesus wanted to show was that we must seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness because what we in fact truly lack is the Kingdom itself!
To be continued...
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