CHURCH IN CRISIS

1. Church is God’s EMBASSY on earth, built on the ROCK and “… they drank of that SPIRITUAL ROCK that followed them: and THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST” [1 Corinthians 10:4] Israel in the wilderness knew Him not but to us He is revealed as Christ, “… Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. … for FLESH and BLOOD HATH NOT REVEALED IT unto thee, BUT MY FATHER which is in heaven. … thou art PETER, and UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” [Matthew 16:17-18] Peter means LIVING STONE hewn from the ROCK, the same are we who are sanctified by revelation of God manifest in Jesus Christ, “Ye also, as LIVELY STONES, are built up a SPIRITUAL HOUSE, an holy priesthood, to offer up SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” [1 Peter 2:5] We are as dead as stones to this world but alive in Jesus Christ and He in us, that we should walk in the SPIRIT and not after the FLESH, “For the FLESH LUSTETH AGAINST THE SPIRIT, and the SPIRIT AGAINST THE FLESH: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” [Galatians 5:17] CHURCH IN CRISIS is the trauma of a generation caught in perplexing contradictions of FLESH against the SPIRIT, “Are ye so foolish? HAVING BEGUN IN THE SPIRIT, ARE YE NOW MADE PERFECT BY THE FLESH?” [Galatians 3:3]

2. CHURCH IN CRISIS is manifest in apparent inability of present Church structures to subjugate the world, “Now I say, That the HEIR, as long AS HE IS A CHILD, DIFFERETH NOTHING FROM A SERVANT, though he be lord of all” [Galatians 4:1] Church is the HEIR ordained to prepare the way and reign as JOINT-HEIRS with Christ but is presently not better than a servant. Authority of the Church is the ANOINTING of the WORD which we have replaced with doctrines of SELF MOTIVATION, “Is not MY WORD LIKE AS A FIRE? saith the LORD; and like a HAMMER that BREAKETH THE ROCK in pieces?” [Jeremiah 23:29] WORD of God as FIRE consumes dross of FLESH in us and as HAMMER destroy satanic stronghold The entry of the word transforms SINNERS into SAINTS in the image of Christ. CHURCH is in CRISIS, our pulpits no longer turn SINNERS to SAINTS because we  work with CARNAL tools, “(For the WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE ARE NOT CARNAL, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down IMAGINATIONS, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, and bringing into captivity EVERY THOUGHT to the OBEDIENCE of Christ” [2 Corinthians 10:4-5] We no longer cast down IMAGINATIONS contrary to the MIND of Christ; we entice with a cocktail of mind games, men who are “EVER LEARNING, and NEVER ABLE TO COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH” [2 Timothy 3:7]

3. CHURCH IN CRISIS is the unwarranted confusion of a generation that dumped POWER for INFLUENCE, “Having a FORM OF GODLINESS, but DENYING THE POWER thereof: from such turn away” [2 Timothy 3:5] The Church is the arm of God and the WORD His battle axe to pull down strongholds of SIN and deliver captives of the mighty, “… Even the CAPTIVES of the MIGHTY shall be taken away, and the PREY of the TERRIBLE SHALL BE DELIVERED: for I WILL CONTEND WITH HIM THAT CONTENDETH WITH THEE, and I will save thy children” [Isaiah 49:25] The “TERRIBLE ONE” is Satan, his CAPTIVES are SINNERS; instead of warring with the WORD, our battle axe, we flaunt a beggarly mix of social, economic and management programs to make proselytes of SINNERS, “… HYPOCRITES! for ye compass sea and land to make ONE PROSELYTE, and when he is made, ye make him TWOFOLD MORE THE CHILD OF HELL than yourselves” [Matthew 23:15] SINNERS are forged into SAINTS in demonstration of the POWER of God, not by pulpits filled with INFLUENCERS who preach LIBERTY in Christ but themselves are slaves to corruption, “While they PROMISE THEM LIBERTY, they themselves are the SERVANTS OF CORRUPTION: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in BONDAGE” [2 Peter 2:19] CHURCH IN CRISIS boils down to LIFE and DEATH, every church-goer desires to go to heaven but only those who are weaned of the FLESH have their part in ENDLESS LIFE, “For he that SOWETH TO HIS FLESH shall of the flesh REAP CORRUPTION; but he that SOWETH TO THE SPIRIT shall of the Spirit REAP LIFE EVERLASTING” [Galatians 6:8]

4. We are the CHURCH IN CRISIS, who have replaced OBEDIENCE with SACRIFICE, “… Behold, to OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE, and to hearken than the fat of rams” [1 Samuel 15:22] I bear witness of the labour of sacrifices of brethren; unending offerings, long hours in prayer and fastings, camp meetings, vigils and many more yet the TRUTH is not manifest in us. We envy, fight, backbite and the BODY is broken into many factions because we rejected the SIMPLICITY of OBEDIENCE “… I fear, lest by any means, as the SERPENT BEGUILLED Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the SIMPLICITY that is in Christ” [2 Corinthians 11:3] Take note, athletes do not receive medals for training, in the same manner our sacrifices in spiritual exercises are good but have no REWARD until we bring the FLESH in OBEDIENCE to Christ. Let every man resolve the CRISIS within himself, putting away all ”… the hidden things of DISHONESTY, not walking in CRAFTINESS, nor HANDLING the WORD OF GOD DECEITFULLY; but by MANIFESTATION OF THE TRUTH commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God” [2 Corinthians 4:2] Beloved, CRISIS within and global instabilities without tell us the appearance of Christ is imminent, “… let us LAT ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT, and the SIN which doth so easily beset us, and let us RUN WITH PATIENCE the race that is set before us” [Hebrews 12:1]