Divine Imbalance

Divine Imbalance

Intro.: The church has managed, with all her knowledge and experience to paint herself into a corner. She as become a stereotype. Most churches have learned to function quite well without God. But don’t kid yourself, the world sees right through this situation. They see our independence from God and recognize that we are just a cookie cutter organization. All cut from the same pattern, most of the major ingredients all the same with just a few minor changes to make us unique. When the world sees this, they put us neatly in a box so that they can pretty much dismiss us as irrelevant.

I. The Lord wants to blow up that box and burn the recipe right along with it

A. He is dismantling stereotypes and creating prototypes of church

1. This process creates discomfort within the church

2. Not only for the churches being changed, but for other churches that notice it

B. There is a perfect balance in our relationship with the Lord

1. Here we find the freedom to live as He wants us to

2. But we have learned to live so easily in a self-constructed false sense of balance

C. God has been sending a divine imbalance to the church

1. This promotes within us a dependency upon Him

2. Because when we sense that we are off balance, we reach for something

NOTE: The thing is, when we come into alignment with His purposes, the world now sees our “dependence” upon God and it then becomes uncomfortable with us. Human nature loves self-reliance (so does much of the church) and when something functions outside of that zone, it makes people squirm.

D. The world has always seen “exciting” church as a fad

1. But if the church remains stirred up, the world does 1 of 2 things:

a. They become antagonistic towards what is happening or

b. They become fascinated by what is happening

NOTE: The worst thing that can happen to the church is to be ignored. If something is happening, we will either find ourselves persecuted or growing or both.

II. God is speaking “deep-unto-deep” these days, are we listening?

A. READ: John 16:12, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”

1. The Lord is always trying to raise our level of perception – this is called “revelation”

B. The weight of heaven is pressing on the earth right now to bring the church “up to speed”

1. Angelic sighting and other supernatural encounters are increasing worldwide

2. Powerful demonic manifestations are on the rise also

C. The gateway between heaven and earth is stretched further open than it has ever been

1. There are more intercessors in the earth right now that there have ever been in history

2. A tremendous amount of powerful intercession is constantly going up to heaven

D. There is a definite “shift” happening in how the church conducts business

1. There are deep things happening across the church right now

2. Many of which we don’t yet understand

III. God’s is raising up a renewed “Prophetic” church counterculture

A. Prophetic churches are at the forefront of the move of God

1. They begin to experience the Lord’s outpouring before non-prophetic groups

2. This nearly always causes prophetic churches to become targets of criticism

3. Although this is surely good for our humility training, it’s tough on our emotions

B. Opposition will come in two forms – Human Opposition& Demonic Opposition

1. Human opposition teaches us how to respond with grace and mercy

2. Demonic opposition teaches us how to function in greater power and authority

3. Human opposition teaches us how to love our enemies, pray for our persecutors and bless those

who work against us

4. Demonic opposition is designed to show us the majesty and supremacy of Jesus and to enable us

to learn how to submit to God

IV. How do we step into this dimension of the Spirit?

A. We must long for ongoing, unfolding revelation to be released in our lives and church

1. We cannot indulge in the laws of reason and logic and expect to operate in the supernatural

2. We cannot embrace God’s heart for our future w/o a willingness to change our present practices

B. The church today is under the impression that the prophetic and leadership do not mix

1. This is because of several reasons:

a. Most leadership is intimidated or threatened by the boldness of those who are prophetic

b. Those who are prophetic often have gifting that exceeds their character

c. In many churches, reason had replaced revelation

NOTE: I love reason and I believe that God is reasonable EXCEPT when He chooses not to be…

Concl.: We need Godly revelation, insight and wisdom. These provide a platform of supernatural reasoning that is founded upon heavenly understanding, not upon human logic and intelligence.