In the upcoming years, the body of Christ will face many changes that are ordained by God. These changes will come after God informs His Church about them; for “Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). These changes will bring division and strife to the body of Christ, but they are essential for its purifying. Let us not forget Jesus will return for His Church so “that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it [the Church] should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27, KJV).
Many precious saints, because of their unbelief, doubt and fear, will be left far behind this move of God. They will miss many of the glorious blessings that are Spirit given. The most grievous result of this purifying will be the saints that will fall away because they are caught up in their traditions and religious comfort. These saints believe that God will not do anything different than what they have experienced all their lives. They will sell out this new move of God and even perhaps their salvation for the comfort of their dry, unchanging and dead religious practices. “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it?” (Isaiah 43:18–19a).
Take a good look at the world around us and at the Church of Jesus Christ. One thing stands out God is shaking things up. He is making major changes in our nation, in our world, in our climate, in our churches and in our view and understanding of Him. God is using earthquakes, the weather, wars (both spiritual and physical), all kinds of tribulation, the educational system, TV, radio, the internet, magazines, and newspapers to prepare the world and His Church for His soon return. When have we ever seen a greater need for the church then in the world today and when has the Church ever been so attacked, degraded, ridiculed and mocked as we have today. Brethren God is making a great reformation in the church; while He is restoring it to its former glory while preparing for the war we are now facing and those effected by the upcoming battles.
Have you noticed that the Body of Christ is starting to develop a great divide in its ideals. On the one side, we have a polarization or an isolation movement. This movement is based upon strong and unbending, personal doctrinal beliefs which do not allow the love and grace of God to factor into their unity with other denominations on the count of their beliefs or form of worship. On the other side, we see small isolated groups of ministers and ministries all across the world preaching unity. This movement of unity within the body of Christ is based on the belief that Jesus is the chief architect and cornerstone of this movement and that this worldwide body of Christ should act just like our natural physical bodies, in which each part interacts, helping every other part for the betterment of the whole body (Ref. 1st Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 4:11-16). This group is looking for and establishing prayer meetings between congregations, denominations, and faiths. These pastors are not restrictive. They do not isolate their congregations from the rest of Christ’s body, but they allow their members to go and take part in other services using the strength of the other church to improve the spiritual and physical well being of the saints. This is the type of church that God is now developing.
Today, for the most part, we see ministries and ministers that are cookie cutter copies of each other. They look alike, talk alike, preach the same messages, and sing the same songs. Even the format of the programs produced are the same. Their ministries are based on their past institutionalized learning and experience. They produce their services and preach their messages based upon pee-packaged systems so that it neatly fits into a per-determined time and format. Many are now ordering their sermons through internet companies, not getting them from God’s fresh manna that is new every morning. They feel that if the idea or plan worked for one ministry, it will work for theirs. These ministers are depending on their presentation to attract people instead of the love, grace, and power of Christ. They are preaching only sermons that will gratify their congregations and operating their church based on the laws and dictates of an anti-God government. Feeling that compromise is the best solution to the problems demanded by that government. They substitute form, packaging, and advertising to cover up for the absence of Christ in their ministry.
These pastors do not allow the Holy Spirit to have His way, no matter the result or time needed. Their major concern is how many people they can reach or how large they can grow, which in itself is not wrong. But what is the reason for reaching them? Jesus is not concerned with the number of people that hear and recognize the preacher. He is concerned, however, with the number of people that hear and respond to the life changing power of the Gospel. Is not the life changing Good News supposed to be the centerpiece of our work here on earth?
Nothing can be accomplished in the life of the unbeliever if the anointing of God is not present or the Gospel is not presented in purity and truth. The really sad thing is that there are so many Church goers who could not recognize the true presence of God if they tried. They are in the same place as Samson who did not know that the Lord had left him (Ref. Judges 16:20). Ask yourself “where was Jesus in Revelation 3:20?” He is standing outside the church knocking at the door wishing to come in. That is exactly what has happened in so many churches today! They cast Him outside not allowing Him to be a part of their religious gathering and the people do not even know He has departed. Have you noticed just how many churches are closing around you and around the country? Let me show you!
The latest research on church attendance can be found in The American Church in Crisis by David T. Olson, with research based on data from 200,000+ churches. And, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, has analysis based on interviews with 35,000+ American adults. Here is some alarming statistics.
Dave Olson’s research shows that in the 1990s about 3,200 churches closed each year – or 1.1 percent of U.S. Christian congregations. And, Olson added,
American church statistics have reported In America, 3500 – 7000 churches close their doors each year. But that is not the worst part of the church’s deterioration.
Half of all churches last year did not add one new member through conversion growth. Churches lose an estimated 2,765,000 people each year to nominal-ism and secularism.
1,400 pastors in America leave the ministry monthly. That is right “monthly.”
Only 15% of churches in the United States are growing and just 2.2% of those are growing by conversion growth.
Ask yourself why this is happening if the church is actually doing what is right in God’s eyes! Or could it be that today’s church (Body of Christ) are not in fact, in the right place with God, doing the work it was called and ordained to do? Could it be that we have actually thrown Christ outside its doors, so we can run our services based on what is right in our own eyes?
The true fact is that many more people will respond to the Gospel if ministers would spend their time communing with God rather than in board meetings discussing all the “how to’s.” Doesn’t James tell us that “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5)? And does not Acts 6:1–7 give us a God ordained pattern for today’s pastoral ministry? Do not take me wrong; there is nothing wrong in asking for wisdom or direction in a board meeting. “A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel” (Proverbs 1:5). “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14). However, as good and Biblical this is, it does not take the place of the wisdom gained by spending time with God asking for and obeying His counsel (Refer to Acts 6:1–7). His is El De'ot - The God of all Knowledge (1st Samuel 2:3). God has perfect knowledge of all things, from beginning to end (Omniscient).
God is not limited to one style or program format. God is a God of diversity. He is as diverse as the number of stars in the sky or the infinite number of patterns found in snowflakes. How can so many ministries and ministers be doing, saying, and preaching the same messages, the same way over and over again with no real result? If these men and women of God were truly in touch with and obeying God Almighty, their messages and services would be just as fascinating, diversified, and filled with power as the first century church, and I dare say even more so!
Some of you might be thinking that the messages we here today are the same because the message of the Gospel never changes. That is true. The Gospel never changes. The Gospel according to 1 Corinthians 15:1–4 is Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection that were witnessed by many. This Gospel message will never and should never change, for it is the Gospel message that brings life everlasting to each individual soul. The topics however, contained in the Gospel are innumerable and just as diversified. These Logos words, taken fresh off the Holy Altar of God, then placed on our lips every morning, are living, powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword and will bring eternal life and health to its hearer (Ref. Isaiah 6:6-7; Hebrews 4:12).
There are too many ministers who are trying to be all they can be in the ministry. They are getting their glory and satisfaction out of the size of their ministries and the positions they hold. But, brethren, as long as Christians are concerned about whom they are in Christ, Christ can never become who He wants in them!
God is not only making great changes in the Church, but in the Christian as well. He is making those changes by shaking the very foundation of our faith. We must now get ready for it. If we do not, we may be shaken loose from the True Vine. The only way we can prepare for and maintain a firm grasp on Jesus and not be shaken loose, is through an intimate relationship with the Chief Cornerstone, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Jesus of Nazareth. This relationship comes through spending time, a lot of time, with Him in the quiet stillness of prayer (John 15:1–8). We must be able to recognize God’s changes and be willing clay in the Potter’s hand. This is what spending time, a lot of time, with Him in the quiet stillness of prayer will do.
We can also rest assured that the evil one will have a false call for change, a counterfeit. Charles Caleb Colton once said “Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.” As true as there is a devil, he will imitate the true move of God. This imitation, however, will lead naïve, comfortable, and unknowing saints away from the one true God into a form of godliness without the life giving Spirit. These imitations will be kept alive only by the devices that man’s wisdom can manufacture (Ref. 2nd Timothy 3:5).
This God-ordained shaking will produce and establish a totally different Church, one that is active, productive, strong, and healthy, one filled with the power and Gifts of the Spirit. This new church will be totally evangelistic and world changing in nature; it will be a force the world will have to reckoned with but not be able to withstand. No longer will it stand around and passively accept the evil presented to it. It will destroy all the works of the devil, while ushering in the second return of its Glorified Lord.
We must all be ready to be molded into a devoted, moving, powerful, fully equipped, unified army that will make war against the devil and his principalities under one supreme leader, Jesus Christ. God is going to re-establish the Church the way He originally planned it to be. This last day’s Church will be the same as it was in the beginning of the first century A.D.
Let me re-emphasize what God is planning for the church in the upcoming years:
1. The church will become a unified body working within itself and within all of its parts for the betterment of the Saints and the world.
2. God is going to re-establish the use of the Spiritual Gifts along with the ministries of the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers. These ministries will be filled with the Holy Ghost and be fully proficient in the Spiritual Gifts just like they were in the first century. These God-called men will shake the Church and the world to its very foundation. Many of us will not like what they will say or do. They will be offended by them - because the cancer of pride which cries out, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?” is still running through the Church of Jesus Christ today (Matthew 18:1).
Many ministers believe they are in charge of their own ministries. However, when God starts to make these changes, these ministers whether God called or not, will be removed if they do not change. God will put ministers who are after His own heart in their place in the same way that He replaced King Saul, a man who was called by God to lead Israel, with David, a man after God’s own heart (Ref. 1 Samuel 13:13–14; Acts 13:21–22). These apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, will not be men of renown but men who are simple and humble in heart. Their only thought will be of Christ and the establishment of His kingdom on earth. Their pattern is simple to comprehend; Christ first, everything and everyone else behind.
In Matthew 18:1, the disciples asked a very interesting question, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” This question is still alive and well in the church today. Jesus’ response to this question is most important to note.
He asked for a child to be brought to Him and said, “Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3–4). Beloved, a little child does not think of how he fits into the world, how great he is, or how much he has done for those around him. A child does not worry about how he is clothed or what color is his skin. A child is not concerned about the number of people that hear him or how and when he brings forth a message. The child’s only concern is that someone responds to His message. As any of us that have children are painfully aware, children will unceasingly do anything and everything to make sure that there is a response to their message of need.
One more thing about children—all children require is to be fed, changed, and loved. As Christians, we need exactly the same thing. We need to be fed with the Word of God, changed into God’s image and likeness, and to be loved with an everlasting unchanging love that embraces and surrounds us. When all these requirements are met, they completely satisfy us. This brethren, is what Christ offers His children.
As we now begin to prepare ourselves for these upcoming changes, we will need to know our weapons, our gifts, our positions, our ministries, and our responsibilities in God’s army. This means that it is an absolute necessity to understand who God is, how He operates, and through what means He will accomplish the work of bringing forth the new heavens and new earth. This will only come when we exist in the center of His will and make ourselves available when He bids us go. It is only through a life of prayer, devotion to Christ alone, and through the Gifts of the Spirit that the new heavens and new earth will be finally brought forth.
This final statement demands us to ask a very pertinent question! Are the Gifts of the Spirit for us today? Our next segment will deal with that question.
For a complete and comprehensive study on the Gifts of the Spirit go to “www.Truelightmin.net” and order the book “God’s Un-Tapped Resource.” It has been called one of the most comprehensive books on the subject in many years.
In His love and service
Your Brother in Christ
Rev. Mario A. Bruni D.D.
Numbers 6:24-26
