We Could Not Forget What God Placed Us Here For

The church: whatever happened to worshipping God with up lifted hands, thankful of His grace and mercy, being in complete submission to the will of God, no programs, no 50 person choir just worshipping God in spirit and in truth, whatever happened to those that feared God and didn’t want to disappoint Him? What happened was that the church became modern and changed with the times, the church has now followed the new age worship and has not kept the simplicity of the gospel of Christ but tried to alter it thinking that it would draw more people into salvation. More people have filled the church but not many have changed into the image of Christ. Our bible tells us that the God we serve is never changing.

The enemy has a strategy and that is to make the saints of the church believe that the good ole gospel doesn’t work. My question is why would people try to fix something that isn’t broken?

1st Point “The unique institution”

Matthew 16:24-26

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Beloved the purpose of the church of God is far superior to these childish dreams and fruitless philosophies of man. The purpose of the church is to regenerate and sanctify the individual, to prepare them by purifying their lives and training them for the high purpose of eternal life. In other words it is called discipleship. I want us to look at it this way, the church is like a net that has been cast into the sea. The purpose of the net is not to change the sea but to catch the fish in the sea and pull them out. Fishermen do not spend their time trying to change the course of the water, they allow nature to take its course, if they focused on the sea they would never catch any fish, our focused should be changing souls not the world.

The church needs to understand what God has instituted from the beginning and that was the church to bring men out of the realm of the world and guide them with the gospel to a greater purpose, in other words to change men and not the world, for if man changes the world will change.

Beloved to change the world sounds like a commendable goal, but in this can and will result in the church becoming worldly, if the church used this method, personal holiness would be impossible, and heaven would be stricken from our creed, our life and our hope. To attempt to save the world while ignoring the individual is not only Utopian but also destructive in every way.

In our scripture this evening Christ said that gaining the world and saving the man are opposing objectives. The church beloved is distinctly, preeminently, and absolutely a spiritual institution. It is an institution created, vitalized, possessed, and directed by the spirit of God. The doctrine of the church our church ministers, and is relevant not because of any doing of my own hand but solely based of the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Beloved it is God’s indwelling and inspiration that gives the church its divine character and accomplishes its divine purpose, and that is primarily winning souls for the kingdom of Christ and nothing less.

2nd Point “The Spiritual Subversion”

John 3:6

6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Beloved if the devil by any methods can shut the Holy Spirit out of the church, he has effectively prevented the church from being God’s church on earth. The enemy accomplishes this by retiring the man that God has placed as headship in the congregation that is used by the Holy Spirit and replaces him with a natural man. Men with a heart and a desire for souls coming to Christ and burdens of anguish being accompanied by outreaching and praying threatens the enemy so he attacks and tries to displace them with natural devices that are rarely if ever channels used by the Holy Spirit. Christ announced this unchangeable, universal law when He said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

If the church has a leader of prayer and grace that is filled with the Spirit of God what Satan will try to do is use any method to retire him and put in place a man who does not pray, yet who is eloquent and popular. The church at this point would seem to have gained, but it has “gained” by substitution of natural forces for Spiritual ones, an exchange that has unknowingly revolutionized the church. Destroyed the church.