Change Is Coming To The Church Of Jesus Christ. Will You Embrace it?

The Holy Spirit came on me during our 11:00 am prayer meeting today. Let me say that last night was quite the water baptism service. I have attended many baptisms, but never one quite like this one. And to me, it is a preview of things to come.

Four people were baptized. The Holy Spirit came on them all in a powerful way. We wept and praised God together. The whole church joined in. It was powerful. 

The Holy Spirit came on one young man before he was dipped into the baptismal water and he was set free from some demons that had ravaged his life and were pulling on him.

I have been reminded of the Lord that people are looking for what is real and not made up or fake. 

Change is coming to the body of Christ. God is looking for the genuine in us, no fake, no facade. I was reminded of Lester Sumrall in the Philippines in the 1950’s when he delivered a girl from a demon and it turned into a huge revival where 150,000 people were saved.

During that revival, men would come to his church, which was a converted B-52 hanger, with multiple wives. They had just given their lives to Jesus and still had some of the old ways hanging on to them. The people would also go to rooster fights on the weekends and gamble their money away, and then come to church. Believers in his church wonder when Lester Sumrall would deal with them. He responded - Jesus caught them, and Jesus will clean them. Leave them alone.

Today, as a new move of God begins, we must be careful not to judge the new believers. They need to change just like we did when we came to the Lord. And we need to give them space and grace to make the changes. Don’t target the boatload of mercy Jesus hs given to you!

This morning I kept thinking about the parable of the Great Supper. So many in the church are just satisfied and not seeking God for His best and for His kingdom to grow. They are satisfied where they are and with what they have. 

They are like the people in the parable who did not care enough to come to the supper held for. Them by the wealthy landowner. So he commanded his workers to go find people who were not invited but were hungry. And they came to his banquet. 

People that do not act like us are coming to Jesus, coming to our churches. Their lives are still dirty. They still have their old habits and ways of living. Will we love them and embrace them? Will we be willing to get dirty and help them? Will we be willing to put up with their flesh ways as the Lord transforms them, or will we be religious and pious and reject them?

Listen to the parable:

Luke 14:7-24 (NLT)

When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: 8 “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? 9 The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! 10 “Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. 11 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” 12 Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. 13 Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.” 15 Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!” 16 Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22 After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ 23 So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. 24 For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’”

As we prayed today at 11:00, the Holy Spirit came on me. I prayed in the spirit, and my mind went to this parable, then to the parable of the Dragnet and the parable of the wheat and the tales. Listen:

Matthew 13:47-52 (NLT)

Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net that was thrown into the water and caught fish of every kind. 48 When the net was full, they dragged it up onto the shore, sat down, and sorted the good fish into crates, but threw the bad ones away. 49 That is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the righteous, 50 throwing the wicked into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51 Do you understand all these things?” “Yes,” they said, “we do.” 52 Then he added, “Every teacher of religious law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old.”

Matthew 13:24-30 (NLT)

Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. 25 But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. 26 When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. 27 “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’ 28 “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. 'Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. 29 “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”

Matthew 13:36-43 (NLT)

Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.” 37 Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. 39 The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels. 40 “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!

As I prayed, I repeated the fact that change is coming, and that the Lord will require change of us. Thi change will be challenging to the flesh. Some will resist the change and be left high and dry. Others will embrace it. All of us will make a choice to go with the changes they Lord wants, or be left dry and barren spiritually. This new move of the Spirit will not look like anything we have seen before. Will we allow change? Will we move as Jesus moves? Will we reach for the life of the Vine, or settle for our old ways, smug and satisfied?

A fresh wind will blow. Darkness will creep up in our land, and all over the world. We must choose the light. We must choose zeal and passion for the things of God, or we will be left alone and dry as the world changes and the Glory of God falls on the church.

The river of God is flowing, and we must be willing to step into the water and move with it! As Ezekiel 47 says - ankle deep, knee deep, waist deep, waters to swim in.

What will you choose? 

Many are in the valley of decision, in fact, multitudes are there. Jesus is beckoning them to follow Him and forsake their own plans and own way. 

All of us must choose which direction we will go. Make the right choice. Be a branch of the Vine. Open your heart to new believers with untidy lives.  Love them. Care for them. Feed them. Nurture them. Guide them. Befriend them. Be patient with them. Pray for them.

We will either be like the person invited to the big dinner but refuses the invite and go our own way, and dry up spiritually. Or, we will change, and be used by God in this next great thrust of the Holy Ghost, and help Him love these new Christians that are coming. We can love them and guide them into a new life that Jesus provides for them. Or we can be set aside by the Lord, dry and useless. 

Let’s go after Jesus with all that we have, and be ready to embrace a fresh move of the Holy Spirit. 

Ready or not, here it comes!