Acts 29 Today

THE EARLY YEARS

When I was born again the first meeting I went to was in a house and it was a small group that met every Wednesday night. I continued to go there for about 3 years but also went to a (church) building on Sundays and thought nothing of it because it was all new to me.

After about 5 years on and much Bible reading on my own I began to see and wonder about things that I saw that did not line up with the word, and after all who was I but a YOUNG ON FIRE BELIEVER in the midst of many older but very settled believers.

Now don’t get me wrong I had some great things happen in the building over the years but on the whole I can now see why they have no Biblical backing whatsoever. No wonder the older believers had become so settled (nice way of saying dead) many had been there for years listening to a ONE MAN BAND so to speak. One of the things about the building that is so devastating to the body of Christ is there is no opportunity for the saints to participate, its just a spectator kind of thing and not scriptural at all.

FROM BUILDING TO BUILDING

After about 7 years I decided it was time to move on, so I went to another building but to my amazement it was not much different than the first one. Just a change in faces and names but the same old BS (broken structure) one man show, Sunday morning costumes, and not much growth or discipleship for the saints.

I remember that my dad who came back to the Lord at around 50 something was very disappointed with BS (broken structure) also and he began to look for something better. But after going to almost all the buildings around he just gave up and did not go much anymore. One day he was at my house and he said son; I just cant find a church to go to anywhere in this town, and I said without hesitation WHY DON’T YOU QUIT LOOKING FOR A CHURCH….AND JUST BE THE CHURCH.

After I said that I was kind of shocked as I had never thought about it that way before, but yes WE ARE THE CHURCH….WE DON’T …GO…TO…CHURCH AND THEN AT 12:00 LEAVE THE CHURCH…OCN (of course not) WE ARE THE CHURCH 24 / 7.

IN AND OUT

Over the next 17 years I was in and out of the buildings as I was teaching and preaching in many different country’s and doing mission work. It would always grieve me terribly to see how the saints are held back and limited in their growth by the building and the BS (broken structure). If it grieves me how must the Holy Spirit be grieved.

The devil loves the (church) building as it drains the resources of Gods people just to keep the lights on. It also works very well to keep many people damned up as it were and not actively involved in Kingdom work but just like spectators in a sporting event. It also makes the people believe church is something they GO TO…..NOT SOMETHING THEY ARE….THEREFORE THEIR EXPERIENCE OF CHURCH IS….IN A BUILDING FOR AN HOUR OR SO ON A SUNDAY MORNING AND THEN….WA-LA….CHURCH IS O.V.E.R. AND THE REST OF THE WEEK IN MINE.

AFTER 40 YEARS

Now 40 years (the number of probation) after being born again, I will move on from the (church) building experience back into the new testament pattern for the church (the body of Christ…the people of GOD) and meet in homes. It was this way for the first 300 years and those believers turned the world upside down (or right side up) and believers were added daily to the church (the family of GOD…not a building….A FAMILY).

It was a powerful church, alive church, and disciplined church and it changed the whole then known world…AND ALL WITHOUT A (CHURCH BUILDING AND A BS (BROKEN STRUCTURE). The last time I was in a (church) building on a Sunday the people were PRE-OCCUPIED, NOT ENGAGED IN WORSHIP, BORED WITH ROUTINE CHURCH LIFE (A QUOTE FROM ONE OF THE BORED MEMBERS O SORRY BOARD MEMBERS, AND WAS JUST A VERY SAD THING TO BEHOLD.

SO WHAT NOW PROFESSOR

Well like everything else that isn’t working very well, its back to the drawing board, and for us that’s the Bible, the word of GOD, we just have to go back to see how He said to do things and then do them and not add a bunch of mans ideas and traditions to the mix. Its all there in black and white but its been 2,000 years or so and things can get way off course in that amount of time.

It only took 300 years or so from Jesus time for the whole thing to go into the DARK AGES, and so while some truths have been restored over the years THE STRUCTURE OF HOW WE DO THINGS HAS NOT…..but you cannot put new wine in OLD wine-skins…. so this is not so much about changing the BS (broken structure) of today’s mess as it is starting with something new (to us but old to GOD) and just do it GODS way the pattern that was already set up for us to follow.

And yes, I love all the people in the buildings, its not a love thing, its a do it GODS way thing so the body of Christ can be set free and the world will see something they actually want and it is happening even as I write this page. I am excited once again and so glad to be in this next mighty move of GOD.