House Church Talk - Fw: Re: Glenn, may I forward your recent post on another list as a reply to this?

SameSpecies samespecies at charter.net
Wed Jun 2 17:21:54 EDT 2004


> > ...How do we find the balance between the need for gifted teaching, and
> the need for the whole body to participate?  How do you get the whole
> church in the house to use their gifts?
> > Any comments?

This is what I believe the Lord has been teaching us.  We have been meeting
for love feasts in our homes for a couple of months  now.  Brothers from
denominations, non-denominations, home churches, etc., and we have also been
inviting those poor ones who can't repay us yet, because they haven't
touched much of the Devine nature yet.  We just started with about 5
brothers and sisters meeting, and saying we will not except anything other
then Christ from now on.  We will drop all things, drop all the ministry
materials, all the rich teachings and knowledge about Christ, and just have
Christ.  We will not have any agendas, time limits, scheduled teaching, or
even sections of the scriptures given every body to study for this or that
week.  No custom of taking bread and grape juice when we come together,
instead we just told the Lord we want only You, we want to drink Your Blood,
and eat Your Flesh in reality, not as a custom, and often.  Each week our
meetings have increased so that now we can't contain them just inside or
even in the just the front or back yards.  Our meetings now are spilling
over into the living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, front and back yards, etc.
This has been our approach as seen in the scriptures;  Don't touch the Ark
with human hands, that will bring immediate death.  Keep the oneness of the
Spirit, until we all come to the oneness of the Faith, again the Spirit of
Faith.  One is to be head of the body, One is to be the Teacher, you only
have need of One who will teach you all things.  Only One is to have the
glory or expression in the church.  When Paul asks the Corinthians "How is
it then brothers and sisters that when you come together each of you has?".
Paul had already answered that question in many places in Corinthians, it is
to be by the selfsame Holy Spirit.  We can only receive true revelation,
prophecy, etc. in the Spirit, and this also applies to any of the gifts as
Paul makes clear.  When we start setting down rules to follow, setting up
programs, rituals, or practices during our meetings, or scheduling time
slots for things, we start going on without the Lord as the One Leader,
Teacher, Prophet, etc., etc.  Then we try to set up an agenda so that
everything runs smooth, we have just replaced what ever agenda the Lord may
of had.  Sure it looks good outwardly, everyone enjoys the show, enjoys the
knowledge about Christ they have received, enjoys the music, and yes, Christ
is there doing some work, but also remember that the enemy comes to us as an
angel of light too.  The enemy is antichrist, he wants to replace Christ,
the Lord Spirit.  The enemy wants to deceive you into anything other then
Christ.  He is a liar who wants to change the times established by law or
the times and the law.  Wants to make you think it is a future time, wants
to replace the only Law, the Law of the Spirit.  If it is not Christ, it is
just not Christ.  We then start touching the Ark with human hands, and it
brings death in, because it replaces the Life, Christ as the Life.  If it is
not Christ having His glory, His expression, His Image, His teaching, His
Leading, His Speaking, etc., in the body, then it is simply not Christ.
What is simply not Christ, is antichrist.  We have had many many antichrists
for thousands of years now, and we are waiting on one thing, until all of
His enemies are subjected to Him.  It is not to be us that lives, but
Christ.  We are not to build the church, but Christ will build His church.
We are not to have our knowledge, our glory displayed in the church, but
Christ is to have the glory, His knowledge, His wisdom displayed.  When we
take a close look at the Greek text in Corinthians with this understanding
we will see that Paul did not say "you may all one by one", that is take
turns, set a polite order of conduct for yourselves, because we know that
God is not a God of confusion, but instead Paul said "you may all by One",
if we will all just turn and only speak by the Spirit, then there will be no
confusion, God will instead lead, and God is not a God of confusion.  But,
first we must all stop seeking gifts, or looking for those that are natural
teachers.  The scriptures make it real clear that none of it is to be of
this world or natural, or of human origin or ability.  This One Gift to the
body, the Holy Spirit, the Devine Nature, Christ come and coming in the
flesh is to have all the glory in the church.  If we set up some agenda for
our meetings or some practice to follow then we better be prepared to say
"thus says the Lord", and we better be prepared to follow only the Lord if
He interrupts His agenda by giving a word to another.  Just let all standing
by discern, but better yet have no agenda then to seek the Lord when you
meet, then let the Lord lead.  The reason some of us don't see all the gifts
to day, and some even conclude that there is no more today, is because we
have found something to replace the Source of them all.  We even have taken
the holy things of God such as the scriptures and now refer to them as "The
Word of God".  We have missed that all the scriptures point us to the Lord
Himself as Life, the Life that we are to live by, follow, let teach us, be
the One Prophet, the Wisdom, the Faith, etc.  The Word of God Paul was
speaking to us about was not the inspired letter he wrote you.  The Word of
God Paul was speaking of is the Living and Active Word of God, the Word that
became flesh and dwelt among us, the One who is saying; do not harden your
heart as in the rebellion, hear His Voice while it is still called today.
The Christ that is come and coming in the flesh.  So then those who are
functioning as prophets, teachers, leaders, etc. speak the Words (Logos) of
God.  Teaching teach by the teaching received by the One Teacher, speaking
speak by the speaking of the One Prophet, leading lead by the leading of the
One Leader or Head.  If your not getting it, then be afraid, because however
you been proceeding it is antichrist, it's only to be Christ.  So we stop
our own struggling and we rest in our Sabbath Rest, God has completed His
work, and those that have entered God's rest cease from their own works, let
us not fall or continue in the same disobedience.  Take the time to stop
your works, it is Faith that must have It's perfect works, it is the Fruit
of the Spirit, those that are lead by the Spirit of God are the ones who are
the sons of God.  We must be clouds full of Water and not continue as
Waterless clouds.  Christ is coming as the Greek text says in/on/with the
"small clouds".  Now, please don't think that I am saying we have found the
answer in our meetings, but for the most part we have just decided to, just
seek the Only Answer Himself, the Only Truth, the Only Way.  As, a results
there sure has been times of silence, awkwardness, etc.  So, in our pursuit
to have only Christ, and resist what is not Christ, but antichrist, we do
the only thing we can, just stop, turn our minds to the Spirit, rest in our
Sabbath Rest, wait on Him to Lead.  If we find ourselves at a loss we
attempt to set our minds on the Spirit, we stop and pray.  If what appears
to be an endless debate occurring, we stop and turn all our minds to the
Lord, it is easy to spot, when you sense the death coming in just look
around at the faces of the other brothers and sister, you can see the enemy
bring the death in.  If things are dry we can only turn to the Lord to drink
the Living Water and be washed and refreshed, be renewed, and walk in
newness of Life, to be washed in the Water of the Living Word.  We know God
inhabits the praise of His people so we praise Him, we don't sing songs with
words that say "we will praise Him or every knee will bow", but instead we
praise Him, we bow our knees to Him now, someone might start with saying out
loud "Lord, You are King of kings", another will add "Lord, You are our True
Food", another "Lord, You are the Truth", another "Lord, You are the
Resurrection", another "You are the Resurrection from the dead", another
"let us obtain to the Resurrection from the dead, Lord let us obtain to
You", etc., etc. until our homes are filled with the sound of a mighty
rushing Water.  We don't see it or know were it is coming from or were it is
going, but we can see it's effect on the branches.  We can see the fruit of
love, joy, peace, patience, etc. on the Tree of Life as our food, the fruit
that is born up in the branches.  We know the time is near, because we see
the branches of the fig tree becoming tender, putting forth sprouts. We see
the Vine Tree producing leaves for the healing of the nations, for us.  At
that point, things just seem to flow very naturally, one has a word of
knowledge, another a prayer, another a song or poem, another a revelation or
teaching, another a testimony, etc., etc., and it is very orderly, because
the Spirit is speaking through the vessels of clay, producing fruit in the
branches, and everyone is listening and discerning, only to hear from One
Person, the Spirit of God, Christ coming in the flesh.  The key is that
there is no agenda, no rules, no expectations for the meeting, instead One
Person will be all these things for us.  The key is that it is not about us,
but Him.  It is not our knowledge of Him that is to be taught, but Him
teaching what He will, then and there as we are in Him then and there, and
He is in us, the only temple He is building today.  What you bring to the
meeting to feed others must just be something you received from Him.  And
sure brothers get excited some times to share the Light they have received,
so they forget at times that the human spirits of prophets are subject to
prophets, because no prophet speaks from anything other then the Holy
Spirit, so we must check our excitement at times, so that we will be subject
to the Holy Spirit in others, subject to Christ at that time, in that
meeting, who is to be the One Prophet.  What we often find, if we will just
turn to the Spirit, is that our portion may not be for that time, it maybe
for another meeting, for a phone  call, or lunch with some brothers, or it
maybe for then and now, and as we tune to the Spirit, the Spirit gives the
go ahead, or hold for now and just listen up.  We find that if we miss the
Spirit's prompt for us to speak, the Spirit still speaks by giving the exact
same word to another, that we had received.  If we have questions or want to
learn something we consult the Spirit in us first, who will tell us if this
is the appropriate time or if it is not, or if it is something to ask a
friend or spouse at home.  After all, if you are going to start questioning
the Holy Spirit, you had better ask the Holy Spirit first if you may
interrupt.  In the meetings it is not to be about us and what we want to
know, but about Him and what He wants to speak or do.  Sometimes two or
three will speak, and many times several will take their turn as the Spirit
leads and speaks.  At other times there is more prayer or praising or just
meeting another brothers needs or loving on each other.  I believe the key
see to just keep turning brothers to Christ for it all.  The results is that
we see more and more of The Life in the meetings, and that Life is naturally
growing.  Our meetings are more and more orderly, we are seeing more and
more of a complete picture painted each meeting, a completer speaking and
teaching, more and more joy and peace in the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of
God.  That Life is giving all the members a portion, and we are finding we
need all those portions, of that Life. We are starting to see more of that
Life heal, teach, speak, lead, etc., and less of our nature, our flesh, our
life.  We are seeing this Life spread naturally through the members, more of
the members are functioning with differing gifts (function), all our needs
are being met, and prayer is being answered, people are getting healing,
etc.  We are seeking to eat Christ, He is True food, we are becoming
nourished by Christ, partakers of the Devine Life, partakers of the Hidden
Manna that comes down out of heaven.  What we are consuming is becoming more
and more of what we are to become, and less and less us, the "I" is living
less, and instead it is Christ that is living in us.  As we behold the glory
of the Lord, we are being transformed more and more from glory to glory, His
glory, by the Lord Spirit or by the Lord who is Spirit.  We know that when
we see Him, we will know Him, because we will be like Him, because we have
been feeding more and more each day on just Him.  Take no substitutes, no
separation, he that is one with the Lord is One Spirit.  Believe me you'll
love the Lord's speaking, it's out of this world, you'll love Him, I know we
have all tasted it at times, we just need to stop excepting substitutes, He
called you, walk worthy of The Calling, by which you were called, you were
called by Him, the Lord Spirit, let us turn back to our First Love.  Our
meetings were running from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, and now there running from 6:00
to 12:30 pm.  Not that there is a set time, people are just staying as long
as their lead to, and we don't have rules, we just seek the Spirit in which
there is freedom.  The really amazing thing is we don't have to do anything,
just stop doing, just stop trying to bear up the Ark with human hands.  If
we did anything, we just gave up, and said we don't want anything anymore
other then Christ.  Well, as usual I have said to much, if I had set my mind
more on the Spirit, and spoken just the words that the Spirit gave me, I
probably only would have spoken only a paragraph.  I just believe the
balance is not something we have to establish or seek, but instead just the
Person who is very balanced Himself.

Lord, help us to turn to you, and do all things by the selfsame Spirit, take
no substitutes, no more antichrist, in in in in Christ, the Lord Spirit, we
can do all things, and Christ will have His glory in the church, let us not
listen to those prophets and teachers any more who speak from there own
spirits, from there own knowledge and wisdom, and have seen nothing, let us
only hear from the Holy Spirit, be taught by One, receive our doctrine,
revelation, healing, etc. from One, let us no longer deny Christ come in the
flesh,

Mike


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