HOW PREDICTABLE IS YOUR CHURCH?

One thing that is clear from scripture is that Jesus came to establish an alternative kingdom. His disciples thought that he was going to do something that would overthrow the Roman yoke on the nation of Israel that prevented them from self government as it was seen as a pagan government imposing its will on a religious entity.

Jesus was adamant that his kingdom was not of this world, it was based in heaven and power would come from there in the form of the Holy Spirit to fill and occupy those who were disciples of the King of the kingdom.

The fact is we were saved not to make life easy for us or to hold meetings, we were saved to do the King’s bidding and become the vehicle whereby he establishes his alternative kingdom. Like all armies, there is usually a lot of pain, discomfort, deprivation and “do as you’re told”.

The question is, “have we done that and are we doing that?”

If we are to judge by most of the 35,000 denominations in the world the answer is no. Most of these have set up an alternative kingdom but in the main it is theirs, not the Kings. When you attend most so called churches you join that church and ultimately promote it and its denomination after you have proved yourself worthy and signed the pledge.

No one it seems is asked to sign on in the army of God to serve under King Jesus and go out and establish his alternative kingdom.

The bible talks about the weapons of our warfare, fighting the good fight of faith, putting on the whole armour of God, taking a stand against the evil one, valiant in fight, overcoming the world, victory over the beast; fiery darts of the wicked one; running a race to name but a few metaphors.

What I want to know is how does one do all these things by meeting every Sunday morning in a purpose built sacred building doing what you have done for the last 50, 100, 200 years. To follow the war metaphor, I have yet to read of any battle where the enemy has done the same thing every day for four years let alone 50.

Most army commanders work out strategies to out manoeuvre the other side so that they can beat them into submission. I have a feeling that most churches don’t even believe that Satan exists and if they do, they are hoping that if they ignore him he will go away.

There is no doubt that the church has to wake up to itself and admit that it is completely ignoring the real reason for their existence and that is to fight the good fight. If any church leader wants to deny the fact that they are not fighting the good fight I will ask one question of you. “How much corporate praying do you and your church do?”

Without copious amounts of this you haven’t even begun. The majority of churches have little or no focus on the importance of prayer. It is no wonder that we are defeated before we even begin and Satan is laughing at us all the way to the altar of religion.