THE NEW CHURCH.
Teaching by Pastor Gbenga Samson
Let us pray;
Father we lay this study unto thy hands, teach us,guide us,correct us and build us up the way you desire
Open our eyes to see things as they ought to be . In Jesus Name we pray. Amen.
So we are talking about THE NEW CHURCH.
But let me make one thing clear, we are the ones labeling old and new, God only sees one entity, The Church.
What we are calling The New Church is simply The Church returning to it’s old foundation yet being open to God to do new things.
To most of us, the church as we know has changed, Coronavirus really hit the world hard and has changed how things are now run.
But God is never surprised.
He works all things together for good and He is using the bad virus to do a good thing
Remember Romans 8:28
[28]And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
So everything including coronavirus is working together for the good of God’s people (The Church).
The New Church is the old church being open to new ways of doing things.
The New Church may be new to us but it is what God has always expected us to be.
Since His Mercies are New every morning, He expects to us to be ever New.
Lamentations 3:22-23[22]Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
[23]They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Let me use an acronym to break things down further.
C.H.U.R.C.H.
C – Christ
The Church is based on Christ.
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. Ephesians 2:19-20 | KJV.
The Church is the body of Christ
Colossians 1:18 – And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence.
The New Church puts Christ first.
The New Church must move from the selfishness of fleshly ambitions to the righteousness of The Kingdom of God.
For a long time many had become distracted building towers of babels and golden idols.
The towers were labelled as God’s but putting the name of God on a vain thing does not make it pure.
Like in Gen 11 God is scattering the people building such towers.
It is a new season, The Church must learn to put Christ first.
It is no longer about record breaking but soul saving agenda.
The New Church puts the Christ agenda above all.
Seeking first the kingdom Of God and righteousness, trusting God to add all other necessities (matt 6:33).
Where 2 or 3 gathered in Christ’s name not in a Pastor’s or Prophet”s name.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20 | KJV.
Now let me be clear, the church is beyond 2 or 3.
The whole body of Christ spreads across geographical borders and bonded spiritually.
God wants less emphasis on numbers and more on individuals.
God wants more focus on His Will not what men want to hear.
God wants Christ lifted not men and their ambitious agenda.
H – Holy Spirit.
Once we get Christ right, The Holy Spirit flows unhindered.
We have successfully mastered the art of limiting the Spirit by exacting our desires and ambitions above God’s Will.
The purpose of The Holy Spirit is to guide us unto all truth but we want to use the Spirit to rubber stamp our own version of Truth.
John 16:13-15
[13]However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
[14]He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
[15]All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
The work of The Spirit is to take of what is Christ’s and declare to us.
Not to bring our dreams alive as many have been taught.
The Holy Spirit is not given to get what you want but to give you what God wants and shape you to become who God has called you to be
The New Church understands this.
The Holy Spirit is not your messenger. He makes us better messengers of God.
The New Church realises that nobody has a monopoly of the Holy Spirit
The pandemic had everyone of us locked down and no usual public fellowship.
No usual running from mountain to mountain.
No usual anointing tapping stunts from super men of God.
We learnt to cry unto God directly
The Holy Spirit is available to all
There are no superstars in the Kingdom.
We all have the capacity let God’s light shine in and through us.
U – Understanding.
The Church must understand the place of Understanding.
Understanding who God is. Understanding who we are in God. Understanding How God works. Understanding what God expects of us.
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding. Proverbs 4:7 | KJV
Understanding is what The Holy Spirit helps us get.
But we must allow Him to do His Work.
Understanding is having a Sound Mind.
2 Timothy 1:7 – For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7 – For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Sound mind is what will not allow us to be bamboozled by charlatans.
Sound mind is what helps us recognize the voice of God in the mouths of men.
Sound mind helps us separate what God is saying from what men are saying.
Sound mind helps us separate truth from trends.
Sound mind helps us understand that Men of God must be honoured but not worshipped.
Sound mind also teaches us not to despise our teachers.
Despite the fact fact that we all have The Holy Spirit we know some have been raised to equip us for the works of ministry.
Ephesians 4:11
who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
[11]And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
[12]for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
[13]till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
[14]that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
[15]but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
[16]from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
So we are not caught unawares.
We know what God is doing and we flow with it and don’t fight it.
Sorry R – Revelation.
The Church is built on Revelation.
And puts the Word of God above all things.
Matthew 16:15-19
[15]He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
[16]Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
[17]Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
[18]And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
[19]And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
The Church is built upon the rock of Revelation not Peter.
The New Church puts the revelation of God above all else.
God places His Word above His Name (Ps 138:2)
We follow suit and place His word above all names.
C – Community
THE new Church is a community.
As a community we put general well being above individual agenda.
As a community we must put people above projects.
As a community we are only as strong as our weakest links.
I Corinthians 12:12-26
[12]For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
[13]For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
[14]For in fact the body is not one member but many.
[15]If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
[16]And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
[17]If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?
[18]But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
[19]And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
[20]But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.
[21]And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
[22]No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
[23]And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty,
[24]but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it,
[25]that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.
[26]And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
If one suffers all suffer with it …
That is a community.
Lastly H – Holiness
The New Chirch does not compromise on Holiness.
God prioritises His Holiness above Our Happiness.
We must too.
II Corinthians 7:1
[1]Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
This doesnt mean we live by our Holiness.
We submit to The Holy Spirit to manifest The Holiness of God in and through our lives.
We do not try to make ourselves Holy.
We submit. We do not make excuses for our failings. We submit. We do not feel like superman. We submit to The Holy Spirit to perfect all that concerns us. We do not go with the no one is perfect rhetoric. We admit our weaknesses and lean on God for strength. Time to round it all off.
The New Church is not digital. It is not analog. It is Spiritual. The Spiritual cannot be locked down.
But let us be warned if we do not learn to flow with God. If we will not learn through Coranavirus
We will learn through CAMA. If we don’t we will learn through CRISIS.
NOTE: I DO NOT SUPPORT THE CAMA ACT BUT I KNOW GOD IS TRYING TO WAKE US UP
MAY WE RECEIVE GIS WAKEUP CALL BEFORE CRAXIER THINGS HAPPEN.
We may use the digital but the church is spiritual.
CAMA will calm people down, if they won’t listen to Christ.
