Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All ·power [authority] in heaven and on earth ·is [has been] given to me. So go and make ·followers [disciples] of all ·people in the world [the nations]. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I have ·taught [commanded] you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of ·this age [the world; time]. ~ Matthew 28:18-20, EXB
Contrary to popular opinion, God by way of His Holy Spirit didn’t “call,” give an inner conviction that both the Word of God and fellow Body of Christ members confirm, nor did He give His subsequent appointing, anointing, and ordaining with the power of transformation to His Household of Faith men and women just so these believers in Christ could entertain religious crowds (i.e., “churchgoers”; pew sitters). Without doubt, God calls, appoints, anoints, and ordains His sons and daughters for the purpose of sending them out to fulfill the theology of biblical prosperity—His scriptural seedtime and harvest doctrine, which ultimately pertains more to reaching lost souls for Christ, whom He saves, than it concerns receiving financial and material blessings.
Now the way that these God called, appointed, anointed, ordained, and sent men and women fulfill the theology of biblical prosperity (Great Commission) is primarily by confronting the realm of darkness through spreading the Full Gospel of Christ (evangelizing and discipling), and by accomplishing the kinds of great works Christ Jesus did (healing, resurrecting the dead, casting out demonic spirits, feeding the multitudes, and so forth). Furthermore, those men and women who effectively are fulfilling the theology of biblical prosperity will be contributing to the eradication of at least four major satanic strongholds: religion, pride, deception, and greed. These strongholds, as well as others, have caused a breach in the man-made spiritual walls of the organized religion referred to as Christianity (also known as the institutional “Church”).
In the case of organized religion, the biggest problem with today’s institutional “Church” is that most of the men and women in their local communities’ churches and ministries, who profess to be born again, saved, and filled with the Holy Spirit, have settled for their Fire Insurance—settled for just knowing that they have been immunized (protected; saved; shielded) from going to Hell when they die, or from going through the prophesied last days’ hellish Tribulation Period on Earth. As a result, they also have settled for a form of godliness, while denying the REAL power behind being genuinely godly. Sorry to say, but the majority of worldwide “church” members don’t realize that the fullness of Grace they have received from Christ Jesus is way more than forgiveness of sin, salvation, and an indwelling Holy Spirit.
The Divine Truth is that the fullness of Grace (Grace that regenerates, Grace that pardons, Grace that saves, Grace that sanctifies, Grace that gives peace, Grace that calls workers for God—Grace upon Grace upon Grace upon Grace…; see John 1:14-16) always has been, and always will be, in God’s Spirit, which also is the Spirit of Christ Jesus. In other words, the fullness of Grace not only has been forever FREE but also will be forever FULL (bountiful, all-inclusive, and inexhaustible), because the fullness of Grace is God’s well-stocked storehouse of immeasurable riches that He freely gives to His sons and daughters. Thus, when Christ Jesus not only died in believers’ place but also now lives for them, advocating for them, His atoning sacrifice and constant interceding caused, and continue to cause, the abundance of Grace God deposited within the Spirit of Christ Jesus, as well as the fullness of Grace, which God gave Christ Jesus complete custody of, to be released in believers’ lives via the infilling of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Put differently, the Holy Spirit’s Baptism (infilling) is what supplies EVERYTHING followers of Christ need to be dynamic holy and righteous witnesses for Christ.
For sure, God always knew that human beings would need to grow in the fullness of Grace. He also always knew that before they could grow in the fullness of Grace; that is, before mankind could live Christlike, His Household of Faith sons and daughters would have to be reborn by Grace and the power of His Holy Spirit, saved by Grace and the power of His Holy Spirit through Faith in Christ Jesus, and led by Grace and the power of His Holy Spirit. In essence, it is the Holy Spirit whom born again and saved followers of Christ also would need to depend on for sanctification, transformation, instruction, intercession, enlightenment, strength, direction, spiritual gifts, and so forth.
Once again, even though all true believers have received more than their Fire Insurance, most of these believers don’t know what the fullness of Grace affords them, primarily because, for example, most of The Powers That Be in neighborhood churches and ministries rarely recognize their congregants’ Christ-given gifts—those supernatural heavenly assets (NOT offices), which help apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors (undershepherds), and teachers function as such. Then too, the majority of today’s so-called spiritual leaders frequently fail to encourage their members to use within or beyond “their” churches or ministries’ walls those Christ-given gifts that once in a blue moon do get acknowledged. As a result, there only is a small amount of this world’s professed to be born again, saved, justified, and being sanctified believers who are using their individual fivefold human gifts to build up, train, and endow the Lord’s Body of Christ for service.
Let there be no doubt about it. Wasting any bit of the fullness of Grace is such an insult to God! Whenever His filled with the Spirit of the resurrected Christ sons and daughters do not put their Baptism with the Holy Spirit and with Fire (power of transformation) to use, they are throwing away a specific supply of God’s fullness of Grace. The main way those believers who are filled with the Spirit of the resurrected Christ waste the power of transformation, and therefore also are wasting some of God’s fullness of Grace, is when they do not have any evangelistic interest—are NOT concerned about going viral, being contagious, with the Gospel of Christ, which their Holy Spirit Baptism gives them the power to do. Thus, this lack of evangelistic interest (unwillingness to fulfill the Great Commission) is the second biggest problem in today’s churches and ministries.
The following verses describe the Great Commission:
Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All ·power [authority] in heaven and on earth ·is [has been] given to me. So go and make ·followers [disciples] of all ·people in the world [the nations]. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I have ·taught [commanded] you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of ·this age [the world; time]. ~ Matthew 28:18-20, EXB
~and~
Jesus said to them, ‘Go everywhere in the world, and ·tell [preach; proclaim] the ·Good News [Gospel] to ·everyone [all creation]. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved, but anyone who does not believe will be ·punished [condemned]. And those who believe will be able to do these things as ·proof [signs]: They will use my name to ·force [drive; cast] out demons. They will speak in new ·languages [tongues]. They will pick up snakes and drink poison without being hurt. They will ·touch [lay hands on] the sick, and the sick will ·be healed [recover]. ~ Mark 16:15-18, EXB
Currently, what keeps most of the professed believers in Christ from going viral, from answering God’s “call” to fulfill the theology of biblical prosperity or the Great Commission, is their inoculation. By inoculation, this blogger means the majority of professed believers in the 21st century have been given a manageable dose of religion; that it to say, they have been given a shot of just enough conviction and just enough theology to keep them from being contagious with the real thing, which is the fullness of God’s Grace or the Full Gospel of Christ (Grace upon Grace, regeneration, new nature, righteousness, salvation, justification, calling, Holy Spirit’s indwelling, Holy Spirit’s infilling, spiritual gifts, sanctification [empowerment, authority, holiness, transformation], evangelism, discipleship, miracles, signs, wonders, perfection, glorification, and etc.).
It is sad but true. A vaccination shot of organized religion just gives believers enough religious belief and religious doctrines for them to say they have “religion.” However, if these professed believers don’t have any spiritual authority and power in them to help them share confidently with others what they have (if they cannot articulate what the Lord has done for them and in them, or if they don’t have a desire to witness to others), then they don’t have enough of what they need to be contagious with the REAL THING, which once again is the fullness of God’s Grace/the Full Gospel of Christ.
More explicitly, what especially would be missing from believers’ lives who just have “religion” is genuine godliness (the Holy Spirit’s power of transformation), as well as a true relationship with God and an enthusiastic on-fire for Christ Jesus intensity. These godly characteristics and Holy Spirit power are what would cause contagious believers to be courageous and confident enough to share what they have with others. Therefore, the professed believers who do not have a strong enough relationship with God, and who are not fully surrendered to Christ Jesus’ Lordship, would not be able to go viral—to swiftly spread the Gospel of Christ throughout the world—because these believers would not have been prepared and equipped by God with the Holy Spirit’s authority and power viruses (the fullness of Grace and the Full Gospel of Christ “good” contagious infections). Basically, believers inoculated via an organized religion shot would NOT have any of the authority and power of the Holy Spirit in them to be fully ready to evangelize and disciple a sin-sick world.
Even though the Full Gospel of Christ teaches there are times when neighborhood evangelism and discipleship are just as necessary as fulfilling the global Great Commission, as previously mentioned, there are very few local wannabe pulpit giants who, upon the rare occasion of recognizing their members’ Christ-given human gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher, would be willing to make room for their spiritually gifted congregants to function in these alleged spiritual leaders’ community churches or ministries according to “their” congregants’ individual calling. The sad truth again is that these so-called clerics who are not using the human gifts Christ has given to His entire Body of Christ are hindering the growth of the Kingdom of God on Earth, and are doing so usually because they either are jealous/envious of others’ gifts or because these alleged called of God pastors, bishops, elders, and so forth, are the epitome of the biblical spiritually proud and extremely greedy blind guides who are powerless to see that Christ Jesus is the Great Shepherd example all the people in leadership “offices” in every local church or ministry should be emulating.
The Scriptures are very clear. GOD ALWAYS prepares (trains, grooms, coaches) and equips (endows, gifts, supplies,) those whom He has called, before He sends them out. This biblical Truth is very evident in the life of Christ Jesus, the Great Shepherd. Before Christ Jesus spoke the global Great Commission, and before He ever sent His original 12 to the local lost sheep of Israel, He first prepared and equipped (taught, discipled, empowered, and authorized) His 12 disciples so that they would be able to evangelize, disciple, and perform miracles in and around Jerusalem, as well as throughout the whole nation of Israel.
The following verse supports the God always prepares and equips those individuals He calls, before He sends them out, statements:
Jesus called ·the twelve apostles [L the Twelve] together and gave them power and authority ·over all [to cast out] demons and the ability to heal ·sicknesses [diseases]. ~ Luke 9:1, EXB
Additionally, the Gospel According to Luke records the following instructions the Lord gave to His the 12 disciples He was sending to the people of Israel:
He sent the ·apostles [L them] out to ·tell about [preach; proclaim] God’s kingdom and to heal the sick. He said to them, ‘Take nothing for your ·trip [journey], neither a ·walking stick [staff], ·bag [or beggar’s bag], ·bread [food], money, or ·extra clothes [L two shirts/tunics]. When you enter a house, stay there ·until it is time to leave [L and depart from there; C probably to avoid temptation to move to better accommodations]. If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off of your feet [C a sign of rejection and coming judgment] as you leave the town, as a ·warning to [testimony/evidence against] them.’ So the apostles went out and traveled ·through all the towns [from town to town], ·preaching [proclaiming] the ·Good News [Gospel] and healing people everywhere. ~ Luke 9:2-6, EXB
Furthermore, it is evident that, just as Christ Jesus did with His earliest 12 disciples, He also did with His later 72 disciples; that is to say, He first prepared them (awakened in them an evangelistic interest—stirred within them, via the Holy Spirit, a passion [hunger] to go where the lost souls are so that they could share the fullness of Grace and the Full Gospel of Christ with them, baptize them, and make disciples of them). Then Christ Jesus equipped them with His AUTHORITY or the right to act (exousia) and with His POWER or supernatural ability to perform miracles, signs, wonders (dunamis).
In the below cited verses, also from the Gospel According to Luke, the author gives another account of the Lord’s instructions, this time, to His additional 72 disciples, whom the Holy Spirit no doubt nudged, like He did the original 12, for the purpose of getting them out of their comfort zones so that they would answer their individual “call” to evangelize and disciple. Luke writes:
After this, the Lord ·chose [appointed] ·seventy-two [C the number may reflect the 70 nations listed in the ‘table of nations’ in Genesis 10 (the Greek text of which reads ‘72’) and so foreshadows the mission to the Gentiles] others and sent them out in pairs ahead of him into every town and place where he ·planned [was about] to go. He said to them, ‘·There are a great many people to harvest [L The harvest is great/large], but ·there are only a few workers [L the workers/laborers are few]. So pray to the Lord ·who owns [who is in charge of; L of] the harvest, that he will send more ·workers [laborers] ·to gather [L into] his harvest. Go now, but ·listen [L look; T behold]! I am sending you out like ·sheep [lambs] among wolves. Don’t carry ·a purse [money bag], a ·bag [traveling bag], or sandals, and don’t ·waste time talking with people [greet anyone] on the road [C because of the urgency of the task]. ·Before [When] you go into a house, [L first] say, ‘Peace be with this house.’ If ·peace-loving people [L a son/child of peace] live there, your ·blessing of peace [L peace] will ·stay with [rest on] them, but if not, then ·your blessing [L it] will come back to you. Stay in the same house, eating and drinking what the people there give you. [L For] A worker ·should be given his pay [deserves his wages; T is worthy of his hire; 1 Tim. 5:18]. Don’t move from house to house [C to avoid the temptation of constantly seeking better accommodations]. If you go into a town and the people welcome you, eat what they give you. Heal the sick who live there, and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ But if you go into a town, and the people don’t welcome you, then go into the streets and say, ‘Even the ·dirt [dust] from your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you [C in protest and as a warning of judgment]. But ·remember [know; recognize] that the kingdom of God ·is near [has come near; is at hand].’ I tell you, on ·the Judgment Day [L that day] it will be ·better [more bearable/tolerable] for the people of Sodom [C a city God destroyed because the people were so evil; Gen.19] than for the people of that town.’ ~ Luke 10:1-12, EXB
Luke also writes:
‘·How terrible for [L Woe to] you, Korazin! ·How terrible for [L Woe to] you, Bethsaida [C towns in Galilee where Jesus ministered]! If the ·miracles [powerful deeds] ·I did [L that occurred] in you had happened in Tyre and Sidon [C cities in Phoenicia notorious for their wickedness], those people would have ·changed their lives [repented] long ago. ·They would have worn rough cloth and put ashes on themselves to show they had changed [L …sitting in sackcloth/burlap and ashes; C signs of sorrow and deep remorse]. 14 But ·on the judgment day [L at the judgment] it will be ·better [more bearable/tolerable] for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum [C a town in Galilee where Jesus lived and ministered], will you be ·lifted up to [honored/exalted in] heaven? No! You will be thrown down to ·the depths [the place of the dead; hell; L Hades; Is. 14:13-15]!’ ~ Luke 10:13-15, EXB
Where today’s institutional “Church”—organized religion—is concerned, the unfortunate disturbing truth is that too many of the purported spiritual leaders in local churches and ministries are NOT invested in pouring into others; namely, too many pulpit wannabe giants are not trying to increase the maturity of their spiritually gifted congregants, by discipling and equipping (training, authorizing, and empowering) them. Once again, Christ Jesus gifted to the Body of Christ five human gifts—His supernatural Structure for His spiritual Ekklesia—so that the entire Body of many members would become ONE spiritually mature Bride. As stated earlier, these human gifts are NOT “church” offices! These human gifts are spiritual functions (divine descriptions of what each human gift does), and these spiritual functions are supposed to be in operation throughout the Body of Christ. Once again, these spiritual functions are: APOSTLES (builders, empowerers, and supervisors); PROPHETS (consolers, discerners, and encouragers); EVANGELISTS (messengers, motivators, and warriors); PASTORS (caregivers, engagers, and undershepherds); and TEACHERS (explainers, feeders, and interpreters).
However, instead of being concerned with having the Body of Christ’s human gifts function as empowerers, encouragers, engagers, enlighteners, and exalters who, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, bring about a mature Body of believers who achieve the ONE (unity) status, The Powers That Be in most of the worldwide churches and ministries are more concerned with promoting “their” own Brand. For this reason, God has made it a waste of time for these alleged spiritual leaders to try to change any part of this secular world, including the various cultures in which most of their congregants live, as long as these wannabe pulpit giants neither are using all of “their” fivefold spiritual human gifts nor encouraging these human gifts to do the miraculous great works like those supernatural acts Christ Jesus did. In other words, evangelistic windows and all of the top-of-the-line available technological gadgets, motivational tools, and excellent amenities used as hooks to draw the secular world into local churches and ministries will never make any permanent spiritual changes to either the lost souls or the professed Christians sitting on pews.
The Divine Truth is believers never were commissioned to just sit on pews in churches or ministries and let their evangelistic windows and other accoutrements draw the secular world in, while their spiritual leaders sold “their” own brand of organized Christianity to their believing and unbelieving congregants. For sure, ALL spiritually born again, saved, justified, and being sanctified believers were commissioned to introduce Christ Jesus to the secular world, BUT not by choosing to bring the unsaved world into community churches or ministries, primarily because this kind of evangelism is easier and provides fewer chances of having to deal with people who would be confrontational or who would outright reject what believers would be saying. Instead, genuine followers of Christ are supposed to boldly take the Full Gospel of Christ to the secular world.
In the first century A.D., true believers in Christ not only were commanded to go viral—to courageously take the Gospel of Christ to the world as they knew it, with the help of the Holy Spirit—but also they were instructed to be wise as serpents. By the aid of the Holy Spirit, they were to be clever enough to be aware of the fact that the individuals who rejected whomever God has called, appointed, anointed, ordained, and sent out to evangelize, disciple, and do miraculous deeds are NOT rejecting the sent followers of Christ, but rather they are rejecting Christ Jesus, who is the One who sent them, as well as rejecting the One who sent Christ Jesus, who is Father God. The writer of the Gospel According to Luke agrees, for he writes that Christ Jesus says:
Whoever listens to you listens to me [Matt. 10:40; John 13:20], and whoever ·refuses to accept [rejects] you ·refuses to accept [rejects] me. And whoever ·refuses to accept [rejects] me ·refuses to accept [rejects] the One who sent me. ~ Luke 10:16, EXB
It is crucial to reiterate here that without doubt the “call” to go viral—to spread the Full Gospel of Christ throughout the whole world—is still a command that is in effect today! However, the funny thing is that this century’s pulpit wannabe giants are the very ones stopping nowadays’ believers from keeping the Lord’s Great Commission! It is unfortunate that these hope to become pulpit bigwigs and megachurch major players continue to fail to harness the human spiritual gifts’ functions that the Lord already has given to the whole Body of Christ for building up, training, and endowing His Ekklesia. Instead, these assumed to be called of God pulpit clerics claim to be “their” institutional churches and ministries’ numero uno spiritual leaders, as well as proclaim that the functions of the fivefold human gifts are “their” do-it-all pastoral responsibilities! As a result, these wannabe pulpit giants have been, and continue to be, looking for solutions to “their” churches or ministries’ problems to come either from branding “their” churches or ministries (instead of from branding believers’ hearts with Christ Jesus), or to come from “their” reliance upon “church” administrative and managerial offices (instead of relying on the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ Jesus’ spiritual human gifts to them, for them to consult).
In closing, because this century’s aspiring to be well-known spiritual leaders have pretty much inoculated “their” congregants with a small measure of organized religion, most of today’s believers are far from being contagious—a long way from being fully infected with the Holy Spirit’s Baptism (power and authority). It’s so strange that instead of thinking that going viral means a “good” thing, like being susceptible to the Holy Spirit’s supernatural riches (the fullness of Grace), which help followers of Christ fulfill the theology of biblical prosperity or the Great Commission, when most of the modern-day believers think about things that have gone viral, at the top of their individual list would be those BAD infectious viruses that either have reached epidemic or pandemic proportions (e.g., Ebola, Marburg, SARS-CoV, Rift Valley Fever, and so forth). That’s why to these individuals, professed Christians included, inoculated usually means received a vaccination—got a small dose of the disease they are hoping to produce immunity to.
The surprising truth, though, is that when the Lord’s Great Commission command is seen today as an order to “go viral,” this going viral directive should come across as a “good” thing. In this Information Age, going viral means millions of people have heard, read, or watched something in a very short period of time. Thus, with all the bells and whistles that come with the top-of-the-line available technological gadgets and evangelistic tools used to make the Full Gospel of Christ attractive to the lost world and carnal Christians, it would seem that contemporary apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers should be exceeding the achievements of the first century’s vineyard workers. In other words, the command to go viral with the Full Gospel of Christ is way easier to do today than it was in the first century A.D., and yet with just a few first century apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers the world was turned upside down. In contrast, while there are way more apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers in the world in this century, sadly the “call” to evangelize and disciple this entire world isn’t going viral, and that’s because the present-day majority of professed believers have been given a manageable dose of religion—they’ve been inoculated with just enough conviction and just enough theology to keep them from going viral with a really contagious spiritual global pandemic.
According to D.L. Moody: “There is not a better evangelist in the world than the Holy Spirit.” By God’s Grace, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus, believers have received the initial indwelling Holy Spirit and have access to the infilling Holy Spirit’s secondary experience. Still, it really is a shame that not very many contemporary believers understand that the only ways modern-day followers of Christ will be able to have the Gospel’s message go viral is when more believers stop trying to get on the same side as the secular world, and instead, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, become contagious—become filled with the Spirit of the resurrected Christ, which will give them the power and authority to be influential holy and righteous witnesses for Christ, doing those greater works the Lord said they would be able to do. To make this change, today’s followers of Christ also will need to start developing, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, a genuine passion for evangelistic work (being on fire for the Lord). To burn for the Lord, nowadays’ believers must stop settling for just mere Fire Insurance and instead seek everything that the fullness of Grace gives so that they are prepared and equipped to confront the spiritual realm of darkness. As Samuel Chadwick says:
Spirit filled souls are ablaze for God. They love with a love that glows. They serve with a faith that kindles. They serve with a devotion that consumes. They hate sin with fierceness that burns. They rejoice with a joy that radiates. Love is perfected in the fire of God.
God gave His sons and daughters His Holy Spirit to liberate them to become all that they were meant to be, which won’t happen if they are wasting (not using; ignoring) His nudge—not responding to His gentle prodding. The Holy Spirit is nudging believers, because He wants them to get out of their comfort zones (to accept His infilling) so that they can receive the power of transformation that will enable them to answer their individual “call” to evangelize and disciple this world.
Finally, it is time for all believers, whether “church” or ministry leaders or merely pew sitters, to do a much better job at reflecting Christ Jesus’ Grace, Love, Compassion, and Power than they have been doing! The 21st century’s believers can no longer keep trying to sell the secular world on an ineffective Christian religion. Instead they must introduce the secular world to a loving, forging, saving, supernatural Christ Jesus, by taking His Gospel to the masses of lost souls, just like the Great Commission instructs. Lastly, today’s believers must be about fulfilling the theology of biblical prosperity, which is God’s scriptural seedtime and harvest doctrine that ultimately pertains more to reaching lost souls for Christ (or the Great Commission), than it concerns receiving financial and material blessings.
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