The Church That is Alive

   

We all want to believe that the church that we go to is alive. I'm not saying that your church isn't alive, but in Revelation 3:1 the church in the city of Sardis had the name of being alive but God said that this church was at the point of death. I would hate it if God said that the church that I was a member of was almost dead. This passage also shows that we can be deceived and think that we are on the right path but be totally wrong.

     The interesting thought is that Revelation 3:2 says that those who are in this state have a choice whether they stay this way. The Holy Spirit first tells them to be watchful. The Greek word for watchful is "grēgoreuō" and it basically means to become aware of what is going on. This is not only in the natural world but the spiritual world. In other words, don't walk around in a spiritual stupor.

     The second thing the Holy Spirit tells the church is to strengthen the things that remain. While the book of Revelation was being written, all the other scrolls that became the Bible had already been written. In passages like Colossians 4:16 Paul told churches his team had planted, that they should pass his letters around to each other. Hebrews 6:10-15 says that they already had a history of mature believers that they were supposed to imitate. The church did not have any reason not to know how to live the Christian life. They needed to start living the Christian life, instead of just going to church and pretending to be Christians.

     So what is it that makes a church alive? In Revelation, it says that the church should have listened to the instruction that had been given to it. The church in Sardis already knew what they should be doing. It is easy to go to church and be passive. I have gone to church, heard amazing sermons, walked out the door and nothing changed in my life. It is too easy to become a spectator when we go to church. When we receive instruction there is supposed to be a continuing response to the words we hear in the life we live and everything we do. God wants His heart to transform our hearts so that He becomes a natural part of who we are.

     Revelation 3:2 says that their works were not perfect before God. The Greek word "plēroō" that is translated "perfect" means complete. Ephesians 2:10 says we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, works that God has planned beforehand for us to accomplish.

     - There are things in our life that God has especially planned for just us and only us and there is no one else that can fulfill those things. Even if you are part of a team to accomplish those things you are still the one on that team that is needed to fulfill that part that only you can do in the way that you do it.

     - God doesn't want us to be just content to be a "good person" -- He doesn't want us just to be nice to people at work, be good parents, give money to ministries, or be the best friend. On the other hand, I'm not saying that those things are not included in the list that God has for us. He has a much bigger plan for us than what we can imagine.

     Revelation 3:3 says that it is important to God that we obey Him and fulfill what He has planned for us. It is important that we remember those things that God has burned into our hearts. He doesn't give us a vision or Godly desires just have us bury them and not do anything about them.

     In Revelation 3:5 there is an important statement with conditions. If we overcome then our name will not be blotted out from the "Book of Life" and Jesus will confess our name before our Father and His angels. How we live our lives does make a big difference to God and maybe even our salvation. Jesus is saying that having an active faith is part of showing that we believe in Him. If you really believe in God it will show in how you live your life. 

Bruce Isom

Many Churches Keep Their Members From Growing up in the Lord

     This is a "picture" of a new Christian. The Bible says that when people believe in Jesus and are filled with the Holy Spirit, they are given gifts. These gifts are besides the gift of salvation or the gift of Jesus in our life. These are supernatural gifts because even though believers get a new "operating system" for their life, they also get updates as they mature in the Lord.  Sometimes we get "updates" as we are reading the Bible, praying, receiving teaching or just living life -- these "downloads" will teach us spiritual truths. In the Bible these "upgrades" are called renewing our mind: Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 4:23 or getting rid of every defilement of spirit: 2 Corinthians 7:1.

     Christians need to use that giftedness God has given them to mature into spiritual adults. If they don't use it they will stay in the baby stage of their Christian walk until they either start using it, and hopefully mature in that gift, or die as a baby Christian. Many believers may have years of teaching, but if they don't have opportunities to move in the giftedness that God has given them, most will stagnate and  have a spiritual death in their hearts. Many times this is a reason that people loose their first love.

     I have heard many people tell me that they don't have any gift at all. There are people that are gifted in knowing what a person's gift is. Many times they have an apostolic or prophetic gifting or just get words of knowledge. There are Christians that will receive a gift just because an apostle or prophet laid hands on them and imparted a gift, 1 Timothy 4:14. Sometimes believers are walking in those gifts and they are so much a part of their life, they don't even know it.

     Some Christians seem to think that if they were gifted they could do almost anything. When I was younger, many people including myself, thought I was a computer expert. That didn't mean I knew everything about computers, but the things I didn't know, it seemed easy to find the answers and apply them. There were also many things I didn't know but that didn't mean I wasn't gifted with computers. It's the same way in the Church. There are things we do better or very well and there are things we just can't do at all unless God gives us that gift in our life.

     A call to all leaders: No matter what size of church you have, house or mega church,  the church is meant to be a place where believers are equipped for ministry. This is not just giving those in your church a bunch of head knowledge, but practical experience along with it. Train yourselves to look at those in your church and see who they are even when they don't see it themselves. Then ask God to use you or other people in your church to gently carve away the marble to see the masterpiece underneath. This is a process, not necessarily an instant transformation.

 

Bruce Isom

 

 

    

More Vision for Church

     After going through the hippie thing I became a Christian in 1974. I became a believer after my wife and I visited a friend who had become a Christian. I believed in Jesus because the Holy Spirit touched me and not because our friend talked me into it.

Just married! 1974

     I didn't have any idea what it meant to follow Christ. I had some religious background because I went to a Baptist church as a teenager. The Pastor there was an evangelist but he was also older and should have retired many years before he did. So every Sunday instead of teaching the Bible, he tried to save everyone in the church, even though except for a few of the kids every one else had already believed in Christ.

     My wife and I started to read the Bible to find out what Church and the Christian walk was supposed to be like. When we read the Bible we were surprised to find out that it wasn't just a place to go sit on a pew on Sunday. It was supposed to be an interactive, use-your-gifts type of meeting. So when we started looking for a church it wasn't an easy task because most of the churches we visited didn't fit with what we felt like the Bible was talking about.

     We did find a church that was more interactive. It was a church that allowed men that the pastor was discipling to teach on some Sundays and it had what we now call "open worship". If someone felt like the Holy Spirit wanted them to lead out in a song, when there was a brief pause they would just start singing or shout out the name of the song. Usually someone would lead out with the song in the worship time. It was not chaotic at all, the Spirit-led flow was amazing.

      We had an "open mic" for part of the time where people would give testimonies or ask for prayer. As a new believer I felt guilty because I smoked cigarettes. I had tried to quit many times with no success. One day when I was in church the Lord spoke to me and told me to go forward and ask for prayer. When I did, the Lord set me free and now I haven't smoked for nearly 40 years.
     I want to let everyone know that I don't hate other types of churches. It is not my intention to stir people up to hate their churches or their leaders. I hope more to stir up churches to use the gifts and let the "Body of Christ" function in the way that God intended.
     Now I have walked with Jesus for around 42 years and still desire to see churches where many people can be involved in ministry and participate in meetings. There are different movements in the world today where people are planting churches with the intention of people using their gifts. Many of these churches are growing by the thousands and from studies they are still able to do a quality work. I will talk more about spiritual growth and about these types of churches in future blogs.

 

Bruce Isom

Introduction

 My name is Bruce Isom and I have been a missionary in Hong Kong for 22 years. I became a Christian 42 years ago during the Jesus Movement. This was a period of time in the 60's and 70's when many hippies became Christians. After I became a Christian I started reading the Bible to find out what Church should be like so I could better pick a church to attend. It was at this time I became passionate about what Church should be like and how to walk the Christian walk. Even after 42 years of following Jesus I am still learning what it means to be a Christian and expect to keep learning until Jesus calls me home. In this blog I hope to talk about Church but also things that just take place in life.

Bruce Isom