It Is Not A Denomination Thing, It Is All About Christ!

       A wonderful brother didn’t get an advertised job because he didn’t belong to the denomination of the owners of the organization despite the fact that he was well qualified for the job. Does this sound familiar? So many have lost relationships, promotions, businesses, contracts, help because they do not belong to the denomination or Church of those calling the shots. This has weakened and continues to weaken us as the Body of Christ. Our efficacy as the Body of Christ is not based on our individual independence but how we bring our uniqueness into unison to advance the purpose and intentions of God: “I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved Me and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:23), and “So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

       A child of God that believes that his congregation or the part of the Body of Christ he belongs to is better than the rest is said to be an immature child not ready for solid food (1Corinthians 3:1-4). It does not matter what your position is in the Church, if you keep teaching and pushing forward the doctrine of how your Church is better than others you are a mere baby in Christ unwilling to grow and cannot receive solid food. Your maturity is not based on how long you have been in the Church or the position you hold in the Church: “But solid food is for the mature – for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14). Such is blind and cannot distinguish that which is good or evil! Brother, Sister, it is not about the great revelations you receive or had received and taught; but how those same revelations have impacted your life towards building the Body. Rather your revelations foster division and unleash demons of arrogance, pride, self-righteousness on your congregants. You forget that Christ is not DIVIDED! It’s an infant that thinks everything happening in the room is all about him; beloved it is not about you but about Him that created and called you: “Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to the One seated on the throne, the One who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before the One seated on the throne, worship the One who lives forever and ever, cast their crowns before the throne, and say…” (Revelation 4:9-10).

       When the early Church exhibited this childishness, God through Paul called them “ordinary, unchanged men”. Beloved, you do not belong to your leaders or your denominations but you belong to Christ and are part of His ONE Body. A leader plants in ‘his’ congregation, another leader waters ‘his’ congregation…these actions are not what grows the congregation. It is God that gives growth: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Now the one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor” (1Corinthians 3:6-9). You may argue that one does it better than the other; even at that, no man should take glory to himself on this: “…And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey Me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty’” (Luke 17:9-10, NLT). The erroneous belief that the one planting or watering is doing something extraordinary to ‘grow’ their congregations has led so many great teachers, evangelists, apostles, pastors and prophets to compromise their faith and ministry by bowing to the principalities and powers of this dark world in order to grow their congregations and influence; thus, damning their souls and their unsuspecting congregations to hell: “Don’t you know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone ruins God’s sanctuary, God will ruin him; for God’s sanctuary is holy, and that is what you are” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

       Beloved, enough of discriminating against one another because we go to different denominations or Churches; we must close ranks, receive each other in love as long as we carry the undiluted message of Jesus Christ because His coming is here: “So let no one exult proudly concerning men (boasting of having this or that man as a leader), for all things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas (Peter), or the immediate and threatening present or the [subsequent and uncertain future – all are yours, and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s” (1Corinthians 3:21-23, AMP). May the Lord bless you and cause His light to flood the eyes of your heart with understanding in Jesus Christ name.