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.
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