Experience over Sound Doctrine

I've noticed a trend in the church today. A trend that has had dire consequences to those who have chosen to move away from the elementary teachings of Christ. Many have fallen away from the truth. In an effort to become relevant the church has changed and removed any terminology that they may consider offensive or non accepting. Some  have gone as far as accept sinful practices in efforts to boost membership and come off less judgmental but at what price? In churches that have chosen to share or spin a more positive gospel have blossomed over the years leaving a remnant of churches who refuse to water down anything to struggle in the shadow of these megachurches. In all honesty there is no way of knowing what the these Christians are doing behind closed doors. There is no accountability or close personal relationships in these megachurches. Some are like attending a Christian concert. More and more the cross diminishes in the flood lights and smoke machines as masses are taken up with the new superstars of Christendom.

Even in prophetic circles the words given are only positive rarely exposing areas that God wants to deal with or bring conviction. Meetings have been given over to experience rather than biblical sound doctrine. Widely accepted practices that are not in the bible are rarely questioned. Instead of hearing about what was preached about from God's Word many Christians come back from their meetings boasting from their latest experience. Sadly, we have become experience oriented instead of biblical oriented. What I mean is that we have exalted experience over soundness of God's Word. This imbalance  is what James talks about. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. Deception comes when we stay out of God's Word and forget that our purpose is to become like Him.

We need to become like Him so the world may want Him. The truth is people want Jesus not us. Our flesh is a joke. We can only hide our awful attitudes and motives for so long before someone notices that we aren't like Jesus at all. Our marriage, family and finances are more of a witness to this world than raising the dead. The gifts of the spirit are awesome but without the character of Christ we will be left pleading with God like the people in Matthew 7:21-23 Lord, Lord didn't we in your name? God is more interested in us being more like Him than ministering for him. We are the ones who want to minister for Him. After all, who doesn't want to be the next Christian superstar for Jesus? What if God called you to total obscurity would you still minister for Him? Would you be content working a regular job and just ministering for Jesus in the market place?

I'm afraid we have enticed the masses and set up schools for ministry just so people can think that one day they too can have a mega ministry and never have to worry about their finances again. It has become a lucrative business. The truth is, most Christians don't even know their bible or what they are supposed to be doing with their lives. Some sell all they have, just to do what they could have done back at home, with time spent with the Holy Spirit. I think deep inside we want somebody to approve us so we can feel credible and legitimate but a piece of paper will never do that. It is the power of God that makes us credible to this world but not without the character to back it up.

The other day I was crying out to God and saying, "I just want to know your heart and mind." While time spent in worship brings revelation of who God is; I also need the correction of the bible to keep me rooted and grounded. Think of a balloon. The things of the spirit are like the balloon and character like the string that keeps it from floating away. God's hand has to firmly keep us from getting into absurd nonsense that has nothing to do with God's mission or purpose. If the manifestation has no exhortation, edification or comfort it has no place in the meetings. Drunkenness in the Holy Spirit should be accompanied with boldness to preach and do something for God not so you can have a laughing party. If you haven't noticed Jesus spent most of His time teaching and preaching as compared to walking in power. Without proper teaching God's church can get into error. We have the Corinthian church as a prime example of people who walked in power but had issues with sin, had meetings that were totally out of order and favored spiritual gifts over love.

One last thing, a real move of God will never steer you away from the bible. Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." How did He fulfill it? By obeying it in love. Love is our ultimate act of obedience. There is a reason the love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13 is in the middle of 12 and 14. Love and God's Word must be in the center of any spiritual gift we practice or any church meeting we have.  Real revival must always move us towards God's Word. In the most beautiful revival ever recorded in biblical history and eight year old discovers this key in the following passage. Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes. ¹² Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Michaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying, ¹³ “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” 2 Kings 22:11-13 Revival never moves away from God's word.

Jesus walked in revival and he never toned down his message, never tried to become relevant, he never went to bible college, or got the approval of men. He lived to love. His life matched His message and the power He walked in was proof that God had sent him. In order to walk like Him we must also take heed to message, method, character, and motive. Revival is sustained in this way.  Beware of any so called movement that encourages you to move away from Christ's teachings or biblical foundational truths. It will never end well. I don't care what kind of results you think you are getting, how many people you think you are helping or how many people are attending. These are not indicators of God's approval on your ministry. The cross of Christ and the call to deny ourselves must never cease from church teachings. To do so will only breed Christians who are fleshly and full of self. Self is the most hideous attributes of humanity. You can never love others if you are full of self. It's root of every kind of sin. It is up to us to pick up the cross everyday as we look to Him the author and finisher of our faith. Amen.

Jaziz Gutierrez
http://www.loverevivalrevolution.com

Victory In Adversity

There was a time when I was experiencing true hardship and somehow I felt like I was less than a Christian in my adversity. I felt shame that I was going through so much tribulation and trials. I felt as if God was punishing me or if I had done something wrong. These thoughts are all lies from the enemy! Depending on your view of God the wilderness can be a place of victory or misery. One day a brother came up to me inspired by God and said, "The wilderness is where God performed the most miracles!" Indeed. The wilderness doesn't have to a place of defeat. It is a place of training for reigning. Even though Jesus was tempted in his wilderness He left that place in power. In times of resistance that's when we build spiritual muscle. The key is what we do with our tongue. Do we declare what is written or do we complain. Do we stand in faith or wallow in self pity and doubt.

Satan, always tries to short circuit the process of dying to self. He offered Jesus everything before he went to that cross. It won't be any different for us. The greatest temptation of mankind is to take the easy way out. In the garden, Satan got Eve to question God's word. In the wilderness Satan tempted Jesus to doubt His own identity. "If you are the Son of God..." However, if you know who you are, there isn't anything the devil can offer you that don't already have. The devil always tries to deceive us into forfeiting what we already have. Yes, read that statement again. The devil always tries to deceive you into forfeiting what you already have by offering you a counterfeit. What are the counterfeits you may ask?

  The counterfeit of peace is self assurance. Self assurance is trusting in your own ability, strength and finances.
  The counterfeit for love is lust. Lust drives people to take from others. It only wants to satisfy itself at someone's else's expense. Love wants to give and sacrifice to meet a need.
  The counterfeit for faith is fear. Fear is relied upon like an old friend because it has shown people how to act out of instinct and desperation instead of God led revelation. We walk by faith and not by what we see in the natural.
  The counterfeit for righteousness is religion. Men trying to obtain God's favor and love by doing good works. However, righteousness is the position that every son and daughter have before their Father. It is our simple child-like trust in Jesus' sacrifice that causes us to come boldly before the throne of grace. If we could be good enough outside of the blood sacrifice Jesus' death would have been pointless.
  The counterfeit for joy is happiness. Happiness is based on circumstances and joy is a fruit of God's spirit that does not waver in the storms of life. It wells up from deep within our spirit when we praise God.

Our surrendered life is in good hands we don't have to take the devil's counterfeit offers. I want to encourage you that just because you are going through things doesn't change who you are in Christ. Jesus dying on the cross did not make Him less of a Son of God and it doesn't make you less than a child of God. The cross positioned Jesus for the greatest victory known to mankind. If we can understand that then we will never despair again when we are standing there facing our cross or mountain. We are given an opportunity everyday to forgive those who have hurt us while we hang on our cross of tribulation and circumstances. Raise up your hands and thank God that the devil only pushes us into the will of God.

Look at the life of Joseph. He was pushed into a pit, sold into slavery, thrown into prison and raised up a prince in a palace. Paul was taken from place to place appealing his innocence while persecuted, thrown into prison and inspired to write the churches the revelations he received and because of that we have our New Testament. Their cross became their victory and ours! Our tendency is to feel like God is mad at us or that he loves us less when we are going through things. Our circumstances cannot separate us from the love of God and neither do they define who we are. We are not defined by our past, our present, our background, or even an event. We are only defined by who God made us to be. We were made to be over comers! God uses what has been intended to be our defeat, makes it our victory and defining moment. In the fires of adversity he refashions us for His purposes. Then stands back in admiration and says, "It is good!" I will further illustrate this by the following story of the Three Trees.

The following story was e-mailed to me. I read it to the women in Chino Women's Prison on September 14, 2013. They were wrecked when I was through reading it. Enjoy!

The Three Trees

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, 'Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty.'

Then the second tree said, 'Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take Kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull.'

Finally the third tree said, 'I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest Tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.'

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, 'This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter, 'and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree the woodsman said, 'This looks like a strong tree. I should be able to sell it to the shipyard.' The second tree was happy Because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, 'I don't need anything special from my tree, I'll take this one,' and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for.

The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end.

The third tree was cut into large pieces, and left alone in the dark.

The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.

Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and He stood and said 'Peace' and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, God will give you great gifts.

Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined.

We don't always know what God's plan are for us. We just know that His Ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.

Please keep this moving... Pass it on, so God may inspire more people on The Way.

May your day be blessed. And until we meet again, may God cradle you in the palm of His hand.

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Jaziz Gutierrez
http://www.loverevivalrevolution.com
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