The Corporate Church

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

They said to Him, “We are able.” So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.” And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
(Matthew 20:20-28)

As you can see in every ministry there is the temptation to be seen and compete for position. It happened in Jesus' ministry and it has been happening ever since. Unfortunately, the corporate mentality has crept into church. We have made the Pastor the CEO and we have served the corporate church completely out of selfish motivated reasons! The whole reason the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus was to take the top positions in what they thought was Jesus' company. They wanted to be the right hand guys, part of Jesus' entourage, His yes men and did not care what it took to climb that corporate ladder.

Jesus compared their mindset with the rulers of the Gentiles "who Lord their authority over the people." In other words, he pointed out that the whole reason to want to be in a higher position was for the sole reason of exercising control over people. When you take a higher position in the corporate church you can wear a title. You can now be the head intercessor or the head of the music department. My husband Joshua has always said, "It is time for a title wave! When we all wave our titles goodbye." Unfortunately, along with title there is rank and special privileges. You now hold a place in the church that gives you some sense of control. Careful! This is also the fast track to becoming a target for pride.

Seeing their selfish motivated hearts Jesus warned them that they would drink of His cup and be baptized with the same baptism He was. What is that cup and what is this baptism that Jesus speaks of? Jesus speaks of this cup in the Garden of Gethsemane.

"He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39)

It is the cup of laying our will down and our life for God's kingdom. In God's kingdom the only way up is down. It is a place of servant-hood. Jesus not only taught this but lived it as an example before all of us. Paul later passes on this mindset by saying, "Let this mind be in you..."who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2: 5-8).

Think about this, God himself came to serve us. Now we want to be treated like gods so that we can be served. There is a huge gap in what Jesus demonstrated through His life and the kind of attitudes we now see in the church. Jesus warned his disciples that they too would be baptized with the same baptism he was baptized with. Since they had been baptized in water already by John what other baptism could there be? Our thoughts may immediately go to the baptism of the Spirit but Jesus wasn't talking about that baptism. He speaks of the one that John talked about "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." (Matthew 3:11). There it is. The baptism of fire. What is this baptism of fire? John explains it this way, "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:12).

Since many of us did not grow up in an agricultural society I will briefly explain this process. After harvesting the fields, they took the wheat to the threshing floor and the oxen would trod all over the wheat to loose the husks or chaff so that they would later take a winnowing fork and throw the wheat up in the air so the lighter chaff would blow away in the wind. Only what holds weight will keep from blowing away in our lives. Paul said, "that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting...(Ephesians 4:13-15).

For more on this process go to this link
http://www.biblewise.com/preview/images/teaching/2008/sep/harvesting_grain.pdf

Nervously you might be thinking so how does the fire come into the process? Let me first clarify what the fire isn't. The baptism of fire is not "the feeling like your body is going to burn up" in some kind of supernatural manifestation. People may shout fire and you may feel like you are on fire but that's not what this scripture is about. It is best described in this Messianic prophecy.
“Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
“But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the Lord
An offering in righteousness. (Malachi 3:1-3)

The whole purpose of fire is so we may become purified, purged, and become an offering of righteousness unto God. Instead of fighting for position and control God wants us to become servants. He wants that whole corporate mentality to cease to exist in His church. If you continue to read in Matthew 20 two blind men are sitting on the side of the road shouting to get Jesus attention. Jesus asked them, "What shall I do for you?" They immediately asked them for their sight. Jesus granted them their sight. When the disciples came to Jesus he also answered them by saying, "What do you wish?" They did not get the same response from Jesus. What they were asking for was purely motivated by a selfish attitude. James tell us that all fighting and strife is motivated out of these attitudes.

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
(James 4:1-3).

Yes, I believe God is going to bring fire back to his church but it will be so He can burn up all of our selfish attitudes like chaff because in reality love and selfishness cannot co-exist. Like Revivalist Johannes Schonken pointed out, "The end result of revival is that people may say...they have been with Jesus." Let it be our goal in this season to have people recognize "that we have been with Jesus" and allow the process of fire purify us like gold.

Notes from Revival Meeting on October 25, 2013
by Dale Kizziar and Jaziz Hallas
Expounding on Prophets, Pitfalls and Principals by Dr. Bill Hamon Chapters 8-12

Why God Is Not A Democrat

Democracy has many wonderful things about it. I gives us the right as a people to vote for what we feel is right and the right to be free. A right not to get pushed around by the government and equal rights under the law. When the majority rules we feel like democracy has done its job. However, what happens when the majority rules against the laws of God? How about if the majority of the people being heard have taken it upon themselves to oppress those who can't defend themselves? Worse, what if they have taken it upon themselves to kill or eliminate those they deem worthless or a problem in their own eyes? Can democracy be a good thing then?

If you look up the word Democrat which is the rooted in the word democracy it will define a Democrat as someone who fights for civil rights and equality. However, there are a few reasons why God would not be a Democrat. First of all, God will never make your civil rights or freedom come before obeying His laws or loving others. Jesus has called us all to deny ourselves, pick our cross, and follow Him. Luke 9:23 That means we lay down our rights for the cause of loving others.

For example, your freedom or right to choose to have an abortion does not trump loving the life of a child that now lives inside of you. We do not have a right to kill someone in the name of convenience. By the time you do a pregnancy test, the child's heart is beating. Isn't life and death decided by whether we have a heartbeat? Our sexual choices need to be governed by love, not lust. We should not use our freedom to exploit the innocence of children, arouse people to sin, pour pollution into the minds of families, and call it entertainment. Your freedom should never trample over love or be used to hurt or offend others. Our constitution gives us the freedom or right to free speech but it should never be used as a platform to use hateful speech towards anyone.  We also have the freedom of the press. It does not give us the right before God to slander, gossip, or malign others. I don't care what your religious beliefs are, they should never give you the right to hurt people or murder them in the name of your God! God is love not hate or judgment! Anyone, who says they represent God and treats others in an unloving way does not represent His heart. "But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." (1 John 2:11). 

Also, we should never have an attitude of entitlement. This is the opposite of having the humility of God. You take care of me because I am special. This attitude can be seen by the rich and poor. We should never expect special treatment because of who we are, what we do, or what we believe. You are not more special because you have money. The world should not have to cater to your every whim because you feel you are more important than others. You should obey the same laws everyone else does instead of receiving leniency because of your star status. Just because you serve in our government does not mean that you should be given special privileges. Whatever the people receive you should receive. You should get the same health care, social security, retirement, and protection under the law. You don't have the right to spend your money without some kind of accountability.

On the other hand, you should not feel you are special because you are poor or of a certain race believing that the government should take care of you. Entitlement is rooted in pride. Believing we are entitled because of our background, our sexual orientation, our race, or religious beliefs is not equality. We applaud those who fight for equal rights but not when they trample over other people to accomplish this goal. Humility looks after the interests of others and treats others better than they do themselves. It lays their rights down for others so people can walk in peace and unity.

In conclusion, no society or republic can live in true happiness unless righteousness, love, humility, and peace are embraced. These are all virtues of God's kingdom. Democracy at best is a failed concept outside of these virtues. In other parts of the world where the majority rule in hatred there is nothing but chaos, war, murder, and a bleak future for peace. What many people don't realize is, as they push God's kingdom out of our society they slowly invite selfish, self-centered, prideful, behaviors that will only create a society where freedom will be lost. A government that looks to themselves as the ones that decide what is right or wrong and uses its power to rule a people will end up oppressing them. Just look at other countries. It's time that America realizes that the only way our country will stay free is when they allow God to rule them instead of men who are in it for themselves. Men without virtue are men who will trample over your rights, freedom, and love so they can obtain their personal glory. How do I know this? History repeats itself it seems.

Find out why God is not a Republican

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God is not a Republican

Before you get offended let me explain why God is not a Republican. First of all, God is not into capitalism which is the main mindset behind the Republican platform. Capitalism is based on the idea that each individual should take care of their own lives in a free market society without the interference of government. Not a problem. However, Capitalism also sends the message that the poor must fend for themselves and only the strongest survive. The common idea among most of the rich is that they have no responsibility towards the poor and shouldn't help them because for most part they must be lazy if they are poor. I hear this a lot even from Christians. While that might be a pervasive cultural thought it is not way God thinks.  The truth is many single mom's struggle to make ends meet every month while fathers go on living their life absent from their children's lives. A whole generation of children have been raised without one or both parents due to divorce, drugs, abuse, death or crime. I meet them everyday when my children bring their friends over.

Unfortunately, as a result of this Capitalistic mindset the church has spent decades building bigger barns or ministries instead of offering a solution to a fatherless generation, single parents and widows. Just yesterday my husband took the time to help a young man who lost his mother at 14 years old and lost his father when he accidently got shot by police in a crossfire. This young man had also served in Afghanistan. He was also taking care of his brother's children while attending school. These are the types of people we need to extend our time, love and resources to.

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1:27
Recently, I watched a documentary on some man claiming to be Jesus in Russia and people were flocking to him by the van load. Why?  This ex-police officer bought some land and set up communal living in the beautiful countryside.  Everyone there contributes to the well being of the community. They plant their own food, live healthy and they live in peace. When the reporter asked the people why they went to live there it was for three reasons: food, shelter and peaceful living.  None of those had to do with doctrine or truth. They didn't seem to care what this fake Jesus believed because he showed them he cared. We need to offer real solutions to people's problems. The truth is Catholics do more for the poor than their Protestant counterparts. Mormons take care of their own church family members better than we do. At one point in time we were sending out more missionaries into the world than any other religion. Now Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists outnumber us on the streets. Why? We have become part of a new revival Chad Taylor coined as the "Revival of No Responsibility."

From the pulpit to the pew; Capitalism has become pervasive way of life. I will call this "Building Bigger Barns" syndrome. We have spent years building crystal cathedrals while the city was being taken over by gangs, poverty and being laid waste by the enemy.  We have stored up for ourselves closets full of stuff while others walk around in the same clothes day after day. We have filled up our tables for Thanksgiving while others around us have no food. We don't even bother to ask people in the church if they have anywhere to go on the holidays. We eat at the restaurants every Sunday with the church elite while others go home to empty refrigerators. We throw our left over change in a basket and think God is pleased. Is He? This reminds me of a story in the bible about a man who had gotten an abundance of wealth but instead of giving the extra to others he decided to build bigger barns.

And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ ²¹ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:19-21

I used to be a property manager of a storage and believe it or not the number one thing that always intrigued me was how people could not let go of their stuff. I knew one man that paid $249. a month for two storages that were filled with newspaper from top to bottom. One day I had to ask him why he had so many newspapers. He told me he read the health articles. Wow! This is a great example of how many of us are filled with knowledge but are really in the dark about our mental and spiritual state. This is so sad.

Ever watch those hoarder shows on TV? There has been times when some of these people have been found buried under their possessions. Our nation is literally drowning in stuff while the rest of the world lives in poverty! Our nation throws away food by the tons! The stores destroy it so no one can get it out of their garbage cans. This is selfish behavior. The military throws away rations that have expired. My husband has seen it personally. Yet, the nation of Israel always allowed their poor to glean the fields after harvesting.

Do you remember the story of the rich young ruler? Here is a recap: A young man offers to follow Jesus. This young man had lived a very obedient life to God but couldn't let go of one thing... ²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” ²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Matthew 19:21-22
I want you to note that Jesus did not ask him to give the money to tax collectors, the temple or even His own ministry. He said to give it to the poor.

He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, And He will pay back what he has given.
Proverbs 19:17

In conclusion, if we are to truly to become love in action we must first start loving people unconditionally. We can't judge people because of their social status and feel justified for not showing mercy because somehow they did not climb out of the hole by themselves. That was the attitude the Pharisees had in the bible. They failed to be good Samaritans because they walked around the problem instead dealt with the issues at hand. If you are to be a true follower of Christ you will not mind getting in the trenches with the poor, homeless, sick, prisoner and forgotten. This is what Jesus did when He came to rescue you. First, we must start by providing for our own household then the household of faith. Pray and ask God what you can do to become the answer to someone else's problem then Be The Church!

Part two: Why God Is Not A Democrat!
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