Let God Be True and Every Man a Liar
Are We the Structural Church?
by
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During a quiet time one morning, the Lord Jesus spoke to me concerning the Bible studies we were having in our home and gave me a mandate. The mandate was to ask the people attending our Bible study the following four questions: 1) Who is Christ Jesus to you? 2) What do you want from Christ Jesus? 3) What do you think Christ Jesus wants from you? 4) What are willing to do to give Christ Jesus what He wants from you?
After giving the people attending our Bible study the four questions we started with number one, “who is Christ Jesus to you?” I was confronted with blank stares from all those in attendance. I asked why the blank stares and was given the answer, “no one has ever asked us this question before.”
After a few minutes of pondering they began to give me their answers one by one. The answers given would have made any pastor proud, but somehow I knew in my spirit this wasn’t what I was looking for. The answers given were too Christianize, too mechanical if you know what I mean.
Then my wife gave me an answer that totally shook my world and is the foundation for this entire book. At the time we had been married 23 years and you would think that I knew her very well; I was in for a huge surprise! Her answer was, “who is Jesus to me? I don’t know who Jesus is. The only Jesus I know is the Jesus the church has taught me. But I believe the Lord Jesus wants to re-define who He wants to be in my life.” She then added, “what I would like to know is what was it that the early Christians, the Christians in the Book of Acts had that they would literally die for Christ, and this without fear. Because she added, if push came to shove I don’t think I would die for Christ.”
In the world today there are two distinctly different versions of the Body of Christ; God’s version and man’s version.
God’s version of the Body of Christ consists of all those that have called on Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Man’s version of the Body of Christ consists of all those that belong to different denominations. If there are those that disagree with this statement then please tell me why we don’t meet with the church down the
street, or the church around the corner? One way of looking at the division that exists in the church today is this: whenever a denominational church service is held in a building, the only unity you will achieve is the unity of that body of believers alone. For instance; if the church having the service is of the Baptist persuasion, the only people present are Baptists.
Another way of looking at this problem is if you were to somehow have a world wide convention of Baptists, you would only have Baptists present; all other denominations would be excluded. This exercise pertains to all denominations! What the institutional church has to admit is unity in the Body of Christ does not exist in any shape or fashion in the world today and we have to come clean on this matter.
What we haven’t learned as the church (I’m referring to man’s definition of the Body of Christ) through the ages, is that anyone who calls themselves a Christian has the obligation and responsibility to respect the Holy Spirit that dwells in anyone who has called upon Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
The Book of Proverbs gives us constant reminders to Fear the Lord. In fact, the term ‘Fear the Lord’ appears fifteen times in the Book of Proverbs, so this term must be very important to the Father.
One of the paramount aspects of ‘Fearing the Lord’ is to respect the Lord! In Malachi 1: 6 (NIV) the Father commands respect; “A son honors his father and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the respect due Me? If I am a master, where is the respect due Me? says the Lord Almighty.”
You cannot say that you respect the Lord God Almighty and not show respect for the Holy Spirit that dwells in all who have called on the name of Christ Jesus; that is totally impossible! The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity therefore He is God, and God chose to have His Spirit dwell in all who call on the name of His Son. In scripture we are told that we can’t even say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12: 3 (NIV) reads, “Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed’, and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’, except by the Holy Spirit.” If we choose not to respect those who have called on the name of Christ Jesus and have received the Holy Spirit because their denominational beliefs are different than ours, then the title of hypocrite is well deserved. We all stand condemned! What we choose to do is respect our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ only if they believe the way we do.
The Word of God says we have the power of life and death in our tongue, but what is stored up in our heart controls our tongue. Therefore whatever is stored up in your heart, your tongue will speak. Sadly though, we often speak before we think.
What happens is this; in speaking there are four persons listening to every word you speak: 1) The person you’re talking to; 2) The Holy Spirit; 3) The enemy; 4) Yourself. When you speak the Holy Spirit will bring to mind the Word of God to your spirit man, while the enemy will always bring lies and deception to your natural man. Whichever (truth or lie) you allow yourself to believe will then go into your ears and finally into your heart. Thus a cycle has begun that will last your whole entire lifetime.
Luke 6: 45 (NIV) explains to us how this cycle works (and this is the Lord Jesus speaking), “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
How many times have you spoke hurtful, hateful things to someone (and they are usually someone you love dearly) and then apologize saying, ‘I really didn’t mean to say all those things’. The hurtful, hateful things you spoke have been stored up in your heart for a very long time; you were just waiting for an opportunity to bring them out.
Constantly repeating this cycle is what kills relationships, and this includes your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been warned, therefore we are without excuse!
Another important fact to remember is our minds know exactly what we believe and what we don’t believe. Our minds are in constant contact with every cell in our bodies relaying this belief system on a daily basis. If you believe something that is contrary to the Word of God, your mind is relaying this to your entire body.
For example, if your mind doesn’t believe your body can be healed by the Lord Jesus, you will never receive healing. It’s that simple! How many truths in the Word of God that say what the Lord Jesus has provided for you has your mind robbed you of; and this on a consistent basis?
The most amazing and powerful weapon we possess is we have the mind of Christ! 1 Corinthians 2: 15 (NIV) tell us, “The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
Paul in his letter to the Colossians prayed that the people would receive spiritual wisdom and understanding from the Father. Colossians 1: 9-12 (NIV) reads, “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.
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About the Book
We as the church are being looked at by the lost world as a bunch of hypocrites. We need to seriously consider this viewpoint in how we are evangelizing the lost. Currently there are 3,500 people leaving the church from all denominations daily. This is definitely not the Lord’s plan for the Body of Christ. Another statistic showed that from the years 2000 to 2008, 20 million people left the North American church from all denominations.
Matthew 11: 28 (NAS) reads, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” When the Lord Jesus Christ uses the term all, He is referring to every single person on Earth. When the church uses the term all, they are referring to only those who belong to their denomination. This should not be.
I truly believe that the Lord Jesus wants to redefine who He wants to be in each and every one of our lives, if we let Him. The question is, do we want Him to, or are we comfortable with where we are operating as different denominational churches?
What the world is experiencing currently is testimony that business as usual has ended for the entire church world.
About the Author
Victor Perez was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He and his wife, Deborah, have been married for twenty-six years. He is not an author, a famous pastor, or an evangelist. Victor is a perfect example and product of 1 Corinthians 1:27–29 (NIV) which reads; “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”