“CHURCH” AS WE KNEW IT - THE OLD WINESKIN...

Many are currently rejoicing that churches are allowed to open up after the 2020 lockdown, and they can’t wait to go back to what they used to enjoy. This may seem quite noble to some, but what they fail to see and understand, is that we have entered a new season. You can’t and shouldn’t pour new wine into an old wineskin…!

The Israelites were called at Mount Sinai to stand close to the mountain and encounter the living God. What an absolutely wonderful invitation! The Israelites, however, chose to fall back (stand far off) and were content to have Moses, the “brave one”, interact with God on their behalf…

Today, God is reissuing the same call that He had given to the Israelites, and we see the exact same thing happening: some, like Moses will draw near, but many will recoil and miss the blessing.

Gold told Moses:

Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:5-6

Such good intentions... yet, sadly, the Israelites didn’t answer the call… Instead of drawing close to the Mountain and entering into a holy encounter with God, they chose to remain far off (Ex 20:18-21):

“They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

Moses, who knew the intentions of God, tried to encourage them:

20 … “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

Nevertheless…

“21 The people remained at a distance… “

Only Aaron and the consecrated ones entered into the priestly calling, and even partook in a meal in the very presence of God ! (Ex 24:1)

But because the Israelites did not take God up on His invitation, they had a limited encounter with Him, and the fear of the Lord did not fall on them as God had intended. Consequently, less than 40 days later, the Israelites forced Aaron to make them a golden calf to worship, forgetting their initial commitment of obedience to God.

Aaron, despite the fact that he had been in the very Presence of God, joined in the people’s folly, which goes to show that a once-off encounter with God will not sustain your faith…

THE PARALLEL

God is calling the Church to become His Kingdom of priests, which means that He wants us all to approach the “Mountain of encounters”- He wants every one of us to come and encounter Him on a very close and personal level. Not just the pastors. Not just the priests. EVERYONE!

If we choose to remain far off, we will miss God’s intended blessing and will have to be content with mediocre Christianity, which is “a form of godliness but denying its power” (2Tim 3:5)

We must understand that a church service once a week is not going to “cut it”. If Aaron, who even dined in the very presence of God, could be led astray, you can too! Like Moses, we need a “present-continuous” relationship with God, built on Word Truth and Spirit-encounters.

This morning as I considered the news of the churches opening up, God spoke to my heart and said:

“Going back to their old ways is the easy thing to do. And then the people will get contaminated and blame ME for not protecting them! Whereas I have never told them to go back! I told them to COME UP!

Consider this conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman:

20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:21-23 NIV

We need to worship our God, as a Body, as a (real) Church, in Spirit and in Truth. In order to understand how to do that, we have to outline :

• what “church” really means, and

• what is meant by “in spirit and in truth”

WHO IS THE CHURCH?

The word “church” comes from the Greek word ecclesia, which means “a called out company or assembly”. It always refers to people, never to a building. Thus, the church of South Africa consists of every believer in our country, whether the person is black, white, indian or asian. It is NOT a denomination and it is not those who think they are the chosen ones based on warped dogma.

The church is a group of people from every tribe and tongue that have one thing in common: they believe that Jesus is the son of God, that He has died for our sins, conquered death through resurrection, and ascended to Heaven alive, and that salvation only comes through Him.

HOW CAN WE BE IN THE SPIRIT

The term “in Spirit” can be defined as: “as guided by Holy Spirit”. The early church developed ways to do things on a practical level (meetings etc), but even these ways varied and evolved according to their circumstances, and especially according to how Holy Spirit guided them. Paul gave guidelines, but these were never meant to become legalistic rules and regulations. God’s way should always be the only way.

As a matter of fact, a much more accurate understanding of “in Spirit” would come from looking at the greek words used in John 4:23. Here, the words “en pneumati” mean “to be in the Breath / Spirit of God” These are exactly the same words used in Rev 1:10 when John was “in the Spirit”. We know from what was described right after those words, that John was not just walking in the spirit, as we are advised to do on a 24/7 basis in Romans 8, Galatians 5, etc. He was worshiping to the degree of being completely enveloped by the Breath of God, ready to receive revelation.

Just before ascension of this year (2020), Holy Spirit told me to start facilitating online meetings “in the Spirit” for the whole duration of the time leading up to Pentecost (10 days). I was willing, but clueless, to say the least. I had no idea what to do or how to do it.

I asked if I should fast. He said no. I asked if I should prepare music for worship. He said no.

He only said: follow my lead, and so I did.

A few of my friends took the leap of faith with me and He started to give us deeper understanding and insight in the Word of Truth, and also started to show us how to enter into the Spirit by means of our imaginations.

I suddenly realised that we were at the same time being anchored in the Truth while meeting and worshiping in the Spirit, and that the combination of the 2 made these encounters extremely powerful. John 4:23 was becoming our reality!!

We experienced profound moments of interaction and revelation. The 7 people that joined me did not know each other, but a supernatural and strong family bond grew almost instantly!

Holy Spirit told me that His intention for us is to learn how to be able to meet in the Spirit as easily offline as we are currently doing online, because a time will come when neither physical nor online meetings will be possible. We will literally close our eyes and be in the spirit with the rest of the Body instantly…!

Sounds impossible? Well, to tell you the truth, there are many Christians who are already doing this in countries where they are being persecuted.

SO… WHAT NOW? WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?

Whatever you do... DON’T try to get dressed up again in that old wineskin! It is time to engage in the new season that God is initiating. I know it’s not nice to move out of our comfort zone, but very soon you won’t regret anything that you have left behind!

I have no doubt that a multitude of “in Spirit” sessions will start popping up everywhere. Just make sure that they are anchored in the Word and not just loosely drifting in a spiritual experience - even the devil is a spiritual being and many are being lead astray by new age engagements. You don’t want to do counterfeit spirituality, you want the Authentic Stuff!

In the meantime, there are so many great teachers that you can listen to on Youtube to get properly fed on the Word (I have a few suggestions on my blog site). Again, apply discernment and measure all things against the Word.

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I want to answer the call. I want to worship our God in Spirit and in Truth. I want to go up!

So, I won’t be going back to “church”... and I wonder who will be brave enough to join me?