The Church is the collective average of its members.
If we want a church that embraces, lives from, worships within and promotes the story of Jesus, then we have to do the same individually.
The collective average is not where Jesus needs His church to be, or He would have returned. (Matthew 24:14)
To truly transform, we need to grow and develop individually as much as we grow and develop corporately.
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
—2 PETER 1:3 (NLT)
We have been equipped already…
We are being transformed from being just followers to being like him!
Your transformation to being the fullest representation of Jesus you can be is not dependent on what God has yet to do in your circumstances or situation but on what you have yet to do with what He has already done!
ALL of what he has done! (AIR)
The fullest application for the highest inspiration based on the COMPLETE and ongoing revelation of God.
There is always more to our equipping than we think we have already done!
THE CHURCH ACCEPTS JESUS
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
—2 PETER 1:3 (NLT)
JESUS RELEASES THE HOLY SPIRIT
But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.
—JOHN 16:7
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
—JOHN14:15-17
Jesus was an advocate of the Fathers work
The Holy Spirit was an advocate of Jesus’ work
THE CHURCH IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
—JOHN 3:5-8
THE CHURCH IS STILL CAMPING AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS
When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
—MARK 16:19
Living by the spirit creates a purpose in you. It gives you a destiny and a reason to overcome, press forward, and become the hope and the change the world so desperately needs.
THE FLESH IS CONTRARY TO THE SPIRIT
We often reshape our perception of Him into what WE want to believe or how WE want to feel about others, BUT Jesus came to bring us the SPIRIT OF TRUTH about God and His plan for us, and it doesn’t always sound like what you may think.
Anything that presses our flesh towards the Spirit and Truth is us walking out the supernatural.
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
—ROMANS 8:13
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
—ROMANS 8:5
The Church HAS BEEN Equipped
Jesus wants the Church to reach his full redemptive potential.
Believing in Jesus gets you to know that you are good enough to be loved by Him.
Working with the Holy Spirit enables you to show that love to others.
The Church will only reach its full redemptive potential when it moves past its self-improvement phase and enter the Holy Spirit age of being equipped and ready – right where we are.
Most Christians believe that God can do anything, but many of them believe He hasn’t done very much.
When times are tough, sickness is rampant, finances scarce, or relationships rocky, instead of being guided by the Spirit, we often look to the miracles of Jesus.
EQUIPPED THROUGH PREPARATION
No preparation time with God is wasted time.
CARED FOR BY INTERVENTION
The Holy Spirit will intervene, and miracles will happen! If we become miracle hunters, it is time to check if we are daily listening and being counseled by the Holy Spirit.
WALKING IN A STATE OF BEING EQUIPPED
Upping the collective average.
Prayerful Vigilance
Focussed Diligence
Faithful Resilience
A Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church (Equipped Church):
…will be a collection of people that don’t just believe in Jesus but seek their full redemptive potential by pressing into the wonder of being born again in the Spirit.
…will be alive with change and crackling with energy and passion without extremism to fully express our individual God-given purpose.
…will focus on the balance the Spirit brings in their lives and not only on ecstatic experiences.
…revels in the grace and glory of Jesus Christ.
…will come to worship and other meetings with excited expectation and not out of a sense of duty.
… In a truly Spirit-filled and Spirit-led church, visitors will come to see what God is doing among them. They will testify that “God is busy” there. Lives will be transformed in noticeable ways.
…will see the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit, including joy, and the gifts of the Spirit, including many of the gifts like prophecy words from God.
…will be open to the unpredictability of the Spirit in the midst of honoring past and future generations.
…will leave space for the Spirit to move and work in ways that transcend traditional forms.
…will believe in and pray for supernatural interventions of the Spirit in delivering people from bondage to sin and sickness AND, at the same time, helping others be guided by the Spirit towards a lifestyle that honors God.
…will include testimonies of the Holy Spirit’s preparing and caring. Testimonies that give all the credit and glory to God alone.
…will lay all decisions before God for guidance and direction.
…will be outwardly focused with a strong sense of participation in the community. It will expend energy and resources to meet the spiritual and material needs of the communities outside the church.
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