The Body Breaking Free
1 Corinthians 11:27Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 33Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
In the midst of the churches there is a body. We must discern it. Going to church isn't the same as being the body. Being the body is directly related to drinking the Spirit. All who drink of the Spirit are the body.
1 Corinthians 12:12For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
The end times are the time the body will arise....for the first time since the book of Acts, the body will be seen as one...and it will happen in agreement with 1 Cor 11-14...The gifts will manifest in a company of people.
Even now, the body is breaking free of the constraints artificially imposed on it by professionalism in the church. The church was never supposed to be run by professionals, but rather by arms, legs, ears, and eyes...by people doing what they are made to do and are learning to do better.
Much of the spiritual boredom the church experiences is simply a numbness from being held in the same place too long. If I rest my foot on the stool in front of me for too long without moving it, my leg becomes numb, and even pained. The body needs to move....it needs to fulfill it's function and destiny constrained by nothing but the Holy Spirit and love. The body will not sit idle forever...even now it is coming out of the constraints.
This is the point of 1 Corinthians 11-14. The lack of love in Corinth had led to a lack of yielding to the restraint of the Holy Spirit, which led to a lack of discernment of the body. The church was out of order, and the body was dying...it was literally sick.
If we want life to flow through the body, then the choices we make are to discern the body, to set our hearts into the restraint of the Spirit, and to grow in love...setting aside the desires for control and orchestrated security (putting on a good show week after week) instead desiring the Holy Spirit to have His way in teaching us selflessness, humility, and love publicly.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. Not freedom to elevate, segregate, and dominate, but rather freedom to move in the thing each part of the body is called to. Not freedom to make church my career, but rather freedom to make my calling and election sure....freedom to let power move through me for the profit of others, not just myself.
1 Corinthians 12:4There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,
9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. 12For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
The end time body is unprofessional, by definition. The honorable is left to itself, while the areas lacking honor are covered in more honor...not in lipservice, but rather in truth. The "culture of honor" being taught to many parts of the church is mostly about honor spread between leaders...ministries honoring ministries. This is a small part of the honor the Bible is describing, which is honor within families of believers. Calling the small into the place the big desires and the big taking the place of the small. This is supernatural honor, not just good manners.
The end time body emerging from the churches is empowered by apostles to go ahead of the apostles....it is given vision by prophets to move beyond the word of the prophet, it is taught to teach itself, it is shown miracles to take the same miraculous power and grow it, it is healed and then empowered to heal more, it is administered not to control, but rather to break free. It's tounges are unleashed and understood and heeded. This is so rare...to find the five-fold calling the body beyond the five-fold...but this is the true five-fold.
Ephesians 4:11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that 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, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. 17This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
The true body isn't trying to mimic the professionalism of the world's stages and platforms....it doesn't have greenrooms where the few actors and performers regroup to go on stage one more time....the show doesn't go on for the body. No. The body is self replenishing, distributing honor, empowering all of it's parts to move and serve....it continually calls up so nothing burns out...can you imagine Paul, or Peter, or John instructing the "performers" of the first century church on how to manage their careers so they wouldn't burn out?! Of course not, they instructed all to choose humility and service...to run a race of denial of self.
Revelation 3:7“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David,He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9“Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11“Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 33Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
In the midst of the churches there is a body. We must discern it. Going to church isn't the same as being the body. Being the body is directly related to drinking the Spirit. All who drink of the Spirit are the body.
1 Corinthians 12:12For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
The end times are the time the body will arise....for the first time since the book of Acts, the body will be seen as one...and it will happen in agreement with 1 Cor 11-14...The gifts will manifest in a company of people.
Even now, the body is breaking free of the constraints artificially imposed on it by professionalism in the church. The church was never supposed to be run by professionals, but rather by arms, legs, ears, and eyes...by people doing what they are made to do and are learning to do better.
Much of the spiritual boredom the church experiences is simply a numbness from being held in the same place too long. If I rest my foot on the stool in front of me for too long without moving it, my leg becomes numb, and even pained. The body needs to move....it needs to fulfill it's function and destiny constrained by nothing but the Holy Spirit and love. The body will not sit idle forever...even now it is coming out of the constraints.
This is the point of 1 Corinthians 11-14. The lack of love in Corinth had led to a lack of yielding to the restraint of the Holy Spirit, which led to a lack of discernment of the body. The church was out of order, and the body was dying...it was literally sick.
If we want life to flow through the body, then the choices we make are to discern the body, to set our hearts into the restraint of the Spirit, and to grow in love...setting aside the desires for control and orchestrated security (putting on a good show week after week) instead desiring the Holy Spirit to have His way in teaching us selflessness, humility, and love publicly.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. Not freedom to elevate, segregate, and dominate, but rather freedom to move in the thing each part of the body is called to. Not freedom to make church my career, but rather freedom to make my calling and election sure....freedom to let power move through me for the profit of others, not just myself.
1 Corinthians 12:4There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,
9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. 12For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
The end time body is unprofessional, by definition. The honorable is left to itself, while the areas lacking honor are covered in more honor...not in lipservice, but rather in truth. The "culture of honor" being taught to many parts of the church is mostly about honor spread between leaders...ministries honoring ministries. This is a small part of the honor the Bible is describing, which is honor within families of believers. Calling the small into the place the big desires and the big taking the place of the small. This is supernatural honor, not just good manners.
The end time body emerging from the churches is empowered by apostles to go ahead of the apostles....it is given vision by prophets to move beyond the word of the prophet, it is taught to teach itself, it is shown miracles to take the same miraculous power and grow it, it is healed and then empowered to heal more, it is administered not to control, but rather to break free. It's tounges are unleashed and understood and heeded. This is so rare...to find the five-fold calling the body beyond the five-fold...but this is the true five-fold.
Ephesians 4:11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that 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, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. 17This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
The true body isn't trying to mimic the professionalism of the world's stages and platforms....it doesn't have greenrooms where the few actors and performers regroup to go on stage one more time....the show doesn't go on for the body. No. The body is self replenishing, distributing honor, empowering all of it's parts to move and serve....it continually calls up so nothing burns out...can you imagine Paul, or Peter, or John instructing the "performers" of the first century church on how to manage their careers so they wouldn't burn out?! Of course not, they instructed all to choose humility and service...to run a race of denial of self.
In many ways, the professional church spends more time mimicking Hollywood than those first apostles...this is Babylon. This is the sick and dying part of the church...it has a reputation of being alive, but it's dead and doesn't even know it! It can't discern the actual body:
Revelation 3:1“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. 3“Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
After Sardis comes Philadelphia, the real body. Weak? Check! Loyal? check! Marginalized? Check! Full of power? You bet! Jesus is going to turn the tables and show off Philadelphia in the last days!
Revelation 3:1“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. 3“Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
After Sardis comes Philadelphia, the real body. Weak? Check! Loyal? check! Marginalized? Check! Full of power? You bet! Jesus is going to turn the tables and show off Philadelphia in the last days!
I see the real body of Jesus emerging, and the false five-fold drying up.
The simple rising up of the body of Jesus will judge every false power structure in the church, it will sift the church. Jesus loves the Church, yes, even Sardis. The body will love the church in truth. The true body will tell the truth about power, honor, and humility.
The simple rising up of the body of Jesus will judge every false power structure in the church, it will sift the church. Jesus loves the Church, yes, even Sardis. The body will love the church in truth. The true body will tell the truth about power, honor, and humility.
Because it drinks the Spirit, the body is free to love without fear. It can't be bought, this unprofessional body....it can't be bargained with....it can't be contained... Only a miracle will bring it forward and nothing short of God can bring it down. By THIS love, an end time generation will know Jesus was sent from the Father...that He is in us, and we in Him, and His glory shall be seen in this reality.
John 17:21“that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
The book of Revelation describes the process of the Father giving Jesus what He prayed for in John 17. No person can give Jesus what He prayed for. Jesus didn't ask us to give Him unity....He is going to give the body unity as we give ourselves....our dreams....our ambitions...our places of power to Jesus. This is what it means to cast a crown down. People won't learn to cast down crowns in heaven! People who learn it on earth will then do it forever in heaven!
Those who cast down their own crown....lay down their own honor to call others to honor... these ones will be filled with power now and forever.
1 Corinthians 12: 23And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31But earnestly desire the bestgifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.
The true five-fold cast down crowns. The false five-fold convinces you to work for them with the future promise of becoming professional like them.
Jannes and Jambres were profossional magicians in Pharaoh's courts. They could mimick the true power for a minute, and then their tricks simply could not compete with the power of the Deliverer working through Moses simple obedience....his humility.... his love.
2 Timothy 3: 1But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was. 10But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, 11persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.14But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
If we don't discern the actual body, we are doomed to become sick and decieved. The body is emerging, coming out of the pain and numbness of being constrained by false structures of "professionals" or want-to-be professionals. The body is going another way. Are we learning to be even more undignified than this?
(Don't hear me wrongly...I'm not saying having your job be at church is invalid, I'm saying professionalizing church is invalid. Many are called to work and get paid by a church. That is different than what I am talking about here.)
John 17:21“that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
The book of Revelation describes the process of the Father giving Jesus what He prayed for in John 17. No person can give Jesus what He prayed for. Jesus didn't ask us to give Him unity....He is going to give the body unity as we give ourselves....our dreams....our ambitions...our places of power to Jesus. This is what it means to cast a crown down. People won't learn to cast down crowns in heaven! People who learn it on earth will then do it forever in heaven!
Those who cast down their own crown....lay down their own honor to call others to honor... these ones will be filled with power now and forever.
1 Corinthians 12: 23And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31But earnestly desire the bestgifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.
The true five-fold cast down crowns. The false five-fold convinces you to work for them with the future promise of becoming professional like them.
Jannes and Jambres were profossional magicians in Pharaoh's courts. They could mimick the true power for a minute, and then their tricks simply could not compete with the power of the Deliverer working through Moses simple obedience....his humility.... his love.
2 Timothy 3: 1But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was. 10But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, 11persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.14But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
If we don't discern the actual body, we are doomed to become sick and decieved. The body is emerging, coming out of the pain and numbness of being constrained by false structures of "professionals" or want-to-be professionals. The body is going another way. Are we learning to be even more undignified than this?
(Don't hear me wrongly...I'm not saying having your job be at church is invalid, I'm saying professionalizing church is invalid. Many are called to work and get paid by a church. That is different than what I am talking about here.)
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