Breaking The Gravitational Forces of Comfort – By Thomas J. Koester

Do you want to be comfortable, or do you want to be free?

Wow, this past summer was a good reminder at how much Toni and I enjoy being comfortable! The temperature had reached 108, one day when our power suddenly went out! I’m not sure why, but most of Copperopolis had no power for well over six hours. Without air conditioning, our home quickly got very uncomfortable!

We love being comfortable, as I’m sure you do too. But, for many people throughout the world, being uncomfortable is normal, and not just about climate issues either.

The truth is we were not created for a comfortable life. I think that deep within our hearts, many of us are longing to break free from routine and a comfortable life – we’re searching for something more. God’s Word tells of countless stories of risk takers joining Him to do enormous feats of faith. These stories tell us that a freed heart, acting on faith, can do the impossible with God.

Isn’t that what you want also to do the impossible with God?

What I’m talking about here is pushing against the gravitational forces of comfort and guarantees. To do so, it will require us to break the chains of fear. Fear is a weighty force, keeping us from our divine purpose. Fear is the enemy of the heart, and the heart is needed in order to follow God.

It’s always the heart that challenges our mind and body to achieve great things. To listen to your heart is indeed a scary and costly proposition. But, it is absolutely necessary if you truly want to live and to be free!

Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to: “above all, guard your hearts, for from it flows the source of life.”

If we are to be free from the mundane, humdrum life, we must be willing and brave enough to tap into the source of life and follow God into the unknown — into the impossible.

God doesn’t require us to know much, but to simply trust and follow Him. He’ll train the stouthearted during the journey. He’s after our passion and our faith. Neither of these two precious qualities happens while sitting in our offices or on sofas, or for that matter, even while enjoying our Sunday morning service, sitting on our favorite pew or chair.

Pushing against the gravitational forces of comfort and all the niceties of guarantees is where it begins. Do nothing, and neither you nor God are pleased.

What happens when you’re willing to break free from the cozy comforts?

Well, God awakens hidden desires that he put into our hearts long before we were born. He won’t awaken our desire until we’re willing and ready to venture with Him and courageously risk doing His will.

God spoke to Abram and invited him to a new and better land that He would show him along the way. In spite of all that was comfortable and familiar, Abram said, “Yes,” and God began the journey by explaining to this childless 75-year-old man that he would become the father of many nations.

Do you see how God awakens a forgotten and hidden desire in the childless Abram?

Many years later, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham, meaning: “Father of Many,” and tells this old man that his aged wife, Sarah, would bear him a son.

Miracles will only happen when you are willing to risk with God beyond your comforts.

You must be willing to risk the familiar for the unfamiliar. If you want freedom and a true identity, you must break the chains binding you to earth and all its comforts. Free yourself from the gravitational forces of fear, worry, doubt, and all the what ifs holding and weighing you down.

Isn’t that worth the risk of following God with our hearts and to love Him with everything we’ve got?

Do you want to be comfortable, or do you want to be free?

A Living Body or The Tired Minister – By Thomas J. Koester

“Here lies a faithful parishioner that never missed a Sunday morning service.”

Matthew 18:19-20

Amplified Bible

“Again I say to you, that if two believers on earth agree [that is, are of one mind, in harmony] about anything that they ask [within the will of God], it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in My name [meeting together as My followers], I am there among them.”

When the Church comes together in perfect unity, we form an abode or a habitation for the presence of God. It is our connecting and unity that creates the Church and not a building. What fills the Church is, therefore, not sinners but saints. Each is filled with the Holy Spirit and the likeness of Christ. We know we have achieved this when we have unconditional love for one another and respect and honor for those who are our servant-leaders.

This is not about the perfection of both the saints and those who lead. It’s about perfect love and devotion to Christ and his teaching. When we are devoted to Christ and his ways, grace, mercy, and love prevails. When we focus on the failings of one another, and especially those who must give an account to the Lord for their servant-leadership, there is no abiding presence of God. Unity is thwarted, the glory of God departs, and we simply become a building of brick and mortar.

Christ will not fill a building, no matter how pretty or architecturally pleasing it may be. He fills his people and, in a special way, when they gather in unity of faith, love, and sound teaching.

When we have unconditional love and forgiveness towards one another, and when we honor those in authority over us who must give an account to God, Christ dwells in our midst. Even when our gatherings are as few as two or three and have no building to gather in—we are the Church.

The concept and identity of the Church, which, by the way, is living and active, is not summed up by Sunday services. The reason why Christ said, “where two or three are gathered in my name there am I in their midst,” is not meant to be concealed by a building or regulated by a 90 minute service, but to become a mobile spiritual habitation of the glorious presence of God. Therefore, we are to be missional, just as Christ was during his earthly ministry. Right? Jesus didn’t set up shop at some local corner with a sign on the window, advertising, “open for business.” No! He went to where people gathered!

Stop “going” to Church and become the Church! Start loving, honoring, and preferring one another. Keep forgiving and loving one another as Christ has forgiven and loved you. Serve one another, as actually serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Do everything out of love and respect for the Lord. Devote yourselves to studying and reading the scriptures and practicing the presence of God within your own hearts and souls so that you may become a whole and a holy people when you gather. When the world sees your love for one another, they will believe your message!

Ministry is not meant for the minister. Rather, ministers are to teach the Church to minister first to one another and then to the world. Our individual and corporate maturity depends on each person operating in the spiritual gift given them by the Holy Spirit. The gifts given by Christ to the Church are offices, such as apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and teachers. These offices are to train and equip the Church to do the work of ministry.

The officers are not meant to do all the work but to empower the church to carry out the work of ministry so that we all may reach maturity. An immature Church is one who produces spectators, which only increase from transient, church hopping attendees that are only devoted to themselves, and introverted church programs.

To the immature church, tithes, gifts, and offerings are only needed for self-sufficiency and to sustain the ministry strictly for the ministered. The tragic reality is that many churches simply send 10% of their revenue from tithes to missionaries rather than sending out people on a mission. Jesus Christ didn’t die to create token churches. Churches are not meant to become cemeteries of dead saints, scattered in the landscape, or sitting in church pews disengaged from ministry.

Did you know that recent studies have shown that sitting is more deadlier than smoking? Sitting around as Christians and as a church community is deadly to our testimony and our future glory.

An alive church is one that reproduces apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and teachers. An alive church recognizes the expansion of the Kingdom of Heaven rather than the expansion of their sanctuaries. The alive Church sends people out and evangelizes new converts to take their place.

Time, talent, and treasure are outwardly focused on inwardly spirit-filled saints, gathered with an outward, unified conscience of obedience, and a call to “mission impossible,” rather than a mission for dead saints.

Letters in Red (said by Jesus): “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.” – Matthew 18:18-20 (NKJV)

Become alive in Christ. Live life to the fullest in Christ. Aid and pray for your pastors. Pastors, train your congregations, and do not just preach at them.

Could you imagine if all churches became equipping, training, and sending churches?

I think Christ died outside the Temple, so the entire world would see his atonement and would know of his sacrifice.

I think Jesus wants the whole world to see his Church, also outside the Temple, outside of brick and mortar buildings, so all the world would see and know of his love.

We must become more than a location, more than a building on East 3rd and West. 4th Street. We must become a living body.

If not an active and living body, we’ll become nothing more and a pretty building with a tired minister of perpetual ministering to over-ministered people with no mission; landscaped with clusters of graves and headstones. The epitaphs will read:

“Here lies a faithful parishioner that never missed a Sunday morning service.”

That sounds a little, like the servant, who buried his master’s talent into the earth because he was afraid and so risked nothing. Matthew 25:14-30

Be a living body and not a tired old minister preaching to the chior.

Jesus Hired Fishermen And The Church Hires Celebrities – The 21st Century Impotent Church – By Thomas Koester

I think what has actually occurred these past few years is that God has pulled back the curtains. He has done this to show us all how evil our Nation has become, and how perverse our political and corporate leaders actually are on both sides of the political spectrum. God has shined the light on you and me too, to convict us of our own personal wickedness and unfaithfulness.

We should not expect God to bless America until we turn from our personal, corporate, and national sins.

What can the Righteous do when it’s the “Righteous” that are practicing unrighteousness?

It is not the unbeliever or the pagan that is to set the moral standard, but the believer. When a nation loses its moral standing, it is not the fault of unbelievers, NO! We, God’s people, bear the responsibility before God and the country.

The Church has failed to honor Jesus’ Great Commission. It’s the Gospel of the Kingdom, which changes the hearts of men and women, and which preserves a nation. The prosperity gospel, “Christian fads,” Christian this, and Christian that, heavenizing everything we touch is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s conformity to the world standards, and unfaithfulness to Christ Jesus, which has neutralized and besmirched our testimony and witness.

We were supposed to take on the same attitude and humility of Christ Jesus. We were supposed to do the good deeds of Jesus, and even surpass them because he has gone to the Father. We were supposed to be filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered with God’s grace to move mountains and to bring Good News. But instead, we built buildings and hid behind walls and stained glass windows.

Jesus hired fishermen, and the Church hires celebrities and the mighty. We’ve become the Church Impotent of the 21st Century. Let me repeat that:

We have become the Church Impotent, not the Church Important of the 21st Century. If we had been the Important Church, our culture, society, and politics would be reflective of righteousness, fairness, and justice.

Amos 5:23-27

23-27 “I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans, and goals. I’m sick of your fundraising schemes, your public relations, and image-making.

I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.”

Didn’t you, dear family of Israel, worship me faithfully for forty years in the wilderness, bringing the sacrifices and offerings I commanded? How is it you’ve stooped to dragging gimcrack statues of your so-called rulers around, hauling the cheap images of all your star-gods here and there? Since you like them so much, you can take them with you when I drive you into exile beyond Damascus.” God’s Message, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.”

Do you see what happens when we make our Kings our idols [president], and Hollywood type stars our religious gods [pastors, prophets, and priests]?

Tens of thousands of people, families, and businesses have left oppressive governors and states. To where will you go under a Biden/Harris administration? Beyond Damascus?

We have long since abdicated our religious duties and responsibilities to the State, and the State has willingly taken the place of the Church in society.

Authority in a vacuum is always replaced with another authority. In this case, the “New Authority” will not rule according to the Church’s values or ethics. We gave it up willingly for a 501-C3 tax break!

Judgment always begins with the House of God. And, my dear brothers and sisters, this is not the kind of judgment that a rapture will save you from. We did this, and it’s our robes which we have soiled.

Prepare for a season of purification and trials. Not to destroy us, but to bring us back to God that we may take our place in this age and the age to come. That we may once again be the Light and Salt of the earth. That we may preach the true Gospel of the Kingdom, which is actually the real Good News, which the world needs and yearns for. That we may make true disciples.

Turn back to God Churchgoer. Repent Pastor, prophet, and priest. Pour out your lament for yours and our sins. Put ash upon our own heads, and pray that God will grant all of us contrite hearts and godly repentance.

Here’s the Church, And Here’s The Steeple, Open The Doors And Where’s All the People? – By Thomas J. Koester

The COVID-19 virus caused the emptying of 21st-century Christianity’s churches and cathedrals.

While the empty tomb of our Lord and Savior is, and forever, will be the main power source of Christianity, the Social Distancing edict might have inadvertently caused a miracle. Due to COVID-19, maybe empty church buildings will also become, in a small way, (a) power source for modern-day Christianity. Maybe our closed buildings will mean an opening to global evangelism.

The empty tomb meant that the old religious order of continual animal sacrifices was over. It means that the old order of the priesthood was over. It meant that the veil, which separated you and me from direct access to God, was torn down. And very importantly, it meant that where two or more are gathered, there in their midst is the very presences of God, and no longer confined to the temple made by man. It means that even when we are alone, and without each other, that God is with us and in our very own hearts.

God’s people no longer needed priests. God’s people no longer needed animal sacrifices to make atonement. God’s people no longer had to experience His favor and presence by proxy. And, God’s people no longer were confined to a temple made of bricks and mortar.

Because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are free of all the religious trappings and traditions of men and of the consequences of the law. We are free to be the Church wherever we gather, even as few as two people!

Let us capitalize on our present situation and be convinced, once and for all, that we, as God’s people, are the Church. We are the living church. We, you and I, are the bride of Christ. Our church buildings, plain or palatial, were never meant to be the representation of the world.

Although, sadly, Church buildings had become the identity of Christianity. It is my hope that God’s people will be recognized as the Church and regain her position as the living bride of Christ and the center of Christianity.

One Sunday, Toni and I visited a church in Oakdale, California. When we arrived, we walked in and learned that the Church was emptied except for a few people who were preparing a luncheon, later to be enjoyed by the returning congregation. Rather than their typical service, the Church was in the downtown square, assisting their local community. We were actually pleasantly surprised and not at all offended by the empty sanctuary.

Do not be overcome because we cannot presently occupy a building, but celebrate that with or without buildings that we are the Bride of Christ, and that we’re meant to deliver the Gospel of the Kingdom to every nation and to every people. In doing so, our proclamation will hasten the ending and will launch the new beginning that we’ve all been longing for.

For the past 1700 years, Christianity created and built ornate cathedrals with spires and steeples pointing to the heavens.

Let the truth be known:

“Church steeples can be traced back thousands of years to Egypt and pagan worship. Roman Emperor Constantine and his “Edict of Milan” in 313CE made the Empire officially neutral with regard to religion. Eventually, Pagan and Christian symbols were eventually merged at the Council of Nicea in 325CE, and new doctrines and dogmas were set up by the Holy Roman Catholic (meaning universal) Church, and strictly enforced, under penalty of death.”

Since then, this building emphasizes that along with Christianity, continually orbiting ornate and palatial constructs, we’ve ceased going into all the world with the Gospel and instead invited all the world into our buildings. Over time, the contrast between Christianity and “worldlism” diminished. Rather than the world becoming more influenced by Christianity, the world’s influence had crept into our churches and has negated our need for faith and the Great Commission.

Let’s pray that this COVID-19 virus heals Christianity from its obsession with buildings and steeples and instead goes out, even as few as two-by-two, to all the peoples.

God’s blessings and power to the true Living Church and Bride of Christ – Amen