Prepared as a Bride Beautifully Dressed for Her Husband.

Read Part 1 here

No real church yet. Because the church the bible describes goes like this:

He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. [Ephesians 5.27]

[Picture above by Petr Ovralov, Unsplash].

What Jesus prepares to present to himself is a glorious church. Keep that in mind. And the churches Paul wrote letters to were headed for this direction--the glorious church--because they had apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Yes they had shortcomings, especially the Corinth church, but they were headed for the right direction because they used the equipping tools of God, not the systems of this world.

In fact, when the testimony of Jesus Christ was "confirmed" in them, the Corinthian believers didn't "lack any spiritual gift" as they eagerly waited for the revelation of Jesus Christ [1 Corinthians 1.6-8]. They were on the right track--they had nothing of the world whatsoever--until something went terribly wrong. So Paul had to correct them. Paul as an apostle had the authority to do that with power.

Problem today is, the modern church has no apostles. A pastor's authority goes only as far as caring for the flock is concerned, not direct the church according to the blueprints from heaven. If there are apostles today, they operate separately from each other (and separately from prophets), united only in alliances or conferences. Very superficial. That's not what God has in mind. The unity should be as the Father and Son are one. This has not materialized, so therefore, no real church yet.

What would set the modern church heading for the glorious church? The equipment of God which is supernatural and spiritual. And foremost are the anointed offices of the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastors and teachers. Why? Because Jesus is all five and he is the Head of the church. Even in anatomy, the body cannot be united and coordinated except by the head.

Therefore, you can't say that Jesus today is no longer an apostle or prophet and insist that he's just become an evangelist, pastor and teacher. The head cannot be incomplete. Worse, the decapitated body is trying to move on its own. God started the church with all 5 offices and he meant it to continue and finish will all 5 intact.

And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. [1 Corinthians 12.28]

See that? As long as you call yourself "church" you ought to have the above. You cannot change or delete that passage and say there's no more apostles and prophets. If you do, then you are no longer "church." Because the bible defines church as having them. Thus, there's no real church yet today. What we have at best are church organizations or perhaps para-churches.

I heard one argument that said the office of the apostle stopped with the 12 because in Revelation only 12 apostles and 12 patriarchs were allotted. So this means Paul was counted out because Matthias replaced Judas, not Paul. If so, then Paul was not an apostle. So wasn't Barnabas and the others referred to as apostles in Acts. Then Acts is wrong.

And because the modern church lacks the supernatural equipping of God, it does everything in the ways of the world. Its idea of equipping is sending believers to seminars to learn how to pray, how to disciple, how to evangelize, how to worship, and so on. Or send them to institutions like bible schools and seminaries where they have to complete requirements, pass examinations and graduate--all of which the world also does. Jesus never used them.

In Acts, no one was taught how to evangelize or disciple or worship or pray, much less attend seminars on them. What the apostles taught was how to move in the realms of God. Paul said,

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people...

Peter said,

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

They didn't organize seminars or workshops for these. They taught them to pursue after Jesus and his Holy Spirit and be filled with Him. Paul said be filled with the Holy Spirit and Jesus said wait for the gift the Father has promised. Divine revelation made them learn and understand. Because the Holy Spirit in you teaches you all things, they were taught directly  from above and God's anointed servants helped them fan these gifts into flame. Equipping came with waiting, praying, and immersing oneself in God's Word. Jesus taught his disciples how to pray and that was it. They got the whole picture so that no seminars or workshops on prayer was done in Acts.

Everything was supernatural. The Holy Spirit moved and acted and stimulated the saints. God did the equipping through his anointed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. You will find nothing of the kind in the world--in corporations and businesses. Today, the modern church even has chairmen, presidents, directors, superintendents and what-have-you which are all derived from the secular world, not the Scriptures. Funny how the church has all the positions you can name but have no apostles and prophets.

This is the problem when the church does not devote itself to apostolic teachings. Jesus being the apostle and high priest whom we confess, his teachings are apostolic.

The real church is the glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any blemish. Perfect spiritually. Perfect in God's eyes. Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, says Jesus. If he says so, it should be pursued. But the modern church keeps saying "there is no perfect church" (see how it contradicts what the bible says?) and insists that God accepts it as it is because of grace. Well, God's grace is an enabling power too, not just for bestowing mercy on the undeserving.

At least, the modern church should start pursuing God's plan and abandon its earthly programs and methodology. It should be headed for this direction, press on, and not deviate. Yes, there will be failures and shortfalls now and then, but it's all part of the training. I failed lots of times with miraculous healing and other miracles (often put to shame and ridiculed), but I pursued Jesus until I got them right. The key is to pursue Jesus, not the gift or anything else, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Then real, genuine church in Jesus Christ starts, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for Jesus. Then God starts moving mightily in our midst and church starts really affecting the nations as the Acts church did, turning the world upside down. As it is, it's the world turning the church upside down.

Continued here...

Present MOVE: Seeing the UNSEEN in real time.