This is the fourth and final installment about the church being called to be prophetic. My desire is to get people to think seriously as to whether the church is functioning as Jesus intended, or merely being a weak representation of Jesus himself. The church has needed to go through pruning many times since Jesus rose from the dead because, like so many things, we tend to drift from God’s word and from his purpose. Each period in church history when the church has gone off course men and women were raised up to challenge the statius quo, not to hurt the church but to make it healthy. May people say they long for revival. “True Revival” is often painful, but it is necessary. If you haven’t read the first three articles please do so to get the big picture on this most important topic on the prophetic.

This is the third installment in a discussion exploring whether we are building a prophetic church.  Previously, I wrote about coming to Christ in 1969 due, in part, to people walking in the prophetic.  I discovered that Jesus was speaking to me and countless others like me.  I learned that simple, obedient Christians who took the scripture at face value could learn how to hear God’s voice and give away the messages they heard.  Simple, obedient Christians helped others realize that Jesus is still alive and transforming people today.  If you have not already, please read the first two installments of this series to better understand the overall message about being a prophetic church.

We have been exploring the idea of how easy it is to get stuck in “Yesterday” and fail to move forward in today and tomorrow. Our memories are a wonderful thing that God gave us but some memories can be a hindrance toward gaining the inheritance that God’s Word promises us. Those memories can be good or bad.  Sometimes good experiences cause us to reject new ones and cause us to get stuck. Bad experiences are generally used by the enemy to trap us in the past.  If you haven’t read the first part of this series,please read that one first.

All of us have a past, and from my experience we all have at least one major event that has the potential to keep us stuck in pain and disappointment. If you find yourself heading there, or are currently stuck, read on and learn from one of the greatest men of the Old Testament.

I can’t tell you the exact number of hours or even days I have read God’s Word, not the number of hours I have listened to sermons and teachings from the Word of God, but it’s a lot. I’m not trying to brag, just stating the facts. I’m sure many of you could say the same thing, and depending on when you got saved the number of hours we have had in the Word of God would be astronomical. I got saved in the winter of 1969 so for me that would be about 50 years. As I was seeking the Lord this morning the question hit me, “Has The Word Changed You Much?

I started this topic of our common struggle as Christians with doubt and unbelief by saying that many times our assumptions about what the Christian life should look like gets us into real trouble.  We might assume that once we are Christians doubt just disappears because we are disciples of Jesus now. This connection to Jesus doesn’t guarantee less struggle with doubt but actually can intensify it. As unbelievers we walked in deception and now as believers we are trying to walk in truth and reality.  That is difficult! Remember the movie the Matrix?  There is the choice of taking the blue pill, which represents deception and going back to sleep, or choosing the red pill, which exposes us to what is really going on. If you haven’t read the first two articles please do so before reading this one. It will make more sense.

I opened the first article about dealing with doubt by saying that doubts are a part of life, even when we come to faith in Christ. There are “Road Blocks” to faith that happen to all of us, even strong believers, because we have imperfect sight and information. One of the main reasons we are encouraged to read scripture regularly is because all scripture is like a chain link fence of interconnected verses, stories and principles. If we are missing verses, or even whole chapters, we get only a partial understanding. Then we can come to distorted perspectives of who God is and what he is trying to do in our lives. Faulty assumptions don’t just come from things that are untrue, but also can come form misapplied information or truth.

The journey of faith we all face in life is riddled with obstacles, roadblocks and potholes. One of the main hindrances we all encounter is doubt and unbelief. When we can’t or don’t know how to honestly trust God with out life decisions we become trapped in a world of unbelief while confessing the opposite.

In this study I have proposed a few key attitudes and behaviors that gain favor with God. In the first article we learned that having favor with God is developed and acquired through choice and discipline. Proverbs 12:2 states that “A good man obtains favor from God.”  In other words, our choices and conduct affect our standing, either good or bad, with God.

We have been looking into what the “Favor” of God means as well as the importance of how you grow in Favor with God. From my experience, this subject is rarely talked about because so many pastors and teachers are afraid of being labeled a “Works” person. The subject of God’s grace is so hammered into most Christians that people are often blind to the obvious truth that what we do matters. If you haven’t read the first two article in this series, please read those first before continuing with this one.

The incorrect belief about grace and works clouds the ability of many to reason out the scripture with common sense. In Romans, Paul challenged young believers to be renewed in their thinking because their pagan upbringing clouded their reasoning and judgement. By challenging believers to get “renewed” or “rewired” they could think more clearly and reason out the scripture as they were intended to be understood. The Jews in days of Jesus thought much like the religious people of our day who learn scripture but never really apply them.