TEACHING
Stumbling Blocks That Delay Church Transformation —by Gordon Claasen
I
believe that the Church has received a prophetic mandate understand when the from God that every generation of believers must fulfil. We Holy Spirit speaks to them. must, at all costs, protect the evolution of the mission of the Church and ensure no one will stop it. One important element of An incorrect understanding our prophetic mandate is to be partakers with Christ to build His An incorrect and incomplete revelation of Christ will limit our Church. If we acknowledge that Christ is the Master Builder, then pulpits and will produce immature and insufficient believers who we must allow Him to provide blueprints for church building, and cannot effectively respond to the challenges of our day. We must not impose our own will and desires on the church. therefore restore the central message of Christianity which is The question of Jesus to Peter in Matthew 16:13 is still relevant Christ and Christ alone, rather than church traditions. today, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am.” Equally important was the The doctrine of sonship answer of Peter, “You are the Christ, the The last part of Peter’s answer was: “… The Church has received a Son of the living God.” Our revelation of Son of the Living God”. The Biblical meanprophetic mandate from Christ must precede our undering of a son refers to a mature and perstanding of the Church. Pefect person. There is no record that Jesus God that every generation of ter first had a correct view of performed miracles while He was still a believers must fulfil. Christ before he was given baby – only at the age of thirty, which acthe keys (authority) to build cording to Jewish tradition was a mature a church on earth. person. It was only then that the wind, fig tree, sea, and demons responded to His voice. Why? They recognised a son and not a baby. The doctrine of Seek the Lord If we are going to build a church sonship is a lost ancient doctrine that needs to be restored to the first, without a clear and accurate church. Without the restoration of this critical missing piece, the picture of Christ, then we are systems of this world will not adequately respond to the voice going to build religious institu- of the Church. Only a mature church in its sonship position can tions that do not exist in the mind effectively address the issues of corruption, injustice, inequality, of Christ. We are going to build racism, pandemics, and so forth. The absence of these critical programmes that will bring distor- bodily expressions of our doctrine will cause tion to the image of God in our stumbling blocks and delays in fulfilling serious youth. Every youth gathering must parts of our prophetic mandate… be Christ-centred and not an outlet for entertainment. …this article will be continued in the next The ‘baby Jesus’ in a man- issue of JOY! Magazine. ger for our Sunday school lessons undermine Jesus, the Perfect Man, because GORDON CLAASEN – Senior pastor and our academic minds founder of Kingdom Reign Ministries. He hosts events to equip leaders with think that the Word. Contact him by email: children cannot office@kingdomreign.co.za JOY! MAGAZINE 15
