Stumbling Blocks That Delay Transformation

Stumbling Blocks That Delay Church Transformation

—by Gordon Claasen

Ibelieve that the Church has received a prophetic mandate from God that every generation of believers must ful l. We must, at all costs, protect the evolution of the mission of the Church and ensure no one will stop it. One important element of our prophetic mandate is to be partakers with Christ to build His Church. If we acknowledge that Christ is the Master Builder, then we must allow Him to provide blueprints for church building, and not impose our own will and desires on the church.

The question of Jesus to Peter in Matthew 16:13 is still relevant today, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am.” Equally important was the answer of Peter, “You are the Christ, the

Son of the living God.” Our revelation of Christ must precede our understanding of the Church. Peter rst had a correct view of Christ before he was given the keys (authority) to build a church on earth. Seek the Lord If we are going to build a church rst, without a clear and accurate picture of Christ, then we are going to build religious institutions that do not exist in the mind of Christ. We are going to build programmes that will bring distortion to the image of God in our youth. Every youth gathering must be Christ-centred and not an outlet for entertainment. The ‘baby Jesus’ in a manger for our Sunday school lessons undermine Jesus, the Perfect Man, because our academic minds think that children cannot understand when the Holy Spirit speaks to them. An incorrect understanding An incorrect and incomplete revelation of Christ will limit our pulpits and will produce immature and insu cient believers who cannot e ectively respond to the challenges of our day. We must therefore restore the central message of Christianity which is Christ and Christ alone, rather than church traditions. The doctrine of sonship

The Church has received a The last part of Peter’s answer was: “… Son of the Living God”. The Biblical meanprophetic mandate from ing of a son refers to a mature and perGod that every generation of fect person. There is no record that Jesus believers must ful l. performed miracles while He was still a baby – only at the age of thirty, which according to Jewish tradition was a mature person. It was only then that the wind, g tree, sea, and demons responded to His voice. Why? They recognised a son and not a baby. The doctrine of sonship is a lost ancient doctrine that needs to be restored to the church. Without the restoration of this critical missing piece, the systems of this world will not adequately respond to the voice of the Church. Only a mature church in its sonship position can e ectively address the issues of corruption, injustice, inequality, racism, pandemics, and so forth. The absence of these critical bodily expressions of our doctrine will cause stumbling blocks and delays in ful lling serious parts of our prophetic mandate… …this article will be continued in the next issue of JOY! Magazine.  GORDON CLAASEN – Senior pastor and founder of Kingdom Reign Ministries. He hosts events to equip leaders with the Word. Contact him by email: o ce@kingdomreign.co.za