Agenda vs. the Holy Spirit
One must never be scared to turn over a meeting to the absolute control of the Holy Spirit.
He is the “time keeper par excellence.”
One can have agenda but hold it loosely in light of the Holy Spirit’s wishes.
Having an agenda and giving absolute control to the Holy Spirit should never be at odds. It’s not an “either or” proposition. It should be an “and.”
The church is shortsighted in keeping to agenda at the expense of giving the Holy Spirit second place.
This philosophy has placed the church in a weak position and made it religious and unappetizing.
The Holy Spirit is not religious. He is exciting. Man is religious.
Religion is man’s attempt to box the Holy Spirit because agenda is worshiped more than the Holy Spirit.
The need to hold on to agenda at the expense of the Holy Spirit’s wishes, is the need to control through fear. This fear can be the fear of failure.
Yet man has not learned that if he puts the Holy Spirit’s wishes before agenda, he will never fail, because God never fails.
It should always be, have an agenda, but put it second to the Holy Spirit’s wishes and be prepared to change it if He says to. This is a key to revival power.
Apostles
John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
An apostle is one who is sent out on a commission by another. The apostle himself is of no importance.
The only “Person of Interest” to the apostle is the Holy Spirit.
The mission of the master, who sent the apostle, and his precise representation of his master’s wishes, is the only thing which counts to the apostle.
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
The apostle is an ambassador, because he comes as sent to represent another. Therefore, apostles are messengers with the full credentials, and authority, of their master. They function in God’s power
Luke 9: 1 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.
Do you think that you may be an apostle?
There must passion to die with Christ on the cross so that the resurrection life of Christ can be visibly manifested through you. If you yearn to manifest the living Christ to others through death of yourself you may be an apostle.
Philippians 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body), whether it be by life, or by death.
The apostle Paul’s hunger was to make his life into a magnifying glass that would make Jesus Christ great.
2Cor 4:12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
The death of Christ is as an “energy dynamo” that is always at work .
We are always being handed over to death, so that the very life of Christ can be energized for the sakes of others. Most of us put limits on how far “God can take us”.
2Cor 13:4 For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.
Is your passion to live solely by the power of the risen Christ within you? You may be an apostle.
Gal 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
This is one of my favorite apostolic scriptures. Only the Christ formed in you, through death and resurrection has strength and power to accomplish anything of lasting value.
Is your desire to be so filled with Christ after failing countless times to accomplish anything by your own power? Have you discovered that only Christ manifested will give you the victory?
1Cor 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Listen to Paul’s wisdom.
2 Cor1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: (Literally Paul asks, “Am I going to save myself by earthly efforts? My answer is NO!! I MUST DIE!! ONLY IN CHRIST AND THROUGH CHRIST)
Church
The church depends on the apostles’ and prophets’ revelatory gifts to manifest Christ Jesus in His glory. A church can only build as effectively as the manifestation or revelation of Christ is within it! (Please remember that)
A healthy church must have a leadership inclusive of fivefold ministers.
Eph 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
Ephesians 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Agenda and money alone will never create for a healthy church.
A church should have little to do with programs and outreaches which are not based on the strict directive of Christ Jesus.
A church has much to do in making the invisible Christ, visible, through the effective operation of His Body.
The very person of Jesus Christ filling, fulfilling, directing, governing, and speaking to and through a local church is the only thing that will last.
Revelation 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
Ephesians 2:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
What is the true purpose of a church?
Any local congregation is a manifestation of “The Body of Christ.”
Christ as the head needs a body which will complete Him, and give Him His fullness.
As we need Jesus Christ to complete us, so Christ is incomplete without the church.
If we go to church to listen to a sermon, we have missed the meaning of church.
If we have a pastor who is bent on running a “one-man show,” we have missed the meaning of church.
If we desire to be pew sitters, get fed by a message and go home, we have missed the meaning of church.
The purpose of a local congregation is to give a local representation of a visible Christ Jesus. This is the meaning of glorifying Christ.
John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw (OR TUG) all men unto me.
The church does this by being His body, through the fulfillment of Spirit led ministries, activated through spiritual gifts which every member has been called to execute. There are no permanent pew sitters!
Jose and Mary Alvarez 