Blind Pharisee!

Matthew 23:26 (first two words)

It is one of the saddest thing not to be able to see.  In the natural, it means you cannot see the natural creation.  Blindness in the spirit, of course, means you cannot see the spiritual creation, the heavens.

There is something about seeing in the spirit.  John was there, when he wrote his apocalypse.  Ezekiel was there when he saw his visions by the river Chebar.

You don’t need to be a prophet to see in the spirit these days.  Since the day of Pentecost, when all the disciples were gathered in one place together, and God poured forth His Spirit, it is available to every believer to dream dreams and see visions.

But, when you start to see in the spirit, you are met with some pretty drastic choices.  For the sincere Christian, this is alright, because all our choices are found in Jesus Christ.

You see, today, many people want a form of Christianity, a form of religion, that has very little to do with God Himself.  It has nothing to do with prayer, it has nothing to do with prophecy.  It has nothing to do with miracles.  They want to live a lie to let themselves feel better.

Some people are sincere in it, but the system is wrong.  The institution is wicked.

For most modern Christians, the words of Paul “Live by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16) have little or no meaning.  How do we know for sure?  Because, as the rest of the verse indicates, if you were doing that, you would not gratify the desires of the flesh.  If you are walking by the Spirit, you do not gratify them.  If you are gratifying the desires of your flesh, you are not walking by the Spirit.  It’s that simple.

But, people don’t want simple.  People want excuses.

They want to say, and they do, over and over on YouTube,  say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right.” (Isaiah 30:10).  Further, many go on to fill out the rest of the verse, “Speak to us pleasant words, prophecy illusions.”

When you see in the Spirit, with the light of the gospel, you do not walk in darkness, but you have the light of life, as Jesus said (John 8:12).

You see, God appointed for some to be teachers (1 Corinthians 12:28).  Yet, He still wants to be our ultimate teacher.  We submit one to another, but we come together to be brothers, not a hierarchy.

We have one Father, even God.  We have one teacher, even the Spirit.  We have one master, even the Lord Himself.

When we teach others who God is, without a primary component of that being how to find out for themselves, we say that God is not capable of doing a good enough job to teach others like He has taught us.

If the purpose of the five-fold ministry of Ephesians 4:11-12 was to equip and bring to maturity, then, being mature, we should be stable, and able to be instructed by the Lord in all good things.

Every revival breakthrough ever has always come from someone hearing from God.  Every revival will always stop when people look more to a man who has heard from God, and do not transition into hearing from God themselves.  God wants to be their teacher, and He will not share his office as King.  Your job is to get them there, and to help provide a proper framework where faith can arise and Kingdom priorities are maintained.  Anything else is beyond the charter of the New Testament.  There will always be a job for pastoral gifts, and there will always be a need for teachers, evangelists, and the rest, but if the focus isn’t equipping, we have fallen short.

Man’s words are not sufficient to produce faith, breath, or life.  Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word the proceeds forth from God’s lips (Matthew 4:4).

These words written here are not sufficient.  It is the Word, the Bible, that produces faith.  It is the scriptures where are useful for teaching, correcting, and rebuking.

The goal of ministry is to assist people to Christ.  The effect of ministry today, too often, is to bind people to ones self.  With a fair bit of understanding why, and all the mercy required.  Working with people is hard at times.  People are demanding of time, energy, focus.  When you finally get that all worked out, if you still have time to spend with your family, you still have to pay the bills.  But, ministry without a living, active faith, that energizes and releases people into freedom in their relationship with Jesus through His Spirit is meaningless.

Unless we help people to see Jesus, to hear from Him, instead of us, we have missed the mark.