spiritual_corporate

School of the Holy Spirit Series

Spiritual Body - Corporate Structure

By Rev. Dean Niforatos

Transcribed and edited by Bro. Andy Madonio

The Good Soil Discipleship Ministry www.goodsoildiscipleship.homestead.com

Preached at New Life Assembly, Beulah, ND on 10JA00

Opening Prayer: "Jesus, change me forever, starting right now. I open my heart to your Word, in Jesus name, Amen."

The text for this message tonight is 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

Church, as Jesus taught us, is to be a supernatural experience. It is not, as most Americans seem to think, to be spent sitting in a pew. For those who think so, remember -- that's why they call them "pews." Jesus did not come to this earth to suffer, die and be resurrected just so that we could all sit around in churches being bored and miserable. That is what I call "communist church." A group of people trapped in pews, behind walls, wishing they could get out.

Jesus intended a supernatural lifestyle for every person. God's intent was for every person this message reaches to know Him personally and intimately and say with joy that they know God's voice. I am not ashamed to tell you that I hear God speak to me, and you need to realize that He wants to speak to you as well on a daily basis. Today, our culture and society mocks this concept of God speaking to His church.

Consider how many murderers today are reported to be "avid churchgoers" in our news media. Consider secular movies; have you ever seen a "religious person" in a movie that wasn't sick or depraved or a blatantly immoral? Hardly ever! The result is that a person who is considered "religious" is increasingly associated with mental impairment. God never tells anyone today to kill people. On the contrary, He tells you to love people. I am not ashamed to say to you again that God speaks to His people! I am not ashamed to say that I believe in angels and demons and miracles and healings and true love!

Why? Because it's in the Bible.

A foundation needs to be laid tonight to give you understanding and then to allow you to experience the supernatural on a daily basis -- what Jesus intended all along!

Most believers today awaken to a routine that offers no anticipation of what God will do in their lives. This Bible is absolutely filled with promises of what Jesus did and what God says you too can do -- if you dream to do them. Remember that it's not what man says, but it's what God says; it's not what people say you can't do, but what God says you can do, because with God all things are possible. Your lives, each of you, are a miracle waiting to happen. Literally, you can change the world!

1. When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

2. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

3. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

4. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,

5. so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

6. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

7. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

8. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

9. However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" --

10. but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

11. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

12. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

13. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

14. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:

16. "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

We need to cover the whole concept of the supernatural spiritual world and to do that we need to look at some history. We need to review this history to fully understand why the church world has come to the place it finds itself in today. Understanding the gamut of supernatural giftings (speaking in tongues, prophecy, etc.) is the ultimate goal that this discussion today will prepare you for.

The "Biblical" Church:

1 Corinthians chapter 2 is basically Paul's description of "ministry" he offered to the church in Corinth. He is describing his specific ministry there that God called him to -- the ministry of sharing Jesus with those who didn't know Him. He was an apostle laying the foundation of the church as God intended.

Church, said Paul, was not us gathering together so we could listen to wonderful sounding phrases and groups of words that men could contrive on their own initiative and reasoning. No! Paul was determined to make it plain that the Christian faith was not to rest on a philosophy developed by men. Faith, Paul preached, was to rest only on the supernatural power of a living God. Today, however, the church has largely reversed Paul's intention.

The Worldly Church:

When the church began, miracles were "normal" events; they were, in the beginning, expected and accepted. This is evident in the book of Acts, which details what ought to be regular living in Christ for believers. But, over the course of time, hearts of individual believers and corporate bodies of believers began to grow cold to the things of God, and supernatural manifestations and power began to wane.

The church gradually began to adopt a worldview that was not based on the power of God, but on the wisdom of man. The church was slowly taking on the tenets of philosophy and reason to such an extent that eventually, ministerial training at seminaries began to teach this to young, would-be ministers.

Martin Luther, while in training to be a Catholic priest, (which was his beginning in the ministry) was trained in the philosophy of a Greek named Aristotle. Aristotle's philosophy of what was "real" in this world was based on, and limited to, what you could perceive with your five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. This philosophy became a primary building block of western civilization, and eventually found itself the foundation of the church as well. As a result, we in the church now say, "If I see it, I'll believe it." That's Aristotle.

The Bible tells me, however, that I walk by faith and not by sight! It teaches that if you believe it, then you can see it.

So the church 's supernatural roots gradually gave way to Aristotle's philosophical beliefs. Luther, with Holy Spirit vision, railed against that thinking. He questioned why he was instructed, while in training as a Catholic priest, to study the writings of Aristotle instead of the Bible.

Reason, thought, logic. Reason, thought, logic. Reason, thought, logic.

Prove it with science. Prove it with science. Prove it with science.

Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste.

Natural vs. Spiritual:

In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul tells us that our faith needs to rest on something that is beyond our five senses.

V4. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,

V5. so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

God's power, not man's wisdom. God's ability to do things which transcend our understanding.

V13. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

V14. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

V15. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:

God is trying to communicate something in this passage by illuminating the contrast between the "natural man," and the "spiritual man."

The Greek for "natural," in this text is a word from which we, in English, derive "psychological," and "psyche." Psuchikos means, belonging to the soul; it denotes the natural or physical; it describes the man in Adam, and is contrasted with pneumatikos, or spiritual. People, believers and non-believers, do not largely believe or accept miracles today because they want to see them first. Then, after seeing, they will believe.

Again, over time, the church walked a wide and destructive road. It began to desire to be accepted by a world that was becoming increasingly philosophical. The result: We now fill heads and leave hearts empty.

With all the "Christian" teaching and instruction available today on marriages and families and raising children, etc., we have never had so many broken marriages and homes in history. And this is in the "church!" Read what Paul says in verse 9:

V9. However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him."

The things we need don't come to our natural selves: our eyes, ears or head. The things we need must therefore enter into the heart of man. It is a spiritual situation that must be addressed spiritually.

The church's leaning on Aristotle's philosophy has caused it to believe as real, only those things that it can see, hear, smell, touch and taste: things that the natural senses can understand. Consequently, the church has had to turn away from the miracle power of God, and thus reduce Christianity to a philosophy of life. We have taken Jesus, His teachings and His life, and distilled all the Bible says about them down to a philosophy with neat, tidy principles . . . and NO miracles!

A Christian, a true believer, must believe in at least one miracle -- that God raised Jesus from the dead. So if God did that, why must we "philosophize" away His ability to do other miracles?

If God doesn't STILL raise the dead, then what will happen when you die!

Paul's goal in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 is not to communicate wisdom into heads, but to inspire faith in hearts to believe God's supernatural ability to do anything. After all, the Bible does tell us that "all things are possible" with Him, right?

It is therefore incumbent upon us to "revive" Paul's message. We must seek God and pray and build faith so that we, the church, will be able to demonstrate God's supernatural power so that people's faith will not rest on how good a church is, or how good a minister is, but on how awesome God is!

When the church abandons the supernatural aspects of God and takes on a worldview that sees all things as physiological, biochemical, philosophical, mechanical, natural occurrences -- things explainable by the laws of science -- the result is not the spiritual body (church) that God intended.

God Working Through His Body:

The church, according to God's design, is a spiritual body that is beautifully knit together. It can actually "hear" the voice of God communicating to it. The church receives its leading and direction from God Himself supernaturally as He speaks to it. God does this: 1) Through the Word of God, and 2) Through direct communication to the hearts of believers, just as best friends would communicate to each other.

This church body, this living spiritual entity, is the agent God uses to bring salvation to the world. The spiritual body of believers will:

* Love on each other

* Perform great miracles

God left it up to the church to heal the sick. He intended this to come about by more than through doctors, but also via prayer. God left it up to the church to cast out demons from those afflicted and to care for them and others as needed.

Corporate Structure:

Yes, the church of Jesus is a spiritual body, but because it also exists in a non-spiritual physical world, the spiritual body of Jesus (the church) also has associated with it a
corporate structure. What is the major difference between all the major Christians denominations? Basically, it's their corporate structure. Do we need these structures? Yes, they allow for such mundane things as:

* Describing the methodology for selecting, appointing, approving and retaining pastors. Actually, in a non-spiritual church, these controls are a deterrent to chaos -- a small consolation, but a truth nonetheless.

* The collection and disbursement of funds to pay bills, fund ministries within a church, support missions, local evangelism, building upkeep and additions, etc.

These, and more, are examples of tasks and functions that the corporate structure of a church performs; but the actual church of Jesus Christ is, in itself, not a corporate structure. Strictly speaking, a "structure" is not a living thing. The church of Jesus Christ is a living spiritual body, hearing from God, operating in the supernatural power of God, and receiving all it needs to live and keep living from God.

The danger is this: the living, breathing, spiritual body we have called the church ceases, over time, to believe in the supernatural power of God. It begins to function and operate and exist only as the corporate structure that formerly was merely a means to an end in this physical world. We may not be "of the world," but we are still "in the world." Administrative duties are forced on us by the world, but this "waiting on tables" should not interfere with the ministry of the Body of Christ -- His spiritual body.

If the corporate structure predominates, the church eventually becomes a gathering of people who operate, not in the supernatural giftings of God, but merely on the philosophies of man. The church was a supernatural spiritual body that also had, as one of its elements, a corporate structure. That structure was only intended to give it basic access and interaction with the natural, physical world. Instead, the corporate structure has taken over and is all that's left of the living church. It is therefore devoid of the supernatural, and fueled only by philosophical beliefs.

How did this happen? Aristotle!

A spiritual body hears from God and listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit all the time! This makes life exciting! When you constantly flow with the Spirit of God, you are not operating on your schedule, your plans or your strengths. No. As you listen for His voice, you can only anticipate, without really knowing what will happen day-to-day and minute-to-minute. It's exciting!

This is quite nerve-racking for some people, as they would rather have everything about their life, church and even "spirituality" neatly packaged and put in order -- stable and predictable. That's their personality. My word to these people is -- get a new personality! Amen!

These people might say, "I don't feel comfortable when things are occurring beyond my understanding." Why? -- Because they are philosophy-based. Deep down inside, they want to be able to understand everything around them. Hear this please -- If you understand everything about the god you serve, he's not the God of the Bible!

When a church body decides to reduce God to a set of philosophical statements, they don't really pray anymore (at least with any expectation of supernatural miracles), because they think they know what is going to happen anyway. What this corporate structure (it is no longer a church body, remember, because a body has life) now prefers to do is to sit around in a pew and absorb good messages that they can apply to their personal lives in a straightforward, common sense, philosophical manner. At this point, the spiritual body is dead, or on life support, and the lifeless corporate structure takes over and begins to run the show.

This is the problem in American churches today, and in the west in general. In the east, on the other hand, as well as in third world regions, people do not have this philosophical worldview. People in these regions, even the unbelievers, understand quite well the existence of angels, demons, spirits, and the supernatural world. Their mindset is simply more spiritually oriented, and not philosophically oriented.

It is we westerners who are steeped in science and reason and philosophy. We say,
"Church is fine, I see its merits, let's make it reasonable and it will be just great. After all, if it's unreasonable, it cannot be God."

You can know for certain that this "switch" from spiritual body to corporate structure has occurred when decisions are made by committee and not by prayer. You can know for certain that you are in a corporate structure when the bottom-line in finances. There is no more faith to believe the impossible. "Why if we can't afford it, we shouldn't do it -- it must not be of God."

Faith can only exist in a living body. Faith knows God and believes in something even though it can't see it. Faith possesses a BIG God! We can't be pleasing to God without faith, and God isn't the God of the dead but the living! Amen!

The leader in a spiritual body-turned-corporate structure is not a spiritual leader; he's a CEO! He is a good manager, and he may have good people skills, but his tasks revolve around organizing programs. A church wallowing in programs and boards and committees is heading for death. Why, the bible doesn't even talk about committees. In fact, my bible says, "Thou shalt not commit!"

A point is finally reached in this corporate structure church in which we become embarrassed when God does decide to show up! This mind set makes the receiving of spiritual things so much more difficult. This philosophy, a major factor in the death of so many churches, also finds root in many families. If you come from an unemotional family, one in which you've learned that you just can't accept things with your heart if your mind is against it, then spiritual things are ridiculous to you. Why? Again, because observing and flowing in spiritual things is a matter of the heart. That's why, in my experience, women receive the Baptism of the Spirit and pray in tongues faster than men do. It's the heart.

What has occurred in our western, philosophical, logical, natural culture has been a surgical removal of the heart of the church. The church (or person) without a heart can neither perceive nor understand nor accept the spiritual moving of God.

In Acts chapter 2, when Pentecost came and the church began to speak in tongues, Peter gets up and preaches regarding this incident. We read that everyone who heard him was cut to the . . what? The heart! That's the issue -- their hearts! They didn't receive headaches and they weren't intellectually bludgeoned. No. They were filled with conviction in their hearts!

Modern Evangelism:

This philosophical worldview has greatly hampered modern evangelistic thrusts. As an example, I'm going to mention a name of a man we all admire, love and trust, because he truly is a man of integrity: Billy Graham. He has preached and witnessed to literally millions all over the earth, with thousands upon thousands confessing faith in Christ at his meetings. And yet, by his own ministry's estimations, only approximately two to four percent of Billy Graham converts persevere in serving God. His ministry people have commented on these results, and their explanation is that it is a failure of the local church. However, consider the effects of the philosophical, intellectual worldview on Western evangelical churches. Today we are speaking to what Paul called, "the wisdom of men"; we speak to the mind, not the heart. There is no "power from on high," just philosophy from down low.

As a contrast, let's look at another Christian organization called Teen Challenge. Teen Challenge is a ministry reaching men on the street that have major drug and alcohol addictions. On average, 90 percent of those who commit to their program and commit to Jesus are still walking solidly with God after 5 years! The best secular organization that is an equivalent to Teen Challenge has a success rate of only about 10 percent. Why is Teen Challenge so successful? They will tell you plainly -- it's the men that get baptized in the Holy Spirit! Philosophical, psychological wisdom is for the head, but the Holy Spirit is for the heart!

V1. When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

V2. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

God's intention is that His people would be seen as His people as distinguished by two key characteristics:

* We are "different" or "peculiar". We are known as being different to the world because we live by different standards, which are not at all like the world's standards (2 Corinthians 6:17-18).

* Attesting miracles -- supernatural events are associated with our presence. When God's people get together, things happen in our midst that are not explainable by any natural means. They are obviously the result of a living God living amongst us. That is what happens when a crucified Jesus Christ is preached in power!

What I am simply saying is this: If we ever gather together and God does not do something that is beyond what we could accomplish in our own efforts and talents, then we are not having church. What did Paul say? This is not about "wisdom," but rather, it is a demonstration of the Spirit and of power!

Remember Rahab from the book of Joshua? She was nothing but a prostitute living in a pagan city. When she risks her life by hiding the spies, she speaks to them and says,
"the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath," (Joshua 2:11). The miracle power of God was obvious to her. Aristotle's philosophy, Aristotelian thought, had not yet fouled the waters.

This unholy and pervasive mumbo-jumbo has even found its way into study bibles. Aristotelian logic is used to explain (by natural means) such supernatural events as the parting of the Jordan (Joshua 3) and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19). I am truly sorry to say this, as I feel party responsible, but as a Greek, I feel I must apologize for my ancestor Aristotle -- I really feel terrible about that.

The Aristotelian gospel we preach today is quite different than the true gospel God proclaims in the Bible. We say today that you must have Jesus, yes, but we say He is basically just your ticket to heaven. Live a good life, be good, follow the rules, get Jesus and you'll eventually meet God. Then He can then act like whatever a god acts like, but for goodness sake, let's keep it logical and orderly while we are on this earth.

But the Bible teaches exactly what Rahab just told us, that God is God, both in
heaven above and on the earth beneath! Rahab's people heard and saw what God did for His people.

"Your kingdom come.

Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven."

God's will is for His people, His Church, to act like the supernaturally filled and empowered living organism it truly is, and to trust Him to provide the power.

[Editor's Note: Pastor Dean's message is extremely relavent when viewed from the perspective of retrospection in our day. As a church, please look back in scripture and see the "waves" of change that have occurred. God chose the Israelites as His very own. In Adam, He breathed in life and Adam walked daily with God, until he chose his own way contrary to God. God loved His people anyway, and in Exodus, we see how He brought them out to be a family, His people. They were again alive and immersed in the power of God, and the presense of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They were led by God daily; they moved or stayed, solely depending on God's direction.

Eventually, however, they grew to be like the lifeless and sin- filled nations around them. The life was gone, and life apart from God was their due. We see throughout the Old Testament how they went from revival and renewal -- life, back to apostasy and death -- because they abandoned their daily walk with God in favor of a "form of God," a "structure."

In Jesus' days on earth, they were again into a mode of a body of people that had only the empty, dead shell of what was once life -- they were bound in legalism, they were trapped in a dead pharisaical religion that Dean calls a "corporate structure." First Jesus, and then the apostle Paul arrive on the scene and once again they impart God back into believer's lives. The Holy Spirit is breathed again into the life of every believer, as with Adam at first, and true life is born again! And then, again, death once more arrives. The Catholic Church takes hold in Western Asia and Europe and God's word spreads worldwide, but death is still following. Eventually the Catholic Church becomes as legalistic and dead as the Jews in Jesus' day.

Two and three centuries ago in America, the life of God was again revived in His church, so that this nation was on fire for God and prospered to this day because of His blessing on our nation. But today, we are in the death throes again. The evangelical church in America resembles a dead, lifeless shell of a corporate structure more than the living, vibrant Body of Christ.

Pray, church, as Dean exorts us, for God's breath of Life to flow back into the church and make us alive again!




	School of the Holy Spirit Series Spiritual Body - Corporate Structure By Rev. Dean Niforatos Transcribed and edited by Bro. Andy Madonio The Good Soil Discipleship Ministry www.goodsoildiscipleship.homestead.com Preached at New Life Assembly, Beulah, ND on 10JA00




Opening Prayer: "Jesus, change me forever, starting right now. I open my heart to your Word, in Jesus name, Amen." Introduction: The text for this message tonight is 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Church, as Jesus taught us, is to be a supernatural experience. It is not, as most Americans seem to think, to be spent sitting in a pew. For those who think so, remember -- that's why they call them "pews." Jesus did not come to this earth to suffer, die and be resurrected just so that we could all sit around in churches being bored and miserable. That is what I call "communist church." A group of people trapped in pews, behind walls, wishing they could get out. Jesus intended a supernatural lifestyle for every person. God's intent was for every person this message reaches to know Him personally and intimately and say with joy that they know God's voice. I am not ashamed to tell you that I hear God speak to me, and you need to realize that He wants to speak to you as well on a daily basis. Today, our culture and society mocks this concept of God speaking to His church. Consider how many murderers today are reported to be "avid churchgoers" in our news media. Consider secular movies; have you ever seen a "religious person" in a movie that wasn't sick or depraved or a blatantly immoral? Hardly ever! The result is that a person who is considered "religious" is increasingly associated with mental impairment. God never tells anyone today to kill people. On the contrary, He tells you to love people. I am not ashamed to say to you again that God speaks to His people! I am not ashamed to say that I believe in angels and demons and miracles and healings and true love! Why? Because it's in the Bible. A foundation needs to be laid tonight to give you understanding and then to allow you to experience the supernatural on a daily basis -- what Jesus intended all along! Most believers today awaken to a routine that offers no anticipation of what God will do in their lives. This Bible is absolutely filled with promises of what Jesus did and what God says you too can do -- if you dream to do them. Remember that it's not what man says, but it's what God says; it's not what people say you can't do, but what God says you can do, because with God all things are possible. Your lives, each of you, are a miracle waiting to happen. Literally, you can change the world! 1 Corinthians 2 1. When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5. so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. 6. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9. However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" -- 10. but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16. "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. We need to cover the whole concept of the supernatural spiritual world and to do that we need to look at some history. We need to review this history to fully understand why the church world has come to the place it finds itself in today. Understanding the gamut of supernatural giftings (speaking in tongues, prophecy, etc.) is the ultimate goal that this discussion today will prepare you for. The "Biblical" Church: 1 Corinthians chapter 2 is basically Paul's description of "ministry" he offered to the church in Corinth. He is describing his specific ministry there that God called him to -- the ministry of sharing Jesus with those who didn't know Him. He was an apostle laying the foundation of the church as God intended. Church, said Paul, was not us gathering together so we could listen to wonderful sounding phrases and groups of words that men could contrive on their own initiative and reasoning. No! Paul was determined to make it plain that the Christian faith was not to rest on a philosophy developed by men. Faith, Paul preached, was to rest only on the supernatural power of a living God. Today, however, the church has largely reversed Paul's intention. The Worldly Church: When the church began, miracles were "normal" events; they were, in the beginning, expected and accepted. This is evident in the book of Acts, which details what ought to be regular living in Christ for believers. But, over the course of time, hearts of individual believers and corporate bodies of believers began to grow cold to the things of God, and supernatural manifestations and power began to wane. The church gradually began to adopt a worldview that was not based on the power of God, but on the wisdom of man. The church was slowly taking on the tenets of philosophy and reason to such an extent that eventually, ministerial training at seminaries began to teach this to young, would-be ministers. Martin Luther, while in training to be a Catholic priest, (which was his beginning in the ministry) was trained in the philosophy of a Greek named Aristotle. Aristotle's philosophy of what was "real" in this world was based on, and limited to, what you could perceive with your five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. This philosophy became a primary building block of western civilization, and eventually found itself the foundation of the church as well. As a result, we in the church now say, "If I see it, I'll believe it." That's Aristotle. The Bible tells me, however, that I walk by faith and not by sight! It teaches that if you believe it, then you can see it. So the church 's supernatural roots gradually gave way to Aristotle's philosophical beliefs. Luther, with Holy Spirit vision, railed against that thinking. He questioned why he was instructed, while in training as a Catholic priest, to study the writings of Aristotle instead of the Bible. Reason, thought, logic. Reason, thought, logic. Reason, thought, logic. Prove it with science. Prove it with science. Prove it with science. Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste.

Natural vs. Spiritual: In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul tells us that our faith needs to rest on something that is beyond our five senses. V4. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, V5. so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. God's power, not man's wisdom. God's ability to do things which transcend our understanding. V13. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. V14. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. V15. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: God is trying to communicate something in this passage by illuminating the contrast between the "natural man," and the "spiritual man." The Greek for "natural," in this text is a word from which we, in English, derive "psychological," and "psyche." Psuchikos means, belonging to the soul; it denotes the natural or physical; it describes the man in Adam, and is contrasted with pneumatikos, or spiritual. People, believers and non-believers, do not largely believe or accept miracles today because they want to see them first. Then, after seeing, they will believe. Again, over time, the church walked a wide and destructive road. It began to desire to be accepted by a world that was becoming increasingly philosophical. The result: We now fill heads and leave hearts empty. With all the "Christian" teaching and instruction available today on marriages and families and raising children, etc., we have never had so many broken marriages and homes in history. And this is in the "church!" Read what Paul says in verse 9: V9. However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." The things we need don't come to our natural selves: our eyes, ears or head. The things we need must therefore enter into the heart of man. It is a spiritual situation that must be addressed spiritually. The church's leaning on Aristotle's philosophy has caused it to believe as real, only those things that it can see, hear, smell, touch and taste: things that the natural senses can understand. Consequently, the church has had to turn away from the miracle power of God, and thus reduce Christianity to a philosophy of life. We have taken Jesus, His teachings and His life, and distilled all the Bible says about them down to a philosophy with neat, tidy principles . . . and NO miracles! A Christian, a true believer, must believe in at least one miracle -- that God raised Jesus from the dead. So if God did that, why must we "philosophize" away His ability to do other miracles? If God doesn't STILL raise the dead, then what will happen when you die! Paul's goal in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 is not to communicate wisdom into heads, but to inspire faith in hearts to believe God's supernatural ability to do anything. After all, the Bible does tell us that "all things are possible" with Him, right? It is therefore incumbent upon us to "revive" Paul's message. We must seek God and pray and build faith so that we, the church, will be able to demonstrate God's supernatural power so that people's faith will not rest on how good a church is, or how good a minister is, but on how awesome God is! When the church abandons the supernatural aspects of God and takes on a worldview that sees all things as physiological, biochemical, philosophical, mechanical, natural occurrences -- things explainable by the laws of science -- the result is not the spiritual body (church) that God intended. God Working Through His Body: The church, according to God's design, is a spiritual body that is beautifully knit together. It can actually "hear" the voice of God communicating to it. The church receives its leading and direction from God Himself supernaturally as He speaks to it. God does this: 1) Through the Word of God, and 2) Through direct communication to the hearts of believers, just as best friends would communicate to each other. This church body, this living spiritual entity, is the agent God uses to bring salvation to the world. The spiritual body of believers will: * Work together * Love on each other * Serve each other * Pray together * Perform great miracles God left it up to the church to heal the sick. He intended this to come about by more than through doctors, but also via prayer. God left it up to the church to cast out demons from those afflicted and to care for them and others as needed. Corporate Structure: Yes, the church of Jesus is a spiritual body, but because it also exists in a non-spiritual physical world, the spiritual body of Jesus (the church) also has associated with it a corporate structure. What is the major difference between all the major Christians denominations? Basically, it's their corporate structure. Do we need these structures? Yes, they allow for such mundane things as: * Describing the methodology for selecting, appointing, approving and retaining pastors. Actually, in a non-spiritual church, these controls are a deterrent to chaos -- a small consolation, but a truth nonetheless. * The collection and disbursement of funds to pay bills, fund ministries within a church, support missions, local evangelism, building upkeep and additions, etc. These, and more, are examples of tasks and functions that the corporate structure of a church performs; but the actual church of Jesus Christ is, in itself, not a corporate structure. Strictly speaking, a "structure" is not a living thing. The church of Jesus Christ is a living spiritual body, hearing from God, operating in the supernatural power of God, and receiving all it needs to live and keep living from God. The danger is this: the living, breathing, spiritual body we have called the church ceases, over time, to believe in the supernatural power of God. It begins to function and operate and exist only as the corporate structure that formerly was merely a means to an end in this physical world. We may not be "of the world," but we are still "in the world." Administrative duties are forced on us by the world, but this "waiting on tables" should not interfere with the ministry of the Body of Christ -- His spiritual body. If the corporate structure predominates, the church eventually becomes a gathering of people who operate, not in the supernatural giftings of God, but merely on the philosophies of man. The church was a supernatural spiritual body that also had, as one of its elements, a corporate structure. That structure was only intended to give it basic access and interaction with the natural, physical world. Instead, the corporate structure has taken over and is all that's left of the living church. It is therefore devoid of the supernatural, and fueled only by philosophical beliefs. How did this happen? Aristotle! A spiritual body hears from God and listens to the voice of the Holy Spirit all the time! This makes life exciting! When you constantly flow with the Spirit of God, you are not operating on your schedule, your plans or your strengths. No. As you listen for His voice, you can only anticipate, without really knowing what will happen day-to-day and minute-to-minute. It's exciting! This is quite nerve-racking for some people, as they would rather have everything about their life, church and even "spirituality" neatly packaged and put in order -- stable and predictable. That's their personality. My word to these people is -- get a new personality! Amen! These people might say, "I don't feel comfortable when things are occurring beyond my understanding." Why? -- Because they are philosophy-based. Deep down inside, they want to be able to understand everything around them. Hear this please -- If you understand everything about the god you serve, he's not the God of the Bible!

Prayer Is Dead: When a church body decides to reduce God to a set of philosophical statements, they don't really pray anymore (at least with any expectation of supernatural miracles), because they think they know what is going to happen anyway. What this corporate structure (it is no longer a church body, remember, because a body has life) now prefers to do is to sit around in a pew and absorb good messages that they can apply to their personal lives in a straightforward, common sense, philosophical manner. At this point, the spiritual body is dead, or on life support, and the lifeless corporate structure takes over and begins to run the show. This is the problem in American churches today, and in the west in general. In the east, on the other hand, as well as in third world regions, people do not have this philosophical worldview. People in these regions, even the unbelievers, understand quite well the existence of angels, demons, spirits, and the supernatural world. Their mindset is simply more spiritually oriented, and not philosophically oriented. It is we westerners who are steeped in science and reason and philosophy. We say, "Church is fine, I see its merits, let's make it reasonable and it will be just great. After all, if it's unreasonable, it cannot be God." You can know for certain that this "switch" from spiritual body to corporate structure has occurred when decisions are made by committee and not by prayer. You can know for certain that you are in a corporate structure when the bottom-line in finances. There is no more faith to believe the impossible. "Why if we can't afford it, we shouldn't do it -- it must not be of God." Faith can only exist in a living body. Faith knows God and believes in something even though it can't see it. Faith possesses a BIG God! We can't be pleasing to God without faith, and God isn't the God of the dead but the living! Amen! The leader in a spiritual body-turned-corporate structure is not a spiritual leader; he's a CEO! He is a good manager, and he may have good people skills, but his tasks revolve around organizing programs. A church wallowing in programs and boards and committees is heading for death. Why, the bible doesn't even talk about committees. In fact, my bible says, "Thou shalt not commit!" A point is finally reached in this corporate structure church in which we become embarrassed when God does decide to show up! This mind set makes the receiving of spiritual things so much more difficult. This philosophy, a major factor in the death of so many churches, also finds root in many families. If you come from an unemotional family, one in which you've learned that you just can't accept things with your heart if your mind is against it, then spiritual things are ridiculous to you. Why? Again, because observing and flowing in spiritual things is a matter of the heart. That's why, in my experience, women receive the Baptism of the Spirit and pray in tongues faster than men do. It's the heart. What has occurred in our western, philosophical, logical, natural culture has been a surgical removal of the heart of the church. The church (or person) without a heart can neither perceive nor understand nor accept the spiritual moving of God. In Acts chapter 2, when Pentecost came and the church began to speak in tongues, Peter gets up and preaches regarding this incident. We read that everyone who heard him was cut to the . . what? The heart! That's the issue -- their hearts! They didn't receive headaches and they weren't intellectually bludgeoned. No. They were filled with conviction in their hearts! Modern Evangelism: This philosophical worldview has greatly hampered modern evangelistic thrusts. As an example, I'm going to mention a name of a man we all admire, love and trust, because he truly is a man of integrity: Billy Graham. He has preached and witnessed to literally millions all over the earth, with thousands upon thousands confessing faith in Christ at his meetings. And yet, by his own ministry's estimations, only approximately two to four percent of Billy Graham converts persevere in serving God. His ministry people have commented on these results, and their explanation is that it is a failure of the local church. However, consider the effects of the philosophical, intellectual worldview on Western evangelical churches. Today we are speaking to what Paul called, "the wisdom of men"; we speak to the mind, not the heart. There is no "power from on high," just philosophy from down low. As a contrast, let's look at another Christian organization called Teen Challenge. Teen Challenge is a ministry reaching men on the street that have major drug and alcohol addictions. On average, 90 percent of those who commit to their program and commit to Jesus are still walking solidly with God after 5 years! The best secular organization that is an equivalent to Teen Challenge has a success rate of only about 10 percent. Why is Teen Challenge so successful? They will tell you plainly -- it's the men that get baptized in the Holy Spirit! Philosophical, psychological wisdom is for the head, but the Holy Spirit is for the heart! V1. When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. V2. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. God's intention is that His people would be seen as His people as distinguished by two key characteristics: * We are "different" or "peculiar". We are known as being different to the world because we live by different standards, which are not at all like the world's standards (2 Corinthians 6:17-18). * Attesting miracles -- supernatural events are associated with our presence. When God's people get together, things happen in our midst that are not explainable by any natural means. They are obviously the result of a living God living amongst us. That is what happens when a crucified Jesus Christ is preached in power! What I am simply saying is this: If we ever gather together and God does not do something that is beyond what we could accomplish in our own efforts and talents, then we are not having church. What did Paul say? This is not about "wisdom," but rather, it is a demonstration of the Spirit and of power! Remember Rahab from the book of Joshua? She was nothing but a prostitute living in a pagan city. When she risks her life by hiding the spies, she speaks to them and says, "the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath," (Joshua 2:11). The miracle power of God was obvious to her. Aristotle's philosophy, Aristotelian thought, had not yet fouled the waters. This unholy and pervasive mumbo-jumbo has even found its way into study bibles. Aristotelian logic is used to explain (by natural means) such supernatural events as the parting of the Jordan (Joshua 3) and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19). I am truly sorry to say this, as I feel party responsible, but as a Greek, I feel I must apologize for my ancestor Aristotle -- I really feel terrible about that. The Aristotelian gospel we preach today is quite different than the true gospel God proclaims in the Bible. We say today that you must have Jesus, yes, but we say He is basically just your ticket to heaven. Live a good life, be good, follow the rules, get Jesus and you'll eventually meet God. Then He can then act like whatever a god acts like, but for goodness sake, let's keep it logical and orderly while we are on this earth. But the Bible teaches exactly what Rahab just told us, that God is God, both in heaven above and on the earth beneath! Rahab's people heard and saw what God did for His people. "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." Matthew 6:10 God's will is for His people, His Church, to act like the supernaturally filled and empowered living organism it truly is, and to trust Him to provide the power. Amen!

[Editor's Note: Pastor Dean's message is extremely relavent when viewed from the perspective of retrospection in our day. As a church, please look back in scripture and see the "waves" of change that have occurred. God chose the Israelites as His very own. In Adam, He breathed in life and Adam walked daily with God, until he chose his own way contrary to God. God loved His people anyway, and in Exodus, we see how He brought them out to be a family, His people. They were again alive and immersed in the power of God, and the presense of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They were led by God daily; they moved or stayed, solely depending on God's direction. Eventually, however, they grew to be like the lifeless and sin- filled nations around them. The life was gone, and life apart from God was their due. We see throughout the Old Testament how they went from revival and renewal -- life, back to apostasy and death -- because they abandoned their daily walk with God in favor of a "form of God," a "structure." In Jesus' days on earth, they were again into a mode of a body of people that had only the empty, dead shell of what was once life -- they were bound in legalism, they were trapped in a dead pharisaical religion that Dean calls a "corporate structure." First Jesus, and then the apostle Paul arrive on the scene and once again they impart God back into believer's lives. The Holy Spirit is breathed again into the life of every believer, as with Adam at first, and true life is born again! And then, again, death once more arrives. The Catholic Church takes hold in Western Asia and Europe and God's word spreads worldwide, but death is still following. Eventually the Catholic Church becomes as legalistic and dead as the Jews in Jesus' day. Two and three centuries ago in America, the life of God was again revived in His church, so that this nation was on fire for God and prospered to this day because of His blessing on our nation. But today, we are in the death throes again. The evangelical church in America resembles a dead, lifeless shell of a corporate structure more than the living, vibrant Body of Christ. Pray, church, as Dean exorts us, for God's breath of Life to flow back into the church and make us alive again! A. Madonio 13MY00]

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