THE CHURCH OF TODAY – THE THIRD DAY

When we speak of the third day church, we are speaking prophetically as to how we are being offered new and innovative ways to do church in this present millennium. The first day, then, is how we used to do church (the inherited form of church). The second day is when we let those old ways die. The third day is when we begin to experiment with new ways to meet, new ways to make room for His presence, fresh ways of doing and being the church
Day one is when you face your frustrations with the status quo and risk stepping off the bank of familiarity into the vast sea of the unknown, moving into day two, toward day three.

Day two is about hoping, patiently standing and standing for an answer not yet received. Day two is about death and dying. It is about allowing your vision to die, for until it dies it cannot really live. This is about that “dark night of the soul”. It is a test of your willingness to leave the past and move toward the “new day”, the “third day”, and pay the full price to get there.

The Lord does not close one door without opening another door. But in the season in between we have an opportunity to both upgrade our image of God and develop a new relationship with Father God or become very frustrated. We are either going to die or come through challenged but unchanged.

Merely leaving the dock of security is torment enough to keep us in the first day. The third day is not merely an adjusted or retrofitted first day; it means an impassioned willingness to leave the familiar, the known, and the seen, going for the unfamiliar, the unknown, and the unseen.....and like Abraham of old not looKing back.

Hebrews 11:8 (nkjv) by faith Abraham obeyed when He was called to go out to the place which He would receive as an inheritance. And He went out, not knowing where He was going.

It requires a genuine leap of faith, losing sight of the land of self reliance on your way to a new destination. But then again, following God is risky business.

It requires you to step off the map.
The map that was laid out for you prophetically, the map of expectations that was laid out for you by your “brothers” in the Lord. That map that was laid out by the apostles of the previous move who perceived your potential, and were eager to use you to serve their vision. Shake the dust of their mission off your feet. Sometimes you need to break hearts, relationships, prophetic expectations, promises and commitments to bring you back to that place of total surrender and commitment to God.

If I had the opportunity to ask pastors, "if you were financially secure, would you do church differently." They would all answer “yes”

But of course the age old proverb remains true: three frogs sat on a log. They decided to jump. How many frogs were left? Three!

God has His own road maps for times like this. The old ones are useless to us and the new ones are completed as we go.

Every change involves a letting go of the old and reaching out for what is next. It is indeed death in instalments – the slow death of our mindsets, our attitudes, perceptions, and paradigms with apparently nothing to take their place.

John 12:24 (nkjv) most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

Pioneers draw the maps, they seldom enjoy them.

The Holy Spirit will, if we allow Him, teach us how to be present to the moment with God. There is a God-consciousness that is so compelling, gripping, and persuasive that we need never worry again. There is a peace so profound that it is unshakable. There is a rest in God so potent that the enemy fears it. (Rest is a weapon against evil)

Hebrews 4:9-16 (nkjv) there remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
 For He who has entered His rest has Himself also ceased from His works as God did from his. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and Spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Seeing then that we have a great HIGH PRIEST who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

In non technological times people lived at a different pace. They were in tune with nature and its ways and processes. Their ability to survive depended on that knowledge. What is true in the natural is also true in the spiritual.

1 corinthians 15:46 (nkjv) however, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.

Our walk with God is not separate from our employment track or natural affiliations such as sport clubs, gym, social circles and peoples groups. With regard to these days, people live by clock and calendar. We schedule people into diaries depending on actual time, not the rhythm of our lives. In previous times people did things after sowing, ploughing, or harvesting. The natural seasons were the only calendar they wanted or needed. However, these days we are governed by deadlines, time constraints, and schedules. Few people eat when they are hungry, sleep when they are tired. Or get up when they are rested. When we wake up two hours early we stay in bed because it is not time to get up.

So what is the point? We have lost the ability to live by the pace of the Spirit of God, rest; peace of mind; the act of trusting God; not being anxious. The world is built on functional systems. The Kingdom of God is built on relational systems, relationships, friendships and fellowships. The loneliness and lack of friendship and companionship is damaging to our health.

Genesis 2:18 (nkjv) and the Lord God said, “it is not good that man should be alone; I will make Him a helper comparable to Him.”

“The church of today” will establish people in a place where they need the Holy Spirit rather than create a dependency on our ministries. Without the input of the Holy Spirit, we take truth from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Whereas, with Him in our lives, we eat from the tree of life where relationship grows and we are radically changed into mature sons of God.