By Dr Jonathan David. What type of a Christian are you? Find out here.
1: THE BELIEVER
i. He is only interested in his relationship with Christ.
Everything outside of that holds no interest for him. He is not even interested in church life. His mind is set as a believer no matter how long he has been in the church. He could be your elder or someone holding responsible position in the church. He could be pastor in the city. He will do only what he believes or feels that God has told him to do, regardless of your direction or advice. No clue about corporate life just them and God. They have only personal relationship with God. They could not see the whole picture. You pray that God touch my heart so I can give. Whatever you say to them must be confirmed by the Lord as being of the Lord by them before they can receive it.
ii. He enjoys the benefits of salvations but refuses the responsibility of salvation.
“Come and everyone will receive a prophesy”, and they will come. They are interested in what they can get out of it. They think about whatever they will benefit from and that is the basis for their guidance and direction.
iii. His perspective and interpretation of the Bible is personal.
Many of the promises in the Bible are collective body and refer to the church or a collective community versus an individual. No gates of the enemy will prevail against the church. I give you the keys of the Kingdom – God is talking about a collective community. He is talking to the church. God cannot give all the keys to an individual. The outpouring is not on an individual but on the 120. All of them were filled with the Spirit. If you are a 44-gallon then you received 44 gallons and you are full. If you add greed into the creed then you cannot see clearly for your eyes are filled with yourself. In OT you are looking from outside to the Holy of Holies but in the NT you are looking from the place where you are sitting with Him in the heavenly place from inside out. Traditions are formed because of mindset. We must be in the spirit all the time and not with opening prayer and closing prayer. Can we give God without thinking of being blessed? Many people focus on self-perspective. Giving is always taught about receiving in return. Can we give because we love? We add our greed into the creed. God is looking outward and for the future but our perspective is always inward and for the now and for self.
iv. All his prayer and efforts centers around his own personal breakthroughs.
He lives in a survival mentality. All he prays is for his own safety and protection. E.g. when he gives thanks for the food. More than half of the prayer is re-cooking the food or for the homeless and the hungry. He is adding religion. Everything is about themselves.
v. His mentality is established on personal edification and personal achievement.
He does not see how the whole church can be established. He listens and draws out only what he wants and needs, or hears with an ear of offense. Everything is personalized and he takes everything subjective. Churches are full of believers. That’s why we don’t have church. You don’t have a church if you don’t have disciples.
2: THE MEMBER
i. He has discovered that the church is his home and not just God’s house.
He now has an address. He can go anywhere but will come “home” on Sunday. He is no longer an individual but has come home into a family. He is no longer alone with God. He is not a street kid. God, him and the church. The mentality has changed from a believer to a member of the “house”. Many don’t emphasize on local church but only emphasize on salvation. All babies are born into family. You are born into a family. Many few evangelists emphasize this. This earth is where we are supposed to live out His will.
ii. He understands that he must embrace corporate lifestyle and he is prepared to make adjustments to fit into it.
He comes early from work to join the meetings. He reschedules his life around the activities of the house. Realizes that the need inside the church is his need and the corporate life affects his personal life and he is willing to make adjustments. Some have risen up into ministry in great measure and still struggle with greed and covetousness and lust inside the heart. The system in the church is not accurate.
iii. He is prepared to make sacrifices to fulfill a common destiny.
He is prepared to agree and walk together making the necessary sacrifices and commitment to go on the journey of the church together. Their minds are in agreement to stay on the same course as the house. Church life begins to take more prominence than his personal life.
iv. He learns to respect authority in the house and is prepared to live a life with accountability.
For the first time they understand that someone is “above” them. They ask for counsel and advice. There is now a proper spiritual covering over their lives. A believer mentality is he decides and then tells you to bless his decision. Laying on of hands is not a style of ministry but a doctrine. Who is laying hands on you? Apostolic ministry will provide spiritual covering when we come under the covering. It’s a personal relationship. You can never sleep together if you don’t ask for the hand of marriage. Spiritual covering is an official thing and not an assumed thing. So many people in church but not covered. It’s something that you desire and allow to happen in your life. Make very clear communication and response.
v. He has chosen a common identity with the people he’s associating with.
This is called family characteristics. They talk a certain way, they dress a certain way, they sing a certain way. They have a certain kind of music e.g. Hosanna Integrity or the Hillsongs. We must carry the message of God whether we dress in 3-piece suit or dress casual. A family flavor. The words, the language becomes normal for them and anything outside of this is abnormal. This becomes a trademark. They have certain distinctives.
3: THE DISCIPLE
The disciple is the minimum starting point where church starts.
This is the minimum starting point. The great commission is not just to go out everywhere and share the gospel. Evangelists try to run from one nation to another nation before Jesus comes back. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) After Jesus finished the work on the cross of Calvary and ascended into Heaven and the Holy Spirit descended on earth and caused the church to be filled with His presence and His power. Something happened on earth. God came on an assignment to make sure all the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ will become a footstool for His feet. One of the assignments of the Holy Spirit and the church and the Father is to bring every enemy to become the footstool for the Lord Jesus Christ. Pentecost is not speaking in tongues or Pentecostal. Book of Acts is not Pentecostal. It’s called Pentecost. The purpose of Pentecost is power equation. We have all the talk but no power. We have all the preachers but powerless. We make disciples. I am the apostle and I make disciples. I am supposed to teach them to observe everything God has commanded me and not teaching them “disciples’ teachings” or Heb 6 on foundations or discipleship course or the tenets of your church. You are to teach disciples to observe all things God has commanded “You”. You are a man sent with an assignment. God told you to do something and you are soliciting a company of people called disciples. You make disciples out of them so they can become partners with you to finish the course for what God has called you. So what am I doing when I am traveling to the nations of the world? Preaching? No? I am making disciples. I am making men in every nation who will observe what God has commanded me. I know apostolic work. I am not there just to collect offerings. That’s not my livelihood. If God wanted me to make money He would have given me another job. He wanted me to make disciples, to make people. What am I supposed to do? I make them, I teach them, I train them to observe everything God has commanded me and they will do what God has commanded me in their nations. I train disciples everywhere to do what God has instructed me here in Muar on this earth. This is apostolic work. I am not going to bless them with a message. Why am I going to the nations of the world? Just to have an audience? To speak so that people are encouraged and bless? I am there to make lives. Make men and women so that they will be like me on planet earth who will hear the same instructions, have the same grace, have the same power to reproduce to fulfill the very commission of Gen. 1. God spoke to Adam, be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth, subdue, have dominion, take charge, take territories. So my job is to be fruitful and multiply myself. I teach them all the things that God has taught me. I impart to them all that God has given to me, the grace that God has given to me. When I leave the country I left myself there. Everywhere I turn one instruction, whole company of people. He was baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Your interpretation is getting them water baptize. It wasn’t what it meant. To baptize means to immerse – “baptizo” – so that all that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit wanted to do will manifest through these people you raise up. Gen 1 – let Us (Father, Son & the Holy Spirit) make man in Our own likeness, in Our own image. We are to make them so that they will be fruitful. What fruit are they going to carry? They are going to carry us because we made them. We must our likeness, our image, our nature, our desire, our passion, our longing into them. They are to become fruitful. They are to multiply. They are to fill the whole earth with us. God didn’t make man so that man can enjoy life or man can have his needs met. God made man for Himself, for His own pleasure. Man carries the nature of His Spirit, the Father and the Son. We have the 3 dimensions of the Godhead in us as one. We carry the 3 dimensions of the Godhead in one body. When God finished making man there was 3-dimension of the Godhead in one body – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit manifesting in one life. The triune God was manifesting in man. It’s so simple and yet so profound. Man was the replica of three. The essence of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit mixed together and God made man. We carry the 3 dimensions and we can work with the three and we can connect with the Father, with the Son and with the Holy Spirit any time any day. We are the only creations that have the power to work with all three. We are so far away from Christianity that God has for us. Most of us have embraced paganism from the dark ages. You think God sent us into the world to do water baptism? When God made man God said very good. God said now We have a partner in Our team. Man is the fourth part of the Godhead. Man was supposed to carry God ward, God’s will here on earth. What God has made has the capacity to take over. In the midst of chaos God made man to take charge. It was our destiny to push all the powers of darkness out. God made man and put man in the midst of confusion where 1/3 of fallen angels are and made man capable to take over. The devil is no match for God. God is so confident of us because God has put Himself in us. We were created and inserted into the chaos of darkness and rebellion to overcome it on God’s behalf. We are created to be as God here in this world. Any generation who fulfills this call will have the presence of God forever. The problem with us is instead of starting in Gen 1 we are starting in Gen 3. All our gospel is established on Gen 3 – man sinned, God became the Lamb. Man had a need and God has to meet the need. All the names of Jehovah are given so that God can fulfill His responsibility to man’s need. Jehovah Rapha – God is my Healer. Jehovah Jireh – God is my provider. Jehovah Shammah – God is my Peace, Righteousness. Man became the center and God became the subservient. God took the role to serve man. Man was never there for God. From then man became the very purpose of creation and not God. All our presentation is man is very important. God always play the second fiddle. In church man’s ministry is more important than God’s purpose. Many don’t know what they are created for. Their fulfillment is more important. They will fight and divide the church is they cannot find fulfillment. The whole gospel of man is centered around man. That substandard gospel will not be able to raise the church. All we have is a company of self-centered people. God has to baby sit them. We continue to get God to do things for us. We don’t want to change because God is our Healer. We are sick He got to heal us. If a minister said you got to lose weight that’s why you are sick. Come back in 2 weeks’ time and lose 10 kgs. That minister will be cursed. Don’t ask how I became sick. Your job is to heal me. A man is in financial need and you are not supposed to ask why he is in financial need. You are supposed to pray and God will provide. We push it in faith and when God has done we said our faith has done this great thing. We cornered God to do His job faster. We use all the faith and the Scripture for God to do His job well. Most Christians are pagans. We use our faith to name it and claim it. If we use faith to get the material things that the heathens get without God then what is our faith? Only we can sit in church and boast because we are ignorant. The non-Christians have served idolatry and serve sin and fly in 1st class. Is faith just to get things? In Heb 11 faith has nothing to do with getting things. This doctrine came from materialism. Name it and claim it and crawl to get it. Our gospel starts in Gen 3 and God became the servant to man. Man always getting into trouble and God always help man out of trouble. God brought His Son and raised up a true Man to fulfill Gen 1. To make man is more than speaking word. You have to form them, you have to shape them. Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you baptizing them in the name of the Father (into the nature of the Father), the Son (into the nature of the Son) and the Holy Spirit (into the nature of the Holy Spirit) and I will be with you until the end of the age. There is an age which we have to carry this assignment. I will stay with you until you finish the course. I will not leave you or forsake you. It’s impossible to understand if we just stay in the gospel where Jesus came to heal, to bless, to deliver to set free. All that is to meet man’s needs. All that He did was the mercy of God. Go therefore and make disciples – we start a new heaven and new earth. We start a new creation – the generation of Jesus Christ. A new race called the holy race. God was recreating man one more time. We are the new creation after the order of Jesus. Many times we struggle with His will. His will, your will. His desire, your desire. God has to convince you to do His will. God has to deal and corner you to do His will. Though we knew all along what we need to do but we give testimonies of our rebellion. This is the state of the church. They want God to run after them. The Bible said they play harlot. What is the difference of the present day church and Israel of the past? No difference. We are as wicked as they were. We must change. We must go back to the original patterns. God lives in Christ in bodily form. The Spirit of the Lord and God is living in Jesus. Col 2:9, 1:19, Is 61 – The Spirit of the Lord and God is upon Me (The Holy Spirit and the Father is upon Jesus). After Jesus finished His task, the 3 want to live in disciples. The disciples were called apostles. Matt 10:1-4. If there is discipleship how are we going to go into ministry? The people who go into ministry have no foundation of discipleship. It’s pseudo false ministry that people are living on. Did I not heal the sick in Your Name? Did I not cast out devils in Your Name? Did I not prophesy in Your Name? Jesus said I do not know you workers of iniquity. You work with anointing and gifting but don’t work with Me. You have eliminated Me and excluded Me in all your work. There are many ministries that God has nothing to do with it. That false church will continue to exist. The true church will emerge. The separation of the true church and the false church will become very obvious. It’s going to be very scary. It’s not about the sin of the church. It’s about the church today is not church. If it is church He would have come to live in it. It will be so powerful to take back the earth. In Acts the outpouring carried on for 200 years. The church became a threat to the world during that time. Today to be born again is an in thing, a fashion. Acts 2 is not Pentecostal; it’s not about speaking in tongues only. We must not sell our soul to paganism. We continue to live in the old way and hope that God will come through. We are so blinded that after Jesus has arrived we are still looking for a Messiah. Where did He arrive? Right in Jerusalem. What were they looking for? A Messiah. God has to give us clarity. The gospel of Judas – God was trapped in the body of Jesus and He want to come out but could not. Only Judas can understand Jesus and only he could get Jesus on the cross and when He died He could escape from the body. So Judas wasn’t a traitor but a savior of Jesus. This is perversion of devil. There are so many voices we will hear in the days ahead. We must hear the voice of the true Shepherd. Characteristics of the disciples: The 3 now live within the 1 – the disciple is the 4th part of the Godhead.
i. A disciple is willing to embrace the truth you are teaching and live it out as a lifestyle.
He is a doer of the word and not just a hearer. One of the strongest characteristics of a disciple is embracing the truth and lives according to it. Most members in the church fail because they obey whatever benefited them. He will want to pattern everything you’re teaching in his life. One of the strongest examples is from the field of Chinese martial arts like Shaolin. He learns and practices everything so that he can be like the master. The western mindset has very little understanding on discipleship – they only have coaching and mentoring program.
ii. He is willing to change his thinking patterns according to the fresh truth he is receiving.
There is a difference between a devotee and a disciple. A devotee learns once and practices it to the dot e.g. in fasting once a week. A devotee fights anything new. The teachers, the Scribes and the Pharisees in Jesus’ days were devotees. They made law out of the existed law. Many teachings today add on to what is not there to accommodate what is there. There are many theories, which are not there. You have added weight to the people. A disciple is able to hear the new and follow progressive revelation quickly. His mind is not locked to the past. His mind is opened for anything new. He is willing to change and move on. A devotee is stuck with the old and produces rituals and traditions. A disciple doesn’t follow traditions but follow progressive revelations. He is willing to discard everything for something new that God is revealing in the now. A devotee has trouble Moses spoke about this Abraham spoke about that and when Jesus arrived he has problem. In Acts 2 it was a loud noise like a mighty rushing wind. It was not a mighty rushing wind. If you teach anything new people react. You teach about apostles people react. Because they are not disciples. You have to convince them with many sermons.
iii. He has a leader that he is drawing the source of truth from.
He doesn’t draw from anywhere or anyone. He is clear who his leader is. He is a disciple of one. We draw from the primary source. We got to be committed for life. This is what marriage is. Trusting each other to such an extent that you only live for one another – covenant walk. Acts 19 – disciples of Apollos – he was reproduced into his disciples.
iv. A disciple observes and duplicates the life of the master while he is still a disciple.
In martial arts, he observes his master and practices because he wants to be like him. He wants to imitate and become like him. There is an innate nature in us to be like Christ.
v. He enters into the same ministry and primary task that God has given to the leader.
Joshua took over where Moses left off. Elisha took over where Elijah left off. Timothy took over where Paul left off. The apostles took over where Jesus left off. Every major discipleship movement became a reproduction of the generation who started it. There is no discipleship if there is no continuity to the legacy. If you have believers and members you only have bricks but you don’t have a house. You only have a construction site.
4: THE MINISTER
i. A minister is one who functions and contributes his grace and gifts to the overall edification of the church.
He uses all that God has given to him to make certain that everyone is blessed. He who prophesies edifies the whole body. Others turn it around for self-elevation and self-promotion. If someone is given ministry without having been a disciple it becomes destructive and gets used for self or self-promotion. They will use the position against one another to consolidate their place. They are not accountable. They are not following anybody whom they can pattern after. If you give a believer a ministry he will turn the ministry for himself. If you give a member a ministry he will rise in the ministry and discover he can do better in another church and he will leave. But a disciple is connected to you and to the house.
ii. He is defined by his function and not by his position.
Song leading is not a position but a function. We can change song leader but you are not demoted. Singers, musicians, ushers are not a position but function. We have problems when we make it a position and we cannot move the people. There are only few permanent positions in the house. The Senior Pastors, the elders and the deacons – these are appointed positions. All other positions are dissolvable. The stage is not a marketable position. The whole team of musicians is only a ministry of help. But we make it a main ministry of the church. Imagine the Senior Pastor is a prophet and apostle and submits himself and the church to the song leader who is of lower level of anointing. And then the Senior Pastor has to bring it up to where he is to start all over again. Just like all the cars have to follow one who is a learner. It frustrates those who want to move on. After the 70s praise and worship became the in thing. Before the 70s the word was the in things. Due to the charismatic movement music and songs became important. The church has evolved because of what the people want. We practice for many days because of 1 hour of praise & worship on Sunday. Many people fight to be on the stage. Before the 70s the preaching was long. After the 70s the preaching is short. The song leading ministry has a shelf life. Only in US song leading can become a ministry. If there are so many commercialize in the church then put an axe to the root and make quick changes. What is important is God’s presence comes down so strongly no matter who is song leading. Song leading and worship department must not be idolatry in God’s house. Ask: What is important? Can you bring down God’s presence? Can the Holy Spirit fill the whole house? Can the people enter into a good time of God-encounter? We are creating monument that we cannot bring down. The music department spends many hours just to get one song right. It’s not about excellent but we have misplaced priority. Our job is to sing a God-song to bring down the presence of God. We don’t have to commercialize music that only the best can be on the stage and everyone is striving. We must be not polishing the songs until we exhaust the songs. For e.g. we practice for hours on the songs for one Sunday and the next Sunday another 5 different songs. I would prefer them to pray more. We must give God to people and not our performance or our skill. Abraham and Isaac went to the mountain to worship. Abraham did not carry a guitar neither Isaac carried a keyboard. They carried wood fire. The place of worship must not be stolen by music, musicians or singers. The place of worship is for worshippers only, for those whose hearts are tender and fear to tread where angels feared to tread, for those whose hands are clean and know how to bring a sacrifice to God and bring God down. We must learn to bring the presence of God down without trying to sir up unnecessary things of this world. There is an appropriate place for musicians and singers. There must be equalization of the spirit of worship between the music team and the congregation so everyone is functioning and laboring to lay hold of the presence of God. Don’t pattern it to the concert pattern. The devil came from the worship department. Judas came from the finance department. We must keep worship clean. Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. (Genesis 4:19-22) Cain murdered Abel who was a first worshipper. The offspring of Cain was a counterfeit one. Abel was the righteous one. After Abel came Seth and then Enosh. The offspring went on to take on livestock and tents because livestock is for sacrifice and God lives in tent. They knew in the future these would be part of worship. They contaminated immediately what will be used in the future for worshipping. Jabal was the father who played the lyre and the pipe. What did they capture the musical instruments because that is also part of worship. Tubal capture the craftsmen of bronze and iron to expand territory to kill and murder another fellow human being. The counterfeit knew what would happen in the future worship. The devil is very interested in worship. We must have the right people who have the right offspring, who carry the spirit of true worship. We must keep worship clean so God can come down and manifest Himself. Don’t keep people too long in a position or else they will profit from the system when they know the system and become corrupted. The sons of Zeruiah became to David. We don’t want people to play politics. We must not give any leeway knowing what is in men. Positional ministry will always create a counterfeit ministry. A true ministry will be functional.
iii. He is required to move in a spirit of excellence to provide maximum contribution.
If he is a minister of the word then he must be sharp and accurate. If he is minister in singing then he must learn to tune himself and his voice to sing accurate. A minister must be one step above the rest. They must do well in whatever they are doing. They must excel in every good thing. If they are average train them until they excel.
iv. He functions under authority and lives in total accountability to the leaders whom he represents.
They must be accountable to the leader above them. Should freely be able to receive without defensiveness. It’s dangerous to raise up people who want to do anything without answer to the leader above them. There must be freedom but within the boundary.
v. He must desire to capture the heart of the owner of the ministry and he will be given an opportunity to inherit the ministry in the future.
“And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? (Luke 16:12) The translation is that if you have not been faithful in the use of what is another’s ministry who will give you the ownership of it. Charismatic translation is if you have been faithful to another man’s ministry God will give you a ministry of your own. If you are faithful in another man’s ministry, God will give you power to own what you served. Elisha owned what he served in Elijah. Timothy owned what he served in Paul. Joshua owned what he served in Moses. The apostles owned what they served in Jesus. You serve a man’s ministry faithfully, one day God will give you power to own it and handle it as though it is your own. Don’t add your greed into your creed. Many are serving the Pastor with the motive of having a ministry of their own and leave the church to start their own ministry like hyenas.
5: THE SON IN THE HOUSE
Sons have inheritance and the Son is living in us no matter whether we are male or female.
i. Sons are connected to the father and not just to the meetings.
He enjoys the relationship and not just the sharing of responsibilities. The strength of your ministry is in proportionate to the strength of your relationship with the father. You are connected to his heart. You are not doing things for him. Personal relationship with the father. You are not representing him in responsibility. You are representing him as a person. Many don’t have relationship with the father. They don’t know the father. They don’t communicate with the father. Loose connection will have short circuit. Most of our leaders don’t know us they only share our work. Sons must be directly connected to your heart.
ii. They must be connected to the people of the house as they are their father’s other sons.
The way I love the church is how my sons need to love the church. How to have true sons when they hate other sons? There will be sibling rivalry in the church. True son will love the other sons as the father loves them or else the son will misrepresent the father.
iii. The son is connected to the purpose and vision of the house.
He doesn’t have a vision of his own. He discovers the vision and walks in the vision that is already there. A son continues the vision of the father and doesn’t hijack the vision. The son pursues exactly what the father pursues. It’s dangerous to have leaders who move the church into another direction. Every message you preach you must preach as though it is the only last message and God will know how to balance it. Some leaders try to balance it and they will divide the congregation and create confusion and chaos. All leaders must be so one with the father as Peter stood up the rest stood with him.
iv. Sons will provide for the vision of the house.
Servants labor for wages or rewards but sons labor for inheritance. Servants do whatever they can. The sons do more than they should. Their giving capacity toward the house and the vision is superb because they are investing that one day they will have a future and an inheritance in the house. They will go beyond measure. They see the house as their future. This is my father’s house. I must be about my father’s business. Their heart is attached to the work.
v. Sons will become fathers and carry the legacy to new heights.
You can sit back and listen to your words and heart coming through another human life. They say what you want to say. They do what you want to do. They carry the heart of yours. This is the old man’s dream becoming a reality. The father captured the dreams of heaven and the sons will carry the dreams into the nations of the world. Sons and daughters can continue to fulfil your dreams and legacy.
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