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Lately the Lord has been telling George Davis and me to come out
and to join Him among the unchurched
people of the world. We went to Casper, Wyoming, last month and ministered among
the street people and poor of that town and recently George Davis and I went
over to Missoula, Montana and met with a dear brother in Christ who works among
the native American incarcerated youth of that state. His name is Bud Heringer.
That visit has changed our lives.
Bud was sharing with us how that He has found the presence of the
Lord among the ochlas, the outcast
multitudes. When he is serving these rejects of our society, he feels the
presence of the Lord and knows the Lord's provision as he obeys Him and is a
voice and hands for Jesus… the same Jesus who said, "When I was hungry, you fed
me, thirsty, you gave me to drink, sick or in prison, you visited me, naked, you
clothed me...what you did to the least of these, you have done unto me." Bud's
words went into our hearts like an arrow when he said, "Jesus was among the
ochlas two thousand years ago and He
is still there today!"
There are many passages about Jesus and the multitudes in the
gospels, but this is the passage that the Lord lead me to when we got back home
from our trip to Montana:
1 On that day Jesus went out
of the house, and was sitting by the sea.
2 And great multitudes gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat
and sat down, and the whole multitude was standing on the beach.
Those who have the heart of Christ will be found outside
the house among the multitudes. The word that was translated
multitudes in Matthew 13:2 is:
Oclov ochlos
{okh'los}
1) a crowd
1a) a casual collection of people
1a1) a multitude
of men who have flocked together in some place
1a2) a throng
1b) a multitude
1b1)
the common people, as opposed to the rulers and leading men
1b2) with contempt: the ignorant
multitude, the populace
1c) a multitude
1c1) the
multitudes, seems to denote troops of people gathered
Do you want to sense Jesus' presence? Here is where you will find Him, not in the holy mountain or
in the temples of today's fallen church system. He is STILL among the common
people! Church is still being held on the sea shore or in the parks or in (God
forbid) the taverns! You will find Him wherever that one lost sheep is , not
with the ninety and nine, safely tucked in some pastor's sheepfold. He is with
the ordinary people who know they are sinners and in need of Him. Jesus never
laid a hard trip on the harlots, sinners, tax collectors or the masses, but He
had many a harsh word for the religious elite who desired to rule over them.
A few days ago, George and I went
out of the house again and sat by the sea (the sea of
the unchurched). He had us go to two secular coffee houses and just sit
there and be available and watch for Him to give us divine appointments and He
did. There was Craig from Indiana who was in town serving his dying mom. We were
his friends. There was Tyler who was all ears when the Lord had George share
that the kingdom of God was not a religion, but a family with God as the Father,
Jesus the Son and the rest of us brothers and sisters in Christ. He was touched
with the simplicity of the real gospel. God said that He is a Father to the
fatherless and a Husband to the widows. There are a lot of "fatherless" people
out there on the streets of this world and guess what? THAT is where Jesus STILL
is! He is with the "multitudes," the
ochlas.
Oh yes, while we were at one of the coffee houses, we spent a half
hour with a young Mormon girl who's room mate was in Salt Lake at the temple
listening to their "great prophet." We shared the truth with her that those who
would worship Him would no longer do it in the temple nor up on the mountain,
but would do it in Spirit and in Truth. Also that same Spirit would give her an
unction so that she would need no man to teach her any longer, but
He would lead her into all truth.
I think George and I will be going back and finding ourselves
out of the house more often from now
on, mingling with "the common people, as opposed to the rulers and leading men."
(see definition of multitudes). We are tired of bandying words with religious
people. Please be praying that we will hear His voice as we pour out our souls
to the hungry multitude outside the camp
(see Isaiah 58).
After "the great awakening" the church started to once again to go
outside the house taking the gospel to
the lost of this world. The eighteen hundreds was marked by the founding of many
missions organizations who were headed by men and women with a vision for the
multitudes of the lost and dying upon this earth. Many a man and women from the
1600's to the 1800's made their mark upon the earth by reaching out to the poor
and needy. But for most of the last 1700 years the institutional church has been
holed-up behind its oak doors with Jesus outside knocking asking to be let in
(Rev. 3:17-20). This last century has marked a great decline in the church's
missions work and of its leaders reaching out beyond their doors and from the
safe havens they have built in the free
world. The 1900's culminated in churches feeding themselves and storing up
wealth for themselves in a continual emphasis on "tearing down their barns and
building bigger ones" so that they could store more(see Luke 12:13-21).
The sad thing is that just like it says in Revelations chapter
three, they ARE rich, increased with goods and DO see themselves as needing
nothing! They have accumulated wealth to themselves by ignoring the plight of
the poor not only in America, but in the third world.
We believe that Jesus is now through standing outside the doors of
Christendom, begging with hat in hand, for us to let Him into His own church.
Many of us have come out unto Him and believe me, it is a whole different
world out here! But let us be careful that we do not trade our larger church
buildings for smaller ones as we start to meet in homes. When we hide behind
closed doors of any size, we leave Jesus outside. His heart is out there with
the ochlas.
Come up here!
Right after John saw the despicable state of the seven fallen
churches in chapters two and three of Revelations, he saw Jesus in a new
location. He was no longer walking among the seven lampstands of the seven
churches or outside the door of the church of Laodicea
After this I looked, and lo, in heaven an open door! And the first
voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up hither,
and I will show you what must take place after this."
It is amazing how God's truth all comes into perspective once you
get off your pew and start walking it out by faith. It was Jesus' voice (see
Rev. 1:10 and 11) calling through an open door in heaven like a trumpet calling
an army to action. He was calling for John too "Come up here..." If you want to
REALLY know what the Spirit is doing in the world today, you have to go outside
the camp unto Him and bear His reproach as an outcast among your own people and
a church system which refuses to follow just as He did (see Hebrews 13:12-16).
Where Jesus was, you also found the multitudes of the disenfranchised. And where
the disenfranchised are is where Jesus still is!
Elvis Has Left the Building!
There is a story that once at an Elvis Presley performance the
crowd stayed in their seats waiting for Elvis to come back out and do an encore.
They cheered and clapped and shouted, "Encore! Encore!", but no Elvis appeared.
Finally, the MC came out on the stage and said the now famous and often quoted
words, "Elvis has left the building!"
Jesus is outside of the house!
Those inside the house are arguing over the Bible, making doctrines that
they can use to bind up each other up, and trying to get a leg up over one
another as they argue about who should be first. All the while they are giving
praises to Jesus and calling, "Encore! Encore! Send a revival to OUR church."
They are like Cain who on the one hand are making sacrifices to God
and on the other rising up and
killing the spiritual life in one another through overt control.
Men and women in the church today clamor for titles and recognition
instead of seeking the one title and position that Jesus allowed, the title
of... doulos!
But Jesus called them (His disciples) to him and said, "You know
that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise
authority over them.
The word translated "slave" in the above verse means just that!
Doulos! Look closely at its meaning:
doulov doulos
{doo'-los}
1) a slave,
bondman, man of servile condition
1a) a slave
1b) metaph., one who gives himself up to another's will
1c) devoted to another to the disregard
of one's own interests
Do you see titles of esteem here? How about special vestments of
the "holy man"? Pulpits and raised platforms? How about nice homes and fancy
cars, surely they must be in this definition! Hmmmm.
"Submit! Submit, They Cry!"
Those who would like to be known as the leaders
inside the house want you
to submit to them and their leadership. Like Jesus said of the Pharisees,
"You do well to do as they say, but do not do as they do. For they say one thing
and do another." If the "leaders" wanting you to follow and submit to them are
truly your bond slaves, truly
devoted to the church in disregard to their own interests, and are giving
themselves to your needs on every level, both spiritual and temporal (that was
what the famous apostle Paul did, by the way), chances are it is Christ abiding
in them and you should follow their example and do as they do. But if that
person is demanding and controlling and their attitude is one of "you must
recognize who I am in this church," or "I am in charge here! You must do as I
say, because I am one of the 'five-fold'," you can bet
they are no doulos and have no
place in God's true church leadership. They need to repent!
Look at what preceded Jesus' words in the above passage from
Matthew!
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him, with her
sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something.
She said to him, "Command that these two sons of mine may
sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom."
But Jesus answered, "You do
not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to
drink?"
They said to him, "We are able."
He said to them, "You will drink my cup,
but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for
those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."
Clamoring for position is so church, but drinking His cup is not.
Note that she asked Jesus to command
that her two sons would be given elevated positions. He did not then and
Jesus still does not command that we submit to those who would be like the kings of the
Gentiles in the church today! If you are about to bring up some passage in the
New Testament that says the laity
should submit to the clergy, then
you should go to your concordance and search it out. We already have searched it
out, and many such passages were translated incorrectly to give power to the
King so he could control the masses and rule over them through the church
bishops. Even many of the newer translations carry on the traditions of the King
James Bible. Top down authority is not in there folks, and it does not belong in
the ekklesia of Jesus, the servant of
all, either.
Look at verse twenty-four. Anytime you have would-be leaders
clamoring for folks to submit to them and positions and titles so that they can
rule over the ekklesia of God, you
have strife and indignation. You want people to follow you? First repent of your
lording over mentality, get outside
your house, mingle among the masses of lost sheep
and just be one of them.
That is how Hudson Taylor started out in China. That is how
David Wilkerson started out in New York City and look what happened! That
is how an eighteen year old English girl named Jackie Pullinger Tu started out
in Hong Kong twenty years ago, serving the drug addicts, and prostitutes in the
old walled city. From what we have been able to learn, Mother Theresa had the
spirit of Christ and was walking this out among the destitute multitudes of
Calcutta. She was never too good to dress the wounds of a leper or to change
diapers. She just wanted to be where Jesus is.
That is how Jesus started out and finished the race there in
Israel, too, walking among the masses with no recognition in the church system
of 2000 years ago. He was crucified between two thieves. He did not need a
title. He died with a placard over His head that read, "King of the Jews."
"Blessed be the Son of David!" they cried, "Is He the Prophet?" People were
telling HIM who He was! Just do the stuff! To hell with all this hierarchical
systems of men! That is where it all came from, so send it back! Just don't hang
onto it or you will find yourself going there with it!
I want to share a little note I got from a sister who has the
vision for the ochlas that a true
doulos of God should have and is going
outside the house to do it:
"Amen brother! We have got to go where the people are. I am so
tired of being a bench warmer sitting in a pew. Well, I just can't do it any
more - it would be sin. While I was in the Philippines, I was walking in the
market area and it was swarming with people. All kinds of people, and I thought,
"this is just like it was in Jesus' day. The dirty and poor, blind and lame,
along with the prostitutes and gays, passing by you. And I could feel Jesus. And
I thought about how He would reach out to these people and heal them. Please
pray for me as I go into this area and attempt to do the works of Christ."
You can believe that my prayers are with one such as this. So get
out there and mingle, folks! Jesus is still here in this earth and He wants to
use you to love the lost, the sick and the wounded outcasts who fear to darken
the doors of a church where they might get wounded again. What you do to and for
the least of these you do to Him.
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Him to the test,
saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?"
And he answered and said, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH
ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL
YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS, AND YOU
WILL LIVE."
But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Jesus replied and said, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho;
and he fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went off
leaving him half dead.
And by chance a certain priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him,
he passed by on the other side.
And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him."
And Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."
Bless each of you as you obey Him,
Michael
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