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Spiritual worship begins with the communion of the spirit of the creature with the Spirit of the Creator. As Jesus told Nicodemus, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." It was from that Breath that life began. What was it that made that pile of red dirt into the first Adam--a living soul? The Spirit of the living God separates the dead from the living! What was true of Adam is also true of the Church. Any person or gathering of persons that is not animated by the Breath of God is dead and cannot rightly be called the Church of Christ. As it was with Adam, so it is with the authentic Church. God formed Adam out of the dirt of the ground and breathed into that lifeless form the breath of life. God formed the first Church out of earthen vessels that were just as lifeless. He sent His Spirit to vitalize them and make them witnesses of His life, love and power. Only as a living organism, animated by the Spirit, could they walk in harmony with the living God. So the Spiritual birth of the church was God's first order of business. Of Jesus John wrote, "In Him was life and the Life was the Light of men." Where there is no pnuema, life, there is no light.
The prophet Joel also foretold this great transitional event. "And it shall be afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also I will pour out My Spirit on the slaves and on the slave-girls in those days" (Joel 2:28-29). This New Covenant seal fell upon the early believers as, in obedience to Christ's command, all 120 of them gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem, waiting for the promise of the Father. "And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them" (Acts 2:2-3 RSV). This harkens back to Jesus' description of those who are birthed anew by the Spirit. "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:7-8 NKJV). After the Spirit fell on these saints, the house they were in could no longer hold them. They broke out beyond its walls like a tornado.
Everyone born of the Spirit is like the wind? Isn't that what Jesus said here? That would be chaos, wouldn't it? Somebody has to supervise, somebody has to be in control or who knows what might happen. Believers running here and there, haphazardly, without so much as a by your leave from the presbytery? This kind of life will upset the whole neat applecart we have been building. That's the point exactly. If nature has taught man anything, it has taught him that he cannot control the wind. You cannot argue with a hurricane. It tests the structures and foundations of everything. What we just witnessed in New Orleans has proven that. It blows where it wishes and breaks down the walls that resist God's flood.
So it is that the Holy Spirit demands that place of absolute supremacy or He leaves to find those who will grant it to Him. We believe this is why the last outpouring of the Spirit during the early '70s was not in the churches, but out in the streets. You cannot confine the wind in buildings! You cannot dictate the wind's course and you can not fly your kite without it. As one dear brother we know wrote, "The opposite of the wind is bricks!" When will religious men ever learn that they cannot control where the wind comes from or control where it goes? When will they stop resisting the Holy Spirit and those who are led by Him? They often speak about the sovereignty of God, but if this was true, why do they act as if they were the sovereign ones? Stephen's final words are pregnant with meaning, "However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: 'Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me?' says the LORD, or 'what is the place of My rest? Has My hand not made all these things?' You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you." (Acts 7:48-51 NKJV).
Here in John three and Joel two we see worship in Spirit represented by the outpouring and sovereign leading of God's Spirit as opposed to the closed-system worship of the old order, where only a few favored individuals are considered anointed. Under this New Covenant, the prophetic Spirit that was once poured out on an elite company is now lavished upon everyone, even those who were in that day considered the lowest of the low--slave-girls. With no distinction of class or privilege, all are anointed. All are priests. All are taught of God (See 1John 2:27). All may enter the Holy of Holies because Christ has torn open the veil (see Hebrews 10: 19). All are given gifts of the Spirit (See Ephesians 4: 7, 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 & Romans 12:6-8). All minister to one another (see 1Peter 4:10). In this glorious New Covenant, the God that is above all is now through all and in all (see Ephesians 4:6). There are no privileged priests in Christ's body. All are priests! (See 1 Peter 2: 5, 9). There is only one Head and each anointed, precious member is equally connected to Him! Before we address this great mystery of the Church, it is necessary that we look at those things that resist and hinder its full manifestation.
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