ARTICLES

The Dream...

by Bruce Vyverberg

 

The Lord gave me a dream not too long ago that shook and startled me greatly.  In this dream, He showed me that the church (His people) is rampant with unrepentant sexual fornication and adultery.  He went on to show me that because of His integrity and just-nature, He must deal with this flagrant and rampant sin in the Body of Christ.  When waking up, I began to ponder the dream and He began showing me in His Word that He (Jesus) considered the acts of fornication and adultery in our heart the same as committing the act physically.  He was showing me that the church was rampant with fornication and sexual adultery in both our thought lives as well as our actions and until that sin is actually repented of it is not forgiven.  I John 1:9 tells us that “If  we confess our sins, then He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of our unrighteousness.”  Is it any wonder why so many Christians walk around with unnecessary problems and just don’t seem to be able to hear or sense the Lord’s presence?  When we regularly grieve the Holy Spirit with our sin and lack of repentance,  He withdraws Himself.  Although He never leaves us, unrepentant sin will cause His presence to be absent in our lives.

The ministry of the prophet or prophetess is so misunderstood in most of the church.  If we even believe that Ephesians 4:11-12 are true for us today, we have often severely watered down and limited the gifting of the prophet to a flowery Word of great success, breakthrough and or abundant supply.  In reality, the ministry of the prophet is characterized by the regular manifestation and flow (as the Spirit wills) of the 3 Revelation Gifts of the Spirit called the Word of Wisdom, the Word of Knowledge and the Discerning of Spirits.  There is a world of difference between the pastor, teacher or lay person receiving an occasional word of revelation from the Lord and one who is called into that office of the prophet who regularly receives and ministers that gifting of the Holy Spirit.  Although certainly not an exact analogy, it is the difference between a licensed plumber fixing that kitchen faucet of yours and you trying to do it yourself.

Because the church at large believe that all Words coming from the pulpit or 5-fold ministry should only be good, edifying, encouraging and uplifting, we miss the boat on what Paul is telling us in II Timothy 3:16 when he talks about “doctrine, correction, reproof and instruction in righteousness“.  What good parent only encourages a child  when correction or reproof is needed for their own benefit?  We need to better understand that even correction and rebuke are meant for the receiver’s benefit and not their harm.  Only the church misunderstands and misinterprets the truth of this fact.  In all of the years that I played sports throughout my school years, every practice in every sport was laced with regular correction and occasional reproof by the coach.  The whole purpose of  having practice every day is to help improve a team or individual’s skills so that when the real game comes, success will follow.  What team was ever successful on Saturday that never practiced all week?  Show me a team that is never corrected or chided toward improvement and I will show you a team with very little success.

Jeremiah the prophet prophesied for about 40 years to God’s people of Israel and for 40 years he was severely rejected and persecuted for giving so called negative words.  Even when Jeremiah’s words to the people came true, and they did, do you think that even one of Israel’s leaders or people ever came to Jeremiah and said….”Oops, sorry about that Jerry.  We now see that you were right all along and we are sorry.  Please forgive us?” Never once as far as I can tell.

Pride, religious tradition, hardness of heart and an insensitivity to the voice of the Spirit of God will keep a person from doing right even when they should.  Some of the time, people are so spiritually dull that they are never even aware of their evil actions.  Although with our mouths we love to talk and read about the ministry of the apostles and prophets of old, Heaven help us if one actually comes into our presence for real.  The church today is still much like Israel of old in that we still persecute the prophets and chase them from town to town.

As a kid, I had a paper route for a short season.  As a paperboy, I had absolutely nothing to do with the contents of those papers.  Whether the news inside was good or bad, it was my job to deliver those papers.  So it is with the prophet.  His or her job, whether good, seemingly bad, or whatever is to deliver the message given them from the top.  Most of the time, it is done with real fear and trembling.  Any newspaper that contains only good news is not giving comprehensive coverage.  Likewise, any prophet that only proclaims good news is only receiving and then relaying a portion of what the Lord has to say.  Every truly authentic dollar bill has both a front side and backside.  If both sides contained the same information, that bill is called a “counterfeit”.

Is it possible that we Christians in the western world don’t have a true conception of what “real ministry” entails.  To most of us, real ministry is getting together with a group of people (the bigger the better) and then having one person stand on a stage and teach or preach.  While this is truly one aspect or part of real ministry, it is frankly only a very small part.  As far as I know, Mother Teresa never preached a sermon in her life.  On the other hand, her entire life was a sermon; a living epistle that the whole world and everyone she came in contact with could readily see.  Each and every one of us has a personal and everyday ministry of our own in our homes, in the marketplace, in our schools and yes, for a couple of hours each week in our churches.  When we finally realize that there are 168 hours in a week and that church time is only about 3 or 4, we will begin to see just how narrow our concepts have truly been.  May we please break out of this “Church Mentality” and break into God’s “Kingdom Mentality”.  If and when we ever do, watch out devil because no devil can stand up to the Kingdom of God:  It’s no contest!  Jesus’ entire earthly ministry revolved around teaching, preaching and demonstrating the “Kingdom of God” by the power and anointing of the Spirit of God within Him.  May we in the church ever more learn to follow His example.

Copyright © 2008. Bruce Vyverberg. All Rights Reserved.

 

Church Tonight Ministries
239 Lexington Place
Sevierville, TN  37862
Bruceconnie@aol.com
(865) 774-6476

 

Bruce and Connie Vyverberg are available for speaking engagements.