Man Sent From God
Man Sent From God
1.246 The Cost of Weak Leadership in the Church
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Welcome back and thank you for tuning in once again. I would like to take my time today and bring to you what the Lord has spoken to me. I'd like for you to go ahead and get a notepad, Bible, paper, pen, and settle yourself. If this isn't a good time for you, if you're distracted, then just pause the video and come back later when you have that time to really sit and focus because it's a really serious word that the Lord brought to me. He shocked me and he got my attention. But I want to pass it on. I think it's going to clarify a lot of things for you. I know that it did for me. It gave me a greater understanding of where we are in the Word of God at this time. So, really, my title, if you want to have it a title, it's the cost of no leadership in the church. And I know this is a topic that uh we've been talking about a lot uh regarding leadership in the church or the lack of leadership in the church. And you may be tired of hearing about it, but today I believe we'll seal some uh really good information into your spirit while you'll why you will understand that the reason that we speak of it so much and the necessity of right leadership in the church, it does make a difference. So let's get our minds and our spirits settled and let's just believe the Lord to give us the eyes to see and the heart to hear and understand what he's saying to the church at this time. So as I was meditating and just communing with the Lord, and I will be referring to my notes today because there's quite a bit of material, so I want to take my time and make sure that I go over everything. And uh, you know, the Lord just brought to my heart, and uh as I was examining the status of the church as a whole and just the some of the things that we've been studying about leadership. And if you look in the New Testament, um, we see the five ministry gifts that are given to govern the church, and we see actually the operation of that government when we start looking and reading through the New Testament. There was the council at Jerusalem, there was um the various apostles and prophets that went out to the churches and established churches, uh, established doctrine, um, or set a church in order, those kinds of things that and the apostles and the prophets went forth to do this, and we see that being played out in the New Testament. And we will all talk about those five ministry gifts and say, yes, that's how the church is to be run. But yet I'm not seeing an apostles and prophets ministry coming to the foreground, leading the church as a whole. And that's really what started getting in my spirit yesterday. I said, Lord, I I don't understand. I see where pastors have become the lead ministry in the church, and how they are the ones setting doctrine for their own churches, that they're setting doctrine and they're setting uh spiritual rule, these things is almost as if they're building their own kingdoms with the sheep. I said, Lord, I just don't believe this is pleasing in your sight, and I certainly know it's not according to your word and your New Testament foundation of the church. So I began pondering about that and praying. I was really grieved on that because I can see people following wrong leadership, and it's gonna cause them to miss the plan that God has for their lives, and that hurts my heart. I want all of us to come into this place that we were created for, where God wants us to be, what he intended us, our very created purpose. I want us to lay hold on that, and without right leadership, it's likely not to happen. And that was grieving my spirit, and the Lord brought me Ezekiel 34, which I'm not going to read today. I encourage you either pause now and go read it, or when we're finished, go read that and how the Lord just deals with the pastors, the shepherds who have not done right and who've taken advantage of the sheep. It's not pleasing in his sight and it's out of his order. So as I was pondering on that, I began to just say, now, wait a minute, Lord. I if there's not been a true leadership word in over 2,000 years, because that's what I'm not seeing it in the earth. There may be an apostle or prophet here or there, but it has not gotten the attention of the church and led the church as a whole. I'm gonna read you a scripture about that in just a minute, but I want to continue on this thought right here. So I was pondering on that. I said, Lord, how can you bring out the word of Ezekiel 34 when you haven't given apostles and prophets to lead the church? And I wasn't asking in a rude and disrespectful manner. I wanted a true answer from God. I know that my thoughts aren't his thoughts, and I know that. And so that's what I was coming to him asking in that manner because he clearly was dressing down this pastoral situation, but I needed a little more clarification. And boy, oh boy, let me tell you, did he give it to me? And he didn't stop till he was finished. And that's so, in my observation, as I said, I haven't seen this type of word on the scenes probably since the early church. I can't find it in history. I don't see it. But the church today, not just here in our country, but all over the world, this is the ministry that is taking hold. It's the pastoral leadership, and it's out of God's order, and it's never gonna work. I got the word to line it up here, so you better hang with me today as I bring this forth. This isn't about it being one person or one ministry. That's not the point. It's to fall in line with the scriptures. These apostles and prophets' ministries, it has to come back to the church, it has to lead the church because the church doesn't have a vision right now, and that's what's going to cause the people to perish. Let's let me just go to this one scripture here in 1 Corinthians 1 and 10. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing. You know that's not going on right now. Every little church has got every little quirk and whim going on. One person doesn't agree with another, this, that, and the other. Even within an organized denomination, they don't agree. And you know that I'm right. It's not coming together. Everybody wants to talk about unity, but nobody wants to get the vision and the leadership that it takes for unity to take hold. Unity isn't me and you into agreeing together. Unity is you and I by agreeing with the Spirit of God, that the Spirit of God within us comes in line with the true Spirit of God, and we follow that leadership. That is a unity when we follow the voice of the Lord. That is his unity. Let me continue in this scripture. And that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, in the same judgment. There's another scripture, Ephesians 4, 3 through 6, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. So we have to come together speaking by this same spirit. And it as I said, it's not about one person or one ministry organization, it's about coming in line with these scriptures right here in 1 Corinthians 1 and Ephesians 4 that I just read to you. That's the spirit in which I'm speaking of. So as I began, you know, making these observations, and I began looking at the church as a whole and dealing with uh what I just spoke to you about the pastors being the ones, you know, setting everything and calling the leadership and such as that. And this is what the Lord told me. Proverbs 29, 18. Where there is no vision, the people perish. People quote this all the time, but what do you think is a vision? I'm not talking about somebody with a spirit of prophecy that can stand up in a church and say something. I'm talking about a prophet's ministry and an apostle's ministry that truly gives the eyes of the church and the doctrine of the church and shows us how to come and fulfill the word of God, the plan of God. People want to read this plan and latter-day move of God, but they're willy-nilly about it. There's no structure, there's no form, there's no way to make this come to pass. They just keep kicking the can down the road. That's never gonna work. You're gonna have to come God's way, and that's part of what he's trying to bring us to right here. There hasn't been a contemporary word or vision to lead God's people since the early church faded out. And when I was asking the Lord about this and that necessity of those ministries in the church, and this is what I asked him, why hasn't it been there? Why didn't you, Lord, put these apostles and prophets out there? And I wasn't rude, as I said, or disrespectful, but I truly was asking, oh boy, oh boy, did he give me the answer? You better listen up to what he had to tell me today. He said, My apostles and prophets have been shut out of the church and they've been silenced. Children of God, I'm telling you, if ever I heard the Lord, it was then. He gave me Luke 13, 34 through 35. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. I was taken aback. I can tell you, he began to show me how the weak pastors have given in to rebellious and stiff-necked people. They didn't hold the standard of God up. And just like Aaron, he caved, they have caved in and given in to the will of the people, and that's why they shut out the apostles and the prophets, because they don't want that word of correction. They don't want that word that's a straight standard that's gonna cause us to come in line with God's word. And they fed into that rebellion just like Aaron did. Do you realize Aaron is the one that built the calf to facilitate their lust? Aaron did that, supposed to be the priesthood. Aaron did that. My goodness. And this is what we must, and that's why, as I was starting the video talking about leadership, that's why we got to have strong leadership. These weak pastors have not held the line. You know, I'm not talking about everybody out there, you know that I'm not, but as a church as a whole, there's weak pastors, they're not holding the line and they're catering to the people. Oh, it looks mighty good. It's really hard to tell, but you and I both know you just get a little bit off track and you're gonna miss it. You're gonna miss it. And it really as but God began, you know, giving this to me, he gave me the scripture in Exodus, and that's 32 and 25. And when Moses saw that the people were naked, for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among the enemies. That was Aaron did that, and they were now deprived of the divine protection. You say, Sister Lisa, that's Old Testament. Let me just tell you, I'm getting ready to give you some New Testament on that, okay? You just hold on. You want to know what's wrong with the church? This is what's wrong with the church. This right here is where the church got off course. They kicked the vision out of the church. And that's why it's off course. With pastors leading, it's never gonna work. The church is no longer under divine protection, it's out of order, it's in rebellion, and it won't bless or bring deliverance as a whole back to the church until it comes under ordained leadership. He can't, and he won't, because he's a God of order, and he's not gonna go against his ordained plan. Let's turn our Bibles to Luke 11, 47 through 52. Woe unto you, for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers, for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute, that the blood of all the prophets which were shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation. From the blood of Abel until the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple, verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation. Woe unto you lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of knowledge, ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in, ye hindered. I tell you, children of God, this isn't pleasing in the sight of the Lord. You know good and well, you've driven out the men and women of God that have come to declare God's truths, that have come to declare God's standards, and they've spoken by the Spirit of God to bring the church in order, and you've kicked them out. You've almost killed them. You've tried to kill them with finances, you've tried to kill them with criticism, you've tried to kill them by kicking them out of the body of Christ, excluding them from fellowship. You know I'm telling you the truth. I'm talking about godly fellowship. I'm not talking about hanging out together. But you know what I'm talking about, you know it's right. There are pastors that need to search their hearts, there are ministers that need to search their hearts, there are people that call themselves Christians that need to get down on our faces and seek God to hear what He has to say in the matter and to see what part we may have played in it. I can tell you, children of God, I have seen and witnessed men and women that have tried to hold up a standard for God and they've just been crushed under the weight. They've been crushed from being uh ostracized and criticized and not supported financially. You know I'm telling you the truth today, and you may not want to hear it, but I'm still telling you the truth. I want to get back over here to a scripture, and it was um actually, I'm gonna you're gonna have to bear with me a minute. There we go. I want to get back over here to Luke 13 and verse 35. When I made that uh that comparison to what um Aaron said about now deprived of the divine protection, that's exactly what's going on here in verse 35. He says, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. You know good and well that there's power missing in the church. Deliverance as a whole is not there. There are miracles here and there, there are healings here and there, deliverances here and there. There may be an anointing here and there, there may be a salvation here and there, but you know, if you are honest with yourself, that the church is missing something. This is what it's missing, it's been left desolate, it's not under his divine protection, and it's not going to be until it comes back into God's order. If you want to uh really research this a little bit further, you can go to 2 Chronicles 24, and that's 20 through 21. I want you to listen to this. In that scripture uh that I was reading just a moment ago in Luke 11, the Lord refers to Zechariah. And I want to tell you why they killed him. For the very thing I'm talking about to you right now. They may have killed him in that literal physical altar where he was, but I'm telling you, I've watched many a minister that's tried to hold a standard be killed in the altar of the church. I've seen it, I've seen them criticized in the church house, I've seen them run out. Children of God, this is a serious time. Second Chronicles 24, 20 through 21. And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, which stood above the people and said unto them, Thus saith God, why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord that ye cannot prosper? There it is again. Because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath forsaken you. We need to have ears to hear today. We need to get a hold of what God's trying to tell us so we can get back under that divine protection. He may protect his individuals, I understand that, but the church as a whole is not under his protection, and you know what I'm talking about. You know it's right. And they conspired against him. Tell me I hadn't heard those conspirings going on in the church. The Spirit of God's heard them, and he's not pleased with it. It's gone on all this chitter and this, this chatter going on, this one talking, that one talking. It's been conspiring against his vessels, and he's not happy about it. He's going to require it at this generation, I tell you, children of God, I know when God speaks to me, and this is what he's telling me. They conspired against him and stoned him with the stones at the commandment of the king in the courthouse of the Lord. This is very, very serious. And because of the word that I'm ministering right now, uh, that God's blessing of divine protection is off the church, this is why. The apostles and prophets were silenced in the church. Anytime a word of correction to keep things in God's order, they were shut out and silenced. And the pastors took leadership into their own hands and for their own selfish gain. Oh my goodness, children of God, we've got to hear what God is saying and we've got to get real with the Lord today. He then took me at that time, is when he took me to that Ezekiel 34, and I'm not going to read all that. As I would like for y'all to take that time, either pause it now or read it later. But I want you to read that Ezekiel 34 and hear what he has to say about these pastors. They're not looking out for the sheep. If you got a weak pastor, he's not watching for your soul. He's not, he's got he's held up the keys to the knowledge of the kingdom, and he's trying to keep you out of it. I know what I'm saying today. Please hear me today. I want you to hit your face, and I want you to seek the face of God and call on him to set your feet under the right word of leadership, to get your feet on the right path where you can come into the knowledge of the kingdom and begin preparing your vessel to walk in what God has for us in this hour. This is serious times. Because the apostles and prophets were silenced in the church, that's what cut off the vision, and it brought a famine. There is a famine of the word from the Lord. I'm not talking about the Bible. I'm talking, we know 24-7-365, internet, radio, television, email, apps on your phone, whatever it is, it's happening, and you know that it is. So that's not what I'm talking about. Every kind of word out there is being preached. So scriptures are being proclaimed, but the word of the Lord that gives vision for his church has been cut off. God cut it off. When pastors, when weak leaders kicked the vision out of the church because of the rebellious and stiff-necked people, he cut that word off, and that's why he hasn't allowed them to raise up in these last 2,000 years to take a worldwide advantage because of rebellion and stiff-necked people, which has caused the leadership. They caved into them, and now without these ministries present in the church, it's blind, and the church is going to perish. We are right here in Amos 8 and 11. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send forth a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of the hearing of the words of the Lord. This is very different than just preaching. This is very different than words that edify, and I'm glad to have those. Those are necessary also, but those are different ministries. Those are pastors and teachers. These are other ministries that bring these things forth. The word of salvation, that's from your evangelists. But this right here, that gives us direction, that gives us the correct doctrine. This is the apostles and prophets' ministries, and they've been shut out of the church. Don't tell me you got a little pop-up apostle and pop-up prophet here. It ain't gonna fly. And it's not gonna hold water, it's not gonna work. They don't have a world, they don't have a vision for the church. As I said, I'm it doesn't have to be one ministry or one person, but they do have to be speaking the same thing. And there's got to be a word of leadership and a word of vision. And this I so this is what I need you to hear today. I know it doesn't sit well with the current status of the church, the current way that we do church. I understand that doesn't sit well with that. But somewhere when the Lord says there needs to be a change and a course correction, something's gotta change. We have to be open and sensitive to the Spirit of God and what it is that he wants to change so that his church can come to maturity. It's time to get into relationship with Jesus. You need to stop listening to every voice that just you know comes your way. You need to press him for his word of leadership to restore the apostles and prophets' ministries to get us back on the right foundation and move the church forward. That's what we need to be pressing for. It's vitally important that all over the world, his ministers, his vessels, his apostles and prophets, that they rise up and they come to a unison and they're able to lead the church forward with one voice that's gonna bring the church to maturity, that's gonna bring back that divine protection, that's gonna bring all that we know God is able to do the deliverance, the healing, the miracles, the love, all of it that ushers from the Spirit of God. We've got to come in line with this, and we've got to seek Him and pursue Him for it. I pray that this word stirs you today, that you take heed and you hear what the Spirit of God is speaking at this time. God bless you.