“If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?” (Amos 3:6). Can the church be excluded from the word of God? If there is a calamity in the church, will not the LORD have done it? Time is too short for business as usual! Saying, “We are not going to have church as usual,” does not mean that we are not. “And He Himself (Jesus) gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” (Ephesians 4:11-13). It is time for the church (the body of Christ) to stand up or to fall. The body of Christ will not fall! The church will come out of the “business as usual” imitation of the Christ. It is time for all the ministry gifts (“He Himself gave”) to proclaim the coming of the LORD. It is time to have church in the streets. It is time to move up into the LORD Jesus Christ. It is time that the body of Christ stand up with the Head, our LORD Jesus, and all men to be drawn unto Him.

Pastors if the church is hearing your voice and seeing you as the shepherd, they are missing Jesus. Jesus is the Pastor of His flock (read Ezekiel 34). Pastors, you are not lords over the church and it is not you that give some to be apostles, some prophets, and some evangelists. Church stand up beside the pastor in your midst and proclaim the true Pastor, our LORD Jesus, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:19-21). Apostles, prophets, and evangelists stand up and work in the ministry gift God has given to you, submitting to one another in the fear of God. The LORD of hosts comes, but that should not trouble the church. “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Psalm 46:7). “O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You!” (Psalm 84:12).

Pray for the church. Repent! God has placed His Holy Spirit in the midst of the church to change us from the inside out. Pray for the country. Repent! God has placed the church in the midst of the country, to change us from the inside out. Pray for the world, that God so loved. Repent! God has placed His people in the midst of the world, to change us from the inside out. Repent! God sent His only begotten Son into the world to change us from the inside out. God is sending the body of Christ, the church, into the fields. Time is too short for business as usual! We are the body of Christ and not a business. Seek first the kingdom of God. Seek first to love the LORD your God. Love your neighbor as yourself (regardless of their sins). Forgive! Love one another (regardless of their title). Repent! Seek first the kingdom of God.

© 2005 Tim D. Coulter Sr.