What are our 95 Theses?
What are our 95 Theses as people of God, e.g., what is our message to our generation? Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation, was a theology professor at Wittenberg University and a priest at the City Church in Wittenberg. At that time, the practice of buying indulgences, which replaced confession and allowed people to buy their salvation, was completely repulsive to Luther. He strongly believed in God's grace as the ONLY way to salvation. So, on October 31, 1517 he nailed his 95 Theses to the Door of the Castle Church and that gave birth to many restorational movements of God in the centuries following.
You can take these statements below as my mission statement as well, because that is what I believe the Church should represent indeed and that is actually God's faith for the Church of the last days, having in mind Ephesians 5:27 "...radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless". With that established, let me how you my "95 Theses": 1. The Church is God's instrument/agent for advancing God's Kingdom. The Lord has entrusted the Church and NOBODY else with that assignment. 2. The Church consists of multiple local communities, but with a Global mentality and outlook. 3. The Church must not be led by personal agendas – if it is, it will have no power. God does not give His power to rebels and lone rangers. 4. The Church must have real authority – otherwise the enemies will not yield. We are fighting spiritual battles with a spiritual enemy and we can not fool him with natural schemes and tricks. Authentic authority is what we need. 5. The Church must consist first of disciples and then of apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, pastors and other ministry gifts. 6. The Church must have a mind and passion to work tirelessly. Apostle Paul made it clear that his working more than all the others was the reason for his incredible success. 7. The Church must not be built according to world patterns. The world has nothing to teach us, it must be the other way around. 8. The Church must have a first hand revelation from God. It must feed of the Source and Fountain of life. 9. The Church will be given the keys when it is mature, when it is in charge of a certain spiritual mission or when it has an open door from God sovereignly. 10. The Church must multiply in the face of persecution. 11. The Church must lead men to Christ (that's its evangelistic function) and put Christ into men (that's its apostolic function). 12. The Church must build according to present generation patterns and revelation, because the Glory of God only falls upon what is built according to the pattern (Moses Tabernacle and Solomon's temple were both built according to Divine pattern given respectively to Moses and David). 13. The Church must have the passion to serve the Lord with its whole spirit, soul, body and strength. 14. The Church must feed, train and exercise people. 15. The Church must be an epicenter and a hub of Divine activity. 16. The Church must open the Heavens and keep them open. 17. The Church must be strong locally and be a resource center for others. 18. The Church must raise breakthrough believers, who can go out in teams, and influence the nations. 19. The Church must invest extremely much in the next generation. God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 20. The Church must be built upon the foundations of prayer and intercession, praise and worship, and giving/contributing. 21. The Church must be a Governing Church. 22. The Church must enter into its inheritance, taking all territories, assigned to it. 23. The Church must be a seed towards reformation in the Church and transformation in society. 24. The Church must move in signs and wonders. 25. The Church must move in the gifts of the Spirit. 26. The Church must display the fruit of the Spirit. 27. The Church must be a carrier of God's Glory. 28. The Church must be a sonship model - walking under God's authority, as Jesus walked. 29. The Church must reproduce after its kind. 30. The Church must be a family model. 31. The Church must have God's reality. 32. The Church must have God's power. 33. The Church must move according to God's purpose. END OF MY 95 THESES / 33 STATEMENTS. WHAT ARE YOURS?
|
Well, I don't have 95 Theses to offer, but I do want to nail my 33 "What the Church should be like" Statements, to the spiritual Gates of Hell, because that is the real enemy, trying to blur salvation and authentic walk with God by means of all kinds of temptations, trials and traps. I have news for that enemy though and it is Matthew 16:18 "...I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 
