This post is for believers in the Lord, Jesus who truly desire to be disciples in these dark, chaotic last days. It's simply not good enough to be a "believer" or church-attendee, and frankly, it never has been. Please read through this entire post.

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I, Geno [@RisingDisciples on Twitter], believe that the Lord is leading me, along with a brother, Chris [@Chris39138258], to travel this path with like-minded Christians who see that the modern-day Church is not living up to its incredibly high calling… not genuinely expressing the very life and nature of Jesus in this sick, dying world… not demonstrating the reality of the kingdom of God… not expressing God’s kind of love [agape] as we have been commanded… not united, and not an organic presence and fragrance of Jesus on earth, compelling those outside the flock to either love and embrace us, or despise us with a passion.

 

Paul wrote the following regarding that last point:

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2 Corinthians 2: 14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

 

16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?

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Here is how Paul describes Jesus and His body in Ephesians, chapter 1. Please read it slowly and carefully.

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Ephesians 1: 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

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22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

 

​Those words are supposed to be the reality of what the Body of Christ is in this world. It is not a flowery picture of something that has no basis or foundation in spiritual truth. It is God's truth.

 

We are called to live and function as His very body, with Jesus as our head... showing forth His life, nature, ways and yes, power, but the church, especially in the comfortable west, has greatly devolved into apathy, complacency, self-serving and powerlessness.​

 

Now, let's be honest and real. Does that passage in Ephesians, above, describe the church, the Body of Christ, as we see it, know it and experience it in the modern world?​

 

I'm not saying there are no individuals or Churches on earth who are living and functioning in that way. There are such people and bodies of believers.​

 

What I am saying is that the modern Church, to a very large degree, functions more as a business than as an organic expression of Christ, and frankly has become irrelevant in culture and society. ​

 

Are the multitude of congregations being equipped by their pastors and elders 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, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ [Ephesians 4: 12-13]? Or are non-clergy people simply there as an audience, attendees, and "givers"?​

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Ephesians 4:12-13, just quoted above, is a mind boggling calling upon God's shepherds and people, but we're ignoring it, or we pay it lip-service.

 

Do we know, love and serve one another? Do we even know the pastor? Does the pastor know us? Can you imagine a shepherd who does not know the individual sheep in his flock, and deal with each one, as needed? I can't.​

 

Does church "growth", if there is any, occur because of a God-centered gospel being shared and unbelievers being brought under conviction of sin, righteousness and the coming judgment? Or does it come by "believers" leaving one Church and going to another, for various selfish, fleshly reasons?​

 

Think about how the modern church is structured:

 

If pastors earn their living because of the giving/tithing of the people... and "giving" is utterly necessary to keep the church going... how likely are the shepherds to press upon the people the true, biblical calling of the Lord upon His people? If they did so, many would flee the church for more comfy surroundings and tithing would plummet.

 

​Jeremiah 23: 22 But if they [prophets, shepherds, teachers] had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.​

 

I could go on and on but I'll stop here. You get the picture.​

 

If you believe that today's Church is basically doing well, with perhaps some "issues" that might need to be addressed, then this post is definitely not for you.​

 

If you see yourself as someone who has it together, spiritually, and are not in need of brokenness, repentance and real relationship with like-minded believers, this is not for you.​

 

On the other hand, if you see yourself as someone who needs to repent; as someone who has not truly denied yourself, taken up your cross and followed the Lord... in the full, biblical sense... then this is for you.​

 

I see myself in that way.​

 

If you are convinced that we in the modern Church have not even approached the heights or the glory of what God has prepared for those who love Him… but have settled for “nice”, bland, boring activities… this is for you.​

 

If you believe the Body of Christ, including you, must be called to repentance, and a turning back to God's ways, this is for you.​

 

If this post resonates with you, and you want to seriously consider getting involved with a potential online fellowship, then send me a DM at @RisingDisciples [if you came from Twitter] or email me at

rippedbiz (at) gmail (dot) com, but do not do it unless this is truly stirring something in your heart.

 

In the DM or email, tell me why you are interested in this potential online fellowship. Say as much as you are willing to.

 

This fellowship group will be no larger than 8-10 people, including Chris and me, and we are looking only for those who see the need and will take biblical fellowship seriously.

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Finally, if we do this, we can be sure that the enemy will seek to enter in somehow, and cause "problems". Chris and I have already gone through this. That's why we must be real, honest, open and transparent.

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We will probably have 2-3 preliminary Zoom conferences so we can get to know one another before making any kind of commitment.

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We look forward to hearing from you, if this resonates with your heart.