Topic: Restoration of the Church – A Progressive
Reality
Greetings Sons of God:
When we speak of the restoration of the church we
tend to deal with the surface of the meaning but lack understanding to the
process by which God is actively, today, restoring the church. Becoming one with Christ through the
redemptive work of Jesus Christ through the cross is the beginning but once we
are one with Him there is a process to bring full restoration. Currently in 2016 we see the decline in moral
and the continuing rise in the orphan spirit in our world. However, God is working in restoring the
church. Now for many who have not
entered into the grace of the Apostolic Reformation there is a feverish prayer
for the Lord to return quickly and rescue us from the torment of this
time. The Bible tells us that fear has
torment but perfect love casts out fear.
The church must make a mindset shift into the grace for today and build
the House of God upon the order that the Father has established by His Son,
Jesus Christ. So in this teaching series
we will look at how God is restoring the church and we will look at some
biblical history to help show. I promise
you will not be disappointed and it will help clear up some blurry vision we
maybe suffering from that may hinder us from moving with proceeding Word of God
which is full of grace and truth.
Lets lead off with a definition of restitution and
then I will give you the foundational scripture and we will proceed from
there.
Restitution: the restoration of something lost or
stolen to its proper owner.
Acts 3:19-21: Repent ye therefore, and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which
before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of
restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy
prophets since the world began.
So it is clear by the Scriptures that Jesus will be
received, held and retained until the restitution of all things. Now when we talk about restitution we tend to
only talk about one of the seven characteristics of God that we as believers
are to all possess and that is Lordship or dominion. We always talk about restoring our dominion and
yes that is part of it but there is so much more before we get to that that
this series will address. Let us start
with the fact that the purpose of Jesus coming, His ministry, death and
resurrection is to show us who we are, what we are called to be doing. But we cannot just arbitrarily start doing
what we want? There is process and order
and the order begins with the restoration of the church to her proper order,
place and most of all condition. All
three must be satisfied before Christ returns.
The Scriptures declare the importance of the restoration of the church,
the Sons of God:
Romans 8:19-21:
For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God. For
the creature was not made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of
him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall
be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God.
Psalm 82:5,6:
They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness:
all the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said, ye are gods and all of you are
children of the Most High.
So while we are waiting for God to do something,
God has equipped us through his grace and by spiritual fathers to mature us to
the stature of the fullness of Christ that these Scriptures may be
fulfilled. This is about our
faithfulness and obedience to His order and His culture to bring about the
restitution of all things for the return of the Lord.
In the next message we will discuss the very first
step in restitution
Peace and Grace,
Calvin Calhoun, Jr.
