I.A Great Day for the Church

The Victorious Church at the End of the Age

Session 1: Growing Up into Fullness

I.A Great Day for the Church:

There are many surprising and exciting aspects of the end time drama that we believe the Body of Christ will experience in the coming decades. The last days canrightly be defined as both great and terrible (Jo. 2:11, 31); this series will focus on some of the “great day” dynamics related to God raising up His Victorious Church that will stand firm in the face of difficulty. The Bible paints a picture of the Church in the last generation walking in power, prayerful, righteous, unified and fully embracing Jesus’ leadership. The hope of this 3-part teaching is to help us piece together how the Church fits into these great dynamics, that we would be able to recognize them in the scriptures, rejoice about them ahead of time and then participate with them as they begin to unfold around us in the coming decades.

1. Preparing to Partner:

God gave His Church the many end time passages of scripture so that we would prepare for the coming realities and live through them. We want to begin to see ourselves in the details of the Bibleand allow them to be the primary tool to prepare us as God’s Victorious Church in the coming trial. We want to study these passages in order to gain insight that will warn us of coming difficulties and prepare us for these events and trends ahead of time.

"The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray (1Pe. 4:7)."

1. Not Being Those Who are Caught Off Guard:

Understanding of what the Bible has to say about who we are and what God wants for us will greatly help the Church to stand strong in that day and to become a powerful force in the Earth to bring in the Great Harvest. The scriptures warns (Mt. 24:43; Mk. 13:32-36; Lk. 12:39-40; 1Th. 5:1-4; 2Pe. 3:10; Re. 3:3, 16:15) that we must heed the instruction of the end time passages and prepare for what is coming so that we will not be caught off guard in that hour.

“Now, brothers and sisters…you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night…destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief (1Th. 5:1-4).”

1. Significant Shift in Our Thinking is Required:

In order for all this to become a reality there is a lot of work that has to be done in, through and to us. There will need to be some significant shifts in the Bride of Christ if we are going to see Her standing strong in that hour and be properly equipped to minster in the coming difficulties. In fact we are warned again and again about the importance of the work of God in us that we might be able to stand before Him when He comes. To begin with we need to start thinking and talking about being here when it all goes down so that we can then learn how to navigate it.

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man (Lk. 21:34-36).”

II.Casting Vision for the Church’s Final Victory:

The intention of this series is to draw our attention to the our future maturity as the Church of God in the Earth; we need to get vision for walking in fullness as the equally yoked Bride of Christ. This section will introduce a few of the realities that describe the Church growing up to be victorious through the tumultuous atmosphere of the last days. While the Church in her current stat might not be ready for what is coming we are promised that Jesus will have a pure and spotless Bride made ready.

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints) (Re. 19:7-8).”

1. Victorious in the Great Tribulation:

Contrary to popular belief the Church will in fact be here on the Earth during the many troubles that are coming on the scene as part of the end time drama. We will stand boldly during the time of the Antichrist’s reign of terror and the true Church will endure the onslaught of his rage without faltering.

“The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God…It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life…Whoever has ears, let them hear. “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.” This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people(Re. 13:5-10).”

1. Victorious in the Power of the Gospel:

The Church is being set up for victory in the day of God’s judgment, we are being made ready to participate with Him in what He is doing and even to help usher in Christ’s Return to the planet (Re. 22:17, 22). It has always been God’s way to use His people in accomplishing His plan; there has never been a bigger plan on His mind than the end time return of His Son and the events that lead up to it. We should expect that He desires to use His Bride to do the work especially in the final years leading up to His return. We will be preaching the true gospel anointed in power until the day that He comes.

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Mt. 24:14).”

1. Victorious in the Resurrection:

The Church will be here in the flesh with natural bodies all the way until Jesus appears in the sky and comes to Earth. Overcoming the unprecedented difficulties of that day will be part of our glory and our honor in being found worthy of Him. The Bride of Christ will be operating in powerful partnership with Jesus throughout the entirety of end time storyline and when He appears we will join with Him in His glory. After we suffer the great persecution that the great tribulation period promises we will then be caught up with Jesus and experience the victory of the resurrection.

“if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his (Ro. 6:5).”

“we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality (1Co. 15:51-52).”

III.A Change in Christianity:

In 1983 while in Cairo Egypt Mike Bickle, the director of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City received a powerful word from the Lord regarding a coming dramatic shift within the Church worldwide. The Lord told him that He was going to change both the understanding and the expression of Christianity in a single generation. This changes that this prophetic word declared would not actually be anything new but a returning to the Biblical expression of the Church and the foundations which Christ and the apostles laid. The change that the Lord spoke of is actually a renewal to the things of old.

1. Change in the Understandingof Christianity:

The “understanding” of Christianity has to do with the way the unbelievers perceive the Church. Presently the Church is mostly irrelevant to the World around us and there is not much thought given at all by the majority of the population to what the Church is really about. That is about to change; as it was in the time of the Church of Acts where the people fearfully interacted with the Church and were very much aware of their presence, unbelievers will see the power and authority that rests on the people of God. They will who know what we stand for and hold the Church in fearfully regard.

1. Change in the Expression of Christianity:

In a like manner the “expression” of Christianity is about to undergo a major upgrade as well. This will include an overhaul of the leadership across the Body of Christ, with many changes taking place (new people in places of influence, many currently places of influence shifting, many people adopting new paradigms). The expression will shift from what it is now to some version of Jesus’ prophecy about the Church becoming a House of Prayer for all nations (Mt. 21:13). This is what the early Church looked like (Ac. 1:14, 2:42; Co. 4:2; 1Th. 4:16-18).

“And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves. (Mt. 21:13 NKJV).”

1. Factors that Set the Scene:

Many new trials will face the last generation. The need for revival and re-prioritization within the Church will never have been so great. The shift in the understanding and the expression of Christianity will be in great part a response of the Body of Christ to the perilous hour and the unending list of distractions offered to the people of God. Below are some of those factors.

1. Light needed as wickedness marks the last generation (Mt. 24:10-14).
2. Need for prayer in the midst of tremendous difficulty (Lk. 21:34-36).
3. Global devastations requiring power from the Church (Re. 6).
4. Intense persecution causing the Church to draw close (Mt. 24:9-13).
5. The greatest commandment immerging to full expression (Mt. 22:17).

IV.Jesus is Coming for His Bride:

From the very beginning, and even before that, God had a Son and it was His good pleasure that His Son would one day have a Bride. Jesus is coming back for a mature and wholehearted Bride that is fully given over to Him and the ways of the Kingdom. We should not image that He will allow Himself to be unequally yoked; the Church at the end of the age will be fully His and wholly committed to His ways, nature and plans.

1. Jesus Calls Himself the Bridegroom:

Even more powerful than John’s testimony about Christ is that which Jesus said about Himself. When addressing the surface issue of fasting and the deeper realities of the new and coming Kingdom Jesus referred to Himself again using this same term; Bridegroom.

“Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved (Mt. 9:14-17).”

1. Embracing Our Bridal Identity:

The Church will embrace this bridal paradigm (Is. 26:8-9, 60:5, 61:10, 62:4-6; Je. 2:2, 31:3-4; Ho. 2:16; Mt. 22:37, 25:1-13; Re. 19:7, 22:17). We will begin to see ourselves as the Bride of Christ; instead of just having some of the language we will begin to walk in the reality of what it means that we are the chosen intimate companion of the one true God.

“In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master (Ho. 2:16).”

“No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married. As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest (Is. 62:4-7)”

1. The Corporate Nature of the Bride of Christ:

This will see a day where the Church understands God’s heart of kindness and great love for us collectively as His Church, His Bride. We will corporately begin to identify this way as we come into the understanding of our corporate identity.

“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life (Re. 22:17).”

1. God is Removing the Hindrances:

God has specific purposes for releasing His judgments in the Earth, it is not arbitrary or even mostly punitive; He will use the events of the Great Tribulation to remove everything that hinders love. This includes God using the events of the Great Tribulation to purify His Bride by removing everything that currently stands in the way of our own hearts worshiping Jesus.

“her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given…Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her (Re. 18:5-8).”

1. Looking to the Wedding of the Lamb:

Jesus is coming back to get married. Many have reduced this momentous event to mere symbolism, to where it ends up meaning nothing at all. But when Jesus returns there is going to be an actual wedding ceremony, with a grand banquet and epic celebration.

“For our Lord God Almighty reigns…the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)…‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb (Re. 19:6-9)!”

V.The Promised Future Fullness of the Church:

The future of the Church is both very dismal and contrastingly very bright. While there really will be a great falling away and we will see the most oppressive global persecution that the Church has ever known the Body of Christ will be strengthened by and through these difficulties into the full measure of maturity.

1. Growing Up into Our Destiny:

Paul tells us that we are being led into maturity together. He says that Christ is doing a maturing work in us that will continue until we all together as the one Church reach unity in faith, doctrine and attain the fullness of what Christ intends for us.

“that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:12-13).”

1. Maturing into Love:

We are growing up into the Greatest Commandment. We really can’t talk enough about the importance of this subject as it is central to who we are as believers and it is the destiny of the Church to walk in wholehearted love for our Lord. This will be an ever increasing subject in the Church from now on into eternity because the Lord is jealous for a lovesick Bride and He will not have it be that the satanic worship movement that will soon fill the Earth be more sincere and fiery hot than the one that comes forth from the hearts, mouth and lives of the redeemed.

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment (Mt. 22:37-38).”

1. Maturing into the Fruit of the Spirit:

Jesus described the evidence of salvation by comparing us to trees that bear fruit (Mt. 7:15-23). He said you can know what kind of tree it is whether good or bad by the type of fruit that tree bears. The fruit of course is the product of righteousness at work within us.

1. Made ready in righteousness:

Once again we will look at this verse in Revelation chapter 19 that tells us the righteous lives will be plentiful in the end time Church as we will have spent the previous decades and difficulties making ourselves ready. We will have been living out lifestyles of holiness empowered by His grace.

“his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)(Re. 19:7-8).”