How Have The Mighty Fallen(2) - walkingbyfaith.com.ng

For the mighty to remain mighty,they must rely solely on there maker and make the most of every resources and opportunities.

The church – the new Israel was established by God, through the blood is his son Jesus the Christ, to restore all man kind to their original state of mightiness in God. So, just like the first Israel, the church was established from inception to be mighty being divinely endowed to succeed in her mission, fortified against all storms and challenges and assured of every security and protection.

As the Lord of the church states,” And as I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Mathew 16:18-19).”All authority has given to me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the holy spirit, “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you ;and low, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Mathew 28:18-20).

During the first and second century the Roman empire was faced with the problem of whether Christianity was to be regarded as a new religion. The Jews insisted that Christianity was not Judaism.

christians are equally emphatic that their religion was the true Judaism, that they preach nothing which had not been foretold by Moses and the prophets .so the Jews with riots against Christians ,so also will do pagans because to them, the Christians were more aggressive than the Jews in attacks upon idolatry.

yet in the eyes of pagans,the Christians were Jews. We remember that the heathens in thessalonica said “these men being jews do considerable trouble our city”(Acts 16:20).

The Roman governors also regarded Christians as Jews; and when the Jews drag paul before Gallio, the Roman proconsulo In Greece he dismissed the case as simply A dispute within Judaism but the sisters (Acts 18:12-17).

By the 60s Ad the Roman empire began to say Christianity as a new religion, and then began the persecution of Christianity. so from emperor trajan decius and later diocletian ,galerius,and maximinus,and others, the church was greatly persecuted. But instead of diminishing the effect of the church on the empire, the presecution increase the might of the church .

According to Roland and van in their book early Christianity ,”presecution did not destroy the Christianity.The spread of Christianity was such that the tertullian, writing at the time from the 2nd to the 3rd century could say “the blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the church” infact by the years 311, galerius, the former persecutor, issued an edict of toleration for Christianity on the ground that the presecution had not achieved its Goal.

why was the church so resilient?

writing on the face of the early church, William air Jurgen , quoting st.irenaeus(ad 140 to 202), had this to say “for the church has received from the apostles and from the disciples the faith in one God, father almighty, the creator of heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them” And in one Jesus Christ the

son of God, who became flesh or for our salvation, and in the Holy Spirit who announced through the prophets the dispensatoins and the comings and the births from a virgin, and the passion, and

Resurrection from the dead ,and the bodily Ascension into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus our lord, and his coming from heaven in the glory of the father to re-establish all things

“And the raising up again of all flesh of all humanity,in other to Jesus Christ our lord and God ,and savior and King, in Accord with the approval of the invisible father, every knee

shall bend of those in heaven and on Earth and under the earth,and every tongue shall confess him “And that he may make just judgement of them all and that he may send the spiritual forces of wickedness and Angels

who transgressed and became a apostate, and impious, on just, lawless and blasphemous among men, into everlasting fire, and the he grant life ,immortality and

surrounds with eternal glory, the Just and holy and those who have reserved in his love you are from the beginning or from their repentance( the first of the early father’s)

This was the faith that makes the church mighty, and” the church, haven’t received this preaching this faith, although she

disseminated throughout the whole world, yet guided it’s as if she occupied but one house. she likewise believe those things just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart “and harminiously she proclaimed them and teaches them and hands them down as if she possesses but one mouth.for while the

languages of the world are diverse, nevertheless, the authority of the tradition is one and the same.

Neither do the chargers among the Germans believe otherwise or have another tradition,nor do those among the Iberian,nor

among Celts,nor away in East nor in Egypt,nor in libia nor those which have been established in the central region of the world.

But just as the sun ,that creature of God is one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the teaching of the truth shines everywhere and enlightens all men who desire to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Nor will any of the rulers of the church’s, whatever his powers of eloquence, the otherwise, for no one is above the teaching nor will he who is weak in speaking detract from the tradition.

For the faith is one and the same, and cannot be amplified by one who is able to say much about it, nor can it be diminished by one who cansay but little. The willingness and ability

of the early church to stay with, and maintain the true and original faith and message once delivered to the saints, gave her victory and sustain her through all challenges thereby remaining mighty

The story of a church of today it’s a different thing. Today we have a church that though suffers not as much physically persecution as the early church ,is totally devastated by self-

inflicted wounds.On like the early church, the present church has compromised, and in some cases, abandon the faith, teaching and mission once delivered to the saints.

Fromthe Western world where the Bible has been thrown out of the church and has been replaced by popular culture and political correctness, to the appointment of Africa

lead by Nigeria, where the church has become big business and source of wealthand affluence, Christian leadership is no longer by calling, but choice induced by the world economic condition .

This self made leaders cash-on the hardships people face and twist the gospel in the guise of providing need solutions. Christians, like the Israel of old, have chosen their own judge, rejecting God’s choice ,there own

king,rejecting Christ, choosing who and what the fight their battles other than God and have decided to be just like the rest of the world. I hear people say very often the church has become more worldly and the world has

become more churchy. I don’t know if anyone hear agreed with this statement entirely. if you please check it again .I know it makes a good rhyme which may make it interesting, I do not think it is entirely true.

How the church became more worldly? Infact yes ! And this means that the church has dropped her standard and has taken those of

the church. But is that true? of course no, and the two conditions cannot co-exist .The church has lost her bearing. faith in Christ has become like a name tag which anyone can wear even when the name on it is not there’s .

The message of faith in Christ which should result to a life of total dependence on him, and desire for Life righteousness ,responsibility ,and accountability is no longer popular and churches. And this has totally affected human relationship as a former president of United State of America George

Washington one says you cannot have national moralism apart from religious principle, the failure of the churchto teach and feed her members with the undiluted word of

God, the morality of the society has gone down the drain. a case in point is a look at the part of the world that is governed totally by men and women who claim some kind of church membership.

unfortunately, these are the less-developed areas of the world with the highest level of dilated infrastructure, embezzlement with impunity, even when these areas have more of the natural and human resources that

make the world great. Invite any of this political leaders to speak in any occasion,the first thing they will do will be to sing a Christian song, reminding Every one that they go to church.

And of a truth, they only think Christian and their conduct is the song they sing. Some of Christian political leaders can’t even tell the differences between the Bible, the Quran and

other religious book, judging by the way they respond to some religious motivated issues in the world. The enemy has launched great attack on the church, and it seems to be succeeding .Having chosen to be of the world, the church,the mighty, as it is presently, as fellow.

The mighty of the world. How has the mighty fallen?

we can spend the rest of our life reminiscing; But the unfortunate truth is that those days are gone the world, the mighty has fallen .

Buth how did we get here?what happened ?how have the mighty fallen? well, if you still remember, we said earlier that for the mighty to remain mighty, they must really solely on the maker and make the most of every resources and opportunities provided by their maker.

At this point we need to look at the second part of our team.what shall we then say in all this? must we continue like this? this part of our team really brings hope to a seemingly hopeless situation. But a good look at the view that the realisation of the hope is left on the hand of the falling mighty.

it’s in the 6th chapter of the letter to the Romans, Paul address three objections wrongly made against the doctrine of justification by Faith. The first objection is that the doctrine encourages sin. second that it allows sin, thirdly that it makes the law

a sinful and evil thing.paul answers these objections by a simple explanation of what faith is. To Paul, and I agree, faith in Christ is not Just mere accent to a dogma,or repetition of a Creed,but a close relationship with him which produces obedience to and total reliance on him .

Therefore when Christ said and I also said to you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hades shall

not prevail against it, is simply said that for the church to withstand the storms and the

challenges of this world, she must rely on a relationship( not mere confession )with him which is solely based on the fact that he is the Messiah.

And considering that God, in Christ is depending on the charch to return all mankind unto himself ,the church does not have the luxury of saying anymore moment in her fallen state .

we must not continue like this” God forbid.Thechurch must understand that faith in Christ is not a name tag or a denominational identity, rather a life and character that every of hermembers must leave and possess.

To you as a church it simply means you must understand the enormous responsibility. God has put on you to provide leadership and guidance to not just Christianity but to the

rest of the world. But we must begin a new course to achieve this .we must take a critical look at our self listen to have jump into our global responsibility to quickly and in a hurry

without fortifying and putting our home in order. We must be seriously concerned with and committed to, how individual members of our church understands and practice their christian Faith .

The issue and understanding of discipleship must be holistically revisited with a few to drawing a clear line between church

membership and been a disciple of Christ .A lot of emphasizesis should be leid on the process of attaining our church leadership positions. we must learn from what is happening in the global world especially in the west which unfortunately is peeking in 2 hours as well .

we must be very diligent in whatever process we adpot for recuriting people into the priesthood and other leadship positions in our churche, knowing that disciples can not higher and better than there teacher and master.

We must allow the lord of the church, through his spirit to have his way and take control of his church and the world, through the life of each member.”but you will receive power

when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my withnesses in all Jerusalem and in all judah and Samaria and to the end of the earth”(Acts 1:8).” Go therefore and make

disciples of all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold i am with you always ,till the end of the age”(Mathew 28:19-20)

Shalom….