Will the Real Church Please Stand Up?
Jim Montgomery

Rev. Jim Montgomery is founder and president of Montgomery Ministries, Inc. of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He is a graduate of Kent State University and Rhema Bible Training Center and has served the Body of Christ in a teaching and preaching capacity for over twenty years. Click here to learn more about Jim and his ministry. You can order Jim’s new book by visiting www.montgomeryministries.net and going to the product page. You can also e-mail their office at [email protected] and request ordering, shipping/handling/tax info.

“I Will Build My Church”

When Jesus encountered people whose lives were scarred by sin He didn’t condemn them. He ministered to them. He did it in a way that filled them with hope. Jesus’ message to them was that there was a way out of their sin. No longer must they remain shackled by the chains of sin, sickness, and hopelessness. Jesus didn’t condone their sin, but neither did he condemn them.

The Church that Jesus is building has the same compassion for the lost, the sick and the suffering Jesus had. And it’s a Church that possesses the same supernatural equipping necessary to effectively minister to people that Jesus had.

“The Founding Document of the Church”

There are many voices in the Christian world today saying that we need to redefine the Church to make it more compatible with popular culture. To make it more relevant in a society which has become increasingly secular and less traditional in its thinking and more “open-minded” regarding moral and social issues.

The fact is, the Church doesn’t need to be redefined, it needs to be rediscovered, and its purpose restored in this 21st century.

We are not attempting to establish “new truth” in this book. Instead we are rediscovering and resurrecting eternal truths recorded in the Bible for centuries. We are revisiting and reopening rich, ancient wells of truth that have become filled up over the past centuries with traditions and doctrines of men.

The Book of Acts is God’s blueprint for the Church. Every chapter seems to pulsate with the supernatural. God used common, ordinary people and molded them into a mighty vanguard of evangelism, healing and deliverance.

“The Holy Spirit – “CEO” of the Church”

I don’t believe God intended that there be a powerful, world-changing, tremendously fruitful Church 2,000 years ago and a weak, powerless, compromising and ineffective Church today. God never changes. We are the ones who have changed. Somewhere in the history of the Church, decisions were made and actions carried out that revealed a greater confidence in the theories of mortal men rather than in a God who cannot lie.

May our churches be set free from the man-made shackles of tradition and sectarianism. The lost need to be saved. The sick need healing. The oppressed need to be delivered. Time is flying, and men are dying! The harvest is waiting to be gathered. To accomplish this task, the Church needs the power of the Holy Ghost.

Moses could have done little or nothing in Pharaoh’s court in Egypt without mighty signs and wonders from heaven. Likewise, the Church cannot effectively carry out our assignment without the supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

“Spiritual Gifts in the Church Today”

It is important to understand the historical context in which these gifts of the Holy Spirit were given to the Church in the first place. Christianity had its origin at a time when Rome was master of the world.

The religions of Rome and Greece were a vile mix of the unclean and the degrading. Demons were worshipped as gods, and as a result, a steady stream of false signs and wonders were performed. These religions, false as they were, had a powerful hold upon people under the sway of these evil influences.

It was into this dark morass of heathenism and rampant devil worship that Christianity burst onto the scene. The light of Christ came to pierce the dark shroud of deception and demonic control over the lives of the people.

Against these false religions, demonic powers and a prevailing climate of superstition the power of Christ had to battle to survive and to conquer. You can readily understand that no religion stripped of the genuine, supernatural power of the Living God could ever defeat the forces of evil that held sway over oppressed people at this time in history.

“Ambassadors of Christ”

The world is starved for love – real love. The deepest yearning of every person is to know they are loved and cared for by someone. That yearning can only be fully satisfied when one comes into contact with the love of God.

You and I, as heaven’s envoys, are to manifest God’s love to the masses of selfish, unsaved people who’ve never heard the Good News. As a believer, you are the open door into God’s love that people are searching for. The world will not see the love of God until believers learn to walk in the fullness of this wonderful, unconditional love.

“The Greatest of These is Love”

So many believers are caught up in the letter of the Law. They know all the Scriptures that deal with judgment, punishment and condemnation. But they fail to take into account all the Scriptures that point out God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness. It’s easy to take certain isolated verses and build a doctrine around them, but if you carefully study the life of Jesus, you will see that the over-riding quality in His life was His amazing love for people.

Jesus modeled the will of God wherever he went, and in whatever he did. He didn’t spend all His time in the synagogues encouraging other devout Jews. Instead, He reached out in love to some of the worst sinners of the day. He deliberately went out of His way to touch those kinds of folks. It’s interesting that one of the names ascribed to Jesus in the Bible is, “the friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19).

“Christianity-Lite”

Too many churches today have drifted from the ancient landmarks established by our spiritual forefathers and pioneers in the faith. Instead of our sanctuaries being places where the holy presence of God lingers, and the pure sacrifice of praise and worship ascends to heaven from the saints, and God’s Word is preached with passion and unction, we are seeing in many quarters, churches whose activities are being built on wood, hay and stubble.

There seems to be a glut of test-marketed, motivational messages designed to tickle the ears of even the most carnal believer. Some churches and ministries have even resorted to hiring professional public relations firms and marketing consultants in order to persuade more people to come to church, and to sell more “product.”

Is it any wonder that these kinds of church growth and marketing strategies have resulted in perhaps the least committed, most lukewarm and half-hearted Christians in the last several generations?

“Another Gospel”

Sadly, the wickedness so prevalent in the world has crept into the Church. Ministers who once walked in the anointing of God’s Spirit, who were used of God to bring salvation, healing and the blessing of the Lord to multitudes have had their sordid private lives exposed.

Some have been caught up in adulterous affairs, consorting with prostitutes and involved in homosexual activity. The divorce rate among believers matches that of non-believers. What a tragedy.

What’s the answer? Is there a remedy? I believe there is. It’s time the Church once again embraces and the Gospel of the Kingdom. Not another Gospel. Not a watered down, politically correct gospel of accommodation.

“The Perils of a Sleeping Church”

In Revelation 3:1-3, Jesus gave the Church at Sardis the cure for spiritual sleeping sickness. Their greatest need was to strengthen the little flicker of godly flame that did remain. This sleeping church needed to wake up and get the spiritual remnant that was left focused back on the basics of Christianity.

To concentrate on the core essentials of Christ and His Church: evangelism, missions, and basic discipleship of new believers.

Jesus encouraged the sleeping church of Sardis that if they took heed to His warnings they would then be able to overcome and prevail against Satan, rather than being victims of his schemes that were designed to weaken and defeat them.

“Unconditional Surrender”

Surrender is an unpopular word in our modern vernacular. It implies weakness and defeat. Surrender evokes images of failure and losing. If winning is “everything”, then surrender is unthinkable.

The irony in all this is the fact that surrender lies at the heart of the Christian faith. Jesus Christ, the central figure and object of our faith, was fully and absolutely surrendered to the will of the Father…Surrender to God is “entry-level” Christianity.

I’m excited to realize that God is passionately zealous, extremely devoted, intensely loyal and totally faithful to me!

“Vessels of Recovery”

The message of Pentecost is, God the Father, through God the Holy Spirit, displaying God the Son, through the vehicle of the Church.

“This Is Our Time”

The Church is nothing less than Christ in us, covered with flesh. We are the visible representation of Jesus Christ in the earth today. The same Christ who opened blind eyes, restored dignity and worth to social outcasts, liberated the sick and suffering, and preached the good news of the Kingdom is the same Christ who indwells every believer through the Holy Spirit today.