January 1st, 2012 we launched a new teaching series called “The Core.”  Over the next few weeks we’ll be digging deep into the core values of Ekklesia.  As many of you already know, whenever you see the word “church” in the Bible, it is a translation for the Greek word “ekklesia.”  We’ve chosen to name our church “Ekklesia”, because our desire is to go back to the original teachings of Scripture and live them out, rather than merely following in the footsteps of our past church experiences.  We’ve discovered the entire meaning of life can be summed up in 4 words: “Be disciples. Make disciples.”  This year we want to “be” and “make” better than ever before!  Check out our values listed below the video, and join us on Sundays for an exciting journey!!

Kingdom

Ekklesia exists for the King and His Kingdom (Revelation 19:16, Matthew 6:10, Luke 17:20-21), which is far larger than any local church.  We believe our time, talents and resources are given to us so we can give to others.  We even take joy in contributing frequently to causes that don’t directly increase the attendance of our church services (Luke 14:12-14).  We regularly partner with a wide variety of churches and rejoice when people join their fellowships (John 17:20-23).  It’s about His Kingdom, not ours!

Faith

Ekklesia walks by faith.  With Christ we always achieve great things (John 15:5).  Without Him we can do nothing (Ephesians 2:1-3).  Jesus (and Jesus alone) has destroyed the power of sin.  It is by faith in Him that we will live the radical, never-ending lives He has created us for (Ephesians 2:8-10, Colossians 1:15-20).  Faith is the trust by which we enjoy the fullness of God’s impeccable leadership!

Pure Discipleship

Ekklesia is passionate about living like Jesus (1 John 2:6).  Jesus is calling us to be His disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).  Disciples seek to walk, talk, think, feel, and act like their master, and discipleship is not reserved for the select few (Matthew 5:1-7:29).  It is the standard of every believer.  Even when Jesus tells us to do things we don’t want to do (Luke 9:57-62), we enthusiastically trust that He knows exactly what we need!

Go

Ekklesia is made of people who risk boldly in order to go and rescue the lost (Luke 15:1-7).  Jesus never said, “Go build a church building and then wait for people to come to you.”  Moreover, our mission is far more than reaching our friends and families.  Our mission is every tribe, tongue and nation (Acts 1:8, Revelation 7:9).  We will go into our communities… and we will go to the ends of the earth to make disciples!

Crazy Love United

Ekklesia lavishes crazy love on every sinner who turns to follow Jesus (Luke 15:21-24), and even those who don’t (Mark 10:20-22, Matthew 5:43-47).  We consider no human intrinsically better or worse than another.  We follow Paul’s example: As far as we know, we are the worst sinners on the face of the earth (1 Timothy 1:15).  We will live as a community united in love (Acts 2:42-47).  Love is crazy.  Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)!

Power

Ekklesia is excited that the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power (1 Corinthians 4:20).  Miracles propel the mission (Acts 1:8).  We seek God’s power frequently through prayer, fasting, confession, the reading of Scripture and gathering together (Philippians 4:6-7, Matthew 6:16-18, James 5:16, Matthew 4:4, Hebrews 10:24-25).  We eagerly desire to heal the sick, cast out demons, prophesy, interpret tongues, etc… (John 14:12) though we exercise all gifts by the order of the Spirit and in submission to God’s Word (1 Corinthians 14:26-33)!

As you may have read, the title of my previous blog post was “Don’t Give Up!”  On Sept 18th, we launched a sermon series from the Book of Acts, and it is still going.  After reading through Acts, we’ve discovered there were radical supernatural activities (healing, demonic deliverance, dreams, visions, trances, angelic visitations, the audible voice of God, prophesies, tongues, etc…)  in every single chapter of Acts, except for chapter 17.  Rather than merely “talking about” this incredible stuff… we’ve decided to “get out of the box,” and ask God to do whatever He wants to do…  Right here… Right now…

Since Sept 18th, we’ve experienced two major physical healings, visions, prophesies, tongues, interpretations, and even a demonic deliverance (not during a Sunday service).  However, from Sept 18th – Oct 23rd, a large group of people stopped attending our Sunday services for various reasons… but I think the most common reason people left is because I was making some poor decisions in regards to asking people to work in the gifts “as they felt led”… opening up the floor to everyone throughout the entire auditorium.  Not only that, but we were allowing many of our services to go really, really long!   Both my super-spiritual and my not-so-super-spiritual friends will say “Amen” to that… but for different reasons!  BUT, before I go on, I want to make clear that I TRULY APPRECIATE every single person who stepped out in faith to share.  Some AMAZING things happened, including miracles.  I LOVED what every single one of you did, because you were brave!  However, not everyone is as excited about this process as our pastoral team is!

Since writing my last blog post (Oct 25th), we’ve learned a few things.  Just as we won’t allow “anyone who feels led” to give the sermons on Sundays, it’s not a good idea to invite “anyone who feels led” to share publicly what they believe they are hearing from God.  Hearing from God is meant for everyone! BUT, it can be quite confusing… especially at first. So, “church service” is not a good time to “practice” hearing from God, because there is such a variety of people present on Sunday mornings, including skeptics, people who don’t follow Christ, and even long-standing Christians who have their own ideas what “should” be happening.

There is a vast difference between hearing from God and saying “whatever comes to our minds.”  To our knowledge, nobody said anything that was false… however, much of what was said was probably not miraculous.  Therefore, if we allow “inferior words” to be given by people in our congregation, we will risk leading people away from the true power of God.  In a sense, people who are new to hearing from God and working in the supernatural gifts need to “practice.”

“Practicing” hearing from God is extremely important, but this should happen in group settings where the people who are attending are the people who want to be there to patiently wait on God… and are enthusiastic about enduring the failed attempts of others as they seek to hear from God.  Failure is always part of the process.  Always!

During our Sunday night prayer gatherings we give space for people to try to hear from God and exercise their spiritual gifts, and God does some incredible work among us!  Once people identify their gifts and grow in them, then they may be ready to hear from God and utilize their particular gifts during a Sunday service.

All that being said, since Oct 25th, many more people have been joining Ekklesia, and we have experienced Jesus Christ in abundance!!!  We’ve seen God work through people’s spiritual gifts, but we don’t come for a “show.”  We come to “Be disciples”  and to “Make disciples.”  We come to grow in our own personal relationships with Christ and to help others follow Him.  However, spiritual gifts play major roles in God’s Kingdom.  Every disciple of Jesus Christ has at least one supernatural gift: including YOU, if you are trusting in Him! If you haven’t discovered them, I pray you do very soon.  BTW, we’re here to help you!   YOU are invited to attend our bi-weekly prayer gatherings.  Email John Pop with questions/comments (John@EkklesiaDetroit.com).

I thank God that not only did you and I NOT give up… but we are going deep into the Kingdom of God!

Our Sunday attendance has been dropping significantly since we started this series in the book of Acts… seeking the Holy Spirit.  A “strange” polarization has taken place.  After each sermon, we have been spending undetermined periods of time, allowing the Holy Spirit to do “whatever He wants to do.”  Some people are having incredible experiences with God like never before, while others are feeling dry, and they aren’t really sensing the power of the Spirit.  Some can’t wait to see what God is going to do next…  While others feel like we may be “forcing it.”  Some believe we are on the right track, heading full-steam ahead… while others have various ideas how we should be seeking Jesus.

In the last 5 weeks, we’ve witnessed Sue Howell get healed from intense chronic headaches and neck pain… people have had visions… there have been messages in tongues and interpretations… we’ve heard words of knowledge… and hardly anyone knows about this… but our pastors dealt with a very serious demonic encounter recently, and we helped someone get delivered.  This person has asked to remain anonymous for now.

Many people aren’t publicly sharing their supernatural experiences out loud during the Sunday services… for various reasons.  However, our pastors are hearing and seeing signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit at work!

The bottom line is this: Jesus Christ is clearly moving among us, leading us by the hand, and there is no doubt about it.  We are heading in the right direction.  This doesn’t mean we are doing everything “right.”  Perfection is simply not possible.  However, we ARE heading in the right direction, because Jesus is leading us… and our pastors are experiencing His leadership of this church like we’ve been dreaming of and hoping for!

So, I am asking you this:  If you are feeling “burned-out”… “confused”… or “skeptical”… or if you are “afraid to bring your friends to a Sunday service because they might get weirded out”… of if “you don’t agree with our approach”… I want to ask you something….

Please… DON’T GIVE UP!  Come.  Every Sunday.  Expect more.  More.  More of GOD!

Be patient.  Expectant.  But patient.

Remember the mission: “Be disciples. Make disciples.”  The more we have the Holy Spirit’s power, the more intimate we become with Jesus… and the more people we will lead to Him! (Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8)

See you Sunday

Chris

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but it’s end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 16:25 NKJV)

How many times a day do I need to read this verse? How many things do I do every day because “it just seems right”? The Bible is just full of little gems like this, meant just for me.

This past Sunday morning I made a poor decision based on my “it feels right” attitude. Not a huge life altering decision in the grand scheme of things, but a poor one nonetheless. Let me start by saying, my children and I have been attending Ekklesia since November 2010. God spoke to my heart months before about Ekklesia, at the Kids Olympics.

It took FOUR MONTHS of ignoring His voice to finally make the move. It was difficult, as change often is. Our previous church was where I first met Jesus. It was where I was comfortable. It was where my friends were. It seemed right. Once I moved in obedience I found myself abundantly blessed, as He promised I would. Anyway, back to my current disobedience… Sunday I made the decision to visit our former church. Now, I’m certainly not suggesting that it’s wrong to visit other church services, but the point is this: God didn’t lead me to do this… “I led me.” During the service, I knew I had ignored God’s voice, but as is true with such things, I was stuck in the reality I had chosen. I sense I missed out on what God wanted me to experience at the Ekklesia service. (The purpose of this blog is to take a look at obedience, not to shamelessly plug our church… but I will do that too!)

Lately I’ve found myself far less in tune with God’s voice than I’d like to be. Recently I completely ignored His prompting to reach out and get in touch with my estranged uncle. I KNEW God was telling me to find a way to contact him, but I didn’t. He died days later of a brain aneurism. I hadn’t spoken a word to him in about 12 years. I missed my chance because I ignored God’s voice. I believe my ongoing failure to hear Him is largely a direct result of the “little, unimportant decisions” in which I base my choice not on His will, but my desire. It’s possible that this small decision to visit our former church has had little to no real effect on my life, but it’s also possible that my blatant disobedience has cost me blessings beyond my wildest dreams. I find the more I tune out His voice on the little things, the harder it is to hear Him when I need help with the big things. I find my temper is short. My thoughts selfish. My actions far from Christ-like. I find that, in the moment, it feels right. Yet later on, or sometimes immediately, I feel quite dead inside, as I did this past Sunday. I’m working on this. I stumble, but God already knows I’m going to. He gives me lots of chances that I really don’t deserve. Thankfully, that’s one blessing I haven’t missed out on!

“Who else is afraid of the dark?” Chris asked and the hands shot up into the air. I didn’t count because all I was thinking about was should I speak or remain quiet.

It was a Sunday morning after a sermon on anxiety and Chris had invited all who were struggling to the stage. Over 20 of us, myself included, took the call. Then a microphone started to pass and people were given the chance to either share their struggle or remain silent. For me, the problem was if I did share with everyone the anxiety I was battling with, then I will have to grab the dirty germ infested microphone.

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I’m sick and tired of movies where the good guys lose.

SPOILER ALERT

There will be spoilers in this blog. However, I’m too cheap to go to the theaters, so everything I spoil will have at least made it to Netflix and will probably be a couple years old.

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It was April, 2010 and there I stood, both arms fully extended behind a Smith & Wesson M&P. For once in my 20 years of life (at the time), I felt rock solid. I felt focused. I felt in control. As I slowly exhaled, I imagined various serial killers sprinting toward me in slow motion… I imagined being the one to end the injustice, once and for all. Inhale again, another predator appears. This time I will save my baby sister from a notorious child molester.

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Two passages of scripture have been haunting me recently….

One is found in 2 Timothy 3:4. Paul here caps off a list of the attributes of people in “the last days” by saying that they are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” This is a passage often used by religious people to describe the world “out there”–that is, people outside the church. “It’s a sign of the times,” they’ll say. “People don’t love God anymore–they’re just addicted to their own pleasures. Just shows that Jesus is going to come back soon and bring ‘em all to judgment.”
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My 2-word story is “Vision? Vision.” I had no vision as a teenager… nothing to want, nothing to do. I come from a dark emotional background that still chokes me up to relive it, and many of you saw me do that on stage at Ekklesia. You heard me say that I was living a life of questioning God and not seeing His vision for my life; seeing nothing and therefore having nothing to live for. It was my reality for a long time, but my story has a happy twist, a new birth in Christ. So let me tell you my vision as it stands today.
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Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is unrighteous with very little will also be unrighteous with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

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