For years the Lord has been speaking to me about this. However, it is only now that He has given me the freedom to prophesy openly about this.
So, gird yourselves, for this is what I hear the Lord say about this. Of course, as with anything I or anyone else does prophetically, you know what God says about this. As in 1 Thess. 5:19 ff.
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”
So, what do I see in God’s Word and hear Him say about the new wineskin that is able to accommodate what He wants to do in the Ekklesia to bring His Kingdom to earth?
Can I just quickly remind you who we are talking about when we talk about the “Biblical Ekklesia”?
We are of course talking about people who at some point in their lives had a personal faith encounter with a living Jesus, God the Son, as Savior, Lord, and King.
He has His grace that He came to offer each of us through His Word and the Spirit through His incarnation, life, death, and resurrection. We have accepted it in faith and chosen to serve and follow Him for the rest of our lives.
So, God the Spirit has made us new, “reborn” creatures, Jesus says there in John 3, and He has come to live in us to guide us and teach us all that Jesus has done for us.
God the Spirit now wants to supernaturally equip and anoint everyone who is part of the Ekklesia with the gifts of the Spirit so that the Lord can use us as witnesses and ambassadors of the Kingdom of heaven here on earth.
For us, Jesus continues: Above all, keep seeking and be sensitive to My voice, because I want to show you how you fit into My plan to let My Kingdom come and what My will is for your life.
For us, Jesus continues, e.g., in John 13:34,35: “I give you a new commandment: that you love one another. As I have loved you, you also must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
In so many places in His Word, He then spells out what loving and being family in Jesus practically means and what it looks like.
After all, you remember what is written about this in passages of Scripture such as in the book of Acts; 1 Cor. 12 to 14; John 14 to 17; the entire book of Ephesians; and 1 John.
Do you know that the word, “Ekklesia” within the typical Roman Empire referred to this group of chosen, equipped individuals who were then sent out by Rome to be “set down” somewhere in the Roman Empire, locally in a town or city, to practically demonstrate and live out the new, better way of life, and values and hope for a better future, among all the people in that community. In such a way the community can taste and experience “something of heaven on earth” among them!
Thus, the Ekklesia of Jesus was called to be ambassadors and representatives of a new, better life, to make the “Kingdom of heaven” happen here on earth! People around us must see and experience this in how we love and care for each other.
Next time I will talk more about what the Lord says prophetically about this.