The way the Lord brought forth the churches in the first century was very exciting. Some sprang up in a matter of a few weeks or months through the ministry of apostolic companies going forth in the land. Here is the story of one church.
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father; knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; even as ye know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your sake.
And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit; so that ye became an ensample to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to God-ward is gone forth; so that we need not to speak anything. I Thessalonians 1:2–8.
What an amazing thing to receive the Word in much affliction and in much joy in the Holy Spirit. Even though the afflictions were great upon them, the Thessalonians joyfully pursued God; then from them sounded forth the Word of the Lord. One cannot grasp the full meaning of that until he reads verse 13 of chapter 2. And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe. Do you think you would have recognized the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God if you had heard Him speak? Do not be too sure that you would have. The multitudes who listened to Jesus did not recognize Him as the Son of God. Most of the time they did not even recognize His Word as the Word of God.
Sometimes people who claim to have a Word from the Lord acquire various mannerisms. They may use a certain way of speaking or a particular tone of voice. Consequently, when a man who has a Word from God does not shake just right or speak in the right falsetto, he is not accepted as the voice of God. Something better is needed to identify God’s Word than a certain tone of voice. God will speak, and when He does you will have to discern that it is the Word of God. Sometimes when the Lord spoke, everyone left. Jesus once turned to His disciples and asked, “Will you also go?” Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. We are not going to leave” (John 6:67–68).
If you think in terms of your own ambition or circumstances, your own problems or desires, you may decide to forsake your walk with God. However, if you think in terms of the Word of God, you will not be able to walk away or withdraw from it. You cannot leave the words of life. A true walk in the Spirit is held together by the living Word that comes from God. The little remnant of believers who walk with God today are not wise planners or organizers like the rest of the world. The Holy Spirit gives them wisdom to organize what God tells them to do, but their only organization is that which is necessary to accomplish whatever the Lord has spoken.
You can be independent and refuse the message of submission, but God has a Word; and by that Word you will either stand or fall. If you fall on that rock, you will be broken; but if that rock falls on you, you will be crushed (Luke 20:18). It is better that you should fall on the rock and be broken than to have the rock fall and crush you. The Thessalonians did then what you must do now—receive the spoken Word in power as the Word of God. It effectually worked in them. As a result, the Word sounded forth from them. They not only received it for its miracle power, but they also gave it in turn.
Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, even as also it is with you. II Thessalonians 3:1. Paul sensed that the Word of God was running. It was moving. We could exclaim with Paul, “How the Word is moving today!” The Word of the Lord is in motion, and people are sounding it forth. God has something to say in the earth, and we will hear it and speak it. Those who are deaf will not hear, but there are many who have ears to hear what God speaks in this hour.
Paul continued, And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for all have not faith. But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and guard you from the evil one. II Thessalonians 3:2–3. Let that Word run, let it spread rapidly, let it move on the hearts of the people.
Paul’s letter to Timothy repeats this thought: Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel: wherein I suffer hardship unto bonds, as a malefactor; but the word of God is not bound. II Timothy 2:8–9. The Word of God is not bound. You cannot put it in jail. In many ways, people will try to curtail and restrain the Word of God coming forth in this hour, saying all manner of evil against the people who proclaim it, working against them in every way they can; but it will not make any difference. Even if they should succeed in creating a bondage for the channels of the Word, they will never succeed in creating a bondage for the Word that God is bringing forth. Even if it is spoken in prison, it still will not be bound, but it will work mightily in the lives of the people.
This is a day in which the Word of the Lord is coming forth in the earth again. It is important that we understand this and exercise ourselves in the flow of the Scriptures, the prophecies and utterances that God gives; for this is the most significant thing that has happened in all the generations since the world began. The magnitude of what God is doing is beyond our comprehension. A Word is being committed to this generation which will end the present age and open the age of the Kingdom. It will be done by the Word. This Word is coming to end the old order of things and create a new order. How important that we understand this! Our laboring sometimes seems to be like a drop of water on a four-alarm fire, but we are not fooled—the Word of God is effective as it goes forth.
Do not get the idea that most churches are friends of God. They cry out, “Why doesn’t God do something about the Church?” Yet they have been crowding Him out, refusing to believe His Word, refusing to believe in Christ’s deity, in the inspiration of the Scriptures, in a born-again experience, in miracles and healings, or in the coming of the Lord. They have taken the soul out of the Word of God and tried to demythologize the Bible with their theologies and doctrines. They consider it all a myth, and they wonder if there really was a historical Jesus at all. Even if they could find Him, they would not believe He is the Son of God. How far can they go? How completely absurd can they become? Their unbelief has become the faith of their souls. They believe so strongly in nothing and write fabulous books to prove that there is nothing to believe in because they are completely dedicated to nothing.
In the midst of all of this, God is bringing a Word to a remnant that will rise like the voice of a prophet in the land. God will rebuke men in their iniquity. When God’s judgment falls upon the churches and synagogues, do not yell, “Intolerance!” God has broken down the hedges to His vineyard, and it is being trampled down (Isaiah 5:5). We have prophesied it into action.
Are you afraid to see God judge Babylon and bring it down? Are you afraid of the riots and bloodshed when God deals with His people? Do not be afraid. For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction! because the word of the Lord is made a reproach unto me, and a derision, all the day. And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain. Jeremiah 20:8–9. That is the way it will be with the remnant—a burning fire—for there is a Word to be spoken. I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood. Jeremiah 5:14b.
Once again God has something to say. “And it shall come to pass that there shall be deliverance in Mount Zion and in the remnant whom the Lord God shall call. And whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:32).
God told Isaiah concerning the people of this hour, “I will put My words in their mouths and they will not depart out of their mouths nor out of the mouths of their seed” (Isaiah 59:21). Be dedicated to God’s Word. As it was with the Thessalonians, so shall the Word sound forth from a remnant in this hour. The faith of a holy remnant will be manifested everywhere. From apostolic companies shall the Word of God sound forth. It will sound forth from the printing press, from little companies of brothers traveling over the highways of the world. It will sound forth through a lifeline of love to pastors and people in the churches who are going through testings, trials, and tribulations. It will go forth through tapes that young men and women will listen to until they can quote them. In some places, the Word of God will be spoken and taught around the clock, day and night. As the Word of the Lord goes forth in many languages, people will hear it and respond in their hearts.
How necessary it will be for every member of the Body to study to raise the level of the prophetic services, to listen to and learn the voice of God. The remnant being raised up in this hour is not playing with prophecy as some movements that have come and gone. They live, they survive, and they thrive only by a Word from God.