Transcription
Hey everybody, John Fenn here. Church That Walls International, cwowi.org. We are a house church network celebrating the gathering of the Saints the way they did for the first 300 years before Christianity was legalized and people were called out of their homes into the former pagan auditoriums where people have been meeting ever since. But He's never left the home.
So visit our website, cwowi.org. We rotate homes where possible. We rotate who leads each meeting where possible, so that a core group of people rise up. And when you are outgrowing a home, you just multiply out because there's a core group of people who are used to hosting and leading. And anyway, cwowi.org, we've got 10 videos, question and answer about house church, and a lot more there. Sign up for my weekly thoughts, which is a weekly teaching that comes out every Friday by email, Friday US time. So that's where we put information about our conferences, our Zoom online meetings, and such.
Today, talking about judgment. One of the things that the Lord, the Word has spoken to me about is that another season of judgment in the body of Christ is coming. A lot of people don't understand judgment. And I have actually had a couple visitations about it. And I won't go into detail exactly right right now on everything. But the last time He mentioned the season, well, let me start back.
Peter said in First Peter 4:17, he said, he was talking about persecution leading up to verses 14, 15, 16. And then in 17, he says, "Now if judgment begins with the house of God, how much more so for those who are on the outside, who aren't believers?" And a lot of times when people hear judgment, they think of an event, you know, a major asteroid hit or something like that. They don't realize it's a process. Uh, Peter evidently thought it was a process because of First Peter 4:17. He said it begins at the house of God. He said, didn't talk about it as an event, he talked about a beginning.
When Jesus had messages for the seven churches in the Revelation, in chapters two and three of the Revelation, He ended it by saying, "He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches." And what His message to them was largely to repent, to change your ways, to take action, to do something. In other words, it was an act of judging. The Holy Spirit was asking them to judge themselves. He who has an ear to hear indicates that there are some who don't have an ear to hear. But he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
And I would say this also, the fact that you were born again indicates that you have judged yourself. And that, in fact, that's why that's why, you know, we go straight to heaven when Christians die. You know, to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord. The reason is because you recognized your condition and you received God's solution. You judged yourself. And so you took God's solution. And and and since then, not only after being born again, but with every sin, with everything that you do wrong, with with every error, you say, "Oh Father, forgive me," or you admit your sin, that is an act of judging yourself. And it's a lifelong process of judging ourselves.
And you know this, and you know you've been doing this because if you've ever, oh, maybe years ago when you first became a Christian, would watch a movie, sitcom, different things like that, and you thought nothing of it. And you thought, "Okay, you know, no big deal, not much cussing, nothing too bad in it." And then maybe 10 years later, you see that same movie and you think, "Wow, how did I think this was great? There's so much cussing, there's so much sex, there's so much violence, and so much, you know, ungodly stuff in it." Well, the movie didn't change over those 10 years. You did. You had gone through a series of judgments of yourselves, of yourself, to grow in the things of the Lord.
So the last time the Lord talked about a season of judgment in the body of Christ was right before the pandemic. And He talked about a couple years of where He was asking people to judge themselves. And He talked about people who would separate themselves, who would break off friendships and relationships. And that was an act of of them choosing the wrong way. And and many have have become weak and sickly and even died among us because they have chosen to stay in strife or or something separating out. And it's happened worldwide.
And so, uh, this year, as I'm speaking, this is the start of 2023. He talked about two years, a period of two years where we're entering another season where He's asking the body of Christ to judge itself. And so, what that means is, if you look at the, what He is, His track record in the past in the scripture, you look at the, what He said to the churches of the Revelation, and how they were to judge themselves, a lot of it had to do with their fervor for the Lord, their zeal for the Lord. It had to do with putting away false teachings. That was one of the biggest things, like the woman He nicknamed Jezebel for her false teaching, where she said it's okay to be a Christian, still offer, uh, sacrifices to the the gods and go to the temple and the temple prostitute and all that. And He called her Jezebel, uh, like her counterpart in the Old Testament who tried to compromise Israel. And so this woman in in the Church of Thyatira tried to compromise the body of Christ with their teaching.
So the Lord is, what you're looking for is right now, over the next couple years, number one, in the body of Christ, has to do with getting rid of wrong teaching, getting raw, getting rid of the peripherals, uh, repentance, stirring up that zeal for the Lord again. He's asking us to judge ourselves. Uh, there's, you know, he that has an ear to hear. It's just a season that we're entering into. It makes me wonder, and I know He's spoken to me some things about later in this year, in the last part of this year and the beginning of next, uh, as it pertains to the United States. But, but in general, it begins first at the household of God. It begins first in here.
I'm reminded of years ago, I had a visitation with the Lord where I was asking Him about judgment. And He was teaching me different ways about the way He teaches people. And one of the things that He, and then I got to the point where I asked Him, I said, "Why were You so hard on Ananias and Sapphira?" You know, Ananias and Sapphira are found in Acts chapter five. And remember that the day of Pentecost until Acts 8:1, from the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:4 until Acts 8:1, all of that took place within about a year. Pentecost, Peter's shadow, you know, people looking for even Peter's shadow to fall on them. The foodie, the food, uh, ministry to Greek and Jewish widows, or Jewish and Gentile widows. And Ananias and Sapphira, who sold some land and lied about it, and were immediately judged and both of them died right there before, before Peter. Peter told him, he said, "You had your land, you could do with it what you wanted. After you sold it, you could have done what you wanted." So it wasn't like they were living in a big commune. It wasn't like they were, there was any mandatory, uh, giving up of things or anything. Peter said, "You know, it's entirely your free will, but you lied about it."
And so I asked the Lord during the visitation, I asked the Lord, I said, "Why were You so hard on Ananias and Sapphira?" And He told me, He said, "Remember," He said, "my whole body was in Jerusalem at that time, immediately after Pentecost. And He said, what they sought to introduce, which was hypocrisy, what they sought to introduce could not be allowed." And He, He went on and He commented and He said this, He said, "There are many people in this land crying out to the Father to send revival. But I tell you truly, if the Father sent revival, there would be on this land," He said, "there would be many, many Ananias and Sapphiras across the land."
And what He meant by that is, and then He said this, He said, "Remember, my son, the level of judgment is always equal to the level of the anointing. The level of judgment is always equal to the level of the anointing." And because many are crying out for revival, if they actually had the pouring out of God's Spirit, if there was just another level of God's Spirit in their lives, they had not judged themselves properly. And so, as a result, they would suffer. Like Jesus said, they said there'd be many, uh, Ananias and Sapphiras across the land.
And so that, that statement, that the level of judgment is equal to the level of of the anointing, uh, goes hand in hand. And this is something that the body of Christ wants to experience. It wants to experience miracles, wants to experience all the things of God. But you've got to realize, you've got to come along with it. You've got to come along in maturity, judging yourselves of carnal things, judging yourselves of what you're watching and who you hang out with, and and the teachings that you absorb, and and things that you allow in your life. And if you, it's, there's a price to pay for that.
Um, I'm also reminded of First Corinthians chapter 11, where from starting in verse 17 through the end of that chapter, about verse 31, uh, especially 31, 32 in there. Uh, there's a group of people who don't want to have the Lord's Supper and go to some to, in this case, it was a man named Justice. We're told in Acts chapter 18, verses one through nine, we're told there's a man named Justice who's hosting the church there at Corinth. And there's Greeks, Jews, and Romans all together under one roof. And Paul brings it out in First Corinthians chapter 11 and verse starting with verse 17, that some of them won't fellowship because of socioeconomic issues, prejudice, etc. They won't fellowship with others. And Paul says this, on doubt, he says, "You know, I received of the Lord what He said, that is, if you, you know, this is my body, this is my blood." And he said, "Many are weak and sickly among you, and many have died early because they've not properly discerned the Lord's body."
Now, he's not talking about just by His stripes, we were healed. He's talking about discerning the body. In other words, in fact, he started out in verse 17, 18, 19. Says 19, excuse me, it says, "Do you despise the body of Christ?" In other words, discerning the body of Christ has to do with the unity and the love and the esteem that we give one another because we are members of the body of Christ. And Paul said, because you've done this, because you've held on to prejudice and attitudes against others, who said, "Many are weak and sickly among you, and many have died early." For if you don't judge yourself, you will be judged of the Lord. But if you're judged of the Lord, it's because He loves you and He doesn't want you to be condemned with the world.
So what I'm sharing with you right now is something that the Lord had said for now, for the next season, for the next two years in the body of Christ, that there's a season in the spirit for the body of Christ to hear what the Spirit is saying. And it has to do with judging ourselves in our heart, in our attitudes, cleaning up our lives. And there will be events that will happen in the natural, especially later in in this year and early next, that will affect the whole world. But right now is a season for people to remember, and hopefully they have learned their lesson from the previous season, because some acted very immaturely to cut off, uh, relationships just because of a disagreement on on politics or one particular theological point or something of that such immaturity. It's hardly not even seen among the unbelievers yet. For some reason, Christians think nothing of cutting off relationships with other Christians. They're challenged by people who don't agree with them theologically or something that's just the height or the depth, I should say, of immaturity, of being a baby. I mean, you can't live like that and stay married. You can't live like that and stay employed. You know, to, "Oh no, I, I differ with you in one little area, therefore I'm quitting my job." Or, "I'm getting out of this marriage because one area we don't agree." Yet that's how people treat the body of Christ. "I don't agree with you on pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, no-trib, whatever the case is, and so off with your head." You know, uh, folks, that time of childishness is gone in the body of Christ. Hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Judgment begins at the household of God. It's a beginning. It's a process. Hear what the Spirit is saying. This is a season of judging ourselves of our behavior, of our hearts, first and foremost. All right, God bless.