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BROKEN BUT NOT BEYOND REPAIR
We live in a world that is “so dark and getting darker and darker.” Yet, we are chosen by God to be a “little light here and there” that gives the world hope. While life itself is often challenging and not always what we want it to be, the greatest assurance we have is that Jesus Christ loves us.
Today, we focus on the core mission of the Gospel, recalling that even in our darkest moments of feeling ruined or useless, we are broken, but not beyond repair.
The True Focus of the Gospel
The purpose of the Gospel has often been “thwarted” or turned on its head, moving away from what Jesus highlighted. For instance, a prevailing spirit in the church world, particularly the Pentecostal sphere, is materialism. This focus on materialism, where some suggest that being spiritual requires one to “own a fleet of Cadillacs” or that converting to Christianity guarantees your business will flourish, is a direct fulfilment of prophecy for the Laodicean church age.
While God certainly blesses us (and a flourishing business is good), what we truly need is a testimony of the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a living witness.
The spirit of the Lord was upon Christ to accomplish a sixfold purpose, as prophesied in Isaiah 61. The scripture states, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He had sent me to bind up the broken-hearted…”
The poverty Christ speaks of is often not material poverty, but the poverty of the “gold that is tried in fire,” the spiritual lack that plagued even the materially wealthy church of Laodicea. The second crucial purpose is to heal the brokenhearted.
The Tender Care of the Master Repairer
The Gospel is defined by Christ’s unique ability to deal with what man considers hopeless. Isaiah 42:3 highlights this beautifully: “A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench.”
Consider what these images mean:
- The Bruised Reed: A bruised reed is like a plant that is wilting down and almost gone, so tender that if anyone touches it, it will completely break. It looks impossible for man to fix. Yet, the anointing that Jesus Christ carries is to fix that broken reed and make it stand up again.
- The Smoking Flax/Smouldering Wick: When the light in a wick is about to die out, it has only a “very little light” left, and the next stage is to smoke up and die. If you touch it, that wick is going to die out and cease producing light. No man has the ability to reignite it. Jesus Christ, however, has the unique ability to ignite it and make it produce light again.
Every man who attempts to fix a broken reed would likely shatter it completely, but Christ is the repairer of shattered lives.
Life is experienced in cycles and seasons. You may experience a “summer”—a time of plenty where everything seems to work, and you might feel like God’s favorite child. But just as Pharaoh’s dream foretold seven years of plenty followed by seven years of drought, life inevitably moves into a different season.
If you are in your summer, you must plan for winter. Winter is not just about material lack; the “winter of your life” can be a time when you acted foolishly, lacked understanding, or believed that godliness was a “bondage.”
The Boundaries of Freedom
In the exuberance of youth or the search for liberty, many seek “freedom with no restrictions.” While there is true freedom in Christ, that freedom has boundaries—and those boundaries are the Word of God.
Like a vehicle that can “gas and go,” it needs a brake system; otherwise, it will self-destruct. A life that cannot exercise self-discipline, such as a married person who cannot be content with their spouse, will self-destruct. To avoid looking back and feeling foolish, we must stay in the confines of the Word of God. As Psalms 11:19 asks, “How can a young man keep his ways by guarding his life according to your word?”
Dealing with Doubt: Learning from John the Baptist
Sometimes, the winter season brings heavy doubt. John the Baptist, who spent his entire life proclaiming Christ, reached a point in prison where he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one that was to come, or should we look for another?” John was struggling, possibly wondering why Christ had not miraculously delivered him from Herod, feeling that his trial was weighing too heavy.
This experience teaches us a vital lesson: Doubt is not sin. The actual sin is unbelief. God does not judge doubt; He dissolves it. Thomas doubted, and Christ showed up to dissolve his doubt.
When you are going through a difficult season or wrestling with doubt, John showed us the path: He took his doubt to the Word (Jesus Christ). He did not seek answers from the religious leaders like Caiaphas or the Pharisees, nor did he go to social media or TikTok, where his faith would be further destroyed.
When John’s disciples came to Christ, Jesus directed them back to Isaiah 61, telling them to report what they heard and saw: “The blind receive your sight. The lame walk, the lepers are cleansed… and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” He finished by saying, “Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me.”
John was on the brink of being offended in Christ due to his current, unattended condition. But when the Word dissolves the doubt, and if we then choose unbelief, God judges that choice.
The Church is a Clinic, Not a Synagogue
If you are sitting here feeling messed up, thinking, “I could never be useful again,” or “I won’t be accepted in the church anyways,” listen: You may be unacceptable to religion, but I want to introduce you to the repairer of broken lives.
Religion has never fixed anyone; it throws you away. This is what happened to the adulterous woman and the woman at the well. The church is not a synagogue where “everybody is acting up” (hypocrisy). The church is a clinic. It is meant to be an environment where a “broken reed can be made straight again by the word of God”.
The purpose of the Gospel is restoration. We are ministers of reconciliation. Our job is not to chase away the “bad sheep” and keep the good ones. Christ leaves the ninety-nine to go after the one lost sheep, knowing he gets no star for a lost sheep.
Trophies of Transformation
Think of those whose lives were wrecked:
- Paul: He was a horrible, injurious fellow, rejected by the religious spirit of the apostles. He made many homes destitute. Yet, in that rough was a diamond. When Ananias questioned using him, the Repairer said, “I will fix it and I will use it. You don’t worry about that. That is my job”.
- The Woman at the Well / Mary Magdalene: The woman at the well came to the water to feed her addiction. Mary Magdalene was a shattered life out of whom seven demons were cast. These are the trophies we need in the church—people whose lives have been shattered by sin, whom we can point to and say, “The repairer of life gave this one his life back”.
If Christ could bring a Paul out of Saul, “a clean out of an unclean,” then He can fix you too.
Don’t be ashamed or scared of your condition. Be free to bring it forward and say, “This is what I’m struggling with”. If a believer is overcome in a fault, the godly should not chase them away but restore such a one.
You may be broken, but you are never beyond repair. He wants to cleanse you and use you.
THE SIXFOLD PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Luke 4:18-19
The faith established by Christ is currently navigating the Laodicean age, the final church age of the Gentile dispensation. In this era, a significant distortion has crept into the church world, replacing the core message of Christianity with the worship of Mammon. To counteract this deception, we must return to God’s Word and understand the sixfold purpose of the gospel, as revealed by Jesus Christ Himself.
The Scriptural Foundation
The title, “The Six-Fold Purpose of the Gospel,” is drawn directly from Luke chapter 4, verses 18 and 19. Reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue, Jesus outlined the mission that the Spirit of the Lord had anointed him to accomplish.
These six purposes are:
- To preach the gospel to the poor.
- To heal the brokenhearted.
- To preach deliverance to the captives.
- Recovery of sight to the blind.
- To set at liberty them that are bruised.
- To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Mammon and the Deception of the Age
Today, the dominant “rave in Pentecostalism” is centered on enthroning another god called Mammon and dethroning Jesus Christ. For many ministries, the proof that they are impactful is found in the display of wealth. This has led to bragging in the holy place, with preachers measuring success by packages, being named the richest pastors, or gracing the front page of magazines like Forbes.
This preoccupation with wealth is not a new spirit; it echoes the deception of Simon the sorcerer, who saw the apostles’ spiritual ability as a commercial potential that could make money. Simon attempted to buy the divine ability, leading the apostles to rebuke him severely, saying, “Your money perish with you,” because he thought the holy things of God could be commercialized. That biblical standard has not changed: Jesus Christ will give the same response to those who think that godliness is gain or who see Christ as a source of wealth.
Mammon is not simply money but a demonic figure of greed associated with the love for money, the craving for it, and the sway it has on the mind. Jesus compared Mammon with God because that power is potent enough to control your emotions and become more important to you than Christ the Creator.
The church age of Laodicea is cursed by the spirit of materialism. Jesus described this age in Revelation 3:16-17: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” Yet, Christ responds, “and knowest not that thou art wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”
Purpose One: Preaching to the Destitute
The very first purpose of the gospel is “to preach the gospel to the poor.” This does not primarily refer to material poverty but spiritual poverty. The Greek word used for “poor” implies being destitute of something. This is the same word used to describe the Laodicean church, which is materially wealthy but spiritually destitute.
The gospel brings true wealth. Jesus tells the Laodicean church to “buy of me gold that is tried in fire.” This command signifies an exchange. The spiritual gold tried in fire is the unadulterated word of God. The exchange requires trading the love for materialism and the worship of Mammon for the love and sway of the Word of God.
The sign that you have received the gospel and the Word of God is not that you are going to be rich. If this is your expectation, “disappointment is waiting for you.” In the book of Acts, which chronicles the inauguration and early ministry of the church, there is no story about God transforming one person into the richest person in the Roman Empire; this is simply not what the gospel is about.
The Importance of Diligence and Excellence
While the gospel’s purpose is not to guarantee material wealth, we acknowledge that God can and does bless. The Bible states, “The blessing of the Lord makes rich and has no sorrow to it.” However, God’s blessing follows principles that are set in the world, and you don’t need to be a Christian to observe them and access certain blessings.
One of these crucial principles is diligence. Proverbs 22:29 states, “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mere men.”
Excellence is not a gift; it is a habit. Especially for the youth, a certain age is meant for learning skills and cultivating excellence, not primarily seeking money. Whatever your hand finds to do, you must “do it with thy might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). If you learn to be shabby now, your whole life will follow that pattern. When you have an outstanding skill, people will look for you.
Colossians 3:23 instructs us: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” If you approach your work with the mindset that you are doing it to glorify the name of Christ, you will receive a reward from God Himself.
Finding Rest in Christ’s Purpose
It is normal to experience trials and have questions that challenge your faith (such as the loss of a loved one). Even the Captain of our salvation had questions, asking if the cup could pass over him. However, we must never let these questions drive us away from Christ. If you are His chosen, God is working all things for your good in accordance with the purpose that He has for your life. These “all things” include challenges and trials that test you, try you, and mold you according to His purpose.
The true change brought by the gospel is internal transformation. When you start walking with Christ, your physical circumstances may not change—you may remain a blind person or a cripple—but “something is changing in your inside”. This transformation of your spirit is a down payment.
Evidence of this spiritual change was seen even in the ministry of William Branham: when a believer came before the prophet, their spirit would sometimes blend with the Light, signifying that they were at peace in the presence of that light and were truly Christian.
Therefore, prioritize God above everything else. Let your children know that Christ is the center of it all and the main priority, not just a secondary thing. Trust that God is a good Father who doesn’t spoil His children. Be grateful for the trials and mountains He allows you to go through, for you never know what He is using that fire to accomplish.
A WHITE LINEN THAT IS SEEN THROUGH DIFFERENT LENSES VI (Spiritual Giftings: Honouring the Giver and the Word II)
The continuation of our study on Spiritual Gifting focuses on a crucial principle: honouring the Giver and the Word above the blessings themselves. We look into how true spiritual maturity is defined not by the possession of powerful gifts, but by internal transformation and the unwavering priority given to the Word of God.
Our foundation is found in Genesis 24, detailing Abraham’s servant (Eliezer) bringing jewels of silver, gold, and raiment to Rebecca. Though Rebecca accepted these precious gifts with gratitude and reverence, she was not overwhelmed by them. When asked if she wished to wait ten days before leaving, her immediate answer was, “I will go.”
Rebecca’s enthusiasm was fixed on meeting the giver of the gift—Isaac, who here types Jesus Christ. She understood that the giver of the gift is greater than the gift. If the gifts were so admirable, the giver must be much more admirable. This serves as a vital reminder for the body of Christ: while we accept God’s blessings with gratitude, the most important thing is meeting and relating to the Giver.
The Dual Purpose of Gifts: Perfection vs. Edification
It is essential to distinguish between the various ways God gifts the Church.
1. Gifts for Perfection (Ephesians 4)
The gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:7 are given exclusively to men—the fivefold ministry (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers). The primary objective of these gifts is the perfecting of the saints.
Perfection happens “till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
- Transformation through the Word: The only thing that works on your perfection is the Word of God. Constant exposure to the Word is required for internal transformation.
- Character Building: God is more interested in our character than our comfort. The process of becoming like Christ—a wife submitting to her husband or a husband loving his wife—is the work of the Ephesians 4 gifts bearing the Word. If transformation is not happening, despite constant exposure to the Word, it indicates a stunted growth.
2. Gifts for Edification (1 Corinthians 12/14)
The spiritual gift (such as prophecy, tongues, or word of knowledge) is given to each member of the body for the benefit of another. These gifts are an immense blessing from God to ease the burden of the body.
These gifts do not perfect you. Instead, they serve three functions:
- Comfort
- Exhortation
- Edification (building up the body of Christ)
The church at Corinth came behind in no gift; they had all the gifts. Yet, this was the church that gave the Apostle Paul the most trouble, marked by quarrels, contention, divisions, and even grievous sin like fornication. Paul had to address them as carnal, not spiritual, even as babes in Christ.
This demonstrates that the mere presence of gifts does not validate a true church. What shows that a church is spiritual is when the gifts are administered according to the Word of God and when the Word is given its proper honor.
The Danger of Exalting the Gift Above the Word
When spiritual gifts are placed above the altar (above the Word), the result is a carnal church—people who are weak, easily thrown, and unsure what they believe.
Jesus emphasized, “Which one is more important, is it the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?” The gift cannot do more than the word that it is fed with. If you leave an assembly where the true Word is taught, the characteristics of your gift will change because the altar (the Word/assembly teaching) sanctifies the gift.
Do not depend on your gift or any outward sensation (like falling down during a prayer meeting) to think that you are justified. Anything short of an inner transformation, driven by love for Christ, is a mere sensation.
Faithful Stewardship and the More Excellent Way
Every single person has been given a gift. We are stewards of these endowments. The purpose of the gift is not for the benefit of the bearer or their family; it must be used selflessly, for the profiting of the body. If the gift is used for self-benefit or “weaponized against the body,” it will dry up, ceasing to be spiritual.
We must “Occupy till I come.” Failure to use the gift, or burying it (as the servant with one talent did), is an unfaithful use that can lead to being declared an “unprofitable servant” and being cast into outer darkness (the great tribulation). When we are not busy using our God-given endowments, we become distracted and susceptible to the devil’s workshop.
The ultimate framework for using any gift is the More Excellent Way: Charity.
- If the objective of your gift is outside charity, it is merely a natural gift, not a spiritual gift.
- If you have the gift of prophecy, tongues, faith to move mountains, or understand all mysteries, “and have not charity, I am nothing.”
- Charity is the strength of the church and covers multitudes of sins. If a brother or sister offends you, you have two options: meet them and discuss it, or forget about it.
Protecting the Vessel
To remain a faithful steward and ensure your gift retains its spiritual efficacy, three things must be observed:
- Stay Away from Gossip: Gossip defiles the vessel completely. This is crucial for vocal gifts, visions, and dreams, as the subconscious mind can conjure stories based on what you have heard, potentially blurring the line between divine revelation and mere mental fabrication.
- Never Lift Any Gift Above the Word of God: The Word of God must always have preeminence and be given its full course to ground people in the faith.
- Do Not Break the Order of Administration: If you wish to see the gift come to maturity, do not break the order that has been set in the assembly.
Furthermore, if God reveals something sensitive about another member (a vision or dream that is not a public prophecy), you have a divine trust. This information must never be shared with another person other than the pastor or bishop. Sharing it invites commotion and contention (as seen in Corinth). The appropriate response is to pray and intercede for that person.
Ultimately, our ambition, motive, and objective should be to seek to glorify Jesus Christ. The way we glorify Jesus is by edifying His body. We pray for God’s Word to have preeminence in our lives so that we become more like Christ and stand on solid ground, ensuring our work is not burnt but rewarded.
A WHITE LINEN THAT IS SEEN THROUGH DIFFERENT LENSES VI (Spiritual Giftings: Honouring the Giver and the Word I)
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 1 Corinthians 12:4-18
Today, we start with a new subtopic: Spiritual Giftings: Honouring the Giver and the Word. The central purpose of spiritual gifts is established in scripture. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. As 1 Corinthians 12:7 (NLT) states, a spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
The gift in the body of Christ is emphatically not to glorify the bearer of the gift, nor is it to benefit the bearer, but rather it is for the common good of the body and to help other members. God exalts selflessness through the giving of the gifts.
Those who bear gifts make sacrifices—fasting, praying, consecrating themselves, and staying away from gossip—not for personal wealth or gain, but so they can be used for the benefit of the body, to feed, comfort, edify, and help others. These sacrifices are rewarded, but if done for self-glorification, it is a “wrong spirit that needs to be dealt with.”
Every member of the body of Christ has one gift or the other. If you are a member of the body of Christ, you cannot be useless. If a part of the body is not used, it will start to shrink and die away; growth comes from being used, not being useless. Whether it is a vocal gift, a passion for helping people, or a heart for young children, the gift God deposited in you is not for your own selfish agenda, but for the benefit of another person.
Confirming the Word: Tracking God’s Words in Prophecies
We must glorify Christ, not the vessel through which the gifts operate. One way to encourage ourselves and appreciate what the Lord is doing is to track these divine works.
Scripture provides an example of this tracking: Agabus prophesied a great dearth (famine) that came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar (Acts 11:27). We, too, have witnessed powerful fulfillment of prophecies, such as:
- A prophecy that the West would experience intense “troubling of their waters,” which came to pass a year or two later with the COVID-19 pandemic.
- During COVID-19, when media projected a high death rate for Africa, the spirit of God declared that He would contain it and not allow it to be too severe in certain countries.
- A sister received a message/vision to use specific things for a daughter’s chronic skin disease, resulting in the Lord bringing total healing after many specialists failed.
- A riot (the End SARS story in Nigeria) was prophesied about, where the youth would revolt against the government, which eventually came to pass.
- Spiritual gifts exposed the devil’s plans to put an end to a brother’s life, with the Lord intervening through dreams and messages.
- Messages received have revealed “secret things that even your husband does not know about,” leading recipients to fear God, trust God, and know that God is present.
If you don’t know how to glorify what God does for you, you risk weakening the hand of God and allowing the devil to discourage you.
Administration: The Head vs. The Members
The Apostle Paul compared the church—the body of Christ—to the physical body of a person.
- The hand has a gift (e.g., scratching an itch on your back).
- The head (the brain) interprets the need (e.g., deciding you need a bath) and sends the signal to the hand to act.
A body is whole not just because its members (hands, eyes, and legs) exist and function, but because they are doing what the brain, which is the head, has instructed them to do.
Similarly, it is not the mere presence of gifts in the church that makes it a Bible church. A church is a Bible church when the gifts are administered according to the word of God, which is the brain of the church.
Ascension Gifts vs. Spiritual Gifts
We must distinguish between the two categories of gifts mentioned in Scripture:
| Gift Category | Scriptures | Purpose | Recipient | Nature | Role |
| Ascension Gifts (The Great Gift) | Ephesians 4:7-10 | Perfecting of the saints (work of the ministry) | Men (strictly the masculine gender) | Born with them; not impacted by laying of hands | The Head/Brain |
| Spiritual Gifts (Bodily Gifts) | 1 Corinthians 12/14 | Edifying, exaltation, and comfort | Every man (every believer) | Received in the body | The Members/Hand |
A church cannot be built on spiritual gifts and expect to mature; it will lack nutrition from the brain. The responsibility for the work of the ministry—the perfection of saints—lies with the ascension gift, which is the Head.
Honoring the Giver Above the Gift
We often see in Pentecostalism and charismatic movements that the gift is more important than the person giving the gift (the Word). This is a dangerous spiritual trajectory.
Consider the story of Rebecca and Eliezer: Eliezer brought Rebecca many gifts from Isaac. Rebecca could have become overwhelmed by the gifts, falling in love with them and deciding she didn’t need to meet Isaac.
However, because Rebecca was a true bride, her excitement was not dependent on the gifts but on the union with Isaac. The church becoming the true bride of Christ is not dependent on the gifts but on union with the undiluted Word of God.
If an individual or assembly begins prioritizing the gift above the Giver (the Word), they will experience stunted growth. Just as Rebecca would never become like Isaac by staying with the gifts for 500 years, an assembly will never become like Christ if the gift is placed above the Word.
The only way to become like Christ is to consummate the relationship, dwell with the Word, talk with the Word, and meditate on the things the Word says.
The Need to be Under Subjection
If gifts are not administered according to the Word, they can become the opposite of beneficial. A sick person’s body acts irrationally—the hand may move where the brain has not instructed it, or the mouth may eat what the brain has not requested. Similarly, if the functionality of the brain (the Word) is lost, a member may harm the body instead of helping it.
The Bible commands us to judge spiritual gifts. We judge them by the Brain (the Word/Head gift). If a spiritual message is received, it cannot benefit another member unless it is passed through the brain (the head gift/leadership), because the gifted person may not know the actual need, and the message could potentially harm the person.
Even if a prophetic message is true (like when Agabus warned Paul about his trip to Jerusalem), the person holding the head gift has the mandate to process that signal and decide whether the inspiration is to proceed despite the known obstacle.
If your primary love and interest is not in the Word of God, you are shifting towards prioritizing the gift over the Giver. The purpose of God giving you comfort and foretelling events through gifts is to woo you to His word. If you are only stuck with the gift and rude to the Word, you will not grow and may risk missing the rapture.
Let all things be done decently and in order. Every gift must be awakened, but all under subjection to the word of God, which is the brain of God. Your gift is for the profiting of the body; it is a sacrifice God has entrusted into your hand, not a “superiority contest.”
The only way you will not use your gift to harm the body is to ensure that it always comes from the brain—let it be processed and judged by the brain. God Himself places His word above His name. Why, then, put anything else above it?
The word of God is what you should fall in love with if you want to mature. The sign of an assembly of the restored truth is that everything is done according to the word of God. The love of the people must be for the Bridegroom, not the gifts of the Bridegroom.
We must pray for an increasing love for God’s Word, seeking to subdue ourselves under its authority and the authority of the headship. By doing this, the church will grow, and the reward will come to the bearer of the gift.
A WHITE LINEN THAT IS SEEN THROUGH DIFFERENT LENSES V (The Reproach of Egypt II)
This sequel continues our discussion on “The Reproach of Egypt,” drawing from the powerful passage in Joshua chapter 5. The reproach of Egypt is defined as servitude, slavery, or servanthood. When the Israelites were circumcised in Gilgal, the Lord told Joshua, “This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you” (Joshua 5:8).
For the Gentile believer today, this moment parallels the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Once the Holy Spirit has been received, the reproach of Egypt—servitude and slavery—has been rolled away.
A slave or servant is not freeborn; they are subject to the authority and strict laws (“dos and don’ts”) of their taskmasters. However, a believer with the Holy Spirit becomes a freeborn with an inner teacher.
The Goal of Ministry: Wooing the Bride
The fivefold ministry and spiritual gifts were provided to the church to perform one function: to woo the bride to fall in love with the bridegroom. The relationship God desires is a bride-groom relationship, not a master-servant relationship. If a ministry leads the bride toward a relationship characterized by increasing fear of the Groom, that ministry is unknowingly leading them back to Egypt, the place of bondage.
God’s agenda for His New Testament children is freedom, not bondage. The truth, according to scripture, will set you free; conversely, anything that puts a believer in bondage is no longer the truth.
Legalism is Bondage
The restored truth for this age is often referred to as a “middle of the road” path, avoiding both legalism and liberalism. Both are bondages.
- Liberalism is a bondage to the flesh. A person under this bondage lacks the ability to choose or say “no” to lust or carnal desires.
- Legalism is also a bondage. It subjects people to “elementary teachings of a system of external observations and regulations” (often called “beggarly elements”).
Legalistic servitude often leads to burnout, bitterness, and pride. The focus shifts to outward compliance with rules, a state Jesus likened to “dead men’s bones”—a stinking place—when the heart lacks genuine love.
- Love-based relationship: Gives depth, consistency, and strength in trial, leading to a sustained root and increasing love for the Word, resulting in unspeakable joy.
- Legalistic relationship: Brings shallowness, bitterness, and ultimately, burnout, as the individual never had a root in the first place.
We had an experience of a Christian sister who, after hearing the truth, sought baptism. She arrived dressed in tight jeans. A legalistic mindset might have prevented her baptism until she changed her attire. However, because her internal desire was genuine, she was baptized. Her appearance soon began to align with God’s Word, demonstrating that the work of true holiness must be done first from the inside. God looks beyond outward appearance; He is not going to justify anyone based on external show.
The Danger of Lenses
When the gospel is preached, it is often interpreted or presented through the specific lens of the speaker or the hearer. “We see things the way we are, not the way things are.”
This phenomenon is evident throughout Scripture:
- Matthew saw Christ through the lens of the Old Testament, constantly referring back to prophecies being fulfilled.
- Luke, a physician, added medical details, noting “high fever” when Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and describing a man “full of leprosy.”
- John used a prophetic lens, beginning his account with “In the beginning was the Word.”
In the early church, individuals from the strict sect of the Pharisees who came to believe in Christ tried to impose legalism—specifically requiring Gentile believers to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses—even after salvation. The Apostles rebuked this, stating that it placed a “yoke upon the neck of the disciples.” They warned that these legalistic demands were “subverting your soul.” When the new believers received the letter detailing their freedom from the Law, they “rejoiced for the consolation.”
The key takeaway is that you must move away from the slave mindset to the mindset of sonship. You must see the restored truth through the lens of God’s Word itself.
Sonship: Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
The relationship God had with the Jews under the Law was a master-servant relationship. The introduction of the Law at Mount Sinai was so terrifying that Moses himself said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.” God showed them a fearful part of Himself to establish servitude.
However, Christ fundamentally changed this relationship. He said, “I no longer call you slaves… But now you are my friends” (John 15:15, paraphrased).
The foundation of the New Testament relationship is love, not fear.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)
If your walk with God is based on fear, you do not truly love God, and your love is not perfected. Slaves obey because of fear, but sons obey because of love.
Fear is an ineffective motivator for genuine, sustained holiness. Although God introduced fear to the Israelites, they remained rebellious and obstinate, often making another god the moment their tax master (Moses) was absent. Fear only works while the oppressed lacks options or the oppressor is present.
We are not servants; we are sons and heirs of God through Christ (Galatians 4:7). A slave mindset can never inherit with the son of the free woman.
A Call to Internal Reflection
True holiness is a life of love that is coming from within. It is defined by your motive, which is more important than what you look like externally.
We must search our hearts to determine the root of our faith:
- Is the root true love? True love is the root; external behavior is merely the leaves.
- Is there still a mix of love and fear? If so, the love is not yet perfected.
There is no slave who genuinely looks forward to the return of their master. Christ will appear to those who are longing and looking forward to His return. Only a bride who is in love with her Groom, or a son who loves his father, looks forward to that day.
This generation must see that the word of God is their freedom, not a bondage. We must pray—and even fast—for that perfect love to consume our hearts and cast out every last vestige of the slavery mindset. We must ask the Lord to do this work on the inside, commanding a new wave of revival among the people characterized by a pulsating heart for the love of God.
A WHITE LINEN THAT IS SEEN THROUGH DIFFERENT LENSES IV (The Reproach of Egypt I)
And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel. At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time. And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt. Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised. For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: unto whom the Lord sware that he would not shew them the land, which the Lord sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey. And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way. And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day. Joshua 5:1-9
The story found in the Book of Joshua, Chapter 5, presents a powerful spiritual lesson about deliverance that extends far beyond a historical event. It speaks directly to the need for internal transformation as believers approach their promised inheritance.
At a specific time, the Lord commanded Joshua, “Make sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.” This act took place after the previous generation of men of war, who had come out of Egypt, had died in the wilderness because they disobeyed the voice of the Lord. These newly circumcised individuals were the generation born in the wilderness. Following this physical circumcision, God made a profound declaration: “This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off of you”.
The Reproach of Egypt: A Slave Mindset
What exactly was this “reproach of Egypt” that needed to be rolled away? When the people left Egypt, they left their slave masters. However, the scirptures reveal that even after being set free, they still carried the slave mindset. This mindset survived the entire duration of their 40 years in the wilderness.
The characteristics of this slave mentality include:
- Lack of Choice: A slave is totally choiceless; they must do whatever their slave master asks, regardless of personal will.
- Lack of Identity: A slave does not know who they are, feeling suppressed and lacking their own identity. They believe they are truly no better than their current slave situation.
This reproach represents the chains of religion and legalism (slavery to religion). The slave mindset had to be removed before they could inherit the land, as they needed to start thinking differently to possess all that God had for them.
The act that removed this reproach was circumcision. Spiritually, circumcision is understood as the circumcision of the heart by the spirit of God. When a person receives the Holy Spirit, the reproach of slavery and that slavery mindset are taken away.
Love vs. Legalism: The Ministry’s True Purpose
The relationship that the Bridegroom (Christ) desires with His bride is based on love, not on law or legalism.
To prepare the bride, Christ sent a ministry—typified by the friend of the bridegroom—to introduce the bride to Himself. This ministry is often identified as that of the seventh angel (Malachi 4:5-6b), which is the ministry of William Marrion Branham, though the focus is on the ministry, not the person.
The goal of this ministry, and indeed the singular objective of any preacher who has anything from the Bridegroom to the bride, is to make the bride fall in love with the Bridegroom. Just as Eliezar, the servant sent to woo Rebekah for Isaac, spoke only of Isaac and his gifts were intended to foster love for Isaac, the modern ministry must lift up Jesus Christ.
Any ministry that causes the bride to fall in love with the person, the gift, the sensation, or emotionalism is a failed mission and a wasted gift. The purpose of the gifts, the fivefold ministry, and all sensations is solely to lead to “eternal love for the word of God that brings about transformation.”
Washing the Inside of the Cup
Legalism seeks to control outward appearance. This approach of focusing on external requirements, trying to make people “fit into a mold” of what a Christian should look like, is what Jesus spoke against when addressing the scribes and Pharisees.
Jesus said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.”
The danger of this focus is that it creates a heavy burden—a religious constraint—upon the people. It is busy painting people to fit a certain mold, leading to people who outwardly look like Christians (e.g., they don’t wear jewelry or makeup) but whose inward lives (like their temper) are unchanged. This achieves suppression, not transformation. When the suppressing influence (the taskmaster) is removed, the internal reality will express itself.
The correct approach is revealed when Jesus instructs, “Clean first that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.” When you focus on cleaning the inside, the outside will become clean as a natural result. The priority must always be the transformation of the heart.
Sonship and the Power of Choice
The shift from being a slave to being a son is profound. As children of the promise, believers are children of the free woman, not the bondwoman. We are no longer servants but sons and heirs of God through Christ.
A child of the freeborn is characterized by choice. God did not come and force His Bride through legalism. He wooed her so that she would make a choice to surrender based on love.
The Christian is completely free and makes choices to glorify the one who has adopted them. This freedom means they are not a slave to religion (legalism), nor are they a slave to sin (liberalism). This maturity requires making a choice to ditch the reproach of Egypt—that slave mindset—and step into the position of a mature bride. If we truly love the Word, we will be willing to submit ourselves to it, even when the choice is painful, because that love is the essence of the relationship Christ desires.