All Scriptures NAS unless otherwise noted.

There were only two basic issues that the biblical nation of Israel was required to be unified on--worship and warfare. All of the men of Israel were commanded to go up to Jerusalem three times a year for the feasts that celebrated their relationship with the Lord. By doing this, the twelve separate tribes were able to maintain a common vision and unity around the God they worshipped. The only other issue that they were required to be unified on was their common defense. If one of the tribes was attacked all of the other tribes were required to mobilize to defend it.

The reason for much of the division in the church today is that we try to unify around too much. The Moravian Church, revived under Count Zinzendorf during the mid 1700s, adopted the famous motto: "On the basic doctrines of the faith there must be unity. In everything else there must be liberty. In all things there must be charity." On the basic doctrines of the faith we do need to have unity. It is the agreement of the basic doctrines, such as the atonement of the cross of Christ, that defines the "holy nation" that is the church. However, as the first council of Jerusalem clearly established, in other areas we must guard our liberty.

Finding the Path of Life

Even though it is widely taught that worship is spiritual warfare, many of those who are primarily oriented toward spiritual warfare are somewhat repulsed by the emotional expressions of those who are primarily oriented toward worship. King David was probably the greatest personification of the nature of true spiritual authority next to the Lord Jesus Himself. The Lord is even said to sit upon the "throne of David." David was one of the greatest warriors in Scripture, but he was also one of the greatest worshippers. The one who could so selflessly abandon himself in worship would also selflessly risk himself in battle for the name of the Lord. The very principles that seem to be in conflict on the lower levels of insight, when carried to their proper levels of spiritual maturity, merge beautifully.

The apostle Paul before his conversion is a personification of the religious spirit. He violently attacked the church because it is the nature of one with a religious spirit to attack anything he cannot understand. A person with a religious spirit has also been deluded into thinking that God thinks and sees everything just like they do. However, after his conversion, and after years of having his mind renewed, Paul comprehended the gospel of God's grace on a level that few could. The man who had most violently attacked the early church became one of the greatest defenders of the faith. Some of those who are the most ruthless attackers, once converted, are more thoroughly converted.

Paul, the "Pharisee of Pharisees" who was under such a yoke of legalism, before his conversion could not bear the presence of those who had started to live under grace. After his conversion he became the greatest champion of grace. This man who is one of the greatest biblical examples of the power of conversion, made one of the

most important statements for us to hear today--"Behold then the kindness and severity of God" (Romans 11:22). Many can only behold God's kindness. Others can only see His severity. We will not know Him as He is until we can see both His kindness and His severity together. We are not called to be either worshippers or warriors, but worshippers and warriors. We are called to be an army, but we are also called to be a family. There are periods of time when we need to emphasize one over the other, but we will always be both.

Balance and Truth

I do not pursue balance in my life; I pursue truth. Even so, I have learned that whenever I find truth, it is almost always found in the balance between extreme positions. Most of the great deceptions that keep the Body of Christ divided, and, in fact, all of humanity divided, is our tendency to judge other people or groups by their most extreme elements. This causes conservatives to view liberals as communists, and liberals to view conservatives as probable members of the KKK. Both are deceived.

We often misjudge individuals because we meet them when they're having a bad day, or when they're having an unusually good day, and we think that is the way they are all of the time. Or we will judge all of one's entire theology because of a few extreme positions that they may hold. This is a tragic deception that we must be delivered from if we are going to walk in truth, or ever come into unity.

Some believers seem to have been created for warfare, but if they do not learn to worship they will have grossly distorted spiritual personalities. Others are much more devoted to relationships, and detest fighting. If these do not learn to put on the whole armor of God and learn to fight, they will at best suffer many unnecessary defeats and deceptions.

The kingdom is made up of worshipping warriors, and we all need to learn the proper time and place for each. Those who have been in battle do not need to come home to a drill sergeant. In any nation, the vast majority of the population will not be in the army, but will be devoted to building their families, businesses, etc. Even so, if it were not for the army we would not have the safety required to do any of those things. There are times when even those who are oriented to family life must enlist in the army to protect their families. What we are at any given time may not be dictated by our orientation, but by the times and conditions in which we live.

Biblical Israel was composed of twelve different tribes, each with different territory and different natures, as the prophecies of Israel and Moses make clear. The two things that they were commanded to do together was to feast and fight, and we need to do the same. We need to be able to feast and celebrate before the Lord with all of our heart. We also must be able to put our whole heart into the battle that we are on this earth to fight.

The Old Testament seems to be a history of battles and feasts. This is because both have such an impact on the covenant people of God. As Paul explained, "Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (I Corinthians 10:11).

Most of us still have much to learn about both feasting and fighting. One thing we need to learn is not to fight when we're feasting, and not to feast when we're fighting. You don't fight at the dinner table, and you don't stop in the middle of a battle to picnic. There are times for each, and timing is important if we are going to have success at either the feast or the battle.

Liberty and Truth

Liberty is required for there to be true worship. That is why the Lord placed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden. There could be no true obedience from the heart if there was no freedom to disobey. The Lord did not place the forbidden fruit in the Garden to cause Adam and Eve to sin, but rather to give them the opportunity to prove their obedience. Without this liberty the Lord could have just created computers and programmed them to worship Him. What intelligent being would be satisfied with such programmed devotion? Worship is meaningless when it is forced.

It is for this reason that the Lord does not now "prove" Himself to the world. He could at anytime stop the sun, write His name across the sky, or simply rend the heavens and show the world His glory and power. Instead He calls those who would be His worshippers to walk by faith, against the tide of the whole world. This automatically separates those who love the truth from those who simply respond to pressure. He is, during this age, seeking those who will be heirs with His Son, members of His own household, who will rule over this creation with Him. Such a position will only be given to those who will serve Him and the truth even against the greatest opposition. Only those who prove that they love Him and His truth more than anything else are worthy of this high calling.

The more difficult that it is to serve Him, the greater the proof of our faith. The proof of our faith is not just finding out the quality of our devotion, but it is also the crucible in which our faith is developed. Our omniscient God knows the end from the beginning. The test is not for Him, but for us. Tests are opportunities for promotion to higher levels. But for a test to be real there must be a real opportunity to fail as well as pass. For this freedom is required.

Liberty and Worship

During our last two conferences there have been times when we entered a realm of the "high praises" of God that went to a level I have never experienced before. Many were caught up in such a joy in the Lord that I feared that they would get out of control, and I think some did. However, worship is the one place where getting out of control is not only tolerable, but may be necessary. True worship from the depths of our heart is unlikely until we get beyond our inhibitions and are freely able to express our adoration for Him. Is that not what David did when he danced before the Lord with all of his might. David was not dancing "in the Holy Spirit," but in his might. Nevertheless, the Lord received this worship and judged the one who criticized it.

It is a cold, ruthless deception that declares that love is not an emotion. Who would enjoy hearing from their spouse, "Darling, I do not feel any love for you, but I am loving you out of obedience." Certainly obedience is better than disobedience, but

when we leave our emotions out of our devotion it has fallen far from its intended place. As A.W. Tozer once observed, "Trying to flee fanaticism, the church has run from the wild fire into the deep freeze."

Every time we hit the "high praises" in our meetings, some people do get so exuberant that they do things that are not appropriate. Others use the freedom as an opportunity for a self-centered display that is even more repulsive in the midst of such adoration of the Lord. However, we could have never released such expressions of true adoration without also releasing an opportunity for the self- serving. There could have been no true worship from the heart unless there was also a freedom that some are bound to use inappropriately, or as an opportunity for the flesh.

If we control our meetings to the degree that no flesh or evil can get in, we have also controlled it to the degree that we will never experience worship in Spirit and truth. In our most recent conference there were a couple of times when the Spirit of true worship was so intense that those who were using these times for selfish displays were not able to move. When the glory comes to that degree flesh cannot stand up, just as the priests were chased from the temple of Solomon when the glory filled it. This is our ultimate goal, to reach that level and stay there, but it is a process. It is very encouraging that we are occasionally hitting that level now. However, we only got to that level because we were free enough to let the people start where they were and grow into that place.

There will almost always be some with other motives who will try to display themselves even during worship, but it is wonderful to see the church dance before the Lord as David did, not in some practiced choreography, but from the heart. For the first time in my Christian life I have been in meetings where the outbreak of adoration for God has surpassed that which is common at sporting events, or rock concerts.

A Divine Trap

The present renewal movement, or "blessing" has taken on the characteristics of a feast. The effect of this "new wine" has been numerous healings and deliverances. Instead of people becoming addicted to alcohol they are becoming addicted to the presence of the Lord. Church really is becoming more fun than football games, and that is the way that it is supposed to be when we are called to the feasts.

One of the best explanations for all of this that I have heard came from Paul Cain, who said, "There is the love of a father, and the love of a mother, but there is no love like one drunken bum for another." It seems that God is trying to get us drunk enough to love each other! Barriers are falling between individuals, churches and movements, faster and more completely than years of preaching about unity has been able to accomplish. This is obviously one reason why the Lord commanded His people to regularly attend the feasts that He had instituted.

It is right that we have spiritual feasts, and that we enjoy them. Rejoicing in the Lord, and in each other, is not just important, it is crucial for spiritual health. As it is written.

Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things;

therefore you shall serve your enemies (Deuteronomy 28:47-48).

When we lose the joy of the Lord we will go into bondage. However, it is just as important that we know when to be serious, and when it is time to fight. There are times for each. Christians should be both the most joyful, fun loving people in the world, and the most sober and resolute in standing against the great darkness of our times. Without knowing how to do both, and when to do each, we will be subject to delusion and defeat.

Avoiding Ugly Divorces

The church must come into proper unity if we are going to accomplish our purpose at the end of this age. However, true unity must be a work of the Spirit. If we try to accomplish it in our own strength, out of timing, or try to carry it too far, it will only result in greater division. Forced commitments by vows or pressured allegiances have probably caused many more divisions in the church than disagreements over doctrines. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (II Corinthians 3:17). The Spirit requires liberty to do His work. He must be free to place members in the body where it pleases Him. When we try to bind people to ourselves, to our vision or work, rather than to Him, we are only setting ourselves up for greater and more devastating divisions. If a person wants to leave our church, and we restrain them with guilt or threats, they will eventually leave anyway under much worse conditions, and will probably take more people with them.

I have witnessed a number of churches, and even movements, who were called to cross-pollinate, or have a relationship of interchange, take the relationship beyond what God had called it to be into a union, and the results were devastating for both sides. A marriage ordained by God will help bring heaven to earth, but even the best will be difficult at times. When two people get married, but then realize that they should have just remained friends, that it was not ordained of God for them to carry the relationship that far, it will almost certainly be hell on earth for both parties. In those cases, one's spouse will often become their greatest antagonist and opposer. This includes spiritual marriages between churches or movements that were not called to unite, but rather to be separate tribes, relating but remaining separate.

Where Do We Go from Here

The "Toronto Blessing" has been a great blessing to the church. It is healing and delivering many Christians from the spiritual traps they have fallen into. However, there is reason to both rejoice and be sobered by the testimonies of healings and deliverances of those who have been touched by this movement. We should be sobered by the fact that so many Christians, most of whom have been in the faith for many years, still needed such deliverances. Many of the testimonies of deliverance from depression, bitterness, hatred, etc., were from men and women who have been Christians for twenty or thirty years!

Why is it taking so many so long to receive deliverance from those things that we should have been freed from when we were born again? We should not judge the whole state of the church on the extreme cases, but overwhelmingly the testimonies should begin to sober us, not make us drunk. The church is, generally, in a very low state.

The ultimate vision of many is to just get to the place that every born-again Christian should be walking in. We are called to be a "new creation" that greatly exceeds the original creation before the fall. We have been given something much greater than just walking with God in the Garden, or even walking with Jesus when He walked upon the earth--we have Him living inside of us! The same power that created the universe is in even the youngest Christian. If just one Christian starts to walk in the reality of what we have been given, the whole world will be shocked into soberness, quickly. As the apostle Paul stated it:

But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,

how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? (II Corinthians 3:7-8).

Paul was clearly saying that normal, New Covenant ministry should come with even more glory than Moses experienced, and he had to put a veil over his face because it was so great! Where is the glory in the church? Who could claim to have experienced even the glory that Moses did? This obviously indicates that there is much more available than we are presently walking in.

Our goal should be much more than just having healthy, happy lives. We are called to be bearers of the glory of God. We are here to challenge even the greatest darkness of our times, and push it back. We are here to tear down strongholds, and set the captives free. All that is happening is wonderful, but we must never lose the vision for something that is much greater than anything we are yet seeing. As Bonnie Chavda remarked, the purpose of the cup bearer was to get Joseph out of prison. The feast is great, but we are not called to spend all of our time feasting. We must keep going higher. Let us never stop praying what has become one of the great prophetic prayers of our times--MORE LORD!

The present renewal movement is not taking the church to new ground, but it is helping multitudes of believers recover ground that has been lost. It is already a movement of historic significance, but it is also already beginning to peak and subside. This should be encouraging. It is a sign that the job has been done, and the church is getting ready for the next level. If those who have experienced healing and deliverance do not go on to fulfill their calling and purpose in the Lord, they will likely fall back into an even worse condition.

Christians may come to meetings every week of their lives, but they will still backslide and fall into bondage if they are not properly equipped for their own ministries and destinies. Every Christian must become a functioning part of the body of Christ, for their own sake as well as for the sake of the church. If a Christian is not

moving toward the fulfillment of his or her own destiny in Christ, they will backslide. This is a primary reason why so many keep coming back to be delivered from the same problems.

Every Christian has a spiritual ministry, and if they are not fulfilling it, they will never be fulfilled. To be fulfilled is to be filled to the full. Nature will not tolerate vacuums, and that part of us that is not filled with Christ will be filled with something else. Our ministry is a reflection of who we are in Christ, and if we are not equipped and put into a place where we can fulfill our calling, it will result in serious spiritual problems. Without proper exercise, food just becomes fat. Without proper spiritual exercise, all of the rich spiritual food the body of Christ is now being served will only turn into fat, making the body even more unhealthy. More knowledge will only bring increased frustration if there is no place to apply it.

According to Ephesians four we are not true ministers unless we are equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry. If we are not reproducing our ministries in others we are "seedless fruit." Seedless fruit may be good for one meal, but it has no real lasting value. Fruit with seed can not only reproduce itself, but multiply itself. If we are a true pastor we should be producing other pastors. If we are a true evangelist, we should be producing other evangelists, etc.

For all of the emphasis on Ephesians chapter four and the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, very little has actually been done in the church. Until we do, we will not get out of the frustrating cycle of renewal followed by backsliding and the need for renewal again. One of the greatest signs that the church really is on its way to fulfilling its calling will be when we no longer need renewal. This is why:

He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;

but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ,

from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love (Ephesians 4:11-16).

There is simply no other way for us to get to where we are supposed to be. The next step is for us to really start doing this, not just for some of the people, but for "the whole body."