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Beyond the Walls from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Transcript: 

I was in this room praying and singing some worship songs this week, and it got really good, so I just stopped and sat here in the quiet for a few minutes in tears. I could feel waves of His presence washing over me, like surges of power. Then I heard these words that I plan to make into a song:

“Beyond the walls. Your thinking is too small, and there is so much more to do.”

As I sat there, thoughts of the ministry of Jesus came to me and how He ministered everywhere that He found Himself, and then of how much of the church has turned Christianity into a institutionalized religion that requires various rituals and traditions. Knowing God is something marketed and sold, and His distribution is limited to a selective audience. We keep all this enclosed inside of small boxes here on earth that we call church buildings. 

It is thought that God shows up when they open the doors to the building, and that you are supposed to be there, no matter when they decide to schedule it. I have heard it said from the pulpit that you can tell who loves God by seeing who attends the midweek service. When the service is over, God is gone and no one thinks about Him anymore until the next meeting. 

Now I was saved when I was a little boy, but my first real “On fire for Jesus” experience came around 1987. So I have had about thirty years of church life now, and have been a faithful servant of several, but I want to talk about something beyond that. 

I fully understand the weekly meetings in the small box idea that has become such a tradition. It is a spectator sport, much like a football game. I can talk about the years when I was the janitor, when I prepared communion trays, worked at the coffee counter, played in the worship team, served as a technical director, and preached from the pulpit. I get it, inside and out, top to bottom. 

What I am saying is that I believe that Jesus wants more from us than that, or certainly from me. He gave me this message, and it was intended for me, but I am sharing it with you. Jesus was a walking church meeting and wherever He happened to be, the church met. It was not just on the Sabbath day, it was anytime, anywhere. Jesus was in God’s presence and ready to teach on Monday just as much as Sunday. Yes, I know the Jewish Sabbath is on Saturday - and He taught on that day as well. 

Lets look at some of the places that Jesus taught from:

In the New King James, the word Taught occurs 26 times in the gospels and gives us insight into some of the places that Jesus ministered. Jesus was a mobile church meeting.

Jesus taught on mountains: In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus went up a mountain, sat down and taught what we know as the “Sermon on the mount.” This was completely an outdoor event, and is the longest teaching by Jesus recorded in the Bible, spanning 3 chapters, Matthew 5,6, & 7.

Jesus taught on the plains: In Luke chapter 6:17 Jesus stood on a level place, and preached what we know as the “Sermon on the plain.” Another spontaneous outdoor event during the middle of the week, with an audience of thousands. Many were set free from demons and healed of various diseases. It says that “Power went out from Him and healed them all.”

Jesus taught in synagogues: In Matthew chapter 13:54 Jesus visited His hometown and taught in their synagogue. They did not accept Him there and said that He was “the carpenter.”  Luke 4:28 tells us that all those in the synagogue of His hometown, became so angry that they dragged Jesus out of the temple and attempted to throw Him off a cliff. Mark 6:6 then tells us that He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. Jesus traveled.

Jesus taught from boats: In Luke 5:3, Jesus taught from a fishing boat while the people were on the shore. Luke 5:3 (NKJV) — Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. In Mark 2:13 Jesus taught by the sea and multitudes came to hear Him. 

Jesus taught in houses: In Luke chapter 19 Jesus taught in the house of Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector. In Luke 10:38 Jesus taught in the house of Mary and Martha. Mary sat at His feet, while Martha was too busy. In Mark 3:31 Jesus was teaching in a house when His mother and brothers came to “collect” Him. 

Jesus sent out others to preach the same way: In Mark 6:12 Jesus sent out the twelve apostles to teach as well — Verse 12 reads “So they went out and preached that people should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.” They returned later in verse 30. 

Mark 6:30–31 (NKJV) — Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.

So after Jesus had sent them out to minister for a while, they returned and He immediately told them to come aside and rest. There was a time to minister, and there was a time to rest. It is very important that we remember that and not give into the “work 24/7 for Jesus” deception. Jesus told His disciples to come aside and rest, because, there were so many coming and going that they did not have time to eat.  

In Mark 12:35 Jesus taught in the temple. 
In Luke 13:26 He taught in their streets.

Summary: I say this prophetically: What we know as “Church” is about to change. I don’t think that our giant institutions are what God intended. I don’t think that putting God inside a box and basically selling tickets to see Him is what He had in mind when He said: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” 

I am not against church buildings or those in ministry, I just feel in my spirit that God is beginning to do something new and it is beyond the walls of what we know, and certainly beyond the walls of any structure. It is what He intended to reach the world, the ones that will not come to our churches. 

Jesus ate with the tax collectors and sinners. When the pharisees questioned Him, He answered in:  Matthew 9:12 (NKJV) — He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

We have giant church buildings full of saved people so where will Jesus mostly be? Looking for those who are sick… looking for that one lost sheep. I have shared this with you before, but for a season, the Lord used me to minister to people while I was playing music in bars in order to pay my way through bible college. I led some people to the Lord there. At first, it shocked me when His presence started showing up there. I mean it was tangible, and you could feel it. Scriptures would come to me, and when I spoke them out loud, people began shaking. 

We are going to find God beyond the walls of the church building increasingly in the days to come, a returning to the roots of Christianity. Times are changing. I can now write a devotional and someone on the other side of the world can read it instantly. Don’t you think that God will make use of that to reach the lost? 

Refreshing Hope is here for such a time as this. The Lord never let me go down the normal path, I have never been a “preacher” in a local church. Instead He is using me outside of the church walls to do something new. I am saying wake up church, the Internet is no longer just for porn. This is a serious tool and God is in it.

I am excited to see what God has in store for us in the future, and it is so encouraging to see the life changing power and the freedom that Jesus brings to people all over the world, through Refreshing Hope Ministries and the power of the Internet already. 

I leave you with this, Paul told Timothy:

2 Timothy 4:1–5 (NKJV) — Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

I pray that the Lord allows us to do just that, to fulfill our ministry.