I
woke up with two Words on my heart & mind this morning: Restoration &
Convergence.
Restoration is defined as - the action
of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition, or the act or
process of returning something to its original condition by repairing it, cleaning
it, etc. the act of bringing back something that existed before, or the act of
returning something that was stolen or taken.
Convergence is defined as - when two or
more things come together to form a new whole, or two or more things coming
together, joining together, or evolving into one, or to come together and unite
in a common interest or focus. An example would be many streams converging into
one river. Related words would be: combination, connection, or culmination.
I began to think of these
two words in relation to where the church has been, where we are now, and what
lies just ahead:
Many in the church have been
crying and believing for the church to live in the power demonstrated in the
book of Acts. Many have prophesied that it was coming; even in our time right
now on the earth. I also fully expect this to be fulfilled in our day, but not
because we have prayed some magic prayers or made some magic confessions, but
rather because: The church has been
going through a period of Restoration.
What we fail to realize is
that God has been quite busy over the last 70 years or so bringing the church
through Restoration whether we have realized it or not. Sometimes looking back
over recent history gives us some perspective. If we can see where we have been
and what God has taken us through we can see where we are going.
“And no one puts new
wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is
spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new
wineskins.” Mark 2:22 NKJV
For us to walk in what the
book of Acts walked in, we must look like the book of Acts in our structure.
God will not waste the New Wine if the current Wineskin can’t hold it! So, God
has been taking us through a Period of
Restoration through different moves and emphases starting with the Voice of
Healing Revival in the late 40’s – early 50’s.
With each restoration move
of God a different Ministry Manifestation or Expression has also been Restored
to the Church. The one constant throughout church history has been the function
of the Pastor, but the rest of the Ascension Gifts in Ephesians 4:11 were not
seen or known to be among the church.
·
In the late 40’s
– the mid 50’s God restored the Office of Evangelist with the Voice of Healing
Revival. AA Allen, Oral Roberts, William Branham, Jack Coe etc.
·
In the 70’s God
restored the Office of the Teacher with the Word of Faith movement. Kenneth E.
Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Charles Capps, Fred Price etc.
·
In the Late 80’s
– mid 90’s God restored the Office of the Prophet. Bill Hamon, Chuck Pierce,
James Goll, Cindy Jacobs etc.
·
In the mid 90’s –
the 200’s God restored the Office of the Apostle. C. Peter Wagner, Che Ahn, John
Kelly, Jonas Clark, etc.
Many times, throughout
church history, we have been like the disciples on the Mount of
Transfiguration, declaring that it is good for us to be here and desiring to
build a tabernacle and camp there. The thing about God is that He does not
camp, He moves. From the very beginning in Genesis we see the Holy Spirit
moving over the face of the deep. In the Old Testament when the Pillar of Cloud
Moved…they had to move; when the Pillar of Fire Moved…they had to move.
Well God moved from the
Voice of Healing, through the Charismatic Renewal, into the Word of Faith
Movement. Then into the Prophetic and finally the Apostolic. The problem is
many have stopped at different moves along the way and camped while God moved
on. He was busy working the Restoration
of all Things!
“Therefore, repent and return, so that your sins may
be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of
the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all
things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient
time.” Acts 3: 19-21 NASB
This brings us to where we
are right now. God has restored the wineskin so that we can hold what the Book
of Acts held. All the Ascension Gifts are not only in operation, but now in
many circles, are fully accepted. It is time for the Convergence! It is time for all these moves of restoration to come
together in one Major, Mighty Move of God!
For those of us who did
not camp, but kept on moving through the various moves of Restoration we have
come to a time that James Goll called: “The Convergence Of The Ages”. We have
reached the time in History where all the Ministry Gifts have been Restored. We
have reached the time in History where all the Moves of God have wrought their
Manifestations and done their Work.
In likening Convergence to a Culmination, we must realize that everything God does has as
intended purpose, nothing is haphazard or by chance. He has been working all
along through these last 70 years or so to bring us to this point in time,
where we could have a wineskin like the book of Acts and therefore hold the
Demonstrations of the Book of Acts. The Restoration is complete and it is time
for all the Restoration Moves to be in Manifestation at once and all the Ministries
to Operate and Flow as One…Convergence has
come!
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