Christ the Substance

40 years on it is starting to dawn that what we preach
is not buildings
is not programmes
is not ministries
is not things.
Now i know 40 years ago there were a lot of new "things" and the Holy Spirit was definitely in them....
Arthur Blessitt and coffee shops
the Jesus festivals and Trafalgar Square
the renewed gifts of the Spirit and movements such as Fountain Trust, followed by the house church movement and then new churches....
the amazing 70s Bible Weeks followed by years of summer camps and conferences...........
New Build buildings even in conjunction with town councils, such as Kings Church High Wycombe
Business Warehouse type churches such as Derby Pride Park and Quarry Lane Chichester.
Apostles and Prophets. Peter Stott and Graham Cooke type UK Conferences.
Praise and worship. Worship bands. Evangelistic bands such as Delirious.
Prayer 24/7 and the start of more mystic understandings in a Britain raised on Rothschild. Celtic understandings of Christianity.
Drug rehab. Christian 12 step programmes. Prisoner rehabilitation. Help with the Disabled. Overseas programmes with underprivileged peoples.
Only when you begin to list it all do you realise the enormity of what the Holy Spirit has been doing.
But there has been ONE FURTHER STEP the Holy Spirit wants to go and it is beyond all these surface layers....
UNTIL WHAT WE PREACH is
SECURE,ROCKLIKE,FUNDAMENTAL,UNSHAKEABLE WORD AND SUBSTANCE....
Christ Himself.
Jesus Christ the Cornerstone. The ROCK. THE SUBSTANCE. THE PERSON.
Knowing Him who is from the beginning. The Meat of the Word.
Unashamedly divorced from ALL other THINGS which whether we use or discard....it is of no importance...we count all things as loss save for knowing the Resurrection Life of Jesus Christ. Him we now impart. We don't even ask which stream are we all from. A few years ago this was the first sentence upon greeting one another. Why? because we didn't know HIM. If you know Him you don't ask...you know immediately if someone is in Jesus Christ. He is after all the SOLE LIFE of the Father in the earth. All things are in Him. Jesus has been raised as Lord of all. Everybody who does not know Him have subsections of Him. Buddhists have some of the internal secrets. Muslims have some of the social secrets of living in the Divine. Anglicans have some of the awe and fear of the Lord. Atheists have some of the Inquiry and pragmaticism of our Divine yet earthly condition. Everything is in Jesus but we have to press into Jesus to be fully mature. He is raising up a mature man and for that we need Christ substance. We need the preaching of Christ as our sole Life.