It is important for a believer to know that grace is the foundation in which salvation is built and at the same time sustained. The moment a believer forget this principle and presume to the flesh is the moment they will even backslide .
Yes before you get saved, you must first know it is not your own doing but the mercies of your Savior that have picked you up from the wallowing and the decay of sin. After you have been picked up and washed pure with the blood of Jesus, never reach a place to think you achieved it by your own righteousness or deeds.
Also remember grace is what sustains salvation, in other words once a believer get Born Again, daily reliance of the Cross is mandatory, you must daily pick up your cross and follow Jesus, you must be willing to die and resurrect with Him daily in order to be able to overcome challenges and temptations. You must seek for his grace through prayer and infilling of the Holy Spirit daily, only by this, a believer can walk in Victory through Christ Jesus.
Building Wisely. The more the church grows , the more pillars of the church are needed. After foundation, pillars are created before the congregation comes into play. The congregation is like the roof of the building, they are like the final product.
What makes a house strong?
The kind of foundation it has. What is the depth, the width and the height of the foundation? Depending on the kind of ministry you intend to do for God, will depend on the kind of foundation you need to build for that house. If you intend to build a big ministry then you need to take more time in the foundation area. To make sure the church is rooted in Christ, godly doctrines of God and prayer.
The pillars follow after the foundation. These are the people whose existence makes the church stand. Without them, the church will fall and will not be able to balance. Their existence makes the church strong and prosperous. They are vision bearers and distributors who are vigilant in the church affairs. They have clear direction of the ministry and they are born in the ministry. They love the ministry and treat it as part of their life. They are well informed and trained and understand the teachings of the house and able to teach others the same. They are anchored in the Word and have the best interest for the church. They assist in ministerial ministry to the sheep and also act as counselors to the church.
Congregation. Faithful members of the church who stand with the church in prayer and are faithful to God in standing with the church of God.
Wisdom is paramount when the church is growing rapidly. It takes time to train pillars but it is easy to increase the number of congregation. If the number of the congregation overwhelms the number or the strength of the pillars , the church will fall. Have you ever imagined carrying something heavy and you need to walk with it many miles? It will reach a time you will need to drop it down when the weight becomes too much.
The weight of the congregation became too much for Moses until the need of the 70 elders of Israel were came to play. In other words, Moses was not able to balance ministry because the pillars were not functioning.
Ministry becomes dysfunctional when the presence of the congregation overwhelms the pillars. The church will become weak and that is when compromise enters the church. As you aim at building your congregation, never forget to build proportionate pillars that will hold that congregation together.
If the congregation grows and the pillars are strong but the foundation is weak, the whole house will fall down with everyone. We need wisdom in the building process. You may have a strong house with a weak foundation. This is dangerous. You may have a good foundation, strong pillars but weak roof. In this occasion, roof can easily be replaced. But it is not easy to replace the foundation. You can be able to replace the pillars but it will take tearing the whole house down to rectify foundation issues.
This is why it is hard for ministries that have grown to rectify foundation issues that have become a thorn in the house. They will rather keep up with the thorn than to rectify what they know very well is spewing poison and slowly but surely kills the life of the sheep and the house.
May you be careful how you build. May God give you wisdom in building.
Scripture references for study:
and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. – Galatians 2:9
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” – Luke 6:46-49
Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? – Numbers 11:11-12
12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ – Revelation 3:12-13
And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Christ). – Revelation 21:14
