If You Want to See REVIVAL Church Services Early Church and Now The early church walked in POWER under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, signs and wonders simply followed early believers as naturally as night follows day. The early church leaders did not go to Bible college nor the seminary and they did not have a list of letters after their name. However, they had a real, deep and intimate relationship with the Holy Ghost that brought life in a way that is seldom seen among believers and leaders in the present day church. You might think things would improve after 2,000 years and that the present church would exceed the early church in glory. We all know that sadly, that is not the case. By examining the early church we may be able to see where we have lost touch with the true power and anointing that the early church walked in. Indeed, they did walk in such power that the effect of their witness is still felt to this day. Let us consider scripture, which may shed some light, of how the early church conducted itself:   How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.     1 Cor. 14:26. It would seem from this single scripture that the early church was not so 'pastor oriented' as the church of today has become. The early believers individually took an active role in their assembly with everyone contributing something for the edification of the entire body. This is a far cry from the 'service' we have come to call church. Today we come to church where we expect our worship leaders to inspire us and lead us into the presence of the Lord in the more charismatic assemblies. In the older churches perhaps we expect the music director and choir to march us into the presence of the Lord. In either case, we as the body of believers assume a passive role in our contribution to the assembly. We then expect our pastor to reveal some great truth about God to us that he/she has learned this past week. After this we leave our pews and go on about our lives much the same as everyone else in this world. So then, what do you suppose the problem could be? Could it be that WE, that is YOU and ME are the real problem? It would seem that the body of believers is not really encouraged to participate in the assembly in an active fashion. They are expected to stand when told, clap when told and sit when told. But they are certainly not encouraged to do anything, which might disrupt our well-orchestrated meetings. Some leaders might be concerned about the chaos that could erupt if the general assembly were given permission to fully participate as the Holy Spirit leads. I would agree that all things are to be done orderly, but what if the Holy Spirit has a different order than we have? The fact is, most of our services are not orderly, but they are stifled and have all of the life sucked right out of them, in the name of keeping things orderly. Some churches would be truly horrified if someone in the assembly were to bring a tongue, which someone else interpreted. What would happen if someone simply broke out into song and brought a new psalm to the assembly? What would happen if some mere member of the congregation brought some new revelation or doctrine to the assembly? I would suspect that some assemblies might allow it and perhaps even embrace it. However, some pastors might feel a bit uncomfortable when they realize that God will, and wants to use mere members of the congregation and is not the least bit interested in everyone sitting in awe, as the pastor brings another one of their rousing sermons. Sermons, which for the most part are not revelation from God, but are the result of hours and hours of pouring over reference books and commentaries trying to fashion something that will sound good to the flock this week. It is indeed a sad state of affairs, but is no surprise when you understand the thrust of Paul's writings to the early church. Time and time again Paul addresses the problem of perverse teachings creeping into the church even during its infancy. It is little wonder that today the church is full of false teaching which has been passed from one generation of leaders to another. It has gone so far from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus and the gospel of Christ! Some ministers are no more than social workers with a Christian diploma on their wall. I feel sorry for some whose lives are in no better shape than the people they are supposed to be advising. They have the form of godliness, but they deny the power! Perhaps that is why things are in the present state in  church today. Some of this may sound harsh, but understand that I truly want to see the Church of Jesus Christ rise up and take it's proper place in the world, and I feel it simply will not happen if we are content to accept the status quo. We are to be a light in the dark, we are to be salt in the earth, and we are to witness the gospel of Jesus to a lost and hurting world. However, it is painfully obvious that we are falling far short of the mark. People are not exactly beating the doors down to get into church to get what we Christians have to offer. Our government does not seek Godly counsel to help them govern. In fact, I think it would be fair to say that the Christian community is distrusted by the general population and that simply should not be. Let's consider the early church and it's structure again to see if they had something we have lost along the way. As pointed out earlier they seemed to participate in the process far more than we do in this day and age. Perhaps that is one of the key points we fail to see. Consider the following scripture:  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also [is] Christ.  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether [we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we be] bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.     For the body is not one member, but many. 1Cor. 12: 12-14. We are all members of the body of Christ, that includes the lay people, the elders, the clergy and worship leaders. There is only one head and He is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not the elders and pastors and other leaders, it is Jesus and Jesus alone! All the rest including the leaders are only members of the body and should recognize the need for one another. Indeed, I feel it is all part of the process of 'discerning the Lord's body'. Until we have a revelation of this simple truth we are going to struggle with our worship program regardless of how different it is from the one down the street. The pastors need the contribution of the lay people as much as the lay people need the contribution of the pastor. We are all members of the body and are completely dependent upon one another, just as the baby toe and the eye are dependent and in need of each other, so are we in the body of Christ. So when did the Pastors and other leaders begin to assume the role of 'head' over the church anyway? Personally, I think the first example of this was when Moses was asked to go up the mountain to see what God had to say. Today we are asking Pastors to do the same thing. We seem more comfortable when the pastor can tell us God's opinion, rather than seeking His face for ourselves. Perhaps, that is just the way we flesh and blood creatures are, we would sooner trust the flesh we can see (pastors) than the Spirit we can not see. Consider the following scripture: But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.  1John 2:20 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. 1John 2:27 I am certain that some theologian somewhere can explain away the simple truth of these scriptures. But to this simple lay person it means exactly what it says. The anointing we have received will teach us all things and that we need that no man should teach us! It is plain and simple, and if you have a quarrel with it, then take it up with the author and not with me. Does that mean we have no need of teachers? Of course it doesn't, but it does mean the Holy Spirit will witness the truth in our spirits when we hear it from any source. It does also insure that we will not be led astray with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Eph. 4:14 The place we come into trouble is when we have believers not led by the Holy Spirit and we have Pastors not led by the Holy Spirit either. Then we have flesh teaching flesh and no good thing can come from that formula. Hence, we have the present state of affairs, where the church is neither salt nor light to the world. Lest we be tempted to take the present state of affairs too lightly, we should remember what the Lord said about salt, which had lost its savour, it was good for nothing except to be thrown out! Consider the following scripture: And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;   I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:    I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Rev. 3: 14-19. I believe that anyone who does have ears to hear can hear what the Spirit is saying to the church of today. We should all consider very seriously the present state of our church and pray the Lord will give us eyes to see with and ears to hear with, lest we become the church He would spue from His mouth. For the most part we are very lukewarm and that is not a state to be taken lightly.