Sermons

Ekklesia

What is the Ekklesia?

The Church is the Ekklesia. The Ekklesia has the rule and authority of heaven on their side and the Ekklesia is not what is widely known as, church.

The word Ekklesia has been changed in all bible translations. The Lord did not say, I will build My ‘Church’. He said, I will build My Ekklesia, and at the time Jesus spoke it, people clearly knew the word and understood it. It was a secular word meaning, ‘assembly’ and the people that assembled as an Ekklesia had governmental backing. If it was in the Grecian world they would have had the Greek government behind them, if it was in the Roman world, they would have had the Roman government behind them. The Ekklesia assembled to make governmental decisions.

Jesus could have said, I will build My synagogue or temple. Those were religious terms. But the one term that was absolutely secular, was the one He used. The Greeks and Romans knew all about the Ekklesia, they all had their Ekklesias. Then Jesus came and said, I will build My Ekklesia. They knew exactly what He meant. It is the body of Christ that is to rule and enforce the government of heaven on earth. Another way to understand it is to say, proclaim the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom Has Come

The Lord taught me not too long ago, that the message we are to proclaim is the Kingdom. Then He showed me that this is why we are seeing so many lives changed. The Kingdom has come. When the Kingdom comes, lives are changed, marriages are changed, families are changed, the church is changed, the city is changed because the Kingdom of heaven has come. And, as always when the Kingdom came in the gospels, the other and demonic kingdom was driven out. So Jesus would always connect two things, 1) proclaim or preach the Kingdom, and 2) drive out demons and heal the sick. And, one time, He said, if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God then you know the Kingdom has come (see Matt. 12.28). We always see demons cast out, that is a sign that the Kingdom has come.

We were once holding meetings in a different country and as we came to the end of a particular meeting, while we joined hands to pray two ladies were being delivered. After the demons came out, they said, we sat out there in the car before the meeting began and we kept hearing these voices saying, don't go in there, all he talks about is demons. Who were those voices? Those were demons and after the demons came out, they could tell us all about it.

When I was writing Talitha Cumi, the Lord asked me, what is the meaning of church?

That conversation changed my life in a second. That one word, Ekklesia (assembly), is revolutionary. The whole doctrine that says when women walk into that building called church, they have to be quiet is destroyed because the word is never ever 'church', it’s always assembly. That one word destroys that doctrine.

“As goes the church, so goes society”

The church is the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim. 3:15). Let's look at how this works in today's world. Currently, misogyny fills the universe. The main reason is because it fills the church. The world is therefore full of it but the church is the main cause of it, the teachings, the lies, the hate, the way they treat women with almost no honour. This is a real war. Misogyny is real stuff. Millions of people are being destroyed and the church is being ruined but the truth will make us free.

To learn more about the real role of the Ekklesia as Jesus intended and how to step into it, read Talitha Cumi, "Little Girl, Arise!" by Greg Violi. 

Greg's sermons are available on his YouTube Channel: Greg Violi Ministries

 

The Fear of the Lord

The Tremendous Blessings of walking in the Fear of the Lord

Psalm 19:9 says that the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. This shows us that the fear of the Lord is not bad, not dirty, nothing negative and endures forever. All other fears are negative but not the fear of the Lord. 

Isaiah 11:1-3, Jesus (the Branch) was filled with the seven spirits of God through His whole life. The Spirit of the fear of the Lord is one of the Spirits of God. Jesus took delight in the fear of the Lord, so there is not one thing negative about the fear of the Lord and nor does it stop with the Old Testament. If we delighted in the fear of the Lord it would shape our whole life, it would bring the greatest blessings from heaven you could ever imagine and it would cause us to obey and honor the Lord. You'll never ever be silly and unclean if you live in the fear of the Lord.

Psalm 112 shows us that if you have the fear of the Lord, you will have delight, so they go together! The fear of the Lord causes us to delight greatly in the Lord's commandments so those who fear the Lord are not looking for a chance to cheat or break the law. 

A person living in the fear of the Lord does not think or worry about their needs, they know God will meet their needs (Psalm 34).

When you live in the fear of the Lord, and you receive a rebuke, you appreciate it and simply receive the rebuke with great conviction. 

In Ephesians 3:10, we see that the Lord intends for His manifold wisdom to be revealed through the Ekklesia. The beginning of that wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Psalm 111:10).  

We will suffer greatly without the fear of the Lord. We will not have the tremendous joy and wonderful gladness that Jesus had, as spoken of in Psalm 45 where He was anointed with the oil of joy above all His companions because He hated evil. If we live in the fear of the Lord, we would hate evil: a perverted mouth, unclean talk, pride and arrogance. How can the fear of the Lord be anything but desirable if Jesus delighted in the fear of the Lord. And, who is it that lives inside you? The One who takes great delight in the fear of the Lord.

People who heard Jesus speak, say they never heard anyone speak with such authority. If we speak like the world (criticism, hatred, gossip, negative), we've got to get our hearts right.
1 Peter 1:16, Because it is written, be holy as I am holy. Holiness is never an outward display, it's the way you think, the way you talk etc. Sinners always wanted to be around Jesus who looked totally ordinary, do any want to be around religious Christians? 

To listen to Greg's full sermon click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0zP6cXaOUs

 

A Father’s Heart

The blessing of true spiritual fathers and mothers

If God could just have a couple of hearts [after Him], He could change the world. We will be talking about God’s heart as a Father and we are looking at Paul as a spiritual father. 1 Thessalonians 2:11, As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children. There are spiritual fathers and spiritual mothers. How does a spiritual father exhort his children in the Lord? Verse 12, That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. That is how a father exhorts his children, that we walk in a certain way that reveals the worth of God, i.e. how worthy God is.

1 Thessalonians 2: 1-2, For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain: But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.

If you don’t have much contention then you’re probably not speaking the real gospel. When Germany found out there was another Jesus, they were shocked. Then they saw it in the bible, that there is another Jesus. Christianity is filled with another Jesus. This is Paul, the same spiritual father talking in 2 Cor. 11:2, For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Godly jealousy is really good, human jealousy is really evil. Human jealousy is when you want something that is not yours. Godly jealousy is when you want something that is completely yours. The Lord has two things that are completely His: His glory and His bride and He will not share them with another, ever. Paul had godly jealousy which is really good, and basically, he is saying, I want Christ to have a pure bride.

1 John 2:28, And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Many of God’s children will be ashamed when He comes, thus says the Lord. We have to go back to the real Bible. John is a great, spiritual father and he did not want his children to be ashamed. How can we keep from being ashamed? Abide in Him, as Jesus said, Abide in Me, and I will abide in you, for apart from Me, you can do nothing.

2 Cor. 11: But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Paul said many times, "I fear…”, if you check this out in the New Testament, you will be surprised how many times he said it. Most of it has to do with the people of God, like in this scripture Paul feared that the children of God would have their minds led astray from the simplicity of just loving Jesus. They started out loving Jesus but then they left their first love (as it says in many places in the Bible). They started doing all kinds of religious things but their heart went astray from the Lord. This is Paul's fear, that the serpent would deceive the body from the simplicity of just loving Jesus.

Verse 4: For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

So, it is possible for someone to come into your midst and preach another Jesus, do you see that, it happens all the time. What does the real Jesus preach? The doctrine of Christ. What is the doctrine of Christ, it is the pure Word of God, that which came from the mouth of God.

2 John 1:8-10, Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:

If we receive these that do not bring the doctrine of Christ we are rebellious. If we receive them and bless them, we will be cursed, see verse 11: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

When someone comes into the body of Christ, with another Jesus, with another spirit, with another gospel, Paul said, you might well receive him; that is not a good word, that is a word of rebuke.

Jesus said, My words are spirit and life, did His words include all of what He said to the Pharisees, including calling them white washed sepulchres? Yes, it included all of that. The other Jesus will give you nice words, make you feel good, just like Hollywood, so you can come back, and that is Satan. Let’s read the Bible, the pure Word of Christ, the doctrine of Christ. Verse 20: For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

What is Paul fearing?

He feared when he came to them, he would not find them such as he would like: that when he comes, he will not find them worthy of God, he will not find them blessed children revealing Christ. There are two things Paul feared, he would not be happy with the way they were living and they would not be happy about the way he spoke. The Bible says, they did like the way Paul spoke and they did not like the way he looked. I guess Paul was a rough character, he wasn’t one of those nice preachers. So, Paul was fearful he would not be happy with them and they would not be happy with him. That is the pure Word of God, the doctrine of Christ.

There is a way of living, among the children of God (a body of Christ walking in known wickedness without repentance): debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: When all that is in your heart, what should you do? Most would say, "Believe on Jesus!" That is not the doctrine of Christ. Verse 21, And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.

2 Cor. 13:1-3, This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare: Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.

I will not spare…not 'I will encourage you to believe'. Paul is saying, I will not spare self, I will destroy the self in you, I will not spare you! That is the doctrine of Christ. The real Jesus will not spare you when you are manifesting only self and refuse to repent. For one reason, its pride. It has taken me 45 years to understand how simple this is, basically it's all about pride and humility. Pride is the nature of Satan and humility is the nature of Christ, and we make the choice. Do we want Christ living in us or do we want Satan living in us?

Excerpt from a sermon on the heart of the Father by Greg Violi