Is our Full Gospel...well...Full Gospel?

The odd thing about any movement is that eventually it changes from the original. Lutherans look very little like Luther. Wesleyans don’t look like Wesley. And Full Gospel believers have been morphing over the years. The one and only thing that can save us is reform.

Those of us who are Full Gospel believers need reformation of the fullness of Scripture. What I mean by that is to reform all the proof texting we do. That is taking so much of Scripture out of context to make our points to move the masses in the direction we want them to go. We must speak the truth of the Bible in the direction God want us and those who follow us to go.

For example, we often hear people make the comment for a personal salvation call like this, “The Bible paints a picture of Jesus standing at the door of our hearts and knocking.” And before I go further, I want to say that this can be a very deep and true statement, but it is not the full gospel context of the picture. This verse is actually found in the book of Revelation:

Chapter 3, verses 14-22
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 ‘Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"

The idea is not presented in a setting of a personal salvation call. It is presented to a church that has become lukewarm. A church that has lost its fire and Jesus is standing outside of this place asking to come in. Get this, Jesus is asking to come into church; the cornerstone is asking to be invited into His own dwelling. These verse when put back into a full gospel approach carry a power rebuke and recommendation to dying churches today. In essence, it explains that if you take the rebuke of Jesus and hear him knocking on the door of your church, he can come back in and move just the way he did when the church was once red hot.

May verse 22 guide our lives…he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit is saying to his church. Let us come back to a full gospel approach and stop taking verses and stories out of context and letting God once again speak for himself. May our churches once again be red hot and refined by the fire of God! Amen.