Breaking the Dam

Posted: May 05, 2017

Greig in Vic, Spain with a local youth group

John the Baptist came preaching: ⁹ "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."  Luke 3:9 (NKJV)

Jesus said; ¹⁵ "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  ¹⁸ "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  ¹⁹ "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ "Therefore by their fruits you will know them.  ²¹ "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² "Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ "And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’  Mathew 7:15-23 (NKJV)

About 5 years ago I was working with the church in Argentina with the mandate to help eliminate useless traditions and structures that had been put into the church over the centuries, thereby helping the church to work in harmony as one body.  I was asking the Lord to help me get this message across to the people to whom I was ministering.  While ministering in the town of Belen (Bethlehem), Catamarca, Argentina, the Lord put a vision in my mind.  It was a beaver dam that was in the creek behind my parent’s house.  I knew that God was trying to show me something, so I took some time just to meditate on that image.  Step by step I realized what He was giving to me with this vision of the beaver dam.  From that revelation, came this message.

My parents have several acres of farmland near Eugene in the state of Oregon.  They grow many different types of fruit.  They are famous for their peaches, but they also have many varieties of apples, pears, cherries and plums.  There is the big Willamette River that separates their property from others, but there are 2 little creeks that cross their farm land also.

A family of beavers arrived one day.  They started to make a dam on the creek next to my parents’ house.  It is a place to hide and to put food during the winter.  They make the dams too preserve themselves.

Before the beavers arrived, the water was flowing.  It was clean and clear and there was good fish to eat.  Also, the bottom was solid and covered with soft rock.  The creek was a fun place to play in because it was clean and refreshing.  I spent many hours, especially in the summertime, playing in and around that creek.

But when the dam began to stop the water, the water behind the dam began to get dirty.  There was less oxygen and food in the water so the good fish died and the big fat fish, that were really not good for eating, thrived.  The trash fish ate from the bottom of the river and ate the eggs of the good fish.  The dam caused the bottom to be filled with mud and excrement from the beavers.  Also, the water began to smell bad, so it was less favorable to swim in.

The beaver invasion took most of the fun parts out of the creek for me.  But the biggest problem for my parents was that the beavers used their fruit trees to make their dam.  They didn’t want to use the dead trees, because they were hard to break and cut with their teeth.  The old trees, that normally didn’t produce the new varieties or the same quantities of fruit, were also less desirable to use to make their dam.  Therefore, they destroyed the new fruit trees that my parents had planted.  They were the trees that would soon be bearing much fruit.  They were the new trees in their youth that were much softer and easy to cut.

For my parents, the beavers always were interesting to watch.  They were always working, making big stick structures.  But they made their big structures at the cost of much fruit.

He also spoke this parable: ⁶ "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.  ⁷ "Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’  ⁸ "But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹ ’And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ "   Luke 13:6-9 (NKJV)

My parents had patience with those beavers.  They had worked a lot to make their big structure.  They were only making those dams to preserve themselves and to help raise their children made in their image.  They made their nests inside the dam.  Their position in that big structure was very important.  It wasn’t important to them that there would be no trees to bear fruit in the future.  They were simply interested in preserving themselves.

My parents hated to do destroy the dam, because those cute little furry animals worked so hard to build it, but they were causing a lot of damage.  So one day, they brought a bull dozer in and dismantled it.  Eventually, it was necessary to destroy the beavers also because they kept returning to do the same again.

¹⁸ Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. ¹⁹ And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again." Immediately the fig tree withered away.  Matt 21:18-19 (NKJV)

Since the time of the tower of Babel, the Bible has shown that man always is trying to make his own structures, physical structures and organizational structures.  It has occurred in the world and in the church.

Many churches don’t grow and become sick because their organizational structure is rigid, stagnant and conservative.  Unfortunately, many of the people leaders still have not noticed that the biggest impediment for many of the things that the Lord wants to do, is their organizational structure.  It is what we call institutionalism or denominational theologically, that instead of serving us, we end up serving.  We have the Baptist ecclesiology, o the Methodist ecclesiology, or the Pentecostal ecclesiology or the Catholic ecclesiology, etc., etc.

We know that the New Testament has not given a frozen ecclesiology.  That it should be able to change and adapt to distinctive situations, places and cultures.  A dynamic church is subject to change in her structure.  Instead of resisting change we should be seeking it.  Every rigid structure we serve is idolatry.

Bureaucracy is one of the sicknesses that attack many churches and ministries.  We should be free of all bureaucracy, even in minor details.  Why?  What has happed is that we have inherited concepts and ideas from past centuries and we continue maintaining them.  Why do we maintain structures for churches with only a few members?  All of the dynamic churches, with happy members, full of the power of God have experienced the death of bureaucracy.  They are churches with changing structure and dynamics and are working to increase productivity and speed.

The Lord wants to return to the basics and do a new thing.  But first, the Lords need to clean His church.

What do we need to do?

The Lord needs to remove all the structures that impede the Holy Spirit from using us.  There are too many vertical structures, those top down chain of command hierarchies that greatly impede change.

Likewise, there are not sufficient horizontal structures, those interconnections between different parts of the body of Christ with many different gifts that help weave together the worldwide network of light.

The Lord is a God of mercy and patience.  He has waited much time while man has made his institutions of man in the name of God.  But, the time is shorter and shorter.  The Lord is refining the church faster and faster preparing a bride without spot or wrinkle.  The Lord is cutting vines and trees that are not producing and making more space for those that produce good fruit.

Jesus said, ¹³ "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.    Matt 23:13 (NKJV)

Jesus said, ⁵² "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered."  Luke 11:52 (NKJV)

It is very easy to be a Pharisee.  The church is full of Pharisees.  Phariseeism always wants to hold to the old structures.  Jesus came from outside that structure and was attacked.  The same is happening today with Jesus followers who are working outside the existing structures.  But, we are taking the key of heaven from the hands of those that want to enter the Kingdom of God if we keep using those old wine skins.  Change is a requirement to life in Christ.  The cloud always changes position.  We need to stay under the shadow of the almighty to give good fruit. It is very important to toss out every human theology that impedes the manifestation of the truth of God.

²⁰ Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation;  ²¹ "nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."  Luke 17:20-21 (NKJV)

The kingdom of God is not in an organization, denomination, or building.  It is inside of us.  We need to escape the box and the 4 walls of the church building.  We need to bring back fellowship in houses, companies, on the street,…to do whatever, wherever the Lord leads .  We don’t need to wait on the orders of the pastor to give an order of the Lord.  We need to take responsibility for those new ideas and ways of doing things that the Lord is planting in each of us following the King of Glory.

Jesus Said; ¹ "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
² "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  ⁵ "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  ⁶ "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  John 15:1-8 (NKJV)

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

The time is shorter and shorter and the Lord is cutting out more and more, more and more quickly.  He is cutting out more and more ministries that are not producing fruit.  And He is lifting up others almost overnight that are willing to work outside the box that man has created, follow the Holy Spirit into whatever new thing He wants to do, and thereby produce good fruit.

As individuals, groups and organizations, we need to cut everything installed from the past that no longer serves the Lord’s purposes.  If it does not serve His purposes, it impedes them.

Let’s tear out the Dam and let the water of God flow freely.