Restoring The Ancient Landmark.

The ancient landmark is the pattern and ways the prophets and apostles lived by and followed by the apostles and prophets of old. These patterns and ways were their drive and every thing they did was in line with them. They never preached an aspect of the gospel  and called it the gospel unlike what we preach today. Jesus was the pattern and standard and they never deviated from it.
Proverbs 22:28 says, " 28 Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set. (KJV).

Proverbs 23:10 says, "10 10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: (KJV).
There are standards, pattern, ways and landmarks our fathers have set and we must not deviate from them. Instead we must follow and live by them. The above scriptures clearly stated it and if we want to get the same results that our fathers got and be better off than them, then we should not remove the boundary stone or ancient landmarks. This is applicable to marriages, businesses, education, the church, individual and so on.

1 cor 3:11 says , " For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ (KJV)". This scripture says that Jesus Christ is our foundation and not  a man or a pastor.   We need to continue to build from where the apostles stopped with the same mindset, focus, pattern, passion and so on. None of the disciples preached themselves but Christ Jesus crucified and raised to life.
The disciples found a new faith different from that of the Jews. The faith is called the christian faith(beliefs) and it means that Jesus Christ is the lord God and the expression of the grace of God to mankind (Jude 1). This is the faith we are to contend for. However, many have removed the ancient landmark to follow their  selfish interests and desires.
The Apostles said  in Acts 6:3&4 that they would give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. This is one reason why they succeeded and if we are to succeed like them, then we need to give ourselves to prayer and the word. We give ourselves to portions of the word and faintly pray. No wonder we are hardly ecperience and not experiencing what the apostles experienced. Most of the prayers we make today are the "give me, bless me and kill my enemies kind of prayers". The Apostles never prayed for their enemies to die but we do today. What a deviation!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ezra 3:10-13 says, " 10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel. 11 And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12 But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:13 So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people:for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off. (KJV)".

The above scriptures reveal the state of the present church, people, cities, nations, etc. Although the scriptures revealed what happened years ago, it is applicable to us today. Many people are crying that the present church is far off from what Christ started and his disciples built on. Many elders are weeping that the present state of the church is a far cry from what they saw years ago while others are saying it is different from what they read about in the bible. There is so much noise in the church today. Some are weeping about the state of it, while others are shouting because of prosperity, growth, membership, etc. What the apostles received and passed on is different from what we are running with today. When did we change the standard and patterns?
Haggai 2:3 says, " Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? (KJV).

This is very instructive. The glory of God is not seen in the church today because  many see it as money making venture, big auditorium, many members, wealth and materialism.  Did the glory die with the people of old? No, it did not die. The bible says the later will be better than the former. But the problem is that we dont have enough teaching priests, lack of law (the word) and without the true God as stated in 2 chronicles 15:3. This is the state of the people of God today. We lack genuine teaching priests and this is the reason why we have a lot of errors, ignorance, sins, heresies in the church and world today. The word of God is scarce in the house of God in our time and the available word is polluted.
Worldliness, sin, selfish ambition has crept into the church and it has become a personal property, commercial centres and a den of thieves. However, God is tired of the state of the church and he wants to restore it. The reason being Jesus is coming soon. He is ready to purge and purify the church.

 Amos 9:11-13 says," 11 “In that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen, and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, (ESV)".
These are the days of restoration. God will restore us and the church by breaking down what he didn't build, repairing what has been destroyed,  rebuilding it like the way it used to be and also restoring it to its original state. He will do that by raising prophets, teaching priests that will be set over nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. (Jeremiah 1:10). He will use these people to give the undiluted word of God to our generation.

Also, he will use the people he is raising to send and drive out the money changers, to bring out sin, worldliness, thieves and business people from the church. He will also heal those servants of his who have been blindfolded by money, greed, self ambition,  worldliness, sin, etc.

Lastly, God will restore us by taking us to the quarry site because of the noise in the church today (read 1 kings 5:17, 6:7). The quarry site is the place he will break us so that we will fit into what He is building. God can't use any one he has not broken. The quarry is the place of brokenness, the cross, sanctification and so on. He will process us at the site with his own tools like the way chisels, hammers, equipment are used to process stones at the site. Wilson Ileogben.