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News & Updates:

Announcements -

We hosted an in-person gathering at the Barrett home on Sunday, September 24th. We also hosted a Zoom meeting for those outside the region or who could not attend in person. It was a sweet time of fellowship and being together. I continued the series entitled, "Transformation, Change, Transfiguration" with the message, "Repenting, Renewing & Maturing." This message was the third in the series, all of which are posted in the upper right corner of this page.

Also, we invite you to check back on the website as you can and look for new resources. It has been a really busy summer for Melinda and me, with travel and a variety of family responsibilities. I have a number of messages that I hope to finish in the next few weeks. I will send email notices as these messages are posted to the website.

Lastly, we are working right now to settle on some schedule changes for our fall gatherings. One of the events that we will host this fall is a special Holiday Gathering. I expect that we will announce the date of that event by the 1st of October. I will also send an email notifications that will include dates for the next several gatherings.

We love you dearly and pray for you often. Blessings to you all,

Michael and Melinda

New Message -

You will see on the center of this page a new message entitled, "A Lamb for a House." The mandate of the corporate man is clearly typified in the key passages of Scripture used in this message. Also, to be correctly alligned and rightly joined in the Body of Christ has always been crucial, and it is moreso today. We invite you to prayerfully read this message and listen to what the Holy Spirit intends to say to you through it. You will note that we have posted only a portion of the message on the homepage but have provided a link to the entire message for your convenience.

We also encourage you to periodically check this site for new messages. Part of the "re-engage" this year involves writing and speaking messages that are current and relevant. "Profitable" (upper right on this page) and "Patmos" are both messages that are well suited for this time. And there are others soon to come. So, check back as you can.

Resources -

A recent quote from Sunday, May 7, 2023 Zoom meeting. Sam Soleyn said, "the problem with submitting to your own soverignty is that you can never move beyond yourself." If you are not on the email notification list for Sam's Zoom meetings, please email us and we will add you to the list. Email us by clicking this link: infoat@citychurchla.com.

Blessings to you,

Michael


SEAMLESS FELLOWSHIP
on 4/2/17
by Michael Barrett

THE ISSUE OF SOURCE
on 3/5/17
by Norman Moreau and Michael Barrett
  (
click here for companion notes)

AMBASSADORIAL REPRESENTATION
on 2/5/17
by Michael Barrett
  (
click here for companion notes)

ROYAL BIRTHRIGHT OR A BOWL OF STEW
on 1/1/17
by Michael Barrett
  (
click here for companion notes)

BUILDING GOD'S WAY (Spanish)
on 12/4/16
by Javier Lopez

THE GOSPEL OF PEACE
on 11/6/16
by Michael Barrett
  (
click here for companion notes)

DESTINED TO FAIL (Pt. 1)
on 9/1/16
by Michael Barrett


THE CRITICAL KEY OF SPIRITUAL HEARING
on 7/31/16
by Michael Barrett
  (
click here for companion notes)

LOVE - IF AND IS
on 6/5/16
by Michael Barrett

A TIME & A SEASON

on 5/1/16
by Michael Barrett

CRITICISM, A CRITICAL SPIRIT, OFFENSE & GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY
on 4/3/16
by Michael Barrett

ENTERING AND EXITING
on 3/6/16
by Michael Barrett

THE WEAPON OF QUIETNESS
on 2/7/16
by Michael Barrett

IMMEDIATELY
on 1/3/16
by Michael Barrett

THE BOUNDARIES OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
on 5/3/15
by Dan Crawford

THE DUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST
on 4/5/15
by Michael Barrett

RESURRECTION AND THE TELEIOS MAN
on 10/5/14
by Michael Barrett

A CITY WITHOUT WALLS
on 8/10/14
by Michael Barrett

A CULTURE OF ONENESS
on 7/13/14
by Michael Barrett

EMPOWERED AND ENABLED
on 4/6/14
by Michael Barrett

WHAT'S IN A NAME
on 2/02/14
by Michael Barrett


2013 - 2014
on 1/05/14
by Michael Barrett

A YEAR IN REVIEW
on 12/08/13
by Michael Barrett

CHRIST FORMED
IN YOU

on 11/03/13
by Michael Barrett

WHAT IS GOD TEACHING YOU IN THIS SEASON and WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION
on 10/06/13
by Michael Barrett

Through The Lattice

     By Michael Barrett  

Song of Songs 2:9 "My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice."

Recently the Lord has been speaking to me through the above passage. The lover of the Song of Songs here is representative of the Lord Jesus. The maid, of course, is a picture of the Bride of Christ, the called out people of God. I want to focus on two particular aspects of the referenced verse. The two areas I wish to review are: 1) "he standeth behind our wall" and 2) "showing himself through the lattice."

"He standeth behind our wall." What an interesting phrase. Thinking again about this being an allegory wherein the lover represents the Lord Jesus, this verse says He (Jesus) is "standing behind our wall." A wall is obviously part of a structure-a house. Our lives, I believe, are this house. The walls of "our house", our life, are put in place in order to protect us from that which is potentially dangerous or harmful. The walls keep out all that isn't supposed to get in. However, the walls also keep out the good as well as the bad. The walls of our lives are built of such a wide variety of materials that we could not possibly think to list them all. Think about the material of the walls as the experiences of our entire life. Also, the material in the walls will include the experiences of our parents, teachers, mentors, leaders, etc.

In the natural, houses are built out of a wide variety of materials. The materials vary for many different reasons. For instance, in North America, brick, stucco, concrete, wood and metal are the most common building materials used to build a wall, or a house. In other parts of the world, however, the materials used could be clay, straw, ice, tree bark, and on and on we could continue to list the variety of materials. In many cases, the material used is what ever happens to be the most common to that particular area. We could say, also, that custom often dictates the materials used in the building. Just as we observe the variety of materials used in a natural building, the same is true often in the building of our lives. Geography, custom, ethnicity, and many other reasons often dictate the way our lives are put together. Many times the background of life that we bring into the Kingdom of God only serves to skew or distort how we are able to see the Lord.

The scripture goes on to say, "showing himself through the lattice." Through the lattice is equally as interesting a phrase as "he standeth behind our wall." These two phrases are basically saying the same thing. A lattice is a piece of material made up of many small strips or slats, which are criss-crossed to form the entire piece. Again, the analogy here is that Jesus is revealing himself to us through the lattice of our cumulative experiences. It has been said, "we don't see the world as it is, but we see the world as we are." This idea of the Lord being revealed to us through the lattice of our history, our experiences, is indeed thought provoking. The lattice of our life is comprised of experiences, good and bad. For the believer, it is also comprised of doctrine, theology and religious tradition, again, good or bad, accurate or inaccurate.

Suffering The Loss Of All Things

In Philippians 3:8, Paul states that He voluntarily suffered the loss of all things in order to win Christ. Now it is important to understand that coming up to this statement about suffering the loss of all things, that Paul gives a comprehensive review of his life in the flesh. Paul then goes on to say that his goal was to be "found in" Jesus, to know Him, to experience a daily power which comes through resurrection power and to ultimately experience the resurrection of the dead.

One of the keys to knowing the Lord in reality is to be willing to suffer to loss of anything and everything that stands in the way of truly knowing Him. Paul had so much tradition that had to go. He had so much theology that had to go. He had so much history that had to go. All of this, good and bad, had to go in order for Paul to continue into more and accurate revelation of the Lord. The initial encounter of Acts 9 on the Damascus road was just the hook that positioned Paul for God's grace and the wonderful revelation of Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. However, after the initial revelation, there was so much more revelation for Paul. In order for Paul to receive the more that the Lord had for him, it was necessary for him to suffer the loss of all things.

Paul had to give up the wall and the lattice that stood between him and more clear revelation of the Lord Jesus. Paul's history, his theology, his religious tradition had to go before he would be able to see the Lord in a clear way.

The Kingdom Of God Is At Hand

The same truth that opened more revelation of the Lord for Paul is true for us today. The wall and the lattice must go! I believe that the invitation of the Father in this is, "Let go of what you have, and I will give you what I want you to have." Let go of the history, let go of the tradition, let go of the theology. Let go of all that obscures and distorts a true and accurate revelation of the Lord and His Kingdom. Ask the Lord right now to teach you His ways! Let go of the wall and the lattice and watch as the Lord gives you more revelation than you have ever seen before. The Kingdom of God is as close as your hand. Jesus wants to reveal Himself to us in an unprecedented way. Aren't you tired of having old bread and stale wine? It's time for fresh bread and new wine from the Lord. Give up what you have had and the Father will fill you with fresh vision, purpose and joy. You will be filled with more revelation than you ever dreamed possible. May the Lord make His face shine upon you in Jesus' name.  

To go to a printer friendly view of this article click here.  To send this article to a friend, copy and paste this link: www.citychurchla.com/city/through_the_lattice into a new email here.  Address the email and send.

RECENT MESSAGE

REPENTING, RENEWING & MATURING
on 9/24/23
by Michael Barrett

THE REVEALING OF THE SONS OF GOD
on 8/27/23
by Michael Barrett

PREDESTINATION, TRANSFORMATION & TRANSFIGURATION
on 7/23/23
by Michael Barrett

SUFFERING AND REIGNING
on 6/25-23
by Michael Barrett

SENDING AND RECEIVING
on 5/28/23
by Michael Barrett

THE IMPERATIVE OF UNDERSTANDING
on 4/26/2023
by Michael Barrett

PROPHETIC STEPS FOR 2023
on 3/26/2023 - Zoom @ Varghese Household
by Michael Barrett

PHILEMON -PROFITABLE FOR YOU & FOR ME
on 2/4/2023
by Michael Barrett

PROPHETIC MINISTRY - SOAKING IN THE ANOINTING
by Michael Barrett

SEAMLESS FELLOWSHIP
on 7/21/2022
by Michael Barrett

THE EMOTIONS OF THE SOUL IN THE NEW SEASON
on 7/4/2022
by Michael Barrett

VOWS & OATHS - A REFUGE OF LIES
on 9/6/2020
by Michael Barrett
   (
click here for companion notes)

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE
on 6/14/20
by Michael Barrett
   (
click here for companion notes)

A CONSCIENCE VOID OF OFFENSE
on 3/1/20
by Michael Barrett

SAM SOLEYN MESSAGE
on 1/5/20
by Sam Soleyn

THE SPIRIT OF EVANGELISM
on 11/17/19
by Dan Fox

THE VOICE OF ONE
on 11/3/19
by Michael Barrett (with open sharing)

THE RELATIONSHIP OF SON TO FAITH
on 10/6/19
by Michael Barrett

ESTABLISHED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS
on 9/1/19
by Michael Barrett

FROM MOURNING TO DANCING
on 8/4/19
by Michael Barrett

WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG
on 7/7/19
by Michael Barrett


THE GENESIS FACE
on 6/2/19
by Michael Barrett

CREATION'S EXPECTATION AND GOD'S PROVISION
on 5/5/19
by Michael Barrett

SEAMLESS FELLOWSHIP
on 4/7/19
by Michael Barrett

JESUS - YOUR KINSMAN REDEEMER
on 3/3/19
by Michael Barrett
   (
click here for companion notes)

INHERITANCE - DOCTRINE & EXPERIENCE
on 2/3/19
by Michael Barrett

AN ANSWER FOR YOUR MIND
on 1/6/19
by Michael Barrett

A SON, A HOUSE, A NATION
on 12/2/18
by Michael Barrett

A SEASON OF AWAKENING
on 11/4/18
by Michael Barrett

BROKENNESS, HUMILITY AND PRIDE
on 10/7/18
by Michael Barrett

PEACE THAT PASSES UNDERSTANDING
on 9/2/18
by Michael Barrett

DAN FOX: A MESSAGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT
MICHAEL BARRETT: PROPHETIC WORD
on 8/5/18

THE EYES, WHICH EYES AND SEEING AS GOD SEES
on 7/1/18
by Michael Barrett
   (
click here for companion notes)

THE OIL OF GLADNESS
on 6/3/18
by Michael Barrett

THE HOUSE AND THE PRIESTHOOD
on 2/4/18
by Michael Barrett

EYES ALL AROUND
on 1/7/18
by Michael Barrett
   (click here for companion notes)

THE KINGDOM OF GOD - A KINGDOM OF ORDER
on 12/3/17
by Michael Barrett

APPROACHING THE GOD OF GLORY
on 11/5/17
by Dan Fox

CROSS OVER AND OCCUPY
on 8/6/17
by Michael Barrett

ANNOUNCING A CHANGE OF SEASON
on 7/2/17
by Michael Barrett

PERSPECTIVE - GAINING GOD'S VIEW (includes discussion)
on 6/4/17
by Michael Barrett


ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER
on 5/7/17
by Michael Barrett
  (
click here for companion notes)

*other messages may be found on the "Media Resources" tab at the center top of this page

    City Church
    132 Scopena Circle
    Bossier City, LA 71112

    email: City Church