Why Should My Church Hold
The “How To Build A New Testament Church” Seminar?
Ephesians 3:10 To the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the
manifold wisdom of God,
John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from
the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
·
All of humanity’s needs, temporal and eternal,
can only be fully met in the Person of Jesus Christ. No other earthly institution, program, religion, or monetary
endeavor can accomplish this. In
proportion that Jesus is revealed in His glory by the church is the exact proportion
that humanity’s needs are met and satisfied.
Ephesians 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
·
Believers make the invisible God visible
through spiritual gifts. God has given
to every Christian different spiritual gifts to manifest the Spirit. The Spirit reveals Jesus in His different
attributes according to the gifts of the believer and the operations of the
Spirit of God. The operations of the
Holy Spirit are the different ways in which God moves through the individual
believer in accordance to his or her giftings, personalities, and the
circumstances of their lives. The believer that has the gift of prophecy will
reveal Christ as The Prophet. The one
that has the gifts of healings will manifest the Lord as the Great
Physician. The believer that has the
gift of wisdom will manifest Christ as the Great Apostle of the church, and so
forth.
1 Corinthians
12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts,
but the same Spirit.
1
Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit
is given to every man to profit withal.
John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
·
The church is nothing else than a called out
and selected group of co-equal ministers whom God has chosen to come together
and reveal the Lord Jesus Christ in all of His attributes or fullness. What
makes the church to be the body of Christ is that through it, the invisible God
is made visible in all of His glory.
Eph
4:12 For the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13
Till
we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
·
This can only occur when every believer is
exercising his or her gifts and callings to their peak spiritual performance.
Ephesians
4:16 From whom the whole body fitly
joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love.
·
Wherever the Lord Jesus Christ is being
manifested, revival always takes place.
It should be the most normal thing in the world today for every local
assembly to be experiencing revival.
The church today operates in a dysfunctional mode.
John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
·
God’s unique plan for the local church is to
always bring forth the glory of His Son into the earth wherever a local
assembly is present. If our reasoning
for building churches is to increase the size of our denominations, we have
sadly missed the heart and plan of the Lord for the church. In every church
that we plant, our objective must be to reveal the fullness of the Person of
the Lord Jesus through the co equal ministries of its parishioners, bring the
glory of God locally into the world, and propagate a revival at every point
that the local assembly is present.
·
If in the United States every local assembly
was promoting the revelation of the Son of God, America would have been long
ago filled with the glory of God, and revival would have broken out in every
town across the nation.
·
The Son of God is only revealed through the
effective use of spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are the medium, which God
uses to transport His works as done within us, externally into the world.
·
The Father’s works within the believer are
translated to us as rhema words which when obeyed are manifested back as His
works in the world through spiritual gifts. The purpose of the spiritual gift
is always to manifest the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ by the revelation of
the Holy Spirit, which gives constant evidence of Him.
John
14:10 Believest thou not that I am in
the Father, and the Father in me? The rhema words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the
Father that dwelleth in me, he
doeth the works.
John
17:8 For I have given unto them the rhema words which thou gavest
me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me.
·
Can you see the deception that some of the
church has fallen into when its claims those spiritual gifts are not for
today? In reality we are saying, that
we choose to reject the Son of God, and will attempt to save the world through
our programs and committees instead of through the glory of God.
·
The rhema word of God is what separates and
cleanses the church from the world so that it can then fill the world with the
glory of God. The church at large still rejects the prophets who bring the very
word that sets the body of Christ free.
Alas, we have been cutting our necks for two thousand years!
Eph :25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and
gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the rhema
word,
The
foundation of the New Testament church is the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1
Cor 3:10 According to the grace of God
which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation,
and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth
thereupon.
11 ¶ For other foundation can no
man lay than that is laid, which
is Jesus Christ.
· We are to build upon His Person, reveal Him, and grow up into Him in all things through His revelation. Only when we have an example set before our eyes can we learn from it and grow up into it. When we build upon the Person of Christ, and reveal Him through our gifts, we can grow up into Him in all things. The church then becomes the man in His glory, Christ Jesus.
Eph 4:13
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, unto a perfect man,
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:,
14 That we henceforth be no more children,
tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
14
But
speaking the truth in love, may
grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
·
The apostolic and prophetic people are gifted
to effectively bring the fullness of the revelation of the Son of God. The apostle uniquely reveals Jesus Christ
more so through the written word, and the prophet more so through the spoken
word. Combined together, both of these
ministries bring the fullness of the Lord Jesus, which becomes the foundation
that every local church is required to build upon.
Eph
2:19 Now therefore ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the
household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
corner stone;
·
The assembly must build upon this wonderful
Person, growing up into Him and revealing Him even more. Revelation of the Son of God, growth into
Him, glory, revival. This is the
perpetual and unending cycle of the church.
·
The
church must be apostolic and prophetic in its emphasis because these ministries
are what reveal the Person of the Lord Jesus to the church.
Cor 12:28 And God
hath set some in the church, first apostles,
secondarily prophets,
thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues
·
It is not scriptural to make the pastoral and
administrative ministries the focal point of the church. The administrative portion of the church has
been gifted be the Lord to sheperd and lead by vision and example. However the emphasis of the administrative
calling is not to reveal the Son of God.
The administration of the church must be apostolic. The apostle is
uniquely anointed to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ who dwells within the logos
or written word. Pastors, that are
pastors today, must find out if they have an apostolic calling within their
pastorate, so as to assist in revealing the Person of Christ to their
congregation. Through that revelation
and the words of the gospel, the apostle understands church government in
relationship to the manifestation of the Person of Jesus and the written word. Thus,
our churches do not have an adequate revelation of the Lord Jesus in its midst
to follow and grow up into.
·
We
have made the foundation of our churches to be things instead by default,
through a deficit in the revelation of the Son of God. Miracles, financial prosperity and blessings
are some of the elements of the foundation that we are growing up into. All of these things produce a lop sided
growth of the church. Because the glory
of God is basically non-existent in our local bodies, the church strives to
promote its growth, not through the Person of the Lord Jesus, but by programs,
psychological schemes, and fleshly outreaches. Building upon the Person of
Christ reveals to us the truth about God and His Word. Building upon things forces us to adopt
doctrines of men, such as financial prosperity, religious activity, blessings,
miracles, complacency, and comfort.
·
The problem with the financial prosperity
message is that we must throw money at it to see it work for us. The Lord never spoke to us about this! The answer for financial prosperity is
uncompromising obedience to the voice of the Lord.
·
Because we are building our churches upon a
foundation on things, the body of Christ is desperately hurting and gravitates
in its desperation to finances, miracles, and blessings, instead of the cross
of Christ, where all hurts are healed and all desperation ceases.
·
The early church did not have a number of
churches, and varied denominations within a city. It had one main church and to my understanding, a number of house
churches or fellowships.
·
It is my belief, that the perfecting or the
raising up of the saints, take place in these house churches. Here, believers
are set free, discover their spiritual gifts, and are raised up to use
them. All of this is defined as the
work of the ministry, which is nothing else than the fullness of the revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ by the church.
·
The great crippling agent of the church is a
spirit of control so prevalent within most of our pulpits. It is essential for us to understand, that
if we are to raise up a body of people to minister, be ministered to, so as to
reveal the Person of Jesus Christ, we must repent of the spirit of control
·
Another great deception amongst believers is a
spirit of independence. The Lord has
called us to be dependent upon Him and upon each other so that together we
might reveal Him in His glory. With the
independence that we see between our churches and with each other, in the name
of promoting our own ministries, the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be revealed in
His fullness.
·
When believers assemble themselves together
out from these home fellowships it is to operate in their ministries and
giftings and reveal the Person of Christ corporately. Secondly, it is to receive apostolic teaching `and
instruction. The administrative
leadership of the church as I now reiterate, must be apostolic. Pastors are
found within the home churches, but the gathering of the whole body must come
under the apostolic anointing. Pastors
who have begun churches in the past must find out if they are apostles or not.
·
We are also deceived as to our worship. The purpose of Christian music is to bring
the body into the glory of the Lord.
Christian music is not the goal but the means to do so. If done properly, it should not take us long
to get into the glory of the Lord. Once
that we have gotten into God’s presence, our focus becomes the Lord Himself,
our ministry to Him, and His ministry back to us. The purpose of the worship music is to take us into God’s
glory. At this point the music no
longer matters. It is the Lord that
matters. The music is a servant vehicle
to take us to God and then totally dissipate in importance, as we become
absorbed with the Lord Himself.
·
To accomplish this, the music must be very
simple in its words or verses. Today’s worship music is so intricate and
complex in its words that our focus never becomes the Lord, but it remains
attached on the music itself.
·
Worship leaders must place their emphasis on
ministering to the Lord, and not on trying to put on a skilled musical
presentation. I am always surprised to
find out that the greatest displays of the Lord’s anointing comes through the
ministry of one person who reaches the Lord’s heart in worship and love, and
never through a skilled group of Christian musicians.
1 Corinthians 14:26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
Acts 13:1 ¶ Now there
were in the church that was at
Antioch certain
prophets and teachers;
as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and
Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2
As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said,
Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
·
In
every apostolic staff there must be apostolic and prophetic leaders, evangelists
and pastors, and other administrative leaders who will reveal the Son of God
within the leadership, and allow it to filter down to the rest of the local
body. The New Testament church never
had one man with an upper hand on control and decisions. This format constantly poisons and corrupts
churches throughout the world. The
fivefold ministry within the leadership reveals the Person of the Lord Jesus. It is Jesus Christ now revealed, who renders
the steps, which the church must take.
When one man assumes an inordinate amount of control the revelation of
the Lord is stifled and the glory of the Lord is snuffed.
Revelation 19:4 And the four and twenty elders and
the four beasts fell down and
worshipped God that sat
on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
Acts
15:2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas
had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul
and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders
about this question.
Acts
15:4 And when they were come to
Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared
all things that God had done with them.
Acts
15:6 And the apostles and elders came together for to
consider of this matter.
Acts
15:22 Then pleased it the apostles and elders,
with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with
Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among
the brethren
·
The glory of the Lord within the church is
also called the fellowship of the mystery.
Eph
3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least
of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ;
9 And to make all men
see what is the fellowship of
the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God,
who created all things by Jesus Christ
·
The
fellowship of the mystery is our participation with the Lord Jesus Christ who
dwells in a mystery form within us but is now revealed in His glory through the
effective use of spiritual gifts. His revelation summons us into fellowship or
participation with all that He is and all that He has.
·
As the Lord is manifested, He speaks to every
believer out of His glory and reveals to him or her, his or her giftings,
summoning them to participate with Him in His callings so that He may be
further revealed.
·
Worship is one of the most effective ways to
enter into the fellowship of the mystery.
The Lord speaks to us out of His glory.
From His glory, the Lord calls us into fellowship with Him. The Lord lives in a dimension that has no
time. We must not place a time frame on our worship and ministry to the Lord,
if we are to enter into His glory and fellowship with Him.
·
Our worship music today is not conducive in
allowing us to enter into the Lord’s glory.
Consequently our fellowship with him is crippled.
Ex
16:10 And it came to pass, as Aaron
spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward
the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
·
Our
churches should infinitely operate much more as a school, than a place where
pew sitters come to listen to one man give a sermon. Such a model is the work of the enemy. Over ninety percent of the body of Christ are pew sitters and are
failing to do their part in revealing the Son of God. On the same hand many church leaders savor this co dependency
between the parishioner and them. The
complacent pew sitter has handed the responsibility of the revelation of the
Lord Jesus to the leadership. The
bottom line is that the most powerful and influential institution in the world
has become one of the weakest due to a lack of revelation of the Son of God and
the control of man.
·
The church is the only universal receptacle
into which God is able to funnel all that He is and all that He has so that it
may manifest His Son. The Lord funnels to us His blessings in proportion to how
much He is revealed.
Eph
1:7 In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward ( INTO) us in all
wisdom and prudence;
·
Pastors, ministers, and lay leaders; Are you ready to leave
behind the current religious system which in many ways is vastly ineffective,
bears little fruit and is discouraging?
Are you ready to embrace the model of the New Testament church as taught
in scriptures? Are you ready to be
challenged, and bring the glory of God and revival throughout the earth? Please contact us so that we can set up one
week with you and your ministry.
God Bless You,