WHICH CHURCH?
My wife Morag and little Jake.
My aim in compiling this website is not to declare anything new but to proclaim that scripture has been given by divine inspiration, the author being God, it came through men, not by their will but moved by the Holy Spirit. (2Tim 3v16; 2Peter 1v21) I hope you will be blessed as you prayerfully read this and that your faith and relationship with God will grow stronger each day.
When you come together, every one of you has a psalm, a doctrine and a tongue, a revelation and an interpretation. Let all things be done for the purpose for edifying.
1Corinthians 14v26
Part 1 My Vision Which Church?
Life is full of choices and we are confronted with a variety of methods to indulge our senses. As in life so in the Christian church, man, not God, has presented us with choice, a multiplicity of ideas and so called revelations are presented to the Christian and so decides on which church suits him best. Many years man has been running the church disregarding the true Head, Jesus the Christ. Each generation of the church has been infected and weakened by the spirit of the age and in this age we live are marked by wealth and numbers. There is very little small business in this country; they have all been bought up by larger corporations. Also there is a disappearing of the local town centre shops; they have been put out of business by the super stores. The church has been conforming to this world of commerce in that it too is building bigger churches to house thousands, drawing in more money than the average Christian earns in his lifetime. The business world teaches their disciples the art of making money; the Christian world is no different, it has its prosperity doctrine. Paul warns the church “After I depart men will preach a gospel which will bring you into bondage,” (Acts20v29) This Christianity causes unrest in the life of the believer; he is always wanting more in the material sense. Paul speaks of being content with what ample food and clothing we have and we should not set our hearts on riches for having more of this life’s luxurious increases temptations. Wealth instead of being a blessing becomes a snare. The danger is exposing self to all sorts of wickedness which are capable of ruining the Christian. (1Tim6v7-10) Satan has designs on the Church for its destruction. However Jesus declares “the gates of hell will not overcome it,” (Mtt16v18) he is deficient in power to destroy what God has ordained.
There is no shortage of inspiration from gifted talented leaders to bring people into the church, whist drives, bingo and entertainment that would appeal to the young. Even a social gospel is preached which is not entirely wrong in itself, but to feed and cloth the needy without enlightening them to their need of forgiveness of sins are just to alleviate present suffering and to ignore the prospect of separation and punishment from a Holy God. To make church more appealing and exciting man has seen the need to advertise miracles and healings just to bring the masses in. It is not to change our environment with things such as music bands, leisure activities, or even to change the furniture around. A deep desire to worship God is what the Christian needs and a love for each other will create the right atmosphere to attract needy sinners into the church. (John 13v35) This is God’s advertising campaign in order to bring sinners in to the church. “Love”
Sunday Morning
Tis Sunday Morning, the church bells are ringing
Announcing to one and all, the doors, now are open
Tis Sunday morning, the toll of the bells are beckoning
Worshippers in response tread the well-worn paths, praise is their longing
Tis Sunday morning, and all routes lead to the house of God
With thankful hearts hastening to the place of prayer they trod
Tis Sunday morning, a glorious morning, a morning to seek the word
Armed with a bible, the worshippers trustworthy sword
Tis Sunday morning, tis the day of the Lord
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The people now assembled in this unadorned but cheerful hall
Seated in their pews, without quarrel or division and are all
A people without doubt, united as one
The people now assembled, are a people no more, no more?
A people no more. Yes. A body, one body, the Spirit at its core
Each and every member of that body is Spirit filled today
The people now assembled; now ready to express thankful hearts in an anthem of praise
Worship has begun, and in each member afire is ablaze
Tis Sunday morning, all are with one accord, this day
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The opening hymn of praise is sung with great gusto
The prayer of thanksgiving is uttered and all around the amen’s echo
In that small but full hall voices are raised with unanimous zest
Hallelujahs ring out; the heavy-laden have now found rest
The unknown tongue is heard, there is a hush
A quiet by everyone, attentive to that spiritual rush
Unintelligible word, inspired by the Giver, He is gifting
The Spirit, promise of the Lord, now anointing
Tis Sunday morning, the Spirit is moving
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That miraculous utterance finished, another takes up the flow
But, there is a difference, this is understanding
This is the interpretation, which causes a glow
Inner warmth, a sensation of the nearness of their God
The king eternal, immortal, invisible and only wise God is blessing
The silence is shattered and praise explodes out of every heart
An exuberant, victorious people can be heard in every part
Not a corner of that hall is silent, all are rejoicing
Tis Sunday morning, the people are praising
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God’s idea of Church
Genesis 6v13-22 God gave Noah the blueprints for the Ark.
Exodus 25v8-9 God gave Moses the blueprint for the tabernacle and its furnishings
1Chronicals 28v9-19 God gave David the blueprint for the temple.
It is to be noted that in the time of Noah God saw that the wickedness of man was great and his fertile imagination was forever dreaming up a variety of ways to sin with more eagerness to please the flesh. When David desired to build the temple but was only allowed by God to see the plans which he had to pass on to his son Solomon. God said of Solomon. “The Lord searches all hearts and understands all imaginations.” God in His wisdom does not leave man to plan His divine purposes for He knows the imagination of man’s heart is evil. (Gen8v21) He did not leave the Church in the hands of man to do as he thinks best but revealed His plans by supernatural means to His chosen Apostles and then by a succession of ministry gifts invested in men called to minister to the body and bring it to perfection and to the likeness of Jesus the Christ.
The Church is by Divine Design
Ephesians 2v19-20 God gave the Apostles and Prophets the blueprint of the church
Peter in his 2nd letter to all who obtained the precious faith to salvation (v1) puts forth an argument to prove his calling to the Apostleship and his divine right to speak in the name of Jesus. Firstly he was an eyewitness to God the Father’s endorsement as His Son Jesus Christ. (v16; Mtt 17v1-8) Secondly, he speaks of a sure word of prophecy, the gift of prophecy confirming what they had learned from Jesus and of the Holy Scriptures. (v19) These Apostles and Prophets chosen of God were given divine understanding of the Old Testament scriptures by the light given by Jesus and were directed by the Holy Spirit to lay the foundations of the church of God. These twelve were remarkable men with remarkable ministries who were used by God to reveal Jesus Christ as Head to the Church which is His body.
Ephesians 4v10-12; These verses speak of the ministry gifts of Jesus which He gives (This is over and above the original twelve Apostles chosen to found the church.) is for the purpose of perfecting the church. The perfect church will act in accordance with the will of Jesus who is the head of the church. Moreover it will display the graces and love which Jesus Himself demonstrated while here in His thirty years of ministry.
The structure and leadership in the church. Church Government
This is one of the most controversial subjects in the church today. Various forms of government have evolved throughout the church age and many have linked the authority of office with power, and thus many have striven in their flesh to be leaders in the Church for the POWER. We then have those who would refuse set authority figures in favour for a more democratic form of government. These are extremes in the church but true church government is absolutely necessary and is to be found in scripture leaving us in no doubt as to God’s concept of government.
Apostolic government (Eh 4v8-12 These were to be the Lord’s immediate messengers to the universal church. (2Cor 11v28) These offices are permanent and have a continuous function in the body of Christ.
Eldership government (Titus 1v5; 1Tim 5v17; 1Tim 3) In the local assembly Elders should govern in the daily spiritual life of the believers, being examples of the flock, and should be responsible for the ministry and worship of their gatherings.
Deacons 1Tim 3v8-13 They are appointed locally for the material aspects of the Church.
The cycle of church growth
1/ God establish a church in a locality using an Apostle (sent One) a planter of churches these are men of special commission. Miracles and signs are not God’s approval upon the man, but on the work.
2/ God raises up gifted men within the local church for the ministry.
3/ God sends some of these men out into another local to continue the work.
4/ these men then establish churches and the cycle starts again.
One Body
1Corinthians 12-14 the equipping of spiritual gifts for the individual growth in the church
Signs of Life in the church Acts 2v38-47
No. 1 REPENTANCE
The Command
Mtt 3:2---Repent ye (John the Baptist) Mark 1:15---Repent ye (Jesus)
Acts 2:38---Repent (Peter) Acts 26:20---Repent and turn to God (Paul)
Rev 2:5---Repent (John to the church of today) -------- To have another mind
God now commands all men everywhere to repent
Acts17:30
Repent simply means” to have another mind.” Repentance starts with a rethink of who God is, which in turn will change our behaviour.
The Opportunity
God grants repentance to life--- Acts11:18
God’s Willingness
Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance---2Pet 3:9
God’s way to repentance
The goodness of God leads to repentance---Rom 2:4
Godly sorrow works towards repentance---2Cor 7:9-10
The Example
Luke 15v11 loss of the son’s fortune, his humiliation and hunger and sorrow worked towards his repentance with the end result; rejoicing.
Mark 5v19 the man who was at his lowest experienced the goodness of God.
Repentance is provoked and triggered by God it is a reasoning of our circumstances which leads to a change in our behaviour Repentance leads to a new birth experience, which only happen by the work of the Spirit. We can never make this happen; this experience is totally God’s work John 3
Faith then appears; faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The newborn child of God has a hunger for spiritual things and so feeds upon the word in the scriptures and searches out men who preach that word. Faith is fed and growth in spiritual matters is inevitable.
No. 2 Be Baptised
Baptism is our public testimony. It is the visible sign of what has happened in the spiritual. Romans 6 we have died to self and to sin and to this world and sin has no more control over us. By our Baptism, we show the world we belong to a new master.
Baptism is a picture of death and life. Paul speaks of being buried with Christ in His death and as Christ was raised up from the dead even so we walk in newness of life. This is not sprinkling as a baby for whoever heard of a sprinkling of dirt to bury a body.It is also a concious decision to demonstrate publicly the change from death to life.A baby cannot make that decision.
No.3 Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost
The gift of the Holy Ghost enables us in service Acts 1v8 and launches the Christian into
Spiritual Gifts. 1Cor 12
No. 4 Continued in the Apostles Doctrine (v42)
Paul’s example. “Be you followers of my teaching for I follow the teaching of Christ” (1cor11v1)
1Corinthians 11v1-16 Headship regarding the sexes should be recognised by the veiled
Head of the woman.
1Corinthians 11v20-34 Guidance in the participation of the Lord’s Supper
These are Paul’s teachings handed to him by Christ.
James 5v14—16 Healing for the sick. Confessing of Faults and failings and weaknesses. Praying for each other. This is a group of people who care for each other.
One Body
1Corinthians 12-14 the equipping of spiritual gifts for the individual growth in the church
Some doctrines of the Apostles seemed to be of no importance and are overlooked and ignored today. Water Baptism in some quarters is discounted. Holy Spirit Baptism with signs following is rejected. Remembrance table does not seem important and so once a year suffices and yet it is clearly taught in scripture of a regular, weekly, if not daily meeting together. (Acts 2v46) The clearest of all doctrines of the Apostles is Head covering but it is disregarded on the grounds that it is a culture belonging to the Jew. We have women in leadership roles and they are even assuming ministry positions, such as in the five fold ministries where men have been given authority. Jesus chooses twelve men as His disciples and Apostles. God choose a priesthood of men to minister in the temple which was a shadow of things to come."A bishop must be the husband of one wife. Likewise must the deacons." Church is no longer led on scriptural grounds but is now led from the platform. Worship does not come from the body but to the body in the form of bands and loud music. The Holy Spirit moves not within the body as directed by scripture. Everything is staged directed which has confined the moving of the Holy Spirit to that one area.
Please read on there is yet another two parts.
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