Talk about inflation…
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Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.
(John 4:14) |
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And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev 22:1) |
For His Glory!
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What is the Church? Part Three Essential Characteristics of the Church The word "church" in Scripture = "Of or belonging to the Lord"
Yeshua (Jesus) is building His Church Matt 16:16 (NKJV unless indicated) Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus answered and said… 18… on this rock I will build My church…"This series of lessons is based on the definition of the Church taken from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia* (ISBE J. C. Lambert). (Some editing is done to condense article length.)church: I. PRE-CHRISTIAN HISTORY OF THE TERM (part I)
II. ITS ADOPTION BY JESUS (part I)
III. ITS USE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT (part II) 1. In the Gospels 2. In Acts 3. In the Pauline Epistles
Part Three IV. THE NOTES OF THE CHURCH 1. Faith 2. Fellowship 3. Unity 4. Consecration 5. Power
The Notes? Why is the author using this term about the church? To Note: notice or pay particular attention to (something): synonyms: bear in mind · be mindful of · consider · observethe author wants us to ‘note’ these particular characteristics about the church Yeshua said He is building. **** 1. Faith: (highlighting by MEM)
Although a systematic doctrine of the church is neither to be found nor to be looked for in the New Testament, certain characteristic notes or features of the Christian society are brought before us from which we can form some conception as to its nature. Faith is a fundamental note of His Church. Primarily the church is a society** not of thinkers or workers or even of worshippers, but of believers. Hence, we find that "believers" or "they that believed" is constantly used as a synonym for the members of the Christian society (e.g.). Acts 2:44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,Acts 4:32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul…1Tim 4:12 … but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.Until Jesus found a man full of faith He could not begin to build His church; and unless Peter had been the prototype of others whose faith was like his own, the walls of the church would never have risen into the air. Hence, too, the rite of baptism, which from the first was the condition of entrance into the apostolic church and the seal of membership in it, was recognized as preeminently the sacrament of faith and of confession. Acts 2:41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized…Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.Rom 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.1Cor 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free -- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.This church-founding and church-building faith, of which baptism was the seal, was much more than an act of intellectual assent. It was a personal laying hold of the personal Savior, the bond of a vital union between Christ and the believer which resulted in nothing less than a new creation Rom 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.2Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.2. Fellowship: If faith in Christ is the fundamental note of the Christian society, the next is fellowship among the members. This follows from the very nature of faith as just described; for if each believer is vitally joined to Christ, all believers must stand in a living relation to one another. In Paul's favorite figure, Christians are members one of another because they are members in particular of the body of Christ. Rom 12:5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.1Cor 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.That the Christian society was recognized from the first as a fellowship appears from the name "the brethren," which is so commonly applied to those who belong to it. In Acts the name is of very frequent occurrence, and it is employed by Paul in the epistles of every period of his career. Acts 9:30 When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.1Thess 4:10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more;Similar testimony lies in the fact that "the koinonia" (English Versions "fellowship") takes its place in the earliest meetings of the church side by side with the apostles' teaching and the breaking of bread and prayers. Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship…The koinonia at first carried with it a community of goods ( Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32), but afterward found expression in the fellowship of ministration and in such acts of Christian charity as are inspired by Christian faith.2Cor 8:4 imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.Heb 13:16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.In summation - fellowship among the members. For if each believer is vitally joined to Christ, all believers must stand in a living relation to one another.
3. Unity: Although local congregations sprang up wherever the gospel was preached, and each of these enjoyed an independent life of its own, the unity of the church was clearly recognized from the first. The intercourse between Jerusalem and Antioch, the conference held in the former city, the right hand of fellowship given by the elder apostles to Paul and Barnabas, the untiring efforts made by Paul himself to forge strong links of love and mutual service between Gentile and Jewish Christians --all these things serve to show how fully it was realized that though there were many churches, there was but one church. Acts 11:22 Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.Acts 15:2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.Acts 15:6 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.See also 2Corinthians 8 This truth comes to its complete expression in the epistles of Paul's imprisonment, with their vision of the church as a body of which Christ is the head, a body animated by one spirit, and having one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Eph 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.Col 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.Col 3:11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.And this unity, it is to be noticed, is conceived of as a visible unity. Jesus Himself evidently conceived it so when He prayed for His disciples that they all might be one, so that the world might believe. And the unity of which Paul writes and for which he strove is a unity that finds visible expression. Not, it is true, in any uniformity of outward polity, but through the manifestation of a common faith in acts of mutual love. John 17:22 "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:Eph 4:2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.Eph 4:13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;In summation: Although local congregations sprang up wherever the gospel was preached, and each of these enjoyed an independent life of its own, the unity of the church was clearly recognized from the first. Though there were many churches, there was but one church.
4. Consecration: Another dominant note of the New Testament church lay in the consecration of its members. "Saints" is one of the most frequently recurring designations for them that we find. … an objective meaning; the sainthood of the Christian society consisted in its separation from the world by God's electing grace; in this respect it has succeeded to the prerogatives of Israel under the old covenant. The members of the church, as Peter said, are "an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession". 1Pet 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;But side by side with this sense of an outward and priestly consecration, the flame "saints" carried within it the thought of an ethical holiness--a holiness consisting, not merely in a status determined by relation to Christ, but in an actual and practical saintliness, a consecration to God that finds expression in character and conduct. Not yet perfect: Writing to the Corinthian church in which he found so much to blame, Paul addresses its members by this title. But he does so for other than formal reasons--not only because consecration to God is their outward calling and status as believers; but also because he is assured that a work of real sanctification is going on, and must continue to go on, in their bodies and their spirits which are His. For those who are in Christ are a new creation, and those to whom has come the separating and consecrating call must cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.2Cor 6:17 Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you."2Cor 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.Paul looks upon the members of the church, just as he looks upon the church itself, with a prophetic eye; he sees them not as they are, but as they are to be. And in his view it is "by the washing of water with the word," in other words by the progressive sanctification of its members, that the church itself is to be sanctified and cleansed, until Christ can present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Eph 5:25 … just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.Remember: Another dominant note of the New Testament church lay in the consecration of its members. "Saints" is one of the most frequently recurring designations for them that we find.
5. Power: Yet another note of the church was spiritual power. When the name ekklesia was given by Jesus to the society He came to found, His promise to Peter included the bestowal of the gift of power. Matt 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."The apostle was to receive the "power of the keys," i.e. he was to exercise the privilege of opening the doors of the kingdom of heaven to the Jew and to the Gentile ( Acts 10:34-38).Acts 2:40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.Acts 15:7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: "Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.Acts 15:13 And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, "Men and brethren, listen to me:… 19 "Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God,He was further to have the power of binding and loosing, i.e. of forbidding and permitting; in other words he was to possess the functions of a legislator within the spiritual sphere of the church. The legislative powers then bestowed upon Peter personally as the reward of his believing confession were afterward conferred upon the disciples generally ( Matt 18:18-20), and at the conference in Jerusalem were exercised by the church as a whole (Acts 15). The power to open the gates of the kingdom of heaven was expanded into the great missionary commission, "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations" --a commission that was understood by the apostolic church to be addressed not to the eleven apostles only, but to all Christ's followers without distinction (Ac 8:4, etc.). To the Christian society there thus belonged the double power of legislating for its own members and of opening the kingdom of heaven to all believers. But these double functions of teaching and government were clearly recognized as delegated gifts. The church taught the nations because Christ had bid her go and do it. She laid down laws for her own members because He had conferred upon her authority to bind and to loose. But in every exercise of her authority she relied upon Him from whom she derived it. She believed that Christ was with her always, even unto the end of the world, and that the power with which she was endued was power from on high.Matt 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.Luke 24:49 "Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."In summary: Another note of the church is spiritual power. When the name ekklesia was given by Jesus to the society He came to found, His promise to Peter included the bestowal of the gift of power. To the Christian society there thus belonged the double power of legislating for its own members and of opening the kingdom of heaven to all believers. But these double functions of teaching and government were clearly recognized as delegated gifts. * Encyclopedia A reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. **Society noun
synonyms: association · club · group · band · circle · fellowship · body · guild ·synonyms: company · companionship · fellowship · friendship · comradeship ·***** Next MEM: V. ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH 1. The General and Prophetic Ministry 2. The Local and Practical Ministry |
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Proverbs The LORD - Trust Him Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth came knowledge and understanding.Proverbs 10:29 The way of the LORD is strength for the upright, but destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.Proverbs 14:26 In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge.Proverbs 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.Proverbs 19:17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what he has given.Proverbs 20:24 A man's steps are of the LORD; How then can a man understand his own way?Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the inner depths of his heart.Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the LORD leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil. |
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The LORD We can talk, sing, pray and serve Him Psalm 71:5 For You are my hope, O Lord GOD; You are my trust from my youth.Psalm 35:17 Lord, how long will You look on? Rescue me from their destructions, My precious life from the lions.Psalm 35:23 Stir up Yourself, and awake to my vindication, To my cause, my God and my Lord.Psalm 59:11 Do not slay them, lest my people forget; Scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord our shield.Psalm 68:32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth; Oh, sing praises to the Lord, SelahPsalm 69:6 Let not those who wait for You, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed because of me; Let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel. |
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Our Lord and obedience "You know that it is important to serve The Lord. His words are full of references to serving Him and serving others. ‘He who is greatest in the Kingdom of God is the servant of all, and the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and give his life.’ His word also says that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. So holiness is another essential aspect of a life that is pleasing to The Lord. Do you see a unifying basis between these two things? They are both expressions of obedience. The servant obeys his master and carries out his expressed wishes. Those who seek holiness keep His commandments. Obey Him in all things and you will be a holy servant, a vessel unto honor, equipped for every good work." (Adapted from a Dale Cresap blog) |
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"Relinquishment of burdens and fears begins where adoration and worship of God become the occupation of the soul." Frances J. Roberts "The strength and the happiness of man consist in finding out the way in which God is going and going in that way too." Henry Word Beecher |
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Talk about inflation…
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