Overview of the God's Pattern for the Church

How can we know anything about anything

To try to explain truth to him who loves it not is but to give him more plentiful material for misinterpretation. George Macdonald

Do we have to make a choice between science and the Bible?

NO!

That is NOT where the problem is, but that is what everyone seems to want to talk about.

Take science as an example. How can we know anything about the created material world around us?

How can we know anything from what we can see using natural sciences?

We all see the same things in the material world, but we don't come to the same answers.

Why is that?

How can we know anything about the Bible and what it teaches? Every person believes different things about the Bible and how it should be read.

Why is that?

Same scientific facts. Different answers.

Same Bible. Different answers.

Why is that?

The true question is this: How do we come to our answers that we get from what we can see through science or what we can read in the Bible?

How do we think about what we see using science or what we read in the Bible?

How do we analyze what we have seen and read?

How do we interpret what we have seen and read?

We use logic, but logic always has a foundation. Jesus talked about building on the Rock. That Rock is Jesus Christ. He is the true foundation. There are also the false foundations of the ungodly.

An example might help.

Question: Why do believe in evolution?

Answer: Because my science teacher told me that evolution is scientific fact.

Question: Why do you believe your science teacher?

Answer: because he agrees with the textbook he assigned us to read.

Now, we have asked, "Why?" twice.

If we continued to ask, "Why?" we would come down to the foundation of this person's thoughts.

When we get down to the foundations, there are no more questions that can be answered. So where to the foundations come from?

There are three possibilities.

things that we make up, pulled from the air
demonic lies
divine revelation

Question: Why do believe in creation?

Answer: Because God revealed this to me. He spoke to me through the Bible and gave me His faith so that I could believe Him.

See how quickly we got to the foundation. This is a belief that has a foundation that is solid and that cannot be moved.

In reality, the things that we make up, that are pulled from the air, are actually from demons and all the lies of demons spring from the prince of demons, Satan. So these are one and the same.

Divine revelation comes from the Almighty, Creator, God, Jesus Christ. So there are only two choices, but how do we know there are only two choices? Because God has revealed this truth to us.

The question then is how do we tell the difference between the revelation that comes from God and the lies of Satan?

The answer is that everyone who sincerely wants to do the will of God will know.

Jesus said, "If you really want to obey God, you will know if what I teach comes from God or from me"

The rejection of the revelation that comes from God is not an intellectual problem. It is a moral problem.

Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it shall be opened. *

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Matthew 7:7-11 *

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can set the truth before someone, but you can't make anyone believe those things that they don't want to submit to. They have to want to obey God.

How frequently it is brought to our attention that nothing good can be done if the will is wrong! Reason alone fails to justify itself. Richard M. Weaver

Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32)

"If we are not prepared to buy the truth at the cost of our own humbling we shall not receive it"

Lies appear to have no price upon them. They seem cheap and they abound everywhere. But for the truth there is always an obvious price to pay.

[God] has set a day when He will judge all the world's people with fairness. And He has chosen the man Jesus to do the judging for Him. God has given proof of this to all of us by raising Jesus from death" (Acts 17:31).

"There is a judge for the one who rejects Me [Jesus] and does not accept My words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day" (John 12:48)

That also stands for every person who speaks the utterances of Jesus. When we hear them, we hear Jesus Christ, and we either accept or reject. Every person who follows Jesus Christ is commanded to only speak His utterances and not their own.

"When we love others, we know that we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God" (1 John 3:19)

Ravi Zacharias did two open forums in a university. On the second night, one man told him that he had brought two Atheists in the night before who said that the arguments presented were so strong that they could not contend with them, but they were going to remain Atheists because that is what they prefer to be true.

In listening to an unbeliever and drawing out his reasoning, the unbeliever finally came to his foundations.

They turned out to be assumptions that were pulled from the air. When asked why he believed his basic assumption, the unbeliever looked startled and blurted out, “I guess I’m making the whole thing up.” It was quite a revelation to him since he hadn't even known that he had any assumptions. However, he decided to remain an Atheist because he didn’t want God to rule over him.

This road map describes the process and pattern by which God is going to bring about the Manifestation of the Sons of God and establish His Kingdom.

You are born again into the Church and out of the world so that you can grow. You grow as the Holy Spirit conforms you to the image of Christ, your Ministry in the Body of Christ. When you are born again, God follows the same process. The Father draws you to Christ. He leads you, carefully and lovingly, to Jesus. Little by little, you acknowledge Him. When you acknowledge Him, this is respect. It is a measure of the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. God's faith comes by hearing the utterance of God. Then, faith gives us access into this grace. Grace is the free gift and God's free gift comes flowing to you. When you are born again, your spirit is joined to the Spirit of God in an intimate way. You are redeemed in your spirit while your soul (which is the same as your mind or heart) is still largely in bondage. Your sins are forgiven. There is a slight change in your mind at this time, but the main change is in your spirit.

Once you are born again, this is a process that goes from glory to glory. You have now been born into the Church as a particular member. The emphasis is now on growing into Christ. The emphasis is on building yourself and the Body of Christ up to the manifestation of the sons of God. You realize that you have Christ in you. Christ in you is your ministry. He is your wisdom. He is your righteousness. He is your holiness. He is your redemption. He is your resurrection and He is your life. You have entered the river of life and now you are going out into ever deeper depths.

From this point forward, you have no identity outside of your identity in Christ the Body. You realize that your ministry was designed by God to function in submission to His Spirit and in submission to every other part of His Body. You know that Christ the Body has a specific order, and it is called to walk into a place where that order is complete with every member becoming mature in Christ and walking in submission to His government.

Personally, you are using God's process. God leads. you acknowledge Him. His faith comes. His grace does His work through you as you yield. God plants good seed in your heart (you reap what you sow), and this results in a change in what you are. The change has two parts: holiness and redemption. Holiness is sanctification, stability, or faithfulness. Redemption is being set free from sin.

You enter into personal prayer with the understanding. You are baptised in water and make a firm committment to following the Lamb of God. You get filled with the Spirit and you also pray in tongues. You receive spiritual gifs by the laying on of hands of the presbytery, then you use those spiritual gifts to build up the members of Christ the Body and to testify to those outside the Church. Those spiritual gifts become part of your ministry. You take time, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, for personal Bible study. You spend time in meditation, that is, seeking God. You discern and have love and respect for Christ the Body: the members, gifts, ministries, offices, and orders. As you see Christ the Body, you see Christ as He is and so you become like Him from glory to glory. You realize who you are in Christ, and you realize that you are looking into the perfect law of liberty. Suffering and persecution become things that you endure with joy. You yield the fruit of the Spirit and live a holy life. To do God's will is all your joy. You are set free from the influence of the devil, the culture, and your own fleshly nature. As you yield to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit leads you into His order for the Home, for the Local Church, and for the Church Universal.

In the home, the husband acts as elder and the wife as deacon. Together, they govern the home by God's process. God leads. they acknowledge Him. His faith comes. His grace does His work through them as they yield. God plants good seed in their hearts and in the hearts of the children, and this results in a change in what they are. The change has two parts: holiness and redemption.

There is love in the home. The husband loves his wife and gives himself for her. The wife respects her husband and submits herself to him. The children experience the supernatural love in their parents. The children walk in that same love between each other. When decisions are made, the husband and wife talk together and pray that God reveal to them the decision that they should make. They look to God for mutual leading in everything. There is order in the home. There is no place for unresolved conflict in the home. It is the order of Scripture, not the order proposed by the culture. Every member in the home is built up by that which every joint supplies. The joints are those places between the members. There is a daily devotion, a family alter. This is a daily service where the Holy Spirit leads and every member has a part. There is a continual flowing of the Holy Anointing (the Holy Spirit) in the home. The children receive teaching in every situation continuously. The family gives tithes and offerings to the local church. They engage in hospitality. They have a ministry to the unsaved.

In the local church, the local elders are set by traveling elders and deacons (apostles). Local elders are selected by the indication of the Holy Spirit. There is no singular local elder. There is no preeminent local elder. The local elders are in submission to each other. Deacons share in this spiritual ministry in submission to the elders. Together, they govern the local Church by God's process. When decisions are made, the elders talk together and pray that God reveal to them the decision that they should make. They look to God for mutual leading in everything. If no answer is obvious to all the elders, then they bring the question to the traveling elders, the apostles. God leads. They acknowledge Him. His faith comes. His grace does His work through them as they yield. God plants good seed in their hearts and in the hearts of the children, and this results in a change in what they are. The change has two parts: holiness and redemption.

There is love in the local church. There is love and respect between the members of the local Church. They submit to each other because they discern Christ in each other. This is that same supernatural love as the love that is in the homes of the local Church. There is order in the Church. There is a weekly service on Sunday where the Holy Spirit leads and every member has a part. The Church service follows the pattern of Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 14. There is no place for unresolved conflict in the Church. It is the order of Scripture, not the order proposed by the so-called "churches" found in the culture. Every member in the local Church is built up by that which every joint supplies. The joints are those places between the members. There is a continual flowing of the Holy Anointing (the Holy Spirit) in the local Church. The local elders and deacons administer the financial matters of the local Church according to the pattern of Scripture. The Church is financed by tithes and offerings. The members of the local Church engage in hospitality among themselves and toward anyone who visits the local meeting. The local Church has a ministry as a Body to the unsaved. There are Bible studies, sing-alongs, and prayer meetings. There is corporate prayer. The order of the head covering is in effect. The orders of communion, footwashing, baptisms, and the anointing with oil by the elders for healing are in effect. There is revelation, prophecy, tongues and interpretation, and teaching in the local Church. The elders teach no doctrine other than the apostle's doctrine.

In the Church Universal, the apostles, both traveling elders and traveling deacons, are set by those apostles who were set previously. Apostles are selected by the indication of the Holy Spirit. There is no independent apostle. There is no preeminent apostle, no chief revelator. The apostles are in submission to each other. Traveling deacons share in this spiritual ministry in submission to the traveling elders. Together, they govern the Church Universal by God's process. When decisions are made, the traveling elders talk together and pray that God reveal to them the decision that they should make. They look to God for mutual leading in everything. If no answer is obvious to all the traveling elders, then they leave it with God. There is no way to force God to reveal anything before it is time. There is no place for speculation. God leads. They acknowledge Him. His faith comes. His grace does His work through them as they yield. God plants good seed in their hearts and in the hearts of all who walk in submission to them, and this results in a change in what they are. The change has two parts: holiness and redemption.

The ministry gifts are seen in the apostles: prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Apostles lay the foundation for the Church. The Apostles receive the revelation, the interpretation, of Scripture, and they establish the doctrine. The apostles set local elders and deacons as the Holy Spirit indicates. The apostles impart the Spiritual gifts by the laying on of their hands and prophecy. They set ministries. The apostles are in unity with each other. They are in submission to each other. Every apostle is under the government of Christ and of every other apostle. They discern the authority of Christ in each other.

There is love in the Church Universal. There is love and respect between the members of the Church Universal. They submit to each other because they discern Christ in each other. This is that same supernatural love as the love that is in the local Churches. There is order in the Church Universal. There are regional camps, the traveling of the camps, where the Holy Spirit leads and every member has a part. In these meetings, the apostles deliver those teachings that God is emphasising to the Church Universal. The meetings follow the pattern of Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 14. There is no place for unresolved conflict in the Church Universal. The Church Universal follows the order of Scripture, not the order proposed by the so-called "churches" found in the culture. Every member in the Church Universal is built up by that which every joint supplies. The joints are those places between the members. There is a continual flowing of the Holy Anointing (the Holy Spirit) in the Church Universal. The traveling elders and deacons administer the financial matters of the Church Universal according to the pattern of Scripture. The Church is financed by tithes and offerings that are taken up in the local assemblies. Sometimes, special offerings are made at the regional camp meetings. The members of the Church Universal engage in hospitality among themselves and toward anyone who visits the regional meetings. The Church Universal has a ministry as a Body to the unsaved. There are Bible studies, sing-alongs, and times of prayer in camps. There is corporate prayer. The order of the head covering is in effect. The orders of communion, baptisms, and the anointing with oil by the elders for healing are in effect. There is revelation, prophecy, tongues and interpretation, and teaching in the local Church. The traveling elders do not advance their own doctrines, but they teach no doctrine other than the apostle's doctrine--that doctrine on which they all agree.

When everything is in complete unity with God's will and built according to God's Pattern as He gave it in Scripture, the Body and the Head (Jesus) will be joined as one totally complete man. This is the manifestation or the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Overview of the God's Pattern for the Church

How can we know anything about anything

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