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A
Final Move of God?
Index
of all titles by the author
We have
seen in recent years, a time of sifting and
shaking with respect to the form and practice
of the Christian life. Questions
addressing the church and it historic foundations
in Judaism Christians are an off shoot of the root of Judaism. Yeshua, Jesus was and is the Jewish Messiah. The apostles were all Jews. Salvation is of the Jews. The oracles of God and the covenants of Israel are the warp and weft of the past 6000 years of Bible history. The Feasts of Israel recorded in the books of Moses, are said to be everlasting commemorations. These have foreshadowed the coming of the Messiah in various roles that he would play that have been and shall yet be fulfilled in Jesus. It is honor of the Word and its proven prophetic accuracy that we acknowledge this inheritance. From the foundation time of Abraham it has been established; those who bless Israel shall be blessed and those who curse her shall be accursed. We face a cross road. Shall we embrace Israel and its prophetic prominence or reject it. I believe it is prudent for the sake of our spiritual lives and the well being of the nation to embrace Israel in love. We have been grafted into the root of Israel by God's grace and mercy. It was Jewish believers in Israel who first experienced the new creation. The apostles ministered within the walls of its synagogues, with resistance. Taking the message to the Gentiles was prophesied by Old Testament prophets. Paul was the Jewish man who took the message throughout the countries of the Mediterranean. Meeting forms and places varied but a significant majority was in synagogues. Men and women believed and shared the Jewish gospel that Jesus (Yeshua) was truly the Messiah, the son of God and The Savior of all. Christian leaders who teach extricating the faith from the purposes of God through the covenant people, are in grievous error. Redefining
the Glorious Church Many voices affirm the desire to pursue their gift and call to fully participate among a community of believers free of human domination. Messengers are being revealed, people called of God, chosen and prepared in solitary places. These messenger are not called to be professional theologians, nor religious celebrities, but simple disciples, men and women, God has called and reserved for this very time. One may say they are coming forth out of their own caves of obscurity as David with his faithful remnant in days of old. Few voices in the wilderness have been joined with a multitude who cry out, "Prepare the Way of the Lord most high, make His way straight in the desert, prepare the way for a people to go forth and meet him, we set forth to meet him in the heavenly Zion, the "Mountain of the Lord." Now we do not know many of these who are of like passions. We recognize them when we share fellowship with them. There is openness, warth and access. They do not hide behind their title or a barrier of front persons who guard the man of God from contact with the common people. As Jesus when he was in his mother's womb caused the unborn John the Baptist to leap in the presence of the savior, and as the travelers to Emmaus felt their hearts burn within them, we will recognize and welcome those of the same right spirit. The glorious church therefore is not a place. It is not a megachurch ministry with a dynamic pastor nor a charismatic leader who attracts more and more devotees to the meetings. It recognizes that the Kingdom of God at this time to be spiritual and is resident within the souls of men and women who have received the gift of life and salvation. It does not seek to conquer nations using methods of domination and control to bring political and economic systems into submission. I believe that the glorious church has no walls and no shepherd other than Jesus through his Holy Spirit. The
Manifold Expressions of Grace The
chart below describes graphically the levels
of Christian experience experienced from the
past to the present. Categories may not include
all churches or entire congregations. Some
well organized religous bodies though repleat
in doctrine, depart seriously from the true
gospel of Grace and salvation through Christ
Jesus. Column
two is descriptive of those who have a
higher, more active experience in the Spiritual
life. These believers, often more by chance
than choice, find themselves in a place to
experience more of God and have with God's
grace, pressed in to experience the activation
of the Holy Spirit Baptism with its subsequent
access to witness God's reality. Those who
have come out of the fundamentalist strand
of Christian tradition, have already been labeled
as out of order, out of compliance and essentially
apostate with respect to their prior doctrines. Column three denotes those who are beginning to experience the highest manifestation of the church age. In this model, spiritual leaders may come from the highways and the byways. Many are unknown, without reputation they may or not have formal credentials. These are often the simple and plain minded men and women who have one thing in common, that they have been with Jesus in the way or have felt a continual dissonance with the programs and formalism of the waning human led religious movements. They are described hereafter by various authors who are expressing the same discontent with old religious ways, meaning the religiosity of pentecostal and charismatic bodies described in column two whose purposes and programs were mingled with human forms and methodology. Column three are outside of legalism. They are outside institutionalism. They do not need to go to a "church" whose primary concern is paying off their expensive mortgage and pay for the salaries of clerical professionals. They know that they are the church. They do not aspire to become famous or to have famous world outreach ministries. They give away that which was freely given to them. They meet without credentialed leaders who have church growth strategies as their true agenda. The Holy Spirit has control of these groups. All in fellowship are taught to participate. They are empowered to practice and grow in their gifts, while seeking to know God in his presence. They realize that each person is called to become complete in him, and this completeness will bring divine approval into his or her life. They do not stray from the word of God which each knows and knows well, for these guiding principles were those of the apostles in the beginning. The word of God is quick and powerful in their lives; they know the rhema word by which we eat and live.
Charles Pinkney, Christian Book Titles and Christian Commentaries Who's
Your Covering
Messianic
Vision with Sid Roth
Guest: Tim and Katie Mather
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