The Church has a calling that could be referred to as “The Even Greater Commission”: “… that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 3:10 Jesus laid down His life for a Bride who will love Him more than herself. The Lord purposed to have a Church that would demonstrate the wisdom and power of self-denying obedience in order to put to shame
“God-Centeredness” is a quintessential issue. All Christians, as well as all churches and ministries come down on one side of the line or the other regarding Man-Centeredness or God-Centeredness. There is a very clear line of demarcation. Our perspective has implications for virtually every activity of both our personal and corporate lives as Christians. Our perspective also affects our understanding of God Himself, as well as His eternal plans and purposes. In order to address the issue of God-Centeredness, we need to
Today, most people – including many believers – do not understand what it means to be Born Again. There are denominations that avoid, and even ridicule, this spiritual reality, because some people have abused it. As someone has said: “The answer to abuse is not disuse.” – based on the Latin phrase, “abusus non tollit usum” (abuse does not cancel use, in other words, misuse of something is no argument against its proper use). It may be difficult to understand.
Introduction “The elementary principles of the World” (Galatians 4:1-10; Colossians 2:8-23) have been used as tools by the fallen powers and principalities (2 Corinthians 10:5; Ephesians 6:12) to keep the Church – namely, the first century Church, almost all the various streams of the Church throughout its history, even to the present day Church (including “organic” “home churches”) – under the shadow of the Old Covenant with regards to its worship praxes, and falling short of fulfilling its calling to gather
Introduction Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church. We cannot discern the Body until we first discern the Head. We cannot understand the mystery of the Church until we understand the mystery of Christ. Jesus is building His Church through revelation of Himself. As we pursue the revelation of Christ, He builds His Church. As disciples of Christ, let us pursue REVELATION of Christ as the Head and the Foundation, having that translated into RELATIONSHIP with Christ,
Introduction Using the scriptural word picture of The Vineyard of the Lord, this article takes a look at the current condition of the Church. In response to this, it then takes another look at the commission of the Church, addressing various aspects of discipleship all in light of the New Covenant, with a particular focus on the Christ-centeredness of apostolic teaching and apostolic fellowship.
Introduction “The Gospel of the Lion and The Lamb” is the title I have chosen for a teaching on the Book of Revelation. The “Lion and Lamb” theme (found in Revelation 5:5-6) is the essence of the Book of Revelation. This teaching is NOT a line-by-line commentary but is rather an introductory overview of the Book of Revelation. This article compares the different perspectives on how to interpret The Revelation and other prophetic scriptures. It also discusses four issues of
Introduction A presentation of the disciple-maker as “Cultivator”, through the use of word pictures of The Husbandman.
Introduction The key words in the title give the subject matter. There is a fact which we all must FACE; and that is: the FUTURE is coming. Whether the prognosis is good or bad – whether we want it to come or not – the FUTURE is coming – we must FACE IT. What is in the FUTURE? Jesus already gave us the answer: TRIBULATION. The scriptures tell us that God has His purpose in TRIBULATION. The future will require
Introduction We can make a distinction between the “Work of the Cross” and the “Way of the Cross”: The “Work of the Cross” is Christ’s sacrificial work on the Cross as “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the World”. The message of the “Work” of the Cross is directed to the unconverted – the “old man” in Adam. The “Way of the Cross” is Christ’s example which He gave to “anyone wants to become my follower,
