Category Archives: Cornerstones Of Truth

A tale of two churches…

 

 – The Home Church –

Exactly what is meant by the phrase “Home Church?” Home churches, also known as house churches, describe small groups of believers – even as few as 2 or 3 – who gather in the name of Jesus Christ. They are very similar to the earliest churches which were customarily designated in the Scriptures as household units. These first Christians, you will recall, reveled in the fact that they personally had become the new dwelling place of the Almighty – living stones in God’s spiritual temple.

The basic rationale? The undergirding principle here is that all authority in heaven and in earth reside in Jesus Christ who reveals Himself through scripture, nature and by supernatural means, as well. Knowledge and all ethics are thus derived from Jesus Christ through the His Holy Spirit.

This means that the totality of life must be God-directed as we are motivated by gratitude for the life, death, and resurrection of His Son. The Home Church perspective is thus a unique world-view in which every follower of Jesus becomes a full-time Christian minister or servant. Every day, every event, every thought, every place become the domain of the Messiah. The line between sacred and secular progressively diminishes because Christ gives true meaning to all things. Every thought is to be brought captive to Him who is All and in all.” (1)

 

 

On Easter of 1980, Saddleback Valley Community Church held its very first public service and 205 people, most of whom had never been to church, showed up. That began one of the most exciting journeys of growth that any church has experienced in American history. In more than two decades of ministry in South Orange County, God has continued to expand the church’s influence. Currently, Saddleback Church has more than 200 ministries serving the church and community. One in nine people in the area call Saddleback their church home.

God has also expanded the church’s ministry both nationally and internationally. Pastor Rick’s 1995 book The Purpose Driven Church, is translated into over 25 languages and was voted one of the “100 Christian Books That Changed the 20th Century. More than 350,000 church leaders from 120 countries have been trained in Saddleback’s purpose-driven paradigm. Pastor Rick’s latest book, The Purpose Driven Life, has been the #1 or #2 bestseller on the New York Times bestseller list for almost two years and still selling about a million copies a month. It has been named “Book of the Year” twice- in both 2003 and 2004, and recognized as “the bestselling hardback non-fiction book in history.” It focuses on the truth that life is “not about you,” and shows how God can enable each of us to live for His purposes. (2)

 

Which of the above examples are Christ’s Church? If you answered, both of them, you would be right. Based on our definition of church, both of them are local communities of Christ believers. The small house church might have 20 members or 2 or 3. Saddleback has thousands. Where is God’s blessings? Would Saddleback be so large if it didn’t attract a certain type of believer? You can see from the description of the house church that from their perspective,  thousands are leaving institutional churches to be in a more participatory God experience.(3) Who’s right? They both are. We all come to God with different baggage. Some are burned out with trying to do everything that they just want to be served for a while. Some are tired of being “preached” to and want a smaller community that they can actually take part in ministry. Both are right. Both serve God. Both are not for everyone.

 

God’s relationship with us is uniquely personal. Our journeys are all unique. Along the way, we may meet people with similar experiences or beliefs or goals. Those relationships are what form local communities. Some of those communities stay small. Others, see different visions for ministry and grow into the thousands. Each has it’s purpose. Each has it’s members. Each glorifies God in serving Him.
 
Where do you fit? Big, small, somewhere in between?

 

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 

For the second week in a row, I have struggled to find time to do my lesson. This morning was a great example. I was studying my lesson and had some great thoughts that I wanted to share with you. Then I had to stop for a meeting. Once the meeting was over, I was too busy with work to go back to my lesson. It is now after midnight and I just remembered that I didn’t write anything down.

I am glad that the authors of the Bible weren’t too busy to write down what God inspired them to write. Could you imagine what a mish-mash of thoughts and ideas we would be left with if they didn’t take the time to write it down? Can you imagine the “fish stories” that would have come out of the Bible if they relied on their memories? (I can hear it now – “No really, the fish swallowed him whole. He built a fire and camped out for 40 days and 40 nights until the flood ended and then he swam to an island where Ginger and Maryanne were.”) We know that the oral traditions of man, those stories which are passed from one generation to the next, may change greatly as they are handed down. Clearly, it wouldn’t have been the best method for God to “reveal” what He wanted us to know what He expects of us.

The Bible is filled with references from the writers that it was God inspired. In Exodus 17:14, it says,”Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Josua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” God not only told Moses to write it but also made sure he knew that others needed to hear it. I am sure glad Moses obeyed. I’m glad Moses took the time to write down what God told him. Without his writing it, I wouldn’t have anything to write about tonight.

That is why I had to write it down before I went to bed. I didn’t want to forget.

 

Our lesson this week is on God’s Word. As we begin our study, here are a few fun facts from Bibleinfo.com

http://en.bibleinfo.com/questions/question.html?id=726

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Bible: Facts and Trivia

The Bible is actually a library of 66 books, written by 44 authors over a period of about 1500 years. The 39 books of the Old Testament were composed between 1400 and 400 B.C., the 27 books of the New Testament between A.D. 50 and 100. The 39 books of the Old Testament were composed between 1400 and 400 B.C., the 27 books of the New Testament between A.D. 50 and 100.

The Bible was divided into chapters by Stephen Langton about A.D. 1228. The Old Testament was divided into verses by R. Nathan in A.D. 1448 and the New Testament by Robert Stephanus in A.D. 1551. The entire Bible divided into chapters and verses first appeared in the Geneva Bible of 1560.

Here are some interesting tidbits of facts and trivia specifically in regards to the King James Version of the Bible.

Books of the Bible:

• Books of the Bible: 66
• Books in Old Testament: 39
• Books in New Testament: 27
• Middle book of Old Testament: Proverbs
• Middle book of New Testament: 2 Thessalonians

Verses:

• Old Testament: 23,214 verses
• New Testament: 7,959 verses
• Middle verse of the Bible: Psalms 118:8
• Middle verse of the Old Testament: 2 Chronicles 20:17
• Middle verse of the New Testament: Acts 17:17
• Shortest verse of the Old Testament: 1 Chronicles 1:25
• Shortest verse of the New Testament: “Jesus wept.” John 11:35
• Longest verse in the Bible: Esther 8:9
• Verse containing all letters of the alphabet except J: Ezra 7:21
• Verse containing all letters of the alphabet except Q: Daniel 4:37
• Verses most alike: Psalm 107:8,15,21, 31

Chapters:

• Entire Bible: 1189
• Old Testament: 929
• New Testament: 260
• Middle chapter of Old Testament: Job 29
• Middle chapter of New Testament: Romans 13
• Middle and shortest chapter of Bible: Psalms 117
• Longest chapter in the Bible: Psalm 119
• Chapters that are most alike: 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37

Words:

• In the Old Testament: 592,439 words
• In the New Testament: 181,253 words
• Longest word in the Bible (18 letters): Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isaiah 8:1,3)
• King with shortest reign: King Zimri (7 days) I Kings 16:15
• Words occurring only once in the Bible:
  • Eternity (Isaiah 57:15)
  • Grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5)
  • Gnat (Matthew 23:24)

tres – pass

 

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We’ve all seen the signs –

 

 

Most people would heed the sign and stay off of the property. I always think of The Lords Prayer, when I hear the word trespass. I learned the prayer with the word “trespass” instead of “debts” or “sins” –

 

“…And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

 

What does trespass really mean in our discussion of the nature of sin?  Just like the signs that people post to keep others outside of their property boundaries, God has set up certain moral boundaries for us that we know as laws. When a person trespasses, or crosses over these boundary lines, he sins – he ignores God’s law. Lawlessness is sin and we know the consequences of sin. But, unlike the NO TRESPASSING sign above, God’s sign says something like:

 

 

God knows that we will sin. He sent His son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for our trespass. All we need to do is repent of our sin and accept His gift of salvation.

  

Sin may be defined as disobedience and failure to conform to the laws God has given for the direction of His rational creatures.

We know that sin exists. Sin is one of the main topics of the Bible. We see the first indication of sin when Satan rebelled against God. Other angels joined in the rebellion and were forever cast out of heaven.

Next, we see sin in Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Then Cain and Able fell under the power of sin. Adam and Eve’s sin and the sin of Cain were because they disobeyed God.

Later, God talked to Charlton Heston, I mean Moses, and gave him the Ten Commandments. God came down to this earth in the form of a burning bush to give His law to His people so that there wouldn’t be any doubt as to what they should or should not do. This is how important God takes sin.

The historical books, Joshua through Esther, record the tragic failure of God’s people to obey His commandments. They reveal the backsliding, disobedience, stubbornness, and rebellion of Israel toward God and His laws.

The Bible continues to give example after example of man rebelling against God. King David, Judas Iscariot, Peter, Paul. We also learn that just thinking about doing the sin is sin itself. On adultery, Jesus said in Mathew 5:28, “But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

We also know the result of sin. With the angels, we learned that the ones who rebelled against God were permanently cast out of heaven. Romans 6:23 tell us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

That takes us back to the one decision everyone has to make at least once in their lives. You have to make the decision to accept God’s gift of salvation through Jesus’ death on the cross or you can reject it.  Not deciding is the same as rejecting. There is no other choice. Only salvation through Jesus death will save you from a certain death.

Which do you choose?