North Phoenix House Church

The Beauty of the Opal

If you attended church you most likely never had the opportunity to administer communion. So what happens when you’re part of a relational gathering and the topic of taking communion arises. Robert Schmidt’s short book (70 pages) The Bridal Banquet – Holy Communion for House Churches and Small Groups has a chapter devoted on how to administer communion. The first excerpt below is from a chapter about Banquet Gifts, where each gift is compared to a precious gem. The second excerpt is a section from his Conclusion. If you struggle with how, why or if it’s even necessary to have communion you should grab this book.

The Opal – The Gift of Community

Opals are unique. They are not all of one color; some are predominantly white, others black, but all contain a variety of hues. Yet, they are all within one jewel. As the stone is turned the different colors come through creating an enchanting whole. That is how a group of communicants must look like to God. Ginger, the new mother, carries her babe. Oscar, the judge, kneels next to her. There is Yung from China next to Devon, the punk rock fan. In this community there are farmers, shopkeepers, a physician, and three eighth graders. Just think to what sins they confessed; imagine what life will hold for them this next week. Yet, here they are together, one body of Christ.

If this is a wonder in a local gathering, think what it is like in the YMCA hostel in Hong Kong where some Christians from around the world have come as tourists, businessmen, designers, and government officials. Prayer was announced for eight in the morning, and communion was offered for those who were interested. Before they began they were to introduce themselves. A Ghanian, two from Shanghai, a British diplomat, a German engineer on his way inland, and a variety of soccer players greeted each other. From the ends of the earth God’s children came together as a single community in the Lord’s Supper. Nationalities are submerged for a time as God makes them a single people, unified for a moment, and with a memory of a time when all are one in Christ.

A CHANGE IN COMMUNION practices toward a more biblical model can have profound consequences to the church and in the world. By blessing lay people without a professional theological education to administer Holy Communion, churches are free from the necessity to raise money to support the church. Any group of Christians can be the church without funds for the support of clergy at that place. The church is also free from the necessity of paying for the construction and upkeep of a building in a missionary setting. Furthermore, when gathered as a small group with locally administered communion, more contributions can be used for helping the vulnerable.

With approximately 45,000 Christian denominations in the world, moves toward greater Christian unity are very important. In the past some new denominations were formed to bring about this unity. International organizations like the World Council of Churches and the World Evangelical Alliance have sought to be umbrella organizations fostering greater cooperation. At the local level Bible study fellowships have often brought together people from different traditions. However, without communion uniting these people into one church, they usually identify themselves with the church from which they came. Now, however, in a house church, with both the teaching and sharing of the word of God and the celebration of communion, the movement toward greater Christian unity takes gigantic leap forward. Since that local community is already made up of people from different denominations, hopefully they will be the first to recognize the totality of the Christian church on earth.

With Holy Communion at the very center of their efforts, some groups can devote themselves to specific prophetic works of radically addressing some social problems as did the Hebrew prophets or Christ himself. Without depending upon financial contributions to support their ministry, such groups are free to address the inequality of wealth, the sins of nationalism, and specifics of environmental destruction. Other small, sometimes ad hoc communities can devote their efforts to special needs in healthcare, education, refugee relief, housing, and other struggles. In the past, centered in the Eucharist, Roman Catholic monasteries and nunneries were able carry out some of these ministries. Now with Holy Communion again as the inspiring and equipping center of their activities, groups made up of lay people from a variety of backgrounds can join to accomplish some significant ministries.

The Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ to create a new covenant with sinners, redeemed and forgiven by Christ. Joined together both by their sin and their salvation, Holy Communion was designed to bring people together to carry out their ministries as part of the very body of Christ. In the past, communion has divided God’s people across the centuries. Now, can it be celebrated to unite us?

Books / Videos

Camping Out

The excerpt below is from Beyond Church by Steve Simms. It’s an easy read, highlighting the meaning and purpose of ekklesia, with emphasis on practical guidelines on how to do life together.

“He (Jesus Christ) is the head of the body, the ekklesia; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy.” Colossians 1:18

As we have seen, the key to ekklesia is supernatural revelation from God – this is the rock that Jesus refers to in Matthew 16. To move beyond church and into the experience of ekklesia, we need to continually cultivate and create an environment where people can experience God’s revelation and then freely share what God has shown them.

The transformation from church into God’s glorious ekklesia is gradual – “from glory to glory” – step by step. It is a process of coming out of our comfort zones and out of our worldly methods of human organization and control. It is also the ever increasing movement into and submission to God’s light – His supernatural revelation.

However, too often we have settled into familiarity and tradition and have camped out there, not wanting to grow forward with the living God. We have acted like the rebellious Israelites in the desert who didn’t want to move forward when God wanted them to follow His cloud by day and fire by night. Together these two quotes help to make that point:

“Ekklesia is a compound Greek term. The prepositional prefix ek means out and kales means to call, thus the compound word means called out or a called-out group or an assembly.” – Sujit Mani

“There is no such thing as a call from God that is not a call out of the world. The church is ekklesia. In the divine intention there is no klesia which lacks the ek.” – Watchman Nee

So how can we answer God’s call out of our comfort zones? It is not easy. Jesus put it this way: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.'” – Matthew 16:24

To experience ekklesia, we have to deny ourselves. To deny self doesn’t mean to defeat yourself. Many people deny God, but they don’t defeat Him. No. To deny yourself means to ignore yourself – to set aside your own feelings and desires and to flow with God instead, whether to or not.

To take up your cross means to freely embrace your own execution your own death. It moves beyond ignoring your emotions and desires for a little while and into freely accepting the death of your feelings and desires.

Follow Me means much more than making a mental ascent to the doctrinal truths about Christ. It means to literally follow and obey His present day promptings, leadings, and/or nudgings in your heart, whether you want to or not. It also means to obey and be faithful to the commands in the Bible and not to your own will.

Ekklesia requires us to follow Jesus not just with our verbal allegiance, but also in the way that we live our day to day lives. Jesus said: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” – John 5:19

In order to experience ekklesia, we need to follow Jesus in the same way that He followed the Father being continually aware of His will and obeying His will instead of our own. That’s why ekklesia requires revelation. It is easy to follow our own agendas and programs. We need the Holy Spirit to show us where we are stuck on our own way.

John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, told us how to “prepare the way of the Lord.” John the Baptist said: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) That’s why James, the half-brother of Jesus said: “God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble.” (James 4:6)

Thoughts from Others

Highway of Our God

Highway of our God by Catherine Booth, page 61-63, published by The Salvation Army Supplies And Purchasing Department, Atlanta, Georgia, 1986. Catherine Booth 1829-1890.

While the gospel message is laid down with unerring exactness, we are left at perfect freedom to adapt our measures and modes of bringing it to bear upon men to the circumstances, times and conditions in which we live. ‘I am made all things to all men,’ declared the great apostle to the Gentiles who had thrown off the paraphernalia of Judaism years before, yet became as a Jew that he might win the Jews.

The great strong intellect became as a weak man that he might win the weak. He conformed himself to the conditions and circumstances of his hearers in all lawful things that he might win them; he let no mere conventionalities or ideas of propriety stand in his way when it was necessary to abandon them. He who was brave as a lion, and hailed a crown of martyrdom like a conquering hero, was willing to submit to anything when the requirements of his mission rendered it necessary.

Now here it seems to me that the church – I speak universally – has made the grand mistake of exalting the traditions of the elders into the same importance and authority as the word of God. People contend that we must have quiet, proper, decorous services. I say, Where is your authority for this? I defy any man to show it. I have a great deal more authority for such a lively, gushing, spontaneous, and what you call disorderly, service as our Salvation Army services sometimes are, in the fourteenth chapter of First Corinthians, than you can find for yours. The best insight we have into the internal working of a religious service in apostolic times is in this chapter (1 Corinthians 14), and I ask you, Is it anything like the ordinary services of today?

We cannot get the order of a single service from the New Testament, nor can we get the form of government of a single church. Hence one denomination thinks theirs is the best form, and another theirs; so Christendom has been divided into various camps ever since; but this very quarrelling shows the impossibility of getting from the New Testament the routine, the order and the fashion of mere modes. Do you think God had no purpose in this omission? The forms, modes and measures are not prescribed as in the Old Testament disposition. Why?

The principle is laid down that you are to adapt your measures to the necessity of the people to whom you minister; you are to take the gospel to the people in such modes and habitudes of thought and expression and circumstances as will gain a hearing. You are to preach to them in a way as will cause them to look and listen. What scope for the various manifestations of the Spirit! The argument that this free operation of the Spirit has been abused is no argument against it, for then you might argue against every privilege. Here is abundant evidence that these Corinthian converts had opportunity to witness for Jesus, each one to give forth the gushing utterance of his soul, and tell other people of the experience which the Holy Ghost had wrought in him.

And look at the result! ‘If…there come in one that beleiveth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.’ What unkind things have been said of The Salvation Army because people at our meetings have fallen on their faces under the convicting power of the Spirit. But you see this is apostolic.

Should we not pray to be set free from the traditionalism and routinism in which Satan has succeeded in lulling us to sleep? It was only the repressing, and ultimately, I am afraid, the all-but estinguishing, of the Holy Spirit’s urgings that has led to the dead way in which many services are conducted.

I maintain that the only indispensable qualification for witnessing for Christ is the Holy Ghost. Paul expressly, over and over again, abjures all mere human equipment. He expressly declares that these things were not the power even where they existed, but that it was the Holy Ghost. Therefore, give me man, woman or child with the Holy Ghost, full of love and zeal for God, and I say it would be a real strength and joy to that convert to testify to the church. The Lord is not going to evangelize this land by finished sermons and disquisitions, but by the simple testimony of people saved from sin and the devil, by His power and His grace. He is going to do it as He began, by witnessing.

Read your New Testament and you will be struck with the amazing amount of evidence for this unconventional kind of service. When shall Peters and Marys be so filled with the Spirit that they cannot help telling what God has done for the, like the woman of Samaria who, when she had found Him of whom Moses and the Prophets had written, went and fetched her fellow-townsmen and women to hear Him? The way in which the Lord is going to gather out His great and glorious kingdom in these latter days is by the power of testimony in the Holy Ghost.

Thoughts from Others

Which Piece Are You?

The following was recently written by my good friend Buff Scott, Jr. To find out more about Buff click here.

It might surprise some of you that Ambassador Paul was a zealous partisan, a Pharisee, before he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. (See Acts 26:5.) He abandoned this separatist religion to live for Jesus. In our day, the redeemed community includes believers who are still caught up in the web of “Churchianity,” for God’s children are scattered over a diversity of partisan terrains. However, God’s new reign stretches far beyond the borders of any sect, church, religious party, or cult. “Churchianity” reigns over a restricted territory. God’s reign is universal.

And while it may be wise to remove the apostate church entirely and start over, considering how grave “mad church disease” has plagued her, nonetheless many of her children may choose to remain where they are and work for reform. This is not always possible, however, because the apostate church “would rather fight than switch.” Reformers are not always welcome within her ranks. They are usually accorded the “left boot of fellowship.”

Martin Luther wanted to work within the sinister Roman Catholic Church for reform, but the scandalous Vatican would have no part of it. Instead, they sought his life. He escaped the “Holy See’s” murderous hounds, but the sinister Vatican continued their efforts to find him and “do him in.”

Let it be understood that Jesus did not die for religious parties, churches, denominations, or cults. Instead, He died for Jews, He died for Gentiles, He died “for all the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one” (John 11:52).

Jesus is not interested in uniting churches, denominations, and cults. He’s interested in uniting all of God’s scattered children, wherever they are, to bring them together into one body of believers, “so that they may be united as we [Son and Father] are united” (John 17:11).

Let it be emphasized that religious factions marching under partisan labels were founded by men centuries after Jesus ushered in His new reign. These include the Baptist Church, Methodist Church, Church of God, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, Catholic Church, Christian Church, Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church, and all of the others – regardless of the caption they have adopted to function under.

To which of the above churches is Jesus aligned? Which of the above churches did Jesus found? Did He establish and authenticate all of them? If yes, what was the purpose, then, of the apostle Paul’s question to the Corinthian believers, as per 1 Corinthians 1:13? He asked them, “Is Christ divided?” If Jesus authored all of our schisms, He is indeed divided! And if He is divided, why would He then pray for unity among God’s children, as recorded in John 17:6-25?

So let’s tell it like it is. If Jesus ascended to heaven without being a Baptist, and He did, and if Paul, Peter and others were taken to paradise without being aligned with any of the above factions, and they were, I, too, can enter paradise without being a Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Mormon, Roman Catholic, Muslim, Church of Christ proponent, Jehovah’s Witness, or without being tainted with any of the other partisan colors. I think I’ll just be a “believer at large” – a Christian only. Surely that will be sufficient. God’s grace will fill in the gaps, if any need to be filled.

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Books / Videos

Called To Rebuild

This is the second excerpt from Bob Emery’s encouraging book Called to Rebuild. You can read a description and check out the first excerpt here. Want more information about Bob, click here. The excerpt below has been edited.

The question that many people wrestle with is, if it’s God’s eternal purpose and his intense desire to see the church shining like a bright lampstand, lifting up Jesus for the world to see, then why can it be such an arduous, grueling challenge to find and be a part of such a church? After all, if we’re clear on what God is after, and if we’ve committed our hearts to him, then getting there from where we are, with his help, should be a simple, straight shot, right? Maybe a few bends and turns in the road, but since we have the roadmap, possibly in a few weeks, or months, or even a year, we should be having the kind of church experience that God has always wanted for us to have, right?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way.

Praise God, however, for the current move of his Spirit we are beginning to see in this country. Praise God that he continues to touch people’s lives. Praise God for the revolutionaries Barna has identified who are not satisfied with the status quo and are doing something about it. Praise God for those who are seeking, questioning, and leaving the captivity of dead institutions in search of something more.

But the question needs to be raised: where is this search for something more leading people? As I pointed out at the beginning of this book, Barna’s findings indicate that if you love the Lord and are searching for something more, and you do take that step to leave the institutional church, you’ll probably find yourself in one of several situations. If you are fortunate, you’ll find some other like-minded souls who are also interested in trying to figure out what this thing called “church” is really supposed to be that you can fellowship with. Maybe you’ll find a house church or home group fellowship. Or, maybe you’ll get involved, as many do, in some virtual, online church, or a family unit fellowship in order to find more fulfillment in the Christian experience.

All of these things can play a part in the recovery of what God wants to bring about among his people, but do any of them, by themselves, fully restore the church to its original intention? We’ve looked at what God wanted to do in restoring his people from their captivity in the Old Testament. All of this was a picture for us, a roadmap as it were, for how we might look to the Lord and the Scriptures for guidance out of the current fallen situation of Christianity today and reunite with the heart and eternal of God to restore the church to what he has always intended for purpose it to be.

Though there is the aspect of the church that is universal-comprising all the members of the body of Christ-we see clearly throughout the New Testament writings, and especially from the first chapter of Revelation, that the church is also local. God saw a lampstand in each of the seven cities of Asia to whom this letter containing the Revelation was sent. He saw a lampstand in Ephesus, in Smyrna, in Pergamum, in Thyatira, in Sardis, in Philadelphia, and in Laodicea.

So, the restoration of the church has a very practical and local application. God wants to have a bright, shining lampstand where Christ is exalted in every place. In order to have that, we need to seek God and make ourselves available to him to use us to help restore local expressions of the church.

It’s seeing God restore the church to what it ought to be, in your location; in the place in which you live! This is a challenge! This is a high calling. It may even seem like an impossible calling, but should that be surprising? If you’ll remember, that’s the same way the remnant felt when they were faced with rebuilding the temple in their day. To go this route, it will take a commitment by a group of people to Christ and to others with a common vision. And it will take time. But who ever said it was going to be easy?

There are no pat and easy answers for those desiring to see and be a part of the restoration of God’s house and want to know: How do we start? Where do we go? What do we do? Who can help us? How can we find others in our location with the same heart?

The most solid recommendation I can give you would be that if anything in this book has touched or challenged you, begin by bringing those things to the Lord yourself and asking him to make them real in your life. Then seek out others to fellowship with, with whom you can share and discuss what God is showing you. Ask him to lead you to others with whom you can pray and seek the Lord together about these things.

Beyond that, be assured that there are many others out there who are asking the same questions. There are even websites out there dedicated to networking and linking like-minded Christians together who have a heart for the house of God and the things discussed in this book. Some even have directories where you can find other believers with similar interests in your area.

God is sovereign. He has always been the initiator. He is the one who will prepare and raise up the Zerubbabels of today who he will use to guide and lead others in the way of restoration. He is also the one who will gather the people and form the new wineskins that will contain the new wine he wants to pour out when old structures become too rigid and hardened (Mark 2: 21,22).

From beginning to end, the work of restoration is God’s work. But as we have seen, it is also a work that not all of God’s people will choose to be part of. Throughout the generations, he has had his remnant. In the end. he will get all the glory. God’s work begins, continues, and will find its completion as Jesus is exalted, revealed, and made manifest. He is the head of his church, which is his body.

The challenge, therefore, remains for the remnant of this generation. Are you one of those who see the condition of the church today in much the same way as the people of God in the Babylonian captivity saw the house of God in Jerusalem lying in waste more than 2,500 years ago? Are you one of those willing to do something about it?

God has given us the story of Ezra and the other books of the Bible concerning the returning remnant to encourage us and to show us the way back. May those of you who have read this book not only hear the call to rebuild as loudly and as clearly as they did in the days when Cyrus issued his proclamation and invitation, but may you be like those whose spirits were stirred up and join with others to act in response to that call.

“Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel.”
EZRA 1:3

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Books / Videos

It’s Impossible

Called to Rebuild is another great book from Bob Emery. Bob compares the remnant, that returned to Jerusalem after 70 years in captivity, to today’s remnant who have a heart to rebuild and see the true church restored. This is the first of two excerpts. Want more information about Bob, click here. You can read the second excerpt here.

Another reason the building stopped was that the people had come to the conclusion that the task God had called them to was utterly impossible. Haggai 1:7, 8 reads, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Consider your ways!’ ‘Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified.’ says the Lord.”

As we step back and try to put the rebuilding of the temple in perspective by looking at it from the point of view of those who returned, we can easily see that the remnant could have had the overwhelming sense that what God had called them to do was just beyond their capacity to perform. God had not just called them to return to Jerusalem to build a temple, but they were called to rebuild Solomon’s temple. We read in 1 Kings chapter five that when Solomon built his temple, it took almost 185,000 laborers seven years to complete it and another 13 years to finish the royal palace and surrounding buildings. That doesn’t even take into account all the effort and expense David put into gathering all the materials, drawing up the plans, and getting everything ready before Solomon began.

By contrast, look at the remnant. They were only about 50,000 in number. They had been in captivity. They didn’t have the special tools, skills, or experience to do such a work. There were significantly less people involved in the work, fewer resources, and enemies all around harassing them and trying to get them to stop. And when they compared what they were doing with the former glory of Solomon’s temple and were told “to go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple,” their reaction was probably, “Yea, right!”

But is it any different today? Doesn’t living the Christian life or trying to recover a first-century type church experience sometimes seem just as impossible as the task of rebuilding Solomon’s temple must have seemed to the remnant?

The fact is that the Christian life is a life that is impossible to live. There is only one person in the universe capable of living it, and that is Jesus Christ himself. Consider these standards of Christian living:

-When your enemy strikes you turn the other cheek.
-Give thanks in all things.
-Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.
-Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.
-Wives submit to your husbands.
-Be angry, but don’t sin.

When people reach the point that they really see that what God is calling them to do is something that is impossible and unattainable, they usually respond in one of two ways. First, they might try harder. Those are the ones who think that if they resolve to pray more, fast more, give more, study more, go to more meetings, or join more committees that they might just be able to do all that God is asking of them. The second choice is to conclude that since what is being required is impossible, why not just stand back and let God do it all? Just quit, give up, withdraw from any Christian activity and just wait for God to supernaturally show up. Many people come to this point and conclude that the Christian life just doesn’t work. In the case of the remnant, some may have concluded that the same God who said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, could also say, “Let there be a temple,” and there would be a temple! In principle, the second response for what to do in the face of an impossible task is probably closer to the answer than the first, but it can also lead to stagnation or doing nothing, which it did in their case. It took the prophet Zechariah to reveal the principle by which God works in relation to his people and put things in the proper perspective:

This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts. “What are you great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands shall also finish it.”
ZECHARIAH 4:6-9

If we read this carefully, we will see that the problem of removing the mountain (the seemingly impossible task of completing and rebuilding the temple) would be accomplished by the Spirit. But immediately after reading that, we see that it would also be accomplished through the hand of Zerubbabel. God doesn’t expect us to overcome any impossible problem by ourselves. But neither is he going to do it all by himself without our participation. God will work, but he also wants to work with us. God’s work is a work by the Spirit, using our hands.

Thoughts from Others

Right and Left

I haven’t watched the news since September 10th. This is a big deal for me since I considered myself a news junkie. However, I found myself hating people I didn’t know, getting angry at people whom I’ve never met and wanting justice for people who’ve not done me any personal harm.

Last week at our gathering, Krista Lynn provided some perspective that really helped me. Perhaps it will help you also.

The news and social media have been very loud recently; violence, elections, wars, hot topic issues and more. Each story attempts to elicit an emotional response in favor or opposition toward whatever bias is being promoted. The words being used to pit humanity against each other are “right” and “left”, “Those on the left are…” or “He is a right-wing extremist…” We are being trained to choose a man-made side and to believe the other side is evil.

I was pondering the use of the words, right and left, being used with such vitriol these days and the Holy Spirit reminded me of a Proverb that says, “Do not turn to the right or to the left; turn your foot from evil.” (Proverbs 4:27)

This peaked my curiosity to find out if the Word had anything else to say on the subject, so I searched and found a few more verses which support the God-ordained direction we should follow.

Deuteronomy 5:32-33 – So you shall be careful to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. You shall walk entirely in the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and that it may be well for you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.

Here, Moses has just repeated the ten commandments to the people of Israel as a reminder of what YHVH had declared to them and the covenant they entered into. Moses implored the people of Israel to follow the way of the Lord and not to turn to the right or left, saying there will be a blessing of life and prolonged days in the land of promise.

Joshua 1:7 – Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the Law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may achieve success wherever you go.

When it came time to enter the land of promise, the Lord spoke to Joshua, the new leader, and reiterated the importance of obeying His law and not to turn from it. There is a blessing of success in following the Lord’s way and not turning from it.

2 Chronicles 34:2 (of King Josiah) – He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or the left.

It was worthy noting in the Bible that King Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, not turning aside to follow the right or the left.

Proverbs 4:25-27 – Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right or to the left; Turn your foot from evil.

The verses preceding the above reference give context and direction. Keep our eyes fixed straight ahead, directly in front, watching the path of our feet, not to turn from the straight path we are on, but rather turn our feet from evil.

Isaiah 30:21 – Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it, ” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

Regardless of the direction we turn, the Holy Spirit will tell us the way to go. Are we listening or are we too inflamed by our emotions to hear Him speak, thus we continue on the direction we turned to follow?

God’s Word is clear – Do not turn to the right or to the left, but keep our eyes fixed straight ahead, listen for Him when we find ourselves veering off course and follow His ways. The world is loud, unsettling, and distracting and it can be so easy to be swept up in the ‘right vs. left’ mentality which truly only breeds hate in our hearts for those that Jesus died for (even while we were yet sinners…).

With all the noise, how are we to know if we are on the right path? Psalm 119:105 says, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” His Word illuminates our path, showing us the way to go. Let us turn off the noise and get into the Word.

Thank you, Father, for not leaving us alone in this dark world. Lord, you are good and all your ways are good. In your sovereignty and perfect wisdom, you knew of the age we would be in right now, where we are being pulled to veer from your path towards the right or the left and you already gave us guidance on how to handle it through your Word.

Your Word is life and light and reveals the way we should go! Thank you that we can trust you in all things because you are faithful and not a man that you would lie. You say that those who put their hope in you will not be put to shame. Thank you for that promise, our hope is in you alone! Your will be done and your kingdom come, in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.

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Books / Videos

Womb of Generational Blessing

Post author By admin
Post date September 25, 2025
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This is a bit different for me. I just finished The Book of Acts by Dr. Russell Welch. Dr. Welch argues that Acts is a blueprint for what the church should look like, not just a history book. However, if you are looking for how these truths get integrated into relational gatherings in practical ways, it falls a bit short. I decided not to post an excerpt from his book but I am posting this awesome article I found about children being participants in relational gatherings.

The house church is a womb for generational blessing, where spiritual inheritance is passed not through programs, but through presence. Keeping children with their parents under the same Word is a divine safeguard. Proverbs 22:6 commands us to “train up a child in the way he should go,” not outsource that training to systems that may not carry the heart of the Father.

In the house church, children are not exposed to worldly corruption or spiritual abuse – they are covered. Psalm 91:4 declares, “His truth shall be your shield and buckler.” The Word becomes a fortress around the family, guarding hearts and minds from the schemes of the enemy.

The enemy has long targeted children – through Pharaoh, through Herod, and now through modern culture. But God is raising up homes like Goshen, places of protection and glory. In Exodus 12, the blood was applied to the doorposts of homes – not temples – and the angel of death passed over.

Today, the house church is a place where the blood of Jesus is honored, and the enemy cannot trespass. It is a place where healing flows, identity is restored, and trauma is broken off by the power of the Cross.

Sexual abuse and manipulation often thrive in environments where children are isolated, silenced, or treated as second-class. But in the house church, they are seen, heard, and valued. Jesus placed a child in the midst of His disciples and said, “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:5).

This is not sentiment – it’s strategy. When children are honored in the Spirit, the enemy loses his grip. The house church becomes a place of safety, not secrecy.

Fellowship as a family is not just beautiful – it’s powerful. Psalm 133 says, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity… for there the Lord commands the blessing.”

That blessing flows through generations when families are knit together in Christ. The house church is not a downgrade – it’s an upgrade. It is where the oil of intimacy flows, where sons and daughters prophesy, and where the Spirit of Elijah prepares the way for the Lord.

Let us reject the spirit of religion and embrace the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15). Let us build homes that host His glory, raise up warriors from the womb, and disciple not just individuals – but entire households.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15). The house church is not just a model – it’s a movement. And it’s time to gather the family, apply the Word, and watch heaven invade our homes.

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Unsung Heroes

Unsung Heroes – Raleigh, NC

Post author By admin
Post date September 23, 2025
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In Western society it’s difficult to do life together, but it does happen, it can be sustained and it can be life-changing. I pray these stories encourage you to keep meeting, keep searching and start gathering. This story is told by Art Mealer. You can read an excerpt from his exceptional book The Servant Community here.

I became a Christian as a young adult in the early seventies. In the beginning, I loved everything about church: from its high ceilings and imposing pulpit to seeing friends dressed up and smiling in its pews. During those first few years, I read the Bible for hours nearly every day. Although I was hungry, I never felt dissatisfied. Then something changed.

Do you remember seeing one of those images you can interpret in two different ways? At first, your brain registers only one image, such as the face of a young girl. Then, suddenly, another image – say, a much older woman – comes into a new focus from the same lines. That happened to me one day, as I sat in the pew, everything I’d been reading in the Bible seemed to stand out differently from what I experienced during our week-by-week meetings. Between the hymns and the collection that Sunday, my perception suddenly shifted between two images. One had well-dressed rows of people sitting quietly, stiffly attentive to the minister at the front. It had the feel of listening to a professional lecture at a university. The other image that came into focus was glowing with cousins and aunts and uncles enjoying one another – laughing, chatting, and talking as if enjoying a barbecue at a casual family reunion. While the view seen in the traditional church models remained clear, I’d been blind to another equally evident vision reinforced by the very same Scriptures.

Once I saw that second image, I couldn’t ignore it. By the end of the sermon, the disquiet in my heart shifted all I knew about the church into this alternate image of sacred, familial, simplicity. I realized that what we’d traditionally dismissed as the “primitive, early church” appeared now as the natural and normal church of relationships -maturing and nourishing one another – just as we see described in scripture.

That event was over fifty years ago, and I still can’t unsee either perspective. As a result, I’ve pursued that fresh, alternative biblical church experience without animosity towards my traditional friends. This return to the scriptural pattern had no name or books describing it. Since the 1990’s it has been known as the small church movement (variously called the New Testament Church, house church, organic church, micro church, simple church, and so on). Over the past 50+ years I have experienced deeply peaceful house churches and a few splits and schisms as well as a few helpful traditional churches. I continue today to be part of a house church. I recently thought to set down all I had learned over the years into 20 brief chapters and published, The Servant Community. One among 100’s of good house church related books available today.

Various house vs traditional models will continue to point out the “errors of the other’s way,” charging each other as being “unbiblical.” But hold on. Can you tell me of a more unbiblical organization than the synagogue? Not found anywhere in the Torah. No instructions for their practices. Used by the diaspora Jews as a place of prayer, beginning a few hundred years before Christ, until this very day. Yet, we read: “He (Jesus) went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was His custom.” – Luke 4:16

In spite of setting out yet another detailed house church resource, my encouragement to you is “grace.” At the end of the day, be free. Set others free. God used the nation of Israel in spite of their failures to “do things right.” Stay humble. Jesus had a habit of attending the unbiblical synagogue. Pursue His leading. Our God doesn’t fit into anyone’s box.

To purchase Art’s book, click here.

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Thoughts from Others

Christians Anonymous

The following was recently written by my good friend Buff Scott, Jr. To find out more about Buff click here.

A reader inquired to what extent his allegiance is owed to the church group he attends. Good question, and it gives me a favorable time to address it. At the outset, let me say I’m inclined to believe one’s allegiance is not the exclusive property of any group of saints.

However, if we have found a Christian assemblage, regardless of where they meet – whether under the shade of an old apple tree, in the living-room, in a rented structure, or in a church building, and we find them to be more in line with our thinking and commitment, and we decide to meet with them and participate in their activities, we then owe them a certain level of responsibility, such as deferring to their leadership, monetarily contributing to those ministries of which we agree, and otherwise trying to build up this local group in a diversity of ways.

As for me, my preference are house meetings or home assemblies, for there is no fancy edifice to maintain and make payments on, no hired hand (pulpit sermonizer) to support, and no questionable projects to financially bolster. In a setting such as this, the basic financial needs are the destitute and supporting the man whose ministry is full-time evangelism. Jesus is the good Shepherd, not the hired hand. It is heartwarming what Jesus says about the hired hand in John 10:11-13. I encourage you to go there and spiritually digest what He says. You might be a little surprised – and delighted.

If all saints deserted the church edifice and began to meet in private homes or similar places, as the early believers did, all pulpit sermonizers and “Reverends” would be forced to either find a job or go into full-time evangelism, which would surely be a blessing. For as long as our ecclesiastical orators are tied down to a pulpit, barricaded from us “peasants,” and financially kept afloat, he will never find a job and go to work or get himself involved in full-time evangelism – that is, taking the message of salvation to the unregenerate.

We have come a long ways since A. D. 33, but mainly in the wrong direction, for we have divided and subdivided. We are spiritually sick with the party spirit (Gal 5:19). If for the first 200 years the early saints could win over a big part of the world without the assistance of church edifices and pulpit ecclesiastics, and they did, why is it so strange to think we cannot do the same? Look at AA and how far they have come with their substance abuse programs. They own no edifices” or structures and have no budget to underpin. They meet in a communal setting, just anywhere they decide to meet – schools, libraries, homes, fire stations, and other places.

We no more need church structures than AA needs to construct a fancy, expensive building to meet in. And in AA meetings, there are no paid speakers or professional orators. They mutually share, exchange ideas, encourage each other, and either cry or laugh on each other’s shoulder – the very things we should be doing. But no! We pay big bucks to import a professional to do our ministries by proxy. “It ain’t right!” It’s as wrong as wrong can be. Heaven does not condone, nor ever has condoned, this digressive, apostate practice. I beg all of my fellow believers to allow reformation to ring and reign over the hills and the valleys of sectarianism!

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