Dear friends,
Here is a funny – A friend recently pointed out that on the back side
of our Christmas card Hallmark printed someone else’s message saying;
“We spent our 12th anniversary in Cancun.” At first we were horrified
and then just laughed it off, wondering who spent their 12th anniversary
in Cancun, and thankful Hallmark didn’t print their picture!
Barb
and I spent our 12th anniversary, which was in 1990, in Rocky Ford,
Colorado, where I was a pastor at the time, lol. Our Christmas card
picture was taken last fall at Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, Scotland, a
far cry from Cancun, lol. (Now some are looking for those cards to read
the back, lol)
House church is much more than ‘Simple church’
Back in the Charismatic Renewal of the 1970’s people came and went from
home based ‘prayer & praise’ meetings at will, with commitment
expected neither to the meetings nor to the people in them. It fit well
with the culture of the day as the US was coming out of the hippie
movement and into the Jesus people, then to the informal home based
prayer & praise meetings of the Charismatic Renewal.
When
you heard of a new prayer and praise meeting starting you’d race to it,
often finding people you had seen previously when they too had visited
some other new meeting in town, but no real relationship came of it.
It
became the thing to do. When friends met socially the talk was what new
prayer meeting they had gone to and what happened in it. Visiting the
various meetings around town was like walking the aisles at a big store
picking the best produce or product, and then having sampled, move on.
The
independent charismatic churches of today didn’t yet exist and prayer
& praise meetings were popping up everywhere. People came and went
out of those prayer meetings like kids moving from one ride at an
amusement park to the next – nothing was required or expected of you.
A
funny observation of the day was after a person received the baptism
with the Holy Spirit they should be locked up for 6 months because many
did more damage by their zeal with zero knowledge than they did good. It
was the wild, wild, west of Charis-mania.
What goes around, comes around
In
our day the modern equivalent of these come and go as you please prayer
& praise meetings is called Simple Church, and most have the same no
expectation of commitment as the prayer meetings of the 1970’s, and can
be just as wild and crazy.
But,
if you examine scripture for what defines a Bible based house church,
and look at the common thread down through history to our day, those
were and are still founded upon Christ laying down His life for us which
in turn means members of a house church lay down their lives for each
other.
In
Acts through Paul’s letters we see people laying down their lives by
giving of their resources and skills to help others to such an extent
not a single person had a need among them. When Dorcas died in Acts 9
they showed Peter the garments she had made for them.
Disciples
often rotated homes they met in and rotated who led each meeting, and
as they outgrew one house and multiplied out to start another home based
church, they stayed related to one another and continued the
relationships. So much so, that when Paul wrote to them, his letters
said ‘to the church at…(Rome, Corinth, etc)’, indicating though the
disciples met in many homes, there was just one body as they all
remained related to one another. I’ve seen estimates the body of Christ
in Ephesus was as many as 25,000 people, yet he addressed them all as
one body, all related to one another.
House
church is founded upon a higher purpose for the gathering – to further
the discipleship process. House church is not a come and go as you
please prayer & praise meeting – while it can include all those
elements that make those meetings to alive and flowing in the Spirit, it
is much more, it is much deeper – people in house church are committed
to meeting regularly together, walking through life together, and
growing in Christ together.
A
person may say they are born again or love Jesus, but there is no way
to prove that. God therefore designed His righteousness to be proven,
revealed, and perfected within relationships. The proof of our walk with
God is found within our relationships with other disciples.
Some
proponents of simple church teach a spiritual free-for-all like in the
1970’s, with no expectation of commitment, so we see the same immaturity
now as we did in the charismatic renewal – people looking more for
spiritual goose bumps and to have a wild and crazy time in the Lord than
actually growing up to be more Christ-like.
The
first ‘church’ in a home was Adam & Eve with the Lord in the Garden
of Eden. Where 2-3 are gathered He is in the midst and we see that
first in the Garden. We don’t meet in homes because of persecution, but
because we are family. Families are committed to one another: Family
gathers around a meal, family provides a home and clothing, and walking
through life together is part of what makes a family, a family. So also
is the family of God. We meet in homes because God established the home as the primary source for spreading the knowledge of God across the earth.
We
are not orphans, running from home to home begging for a morsel here, a
crumb there, yet spiritually speaking that is exactly what many
Christians are like, distracting themselves by going to this meeting or
that to mask the fact they have no one in their lives. We are family,
but to be part of one requires purpose of heart and a willingness to
grow as a person and as a person in Christ.
The
word ‘Christian’ means ‘follower of Christ’ or ‘follower of the
anointed One’. Jesus said that they would know us by our love* and that
we should lay down our lives for others. So to be a follower of Christ
means to love one another within relationships. Love is a quality of the
heart, and the only way it is known is by actions demonstrated within
relationships. * John 13:34-35
I
encourage you to meet in homes even if you start with just your family,
but by all means invite others when you feel it is right. At the start
the way you meet doesn’t matter as the Lord often builds a core group
who are committed to one another, living intentionally towards one
another, and then He often adds others sometimes a year or more down the
road. Meet with purpose and intent. Often a meal is involved,
discussion, prayer, study, and a lot of fellowship and sharing of lives.
God moves in seasons, not minutes and seconds, so allow a season of
getting to know one another, a season of working through difficulties
and misunderstandings, a season of seeing Him binding people together in
His love.
Prophetic
Some
will recall what I shared the Father said to me in September 2003:
“Watch out when Hillary takes office.” She was a US Senator at the time
and I knew the only 2 ways ‘up’ were Secretary of State and/or
President, so it will be interesting to watch the coming months if He
meant President as time will reveal what He meant. The ‘Watch out’ makes
me consider the possibilities for a possible administration of hers in
2017-2021, and I will write more about that later.
Consider
also how I shared during the Bush/Kerry Presidential campaign of 2004,
when I noticed a different spirit about it I asked the Father what it
was. He said: “It is the spirit of socialism. It can be delayed, but it
won’t be stopped.” I asked where it came from and He said, “It came from
Europe for there are those in this nation who think the US should be
more like Europe, but that’s not what I’ve called this nation to be.”
Each
nation has its purpose in the Lord and that wasn’t a criticism of
social policy, but a statement that isn’t how the Lord intended the US
to be structured. But with the latest proposal to turn the Internet over
to the Federal government we can see the forces at work to federalize
every aspect of our lives, yet it is only a fraction of what is to come.
(More on that later
too)
I’ve
taught a lot about the coming Ezekiel 38-39 war between Russia and her
allies and Israel and her allies. What I find fascinating is considering
what must happen between now and then in terms of Middle East, Russian,
and US politics. There are several basic conclusions we can draw from
scripture, here are a few.
For
instance, the first ally of Russia named in 38:5 is Persia, which is
modern Iran. That means whatever headlines we may read about an Iranian
arms deal, the fact is it will be one of the nations that goes to war
against Israel. In 38:8 & 11 it says Israel lives in peace and
safety before the invasion, so look for a local or regional peace either
by treaty, election, or even perhaps merely by being distracted by a
common regional foe like ISIS. But realize the war won’t come until
Israel is on a local level, at peace. This shift in the coming months is
something the Father has shown me, a shift from concern about the local
peace to concern for the peace of the whole region. In fact, the
regional conflict may lead to news of local peace – we will see – but
the focus now is on the region as a whole, and at some point Russia and
her allies will shift focus and blame to Israel and seek to destroy it.
Ezekiel
38:12 says the enemies of Israel will ‘ascend like a cloud to cover the
land’, which (I believe) refers to air power – so watch for Arab
nations to become much more active in their air power, because some of
them will join in the future attack.
All
these however must be tempered with our life in Christ. His economy is
not dependent on the world’s economy, for His economy (an economy is
much more than just money) works within relationships for all we need in
the natural is here on earth, not in heaven. He has given us the
kingdom, but He lives in people, so it is through those people He moves
to meet needs, whether material needs or the need to grow in Him, it is
all about relationships.
Chris’ room
– We are finally down to the handicapped capable sink/cabinet being
made! Handicapped sinks are shallow at the front and deepen at the back
so a person in a wheelchair can roll right up under it without hitting
their knees. We hope to order them later this month, and then decide on a
counter top with the roll-under cabinet being built around the sinks,
and it all should be installed in March. Wow, the final $2000 to go and
we are SO relieved. Chris loves his new bath and shower, the bath
especially as at the group home they only have showers. The other day he
said, “I like my new room dad. Thank you”, he said it in such a sweet
tone of voice I knew he appreciated all the work and effort that went
into it, even if he has no concept of money and those who gave to help
us do this, nor even of his own need for such a specialized bath and
bedroom. And Barb and I thank you too!
Thank you for being part of our lives, it is a privilege to have you part of ours.
Blessings!
John and Barb
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