The church is not defined by a What, or a Where, or a When, or a Why, or even a How; the church is simply defined by a Who.
Christ is the “fullness of the Godhead bodily”, and “the church, which is His body”, is “the fullness of Him…” How great is this calling!!
The Pattern of God’s House is a Person, not a paper plan.
The early church is not the Pattern for the Church but rather a model of the church being fashioned according to the Pattern, Jesus Christ.
God’s House is a “CUSTOM” home, not a “spec” or “tract” home. He is the Owner/Architect and it must be “built according to Pattern.”
God’s House is a “CUSTOM” home, not a “spec” or a “tract” home. There is a heaven and earth difference between the first and the other two.
“On earth as it is in heaven” is the law of the House of God.
We need a clear theology to have a pure ecclesiology, for the latter is merely the earthly expression of the former.
Even as “revelation” is needed to know Christ, the “Rock”, so “revelation” is needed to know that which is to be built on that Rock.
The early church was built on the foundation laid by apostles and prophets. The church today, by pastors and teachers. O what a difference.
We should not seek to plant churches. We should seek to plant Christ. Christ is the Seed of the church, and its Stalk, Branches and Fruit.
IC (Institutional Church) vs. OC (Organic Church) is not the ultimate issue; Christ vs. Adam is… wherever they are found.
We are called to gather as the Body of Christ but if the flesh isn’t crucified, we are merely gathering as the body of Adam to be religious.
A Christ-centered fellowship cannot exist among self-centered people. The cross is the ground of the church according to God’s mind.
The unity of the Church is found in Jesus Christ alone. All human contrivances to produce unity only divide the Church further. JESUS ALONE!
The unity of the church begins with the unity of the Spirit and ends with a coming into the unity of the faith, not the other way around.
Unity without uniformity; diversity without division…the expression of the body of Christ
No two circles can be fully one which do not possess the same center. *
Like spokes of a wheel, the closer they get to the hub the closer they get to each other. Unity only comes when Christ is our shared center.
Unity is not obtained by pursuing unity together. Unity is obtained by pursuing Christ together. *
Division simply comes from di-vision. Until Christ becomes the single unifying vision of the Church, we shall ever be filled with di-vision.
The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” (So too for the Body of Christ.)
Spiritual “eccentricity”, not being centered in Christ, is the root of all division, diminishment, defilement and imbalance in the Church. *
When we speak of unity, we speak of WALLS coming down. The problem is deeper. Walls merely exist where FOUNDATIONS end and that’s the crux.
A building is unified by 1 foundation, a body by 1 head, a family by 1 identity, and a bride by 1 love. Jesus alone is all 4 to the Church. *
Unity is not only “good and pleasant” (Ps. 133), it is also a fire that burns the roots of self and the chaff of theoretical religion.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition and vain conceit…” applies not only on the individual level, but on the corporate level as well. *
Imagine if the “one another” commands in Scripture were not only lived out between individuals, but also between the various churches. Wow! * **
Def.:”organism” = “a being in which every part is at once a means and an end to every other.” *
It takes great enlargement to embrace the fullness of Christ in the fullness of the Body of Christ and not settle for a portion only. *
Limited spiritual capacity is a precursor to sectarianism and a blinding force to keep one from discerning it.
If we are baptized into and called by the Name above every name, why would we choose any lesser name (denom) to identify ourselves by? Why?? *
A gathering of believers that does not have Christ alone as its “attractional center” will need to resort to hype and/or external controls. *
The phrase “dead church” is an oxymoron. Buildings are dead; organizations can be lifeless; but the Church exists in Christ in resurrection.
“The medium is the message.” -Marshall McLuhan. Is the message of “the preeminence of Christ in all things” embedded in the way we assemble?
Jesus told His followers not to use honorific titles when referring to religious leaders. It’s right there in red and white! *
With titles come en-title-ment. Jesus said, “…not so among you…” Luke 22:26
You never see “Apostle Paul” written in Scripture, only “Paul, an apostle…” Paul knew who he was, but he didn’t capital “A” title himself.
God is not looking for spiritual heroes to highlight on a platform, but a fully functioning body under His headship to reveal His fullness. *
We have to start believing that Jesus, the Head of the Church, is better at running meetings than we are. Is He up to the task or isn’t He?? *
The mind of the Lord is governed by the heart of the Lord. We will not know the headship of Christ, then, until we know the “heartship” of Christ. * **
The riches of Christ in His Body are found primarily in the multitudes with the one and two talents, not the relatively few with the five.
Being the church 24/7 has been supplanted by “Going to church” 1.5/1 …and we call this normal!
We ought to do church in the context of life, and do life in the context of church.
The church needs to learn to become counter-culturally relevant. In the world, not of the world, yet meeting the deepest needs of the world.
It is a deception and a danger to love “the church” more than we love the brothers and sisters who are the church.
Commitment to “church” is a commitment to a continual PROCESS more than a final PRODUCT. The church will never be a trophy on the shelf.
Christ-Centered Christianity 