God is a builder

“The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in the form of man, of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.” (Is. 44:13)

“For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.” (Heb. 3:4)

“For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Heb. 11:10)

Jesus Is A Builder
“Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.” (Heb. 3:3)

“Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.” (Mark 6:3)

God Builds In Three Ways:

The Lone Ranger Was Not Alone

I received an email and the writer asked, “I spend much time at your site and enjoy it a great deal. Thank you for the blessing of the free resources. I was wondering if there is a scripture specific to no man being an island and seeking to live independent of the Body of Christ?”

The phrase “no man is an island unto himself” is actually an idiom and not found in the Bible. The precise quotation is, “No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main. – John Donne – Meditation XVII.

However, the meaning behind the quotation is central to God’s plan for man as evidenced from the Genesis account and carried throughout the whole of the Bible; it is called restoration, first to God, and secondly, with each other.

OakTree Fellowship: Simple & Organic Church

OakTree Fellowship
• We are believers on the way.
• Our commitment to the Lord is genuine, real, and vibrant.
• Our relationship to one another is close-knit and Christ-centered.
• We are more interested in Christ-directed life transformation than mere intellectual assent.
• Our gatherings express and reveal Jesus Christ and in which every member functions and shares.
• Our community life is alive, nurturing, and where each believer is growing to love Jesus and one another more and more – a community where no one stands alone, develops alone, or grows up alone.
• We want to live Christ deliberately and passionately even though we are all going through a sort of spiritual detoxification effect (spiritual baggage we have embraced as being truth but not found in the New Testament), we are neither legalistic nor libertine in our lifestyles.
• We do not attend traditional church services as passive spectators.
• We are believers who choose to gather in homes.

The Camp Of Familiarity

Most believers live lives of quiet desperation instead of seeking to live Christ deliberately. Great numbers of believers live in the present, based on their past with no expectation for an abundant future. The Bible teaches otherwise.

Your Destiny

And we know that in all things … (Rom 8:28).

I find such rest and comfort in this verse when I am faced with situations that I cannot understand. Though I may be a reasonably intelligent person, I simply do not possess the capacity or ability to fathom the breadth of God’s ways or the depth of His love (Ecc. 11:5). Disappointments, setbacks, and things that I just do not understand take place and I become concerned, or worried, or get upset, and then the Holy Spirit reminds me of this verse and I am greatly comforted:

… God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28).

There are some who believe that before the beginning of the world, God chose certain people to receive His gift of salvation. They point to verses like Ephesians 1:11. Others believe that God foreknew those who would respond to Him and upon those He predestined. What is clear is that God’s purpose for people was not an afterthought; it was settled before the foundation of the world. Man was made for God. Man can never be satisfied until he is in union with God. Man is incomplete without God. We were made to serve and honor God. If you have believed in Christ, you can rejoice in the fact that God has always known you. God’s love is eternal. His wisdom and power are supreme. He will guide and protect you until you one day stand in His presence.

CORE Discipleship Ministry

About CORE Discipleship Ministry:
In a day of instant coffee, instant popcorn, and microwave ovens, most of us want to hurry-up processes that take time to accomplish. God has no instant formulas for discipleship. God invites you to follow Him at whatever point in life you may be. Apart from His sacrificial work on the Cross, the most important thing our Lord did upon the earth was to make disciples. Discipleship, like raising children, is progressive, not instantaneous. Jesus’ discipleship process was relational, up-close and personal. He took a few men at various stages of life, poured His life and ministry into them, equipped them for ministry, empowered them, and released them to repeat the process – disciples are made as we go, baptize, and teach.

How To Impress God

When was the last time you impressed God?

You remember the story. Jesus went about doing good, and came home to Capernaum to do good there, too.

When Jesus entered the city, a centurion came to Him, asking for help. The centurion was a Gentile, a Roman, an officer of the army and someone familiar with rank and file. He understood authority.

Red pill or blue?

What do all the following have in common: The church building, order of worship (three hymns, scripture reading, choir music, unison prayers, pastoral prayer, sermon, offering, and benediction), the senior pastor, the sermon, the pastor’s chair, tax-exempt church status, gothic cathedrals, candles on the communion table, incense burning, taking the Lord’s Supper quarterly, the congregation standing and singing when the clergy enters, coming to church with a somber/reverent attitude, condemnation/guilt over missing a Sunday service, Elizabethan English, the altar call, the church bulletin, solo salvation hymn, door-to-door witnessing, evangelistic advertising/marketing, the decision card, bowing heads with eyes closed, raising a hand in response to a salvation message, one verse evangelism, the one hour sermon, the single bishop, hierarchical leadership, clergy and laity distinction, contemporary ordination, the title “pastor”, believers wearing their Sunday best for church, clergy attire, the clerical collar, the choir, the boy’s choir, funeral processions and orations, the worship team, the collection plate, ushers, infant baptism, sprinkling, the sinner’s prayer, personal savior, communion meal with only a cup and a cracker, Sunday school, the youth pastor, ministers of music, tithing and clergy salaries, seminary training, seeker churches, satellite campuses, vacation Bible school, children’s church, multi-media systems, church steeples, stained glass windows, the pulpit, the choir, the pew, the balcony, and concert style auditoriums?

Notable House Church Quotes

“We have no temples or alters.” This statement, referring to Christians, comes from the pen of the apologist (defender) Minicus Felix, c 200, and all evidence supports its accuracy. Throughout at least the first two centuries there were no church buildings as such, and this was so remarkable that to the pagan population, it was considered grounds for accusing the Christians of ‘atheism.’ In a world notable for the number of its holy shrines and the rivers of blood that flowed daily from the sacrificial victims, Christians were conspicuous in that they possessed neither the first nor engaged in the second.” Secular Use of Church Buildings, JG Davies, 1968: page 1.

Wolfang Simson: 15 Theses

God is changing the Church, and that, in turn, will change the world. Millions of Christians around the world are aware of an imminent reformation of global proportions. They say, in effect: “Church as we know it is preventing Church as God wants it.” A growing number of them are surprisingly hearing God say the very same things. There is a collective new awareness of age-old revelations, a corporate spiritual echo. In the following “15 Theses” I will summarize a part of this, and I am convinced that it reflects a part of what the Spirit of God is saying to the Church today. For some, it might be the proverbial fist-sized cloud on Elijah’s sky. Others already feel the pouring rain.