Session # 1
q
The Philosophy of NT Church Growth
q Eph 1:3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Repentance from Dead Works
a.
All blessings of God are spiritual or (pneumatikos) in
nature.
·
The manifestations of these blessings occur in the heavenly places
or where the glory or presence of God dwells.
This is why effective worship in our churches is so vital. This is why spending time in God’s presence
is so vital.
Heb 6:1 ¶ Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb
9:14 How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God?
q The law as in the OT is our trying to
please God by our own efforts. Grace
and the ministry of the Holy Spirit is God doing everything in us
q
Dead
works entail false compassion, soulish burdens, guilt and condemnation.
·
Dead
works are all works done outside of the leading of the Spirit of God.
v 2Co 3:7
But if the
ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so
that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
v A glory is energized within dead works, but
it is a glory that is being rendered useless, idle, and inoperative
v All activities being done outside of the
voice of God in our spirits will manifest the blessings and the glory of
God temporarily.
v The ministry of death must be done away. Many of these works are accomplished out
of our logic and intellect, fleshly compassion, earthly or soulish what appears
to be right, noble, and charitable, instead upon strict reliance to the
voice of God. To walk in the Spirit
entails complete adherence and reliance upon the still, small voice.
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit
be rather glorious?
v Much more abounds the office or
ministration of the Spirit in glory.
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be
glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10
For
even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of
the glory that excelleth.
v For all things done outside of the Spirit
of God (dead works) that have been glorified by the church indeed are not
glorified because much greater is the glory through the ministry of the Spirit.
11
For
if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is
glorious.
v
For if the
thing being done away was done (dead works) through the intermediate
agency of glory the things of the Spirit abide permanently in the
sphere of glory.
1Pe
1:25 But the rhema of the Lord endureth for ever. And
this is the rhema which by the gospel is preached unto you.
v
The Function of the Blessed Church (Or Why Has the Church
Been Blessed?)
Glorify God Through the Church
Eph
1:6 To the praise of the glory of his
grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
All of these
spiritual blessings in verse 3 have been given to bring the glory of the Lord in the local assemblies.
Eph 1:3 ¶
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
q The church is
the only universal vehicle at the disposition of God. Sunday school, sermons, committees, outreaches are most of the
time the minor functions of the church. The major is to make the invisible God
visible through the full participation of every member.
·
Glory,
is that principle which makes the invisible Christ become visible in the church
and through out the world. Glory is the invisible
God’s visible mode of being. The Lord’s
mighty deeds, the manifestation of His presence, and the activity of the
invisible are all manifested in His glory.
A.
God’s
glory then, manifested through the local assembly becomes the object of the
world’s praise to God. To the
praise of the glory of his grace The more glory, the more praise. The more glory, the more that Jesus Christ
will be lifted up, and draw all men unto Him.
Eph1:12 That we (the church) should be to the praise of his glory,
who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Lu 4:14
And Jesus returned
in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region
round about.
Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me.
The Church Must Operate in Obedience to Attain to the
Blessings
Eph
1:7 In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins,( according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;)
·
Various
definitions of abounded:
· God has given us in great abundance. He has excelled towards us; He has been affluent, rich, or dealt in excellence towards us. He has made to abound to or He has conferred to us this thing superabundantly.
q
This is
God’s mode of dealing with His saints at all times.
·
The abundance of blessings comes
within the limitations of wisdom.
A.
Wisdom then,
is performing all things in accordance to the will, dispositions, arrangements,
and timing of God.
B. The superabundance that comes into our
life is limited in proportion to doing all things in conformity to God’s will,
and carrying them out step by step in His direction and His timing. This is
what it means “toward
us in all wisdom and prudence;”)
Eph
1:9 Having made known unto
us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath
purposed in himself:
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;)
·
This was the purpose of the revelation of the mystery of the God’s
will in the first place; that Christ would be all and in all. It shows us that our Christianity is not
about things but about the revelation of the person of Jesus Christ and giving
Him preeminence in all things.
10
that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are
on earth; even in him:
·
Those blessings are given to us to manifest the Christ and then to
bring everything in our lives and in our local assemblies back to Christ, and
give Him the preeminence in everything.
It is not about programs, committees, miracles, or blessings. It is about Christ being first in all
things.
·
The more that Christ is revealed the more that the blessings of
God will abound. The blessings are
given so that Christ can be revealed and become preeminent in all things.
·
The mystery is the revelation of the Christ as all in all, in
preeminence and as the fullness of all things.
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Romans
16:25 ¶ Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ,
according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the
world began,
26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets,
according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith:
Christ is All in All; The Church Must Reveal the Person of Christ
·
Christianity is not
about things, but about the revelation of the person of Jesus Christ. The more the revelation of the person of
Jesus Christ the more will be our victories.
The great responsibility of the church as we shall see is to bring the
fullness of the revelation of the person of Jesus Christ. Total revelation of the Christ takes the
active participation of every member.
Eph
1:15 ¶ Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and
love unto all the saints,
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of him:
18
The
eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope
of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints,
v
The riches
of God are the unreachable and unsearchable dispositions and arrangements of
God.
·
God’s
inheritance in His saints is the possessions, arrangements, and the attributes
of God’s glory in the saints.
·
His riches
then are known instrumentally by the church, and are located within the church
itself.
·
All of these
riches are brought forth by the hope of each saint’s or local assembly’s hope
of their calling.
·
The hope of our calling becomes a reality
through each saint’s obedient response to the call of God. The hope of our calling is based then upon
an effectual call; or to those to whom God’s call has come with effect. It is the call of God to a believer or
church that has been answered by a totally obedient response.
·
Session # 2
q
The Church in
Action
Fit Together and Knit Together
Eph 4:16
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that
which every joint supplieth,
according to the effectual
working in the measure
of every part,
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
·
Every member
then, of a local body, must work to his or her peak performance through the use
of spiritual gifts, callings, and ministries. There can be no “one-man show,”
and no pews sitters.
·
Every member
must find his or her place in the body in terms of his or her ministry,
giftings and callings and raised up in them.
This is the job of the five fold ministry whom the local pastor heads.
Eph
2:21 In whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
·
To frame together the members
of Christ’s body, as parts of a building are brought together. Joining, cementing, and fitting and raising
together a building with all of its parts must take place.
·
The church
becomes this building and a Holy of Holies unto the Lord as all of its members
perform to their peak efficiency by their callings, whether it would be active
or inactive, ministries, giftings, in a sphere of uncompromising obedience.
Every one must participate through obedience.
·
This holy temple is in
actuality, a Holy of Holies for the Lord.
·
The great lie of the enemy
has been to place the function of the church into the hands of the few, and
encourage most others to be pew sitters, thus severely hampering the glory of
God and the salvation of men.
Eph 2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
·
Every believer individually
and corporately also are being built up together with the object of
constructing and abode or dwelling place for the Lord in the Spirit.
·
A dwelling place is an abode
where God will feel totally at home, and will have full rights to do as He
pleases. This describes a totally
yielded life on the part of every believer and each local assembly.
Col
2:2 That their hearts might be
comforted, being knit together
in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the
acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
·
The knitting together comes after every member of the local church
has been fit together into a proper building for the Lord through the ministries
and callings of every individual. The
believers’ hearts are then knit together in affection.
·
This oneness, in combination with the effectiveness of every
member’s ministries and spiritual gifts, will bring this local body into a full
understanding of the accurate knowledge of the mystery of the Godhead and
Trinity. This then is the fullness of
the glory of God, which should be displayed to the world.