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The Government and Dominion of God in the Congregational Body Gathered Together, PtII This
article is NOT about whether your congregation of believers incorporates
or not, it is about the atmosphere, and structure of the government of God’s
family that gathers together. God only has ONE family. It is made up of ALL believers in Jesus Christ who truly follow Him as their Lord and King. Many SAY they are in the family of God but FEW really are in true relationship to Jesus Christ in our modern age. They
have never been taught the whole truth.
God’s kingdom begins within and unless the seed of Christ rules
within the individual then mankind will NOT be fit for heaven.
Those who love Christ, obey Christ.
Sanctification is a church word that means set apart for Christ
alone. The entire process of
sanctification is to build each disciple into Christ’s image.
A true disciple of Christ is someone who is FOLLOWING HIM.
God does not expect PERFECT people, just people who are in the
PROCESS of being changed. However,
one thing is crucial and that is the WILL of the individual has decided to
allow God and His word to be manifested in their lives.
They have given over control of their lives to His higher
authority. “Those who obey my commandments are the
ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and
I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them.”
Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name)
said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and
not to the world at large?” Jesus
replied, “All those who love me will do what I say.
My Father will love them, and we will come to them and live with
them. Anyone
who doesn’t love me will not do what I say.” John 14:21-24. LB In
the great reformation of the 1400s, great reformers and revolutionaries of
their day, tried to set up an earthly system of government that would keep
people from falling back into the religious deceptions they came out from.
However, God did not intend that His people would mature into seeds
of Lutheran-ism, Methodist-ism, Presbyterian-ism, Moravian-ism,
Baptist-ism, Church of God-ism, Assembly-of-God-ism or even a revived
Catholic-ism.
There is only ONE body of Christ and in order for us to truly come
together to function as Christ’s body on earth we need to focus on the
basic essentials of dynamic discipleship and faith.
God will never truly be understood by the mind of men. Our minds are too small. The best we can do is to hold
loosely to our intellectual understanding of who God is while holding
tightly to Christ, His word and other Disciples of Christ who truly love
and obey Him.
Denominations formed because people wanted to understand God and be with
those of like mind in their faith. They
did not want to quarrel or fight over how they perceived God.
These are all good motives on the surface but God is a SPIRIT.
And He says He will be worshiped in Spirit and in Truth.
So, mankind does not relate to God with his mind only but his spirit.
It takes time to cultivate a relationship with God.
You have to un-plug and spend time with someone you can’t see.
That takes a lot of faith right there.
You have to BELIEVE that God will reward you for seeking Him even
though you can’t SEE him. As
you mature in God and are governed by Him and not man made systems, you
begin to realize that you really don’t KNOW all the answers and there
are many mysteries of our faith.
God did not ordain the systems of church government that we see in our
modern age. These systems are
man made structures of rule and government set up by man.
God’s kingdom government was to be inside each
individual. That was the
foundation of his kingdom rule
Understanding the whole reason Christ instituted the new birth and
the work that is to take place within each believer, and supporting Christ
in His work of overcoming and having dominion within each person, is what
leadership in the body should be supporting.
The greatest thing that leadership in the body of Chris could do in the 21st
century is to teach every born again believer to allow Jesus within 1.
to be their Guide, Their Teacher, the Shepherd and the Bishop of
their souls. 2.
Help the “seed” of Christ within each believer to grow into
maturity. 3. Get people into the presence of God through prayer, bible study and worship. Nothing beats spiritual growth more than impartation by the Holy Spirit and these are the conduits that He works best in. Mature leadership in the body of Christ should ask themselves these questions: 1.
"What is the BEST vehicle to promote the will of God, the
presence of God, the love of God and the true discipleship of
believers?” 2.
How can people best be encouraged to allow Christ to govern them?
3.
What will help the 21st century family survive and
thrive? 4.
How can we help people focus on getting ready for Christ’s return
by shifting their mindset from the here and now to eternal goals? 5.
What methods encourage believers to sit still at the feet of Christ and
be taught by Him?
Jesus already knew about the modern age when He visited John on the Island
of Patmos. He said that the
churches in Revelations needed to do several things to be ready for his
return.: ·
Develop an ear to hear ·
Listen to what the Holy Spirit says. ·
Repent ·
Stir up holiness. ·
Unmask immoral lifestyles, ·
Do not tolerate false doctrine. ·
Do not allow people to make idols of men. ·
Do not preach the gospel for hire, ·
Mentor others by your lifestyle. ·
Encourage others to worship, pray, be baptized in the Holy
Spirit, ·
Set up watches of prayer and intercession to be ready for
Christ's return.
In America we, who love Christ and His people, must wrestle the Family
of God and the lost away from the clutches of the worldly Whore of
Babylon’s system of the Beast whose goal has been to kidnap, drug, and
take hostage anyone she can deceive.
Revelations, Chapter 18, says that the intoxicating drink that the
Whore of Babylon uses to seduce people and the souls of man are the occult
and greed. The
church of Christ in the 21st century must adopt an attitude of
repentance, meekness, and humility. We
must gather together with the full awareness that our freedom, liberty and
dominion cost Christ everything. We
must begin to allow Christ to govern His church as King and Lord.
At this season of church history there is only One King and it is
Jesus Christ who has a lot of Royal Servants in training who will one day
rule and reign with Him. Nelson’s topical index identifies the flesh as:
having passions, producing evil works, dominating the mind, absorbing the
affections, seeking outward display, antagonizing the Spirit, fighting
against God’s Law, reaping corruption, and producing death.
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