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Archive for September, 2013

EXTRA EXTRA

Posted in Uncategorized on September 15, 2013| 1 Comment »

Just an interesting article, and wanted to pass it along….always liked Tozer.

THE LONELINESS of THE CHRISTIAN
by A.W. Tozer
 
The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in 
an ungodly world, 
a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good 
Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world.
   
His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of 
his kind, 
others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his 
absorptions in the love of Christ; 
and because with his circle of friends there are few who share his 
inner experiences, he's forced to walk alone.
   
The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding 
caused them to cry out in their complaint, 
and even our Lord himself suffered in the  same way.    
 
The man (or woman) who has passed on into the divine Presence 
in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. 
He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme 
object of his interest, 
so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious 
shoptalk.    
For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, 
so he is avoided, 
and the gulf between him and society widens.
 
He searches for the friends upon whose garments he can detect 
the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, 
and finding few or none, he, like Mary of old, keeps these things 
in his heart.    
 
It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His 
inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God 
what he can find nowhere else.

STAY THIRSTY MY FRIENDS....FOR THE WATER OF LIFE.

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the myth of the church building

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on September 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Hello and welcome to another ACTS 29 TODAY edition.

Well we are finally off and running and it may take a few post to get thru each subject but that’s OK because this is very important stuff that will ultimately change the face of just about everything we look at today as church.

Most of my information is taken from the book PAGAN CHRISTIANITY by Frank Viola and George Barna available at amazon, and also the book RETURN by David O’Brien available at http://www.allfortheprize.com and I highly recommend them both.

Many modern day Christians have no clue why they do the things they do and go to the places they go, they figure that its just the way it is. They have a great love affair with the BUILDING and if a group of believers begin to gather together it isn’t long until they start talking about securing a BUILDING.

metal-church-building

After all how could you be a church without a BUILDING, just listen to what people say:

Did you go to church today (how can we go to something we are)

Wow that’s the biggest church I have ever seen (talking about a BUILDING)

or the average pastor:

Isn’t it wonderful to be in the house of GOD today (as if the BUILDING was GODS house)

or…what church do you go to (uh…well there is really only one church)

or…do you go to pastor so and so,s church (Jesus said it was HIS church not any mans)

None of these things have anything to do with new testament Christianity.

Ancient Judaism had 3 things, the Priesthood, the sacrifice, and the temple and when Jesus came He ended all 3…fulfilling them in Himself. He is the temple who embodies a new and living house made of living stones—without hands. He is the priest who established a new priesthood and He is the perfect and finished sacrifice.

jesus_laughing21

Christianity is the first and only so called religion to ever come forth that is NON-TEMPLE BASED. No where in the NT do we find the terms church (ekklesia), temple, or house of GOD referred to as a BUILDING. To the first century believers calling a church a BUILDING would have been like calling your wife a condominium or your mother a skyscraper.

In AD 190 Clement of Alexandria was the first to use the words ”go to church” in reference to a BUILDING but was totally foreign to early believers. YOU CANNOT …GO TO SOMETHING YOU ARE.

Even at that his reference ”go to church” was not in reference to a special BUILDING to go to for worship, but instead referred to private homes that second-century Christian’s used for their meeting places.

The early church (that is the PEOPLE OF GOD) consistently met in homes and until the year 300 we know of no BUILDINGS that were originally build as a church until the time of Constantine. Neither was there a special priestly caste set apart to serve GOD.

Every believer understood that he or she was a priest unto GOD and that the true and final sacrifice had come (JESUS) and the only sacrifice they now offered were the spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving.

When Roman Catholicism evolved in the 4th to 6th centuries, it mixed many of the practices of paganism and Judaism and set up a PROFESSIONAL priesthood, erected SACRED BUILDINGS, and turned the Lords supper into a mysterious sacrifice. They also adopted the burning of incense and sacred virgins.

The protestants dropped the the sacrificial use of the Lords supper, the burning of incense, and the sacred virgins, but retained the clergy (caste) as well as the SACRED BUILDING.

Lakewood-Church

Well its very interesting to find out just how we got to this place we are in today and it only gets better as we go on, next week we will look at GOING FROM THE CHURCH MEETING IN HOUSES…TO…HOLY (NOT) CATHEDRALS. And find out who the father of church buildings really is, so till next time BE A BLESSING TO SOMEONE, AND BELIEVE ME…IT CAN MEAN THE DIFFERENCE IN SOMEONES LIFE.

Larry

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The word is spirit and life

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on September 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Hi and welcome to another edition of ACTS 29 TODAY.

Before we dive into the subject of how the Church has gotten to the place it is today, I want to just share a few things to set this all up. I just want to take a historical look at how we got to this place that we call church, and the practices that we take for granted as Biblical, Scriptural, and acceptable.

So before we start that I just wanted to say this first.

The Bible says in Jude 1:4

For there are certain men who have crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, lawlessness, immorality, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

07globe-london-sermon-blogSpan

THE PROBLEM

Herein lye’s a great problem, these people come in and NO ONE SEEMS TO NO THEIR THERE…… To the point of denying Jesus Christ.

My point today is simply this….if the CHURCH ( THAT IS…THE BODY OF CHRIST…NOT THE BUILDING ) would go to the WORD OF GOD and read the book, The Holy Spirit would take that Word which is SPIRIT AND LIFE thus revealing that word to them.

If Gods people ( the Church ) would just read the book verse by verse they would not be so susceptible to the errors of those who have CREPT IN UNAWARE. But sadly today most people don’t even no what the word says….

THAT’S A PROBLEM FOLKS.

Because if we don’t no what the word says….. FOR OURSELVES…..then we will have to take ……..SOMEBODY ELSE’S ……….WORD FOR IT.

THE CREEPER

And what if that somebody else is a CREEPER….!!!!!!!!!!! ( one who crept in ) then we are in trouble.

1982_live_forever_33_large

Case in point….when I was younger and my friend and I would be walking down a country road, sometimes someone would stop and ask us directions. Whether we new the answer or not….we thought it very funny…..to send people on a wild goose chase ( don’t judge me ha ha I have repented ) yea go 2 miles that way turn left and go 5 miles south and etc, etc and then laugh and laugh.

The word of God is the road map, the directions, and the owners Manuel, we don’t take other peoples word for many things in life, NO we check it out for ourselves. We research it and make our own decision on the matter.

But yet with the MOST IMPORTANT THING IN ALL OF OUR LIFE MOST, PEOPLE CHECK THEIR BRAIN AT THE DOOR, WALK IN SIT IN A PEW…..AND LET SOMEONE ELSE TELL THEM HOW THE WHOLE SPIRITUAL WORLD WORKS AND HOW THEY SHOULD LIVE, AND WHAT THEY SHOULD DO, AND WHAT THEY SHOULD GIVE, AND ON AND ON AND ON.

Preaching

WE HAVE TO GO TO THE WORD FOR OURSELVES….OTHERWISE WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DISCERN THE CREEPERS FROM THE REAL DEAL AND WE COULD BE EASILY LED ASTRAY.

ITS UNBELIEVABLE

There are so many things today being taught, preached, and seminared about that are not even close to what GODS word says about things and many have no clue if these things are true or not, its truly unbelievable.

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If there were ever a time that we need to no what the road map says, it is now….THIS IS THE WAY TO GO….GO THIS WAY…..IT IS TODAY. The Bible says even the elect would be deceived IF IT WERE POSSIBLE…….. that tells me there is a high level of deception around.

ITCHING EARS

We are in the days of people NO LONGER WANTING OR LISTENING TO SOUND TEACHING, BUT HAVING ITCHING EARS ( WANTING TO HEAR WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR ) GATHER UNTO THEMSELVES TEACHERS THAT WILL TEACH THEM WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR…...EVEN IF ITS NOT TRUE.

Flat-World

Helping people to understand this and disciplining believers in this way will make a huge difference in the body of Christ JUST SAYING….NO….TO ERROR.

Thanks for your time and prayers as this time of transformation and reformation will be a most exciting time as the Church age comes to a close.

And remember…doing nothing….is not an option.

Larry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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