BY THE GRACE OF GOD, BECOMING TRANSFORMED INTO THE LIKENESS OF CHRIST
- Make Ready a People Prepared For the Lord - (Luke 1)
HOUSE / SIMPLE CHURCHES in the LARGER CONTEXT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
- by Grace Wiebe, July 2005
As growing numbers of people across the planet continue to transition out of traditional churches and move in house / simple church directions, it is important to continue to remember that house / simple churches are not the goal or an end in themselves, but a vital part of the journey towards God's purposes for His people.
Some of God's key purposes for
His people, of course, are:
+ to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength
and our neighbours as ourselves (Mark12:29-31);
+ as we are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:2), to be conformed
to the likeness of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18) and to walk as Jesus did (1 John 2:6);
+ to express our love for Him through obedience to Him (ie. "…if
you love Me, keep My commands…" etc. - 1 John 2:3,4; John 15:9,10;
John 8:31,32) as we are led by His Spirit (Rom.8:14);
+ love one another (John 13:34,35)
+ to work together with Him, in unity with Him/His Body (John 17:23), to see
the nations discipled (Matt.28:19);
+ to cooperate with Him in seeing His Kingdom come, and His will being done
on earth as it is in heaven (Matt.6:9,10; Matt.6:33 - seek FIRST HIS KINGDOM
and His righteousness…)
Many of us have been raised up in Christian traditions where we prayed the Lord's prayer, even in our secular schools, and frequently read the verse about 'seeking first the Kingdom of God'...
But did we really understand what the Kingdom of God is? Did we realize what we were praying when we prayed 'YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN'?
Did we/do we understand what it means to SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM?
Matt. 24:14 (NIV) says, "...And this GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM will be preached in the whole world as a TESTIMONY to all nations, and then the end will come....",
Have you ever wondered why, if Jesus' focus was to establish and teach about/demonstrate the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM, it seems we have rarely, if ever, heard any teaching about that? Surely if that was Jesus' focus which He also trained His disciples to focus on, and which we were commanded to SEEK FIRST, we as the Church should have an understanding about what THE KINGDOM OF GOD is all about! And yet it seems we are very familiar with the Gospel of salvation, yet the GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM is still pretty fuzzy for much of the Body!
However, in this time of great transition that God has His Church in - where He is increasingly waking up His Church - it seems that the Holy Spirit is unveiling more about this as He in the process of bringing His Church to maturity. There are growing numbers of people around the globe which are beginning to grasp a greater understanding of this mystery (Eph.1:9; 3:9, etc.)!
I personally believe this current shaking, where God seems to be in the process of 'shaking everything that can be shaken' (Heb.12:27-29), along with this growing understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom, is setting the stage for the fulfillment of Matt. 24:14 above. We are in an amazing time!
The more we understand of what His Kingdom purposes are, the more our hearts will begin to understand what GOOD NEWS the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM IS and how everything we are/do, including life as His CHURCH, must be seen within the MUCH larger context of the KINGDOM OF GOD!
Following are some resources to assist you in your understanding
of this as well.
(capitals in the verses are mine)
An Intro to the KINGDOM OF GOD
Lots
of articles/resources etc. on the KINGDOM OF GOD
Kingdom
of God series of articles:
"…The kingdom of God is one of the great themes of the Bible. From
beginning to end it speaks of the glory of God and the greatness of his Kingdom.
The Old Testament is full of prophecies about the time when the Lord will
establish his Kingdom. One example is Habakkuk 2:14: The earth will be filled
with the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."
Small helpful booklet on the GOSPEL
OF THE KINGDOM available free through here:
Recover:
The Gospel of the Kingdom - article
PREPARATION FOR GOD'S PEOPLE IN THE CONTEXT OF ANNOUNCING,
PROCLAIMING & DEMONSTRATING THE KINGDOM OF GOD - PREPARING TO TAKE THE
LAND - excellent articles!!
http://www.morningstarministries.org/pages/word_week/2004/word_week_menu_2004.html
http://www.morningstarministries.org/pages/word_week/word_week_menu.html