What Do Jesus, Rocks and The Church have in Common?

The next two blogs will deal with Matthew 16:16-18.  ...Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. ...Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.  ... That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell...

Before going on to the next blogs, there's a video that you'll need to watch for is vital to the next two topics.  The first part of the video is about "Sediment Rock".  It's a brief explanation on how "Sediment Rock" is formed.  The second part deals with Ligneous Rock which is not necessarily informative for the next two topics.  Please pay close attention to the first part dealing with "Sediment Rock".  You may wish to take notes so you can refer back to them while reading our latest new blogs.

Pay especially close attention to the rock images that shows the layers of rock and how they make one large rock.

The video is only 3 minuets long.  If you'd like, you may wish to stop watching after the part about "Sediment Rock" ends.

Click here to view video.

Spiritual Structure of the Organic Church (Part 1)

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 

When Jesus prayed "Thy will be done in earth" He was talking to the Father; therefore it's the Father's will that was prayed to be done in the earth.  God the Father sent Jesus to do His will upon the earth.  How do we know this? The Bible tells us so!

John 5:23        

...He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

John 5:30     

...I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

John 5:36       

...for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I                            do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.

John 5:37         

And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me.

John 6:39         

And this is the Father's will which hath sent me.

John 6:44         

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I                           will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:57        

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me,                         even he shall live by me.

By the scriptures we have established that the Father sent Jesus into the world to do His will.  After Jesus completed all of His earthly assignments, He left earth.  While on earth Jesus sent His disciples forth two by two giving them power over unclean spirits (Mk 6:7) and commanded them to go into all the world to preach the gospel (Mk16:15) teaching all nations whatsoever He had commanded them to do (Mk 16:15 & Mt 28:20).

Jesus, who was sent to do the will of the Father, in like manner He sends us, His disciples, forth to do the will of the Father (Jn 20:21).  Because Jesus was going back to the father, leaving the earth; He gave not only  the disciples of the Bible the assignment to go forth, but all disciples (past, present & future) (Jn 17:6-20) to go forth and do the Father's will on earth even doing greater things than He did while on earth (Jn 14:12).  Just as Jesus was sent forth by the Father to do His will in the earth; in like manner Jesus sends us, His disciples to do the Father's will in the earth. The Father sends the Son, and the Son sends us.

In addition to Jesus sending us out to do the Father's will, he gave us the Holy Spirit.  It is by the Holy Spirit we know what the will of the Father is.  Jesus said that He will pray that the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, may abide with us forever (Jn 14:16).  The Holy Spirit teaches us all things and bring all things to our remembrance (Jn 12:26) and guides us into all truth showing us all things to come (Jn 16:13).  Jesus, the light of the world was leaving the earth.  Because the Light was leaving the earth, he made us light ( Mt 5:14 ) by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in us (1st Corin 3:16) Who guides us into all truth (Jn 16:13) to make known unto us the true will of the Father.  (17:20

As Christians, the Church of Christ, we can only carry out our assignments, the will of the Father,  by yielding our members unto the Holy Spirit.  "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness" (Rm 6:16)? When we yield ourselves to the Spirit we become servants of the Father carrying out His will.  When we do not yield to the Spirit, we are not servants of the Father.  Therefore, we cannot and do not carry out His will.  The Holy Spirit was given specifically to guide us into all truth (Jn 16:13); truth from God's perspective whereby we know the will of the Father.

Summary:

God the Father sends His Son to earth to do His will.  God the Son sends His disciples, with whom He is builds His Church.  Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to communicate to the Church what the will of the Father is.

SEE ILLUSTRATION BELOW

(Eph 4:11) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers

(Eph 4:12) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of  Christ:

(Eph 4:13) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto

one perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ

Whether an Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor or Teacher, we are only one single small rock (Pétros) awaiting instruction from the Holy Spirit as to how to unify in the faith and knowledge of Christ unto one perfect man, (body of Christ with Christ as the Head) unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Pétra/Church).

Spiritual Structure of the Organic Church (Part 2)

Let's look at Matthew 16:16-18

Mat 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Notice that Jesus let it be known that Peter did not perceive of this by natural means of understanding, but that it was revealed by divine providence.  Jesus stated on numerous occasions,  i.e. Jn 6:30 & 14:24, that he received understanding of the Father's purpose for His earthly life by divine providence.  As we see in verse 17, the divine providence of Peter's revelation is none other than God the Father too.  However, when Jesus left the earth, He promised to send another divine revelator, the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:26, 15:26, & 16:17).

Proverbs 25:2 says: It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.  I believe that God concealed a message in this scripture.  Take a look at verse 18, "thou art Peter...".  The Greek word for Peter is Pétros which means rock, stone or pebble. The next portion of the verse says "and upon this rock I will build my church...".  The word rock in this part of the verse in Greek is Petra which means a rock, cliff, ledge or large stone.  A cliff is made up of several stones cemented together.  A ledge is a protruding rock from a cliff or mountain.   Peter (Pétros) an individual disciple represents an individual stone.  The rock (Petra) which means cliff or large stone represents Peter's proclamation that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God.  Believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God is the cliff /ledge foundation upon which Jesus builds His Church. 

Images of a Ledge From a Cliff

Each individual disciple (Pétros) who's foundational belief is "Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God" is with whom Jesus builds His Church.  Jesus will not build His church with anyone who claims to be His disciple and do not have this fundamental belief as their core foundational belief. 

1Co 3:10
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.  But let every man take heed how he buildth thereupon.

1Co 3:11 
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

      

Each yielded pétros is able to receive divine instruction from the Holy Spirit regarding their domain upon the (Petra) foundation which Christ is building His church upon.  As each pétros takes its position given him by the Father through the Holy Spirit, they begin to fit snugly together forming the Church which is Christ's body.

When the nerves in our body parts (members) are damaged or are not properly connected, instruction from our heads (brain) cannot be received.  Therefore, our body will not do what the head wills it to do.  It is the exact same when we, pétros are not yielded to the Spirit, we cannot receive the will of God for our lives and cannot be used in the formation of His church.

I looked up the word church and basically the word means assembly.  I then did a word study on assemble.  We are already aware of the definition of assembly that means to assemble together as a group.  However, I recognized three other meanings of the word listed them below:

Assembly

I          A group of machine parts that fit together to form a self-contained unit

II         A unit consisting of components that have been fitted together

III          A set of pieces that work together in unison as a mechanism or device. 

I inserted these definitions of the word assemble using the verse in Mt 16:18 below:

I   Upon this rock I will build a group of parts that fit together to form a self contained unit (which
    would be Christ, the Head and Chief corner stone plus His body.) 

II    Upon on this rock I will build a unit consisting of components that fit together

III   Upon this rock I will build a set of pieces (group of disciples) that work together in harmony as
       a method by which I will bring about my Father's will upon the earth.

           

These definitions give new meaning to Mat 16:18.  Considering these definitions of the world assembly, which means church, we see that Jesus is still in the process of building His church.  The church not having been completed is probably why we have not seen the full manifestation of the Power of God in the earth.  Perhaps too, this is why it appears that that the gates of hell have prevailed.  When the church is completed, men will begin to see the most awesome terrible power of God operating in the earth; and will no longer dare to think of Christians as weak, let along open their mouths to say that they are.

We hear quoted quite often that Christ is coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle.  Let us read what the actual word says below:

Eph 5:23
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and He is the savior of the body      
Eph 5:24     

Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything

Eph 5:25

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it
Eph 5:26        

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

Eph 5:27
The he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish. 

First we see that Christ is the head of the church and savior of the body.  If the church is the body of Christ, then Christ is the savior of His own body.  Not a mortal physical body, but the church, the body Jesus is currently in the process of building.

Secondly, we see that the church Christ is building is subject to Him.  Not partially, kind of or somewhat, but totally subjected unto Him.  Remember, we are talking about the church (Organic Church) that Christ is building and this is what it looks like; a church totally subjected unto Him.  Any church not totally subjected unto Him is a counterfeit.

Thirdly, Christ is sanctifying and cleansing His church.  Any church that is in the process of sanctification and cleansing looks absolutely nothing, and I repeat, nothing like an unbeliever even though the sanctification process has not been completed. 

Lastly, when the sanctification process is completed, the church will be without spot or wrinkle, and will be holy and without blemish.  This is the church Christ will present to Himself.

Are you a pétros which Christ will use to build His church?

THE ORGANIC CHURCH

Generally we think of organic as something being genuine, non synthetic or pure.  How could we apply this definition to the Church of God?  Let's see, an organic church would be a Church built by God with none of its building materials or structures defiled by man's carnality.   I once heard a sermon titled The Organic Church and found it very enlightening in comparison to what the average church in America looks like today.  Below are some notes I took from the sermon that hit on some key points.  At the end of the summary of notes is a link to the original sermon you can listen to.

 

Organic Church

ONE

A church where each member is taught to be connected to Christ and how to submit to the dynamic work of the Holy Spirit

TWO

It has a self organizing capacity (For example, when you go to sleep at night, you don't have to sit down and make a list of all the cells (members) that need to be renewed & restored in the body (of Christ).  The Body (of Christ) has a genetic code that determines that all of its cells (members) are renewed and organizes the body.  The genetic code for the body is in the blood of Jesus. The organic church has a self organizing capacity.  That means that ministries & functions and members of the church are not going to be embodied in committees that determine what & who the church need.  It will grow like a bud coming out of the vine (Jesus) and the more that self (carnality) messes with that bud the more it gets messed it up. 

God puts vision in the heart of people for the good of the church.  He brings from every person the things that they are supposed to supply (for the Body of Christ) as their part.  Therefore, the best thing we can do is teach people how to plug into Jesus.  If you want ministries in the church, teach people to plug into Jesus.  We need to teach people to listen to the voice of the Lord.  The more an individual plugs in and listens to the voice of  the Lord the more the Lord will actually cause passion  and visions for things to arise within them.  This is how organic ministries are formed in the organic church and not through committees and committee  meeting as in the self anointing structured church.

As we teach people how to listen to the voice of God, we might want to suspend developing ministries within the church until God raises up someone with passion for a particular ministry. When a person has passion and vision from God, he will have the unction from the Spirit to see it through deriving fulfillment from working within that ministry not complaining about others not doing their part.

THREE

The person, whom God has raised up within the church to head a ministry need an organic Sheppard to Sheppard them. The Sheppard being tuned to the Spirit, will bear witness with the Spirit in the person to whom God has impassioned with the ministry; and not hold them back from where God is leading nor push people into places where God doesn't want them to be. (Remember, The Organic Church is a church where each member (including the Sheppard) is taught to be connected to Christ and how to submit for the dynamic work of the Holy Spirit to manifest through them.

As wise farmers, a farmer where the Father is the Husbandman, who are called to be co-laborers with the Father in His plantation, we as Sheppard's are to observe what the Lord  is doing.  We are to watch the feet and the mouth of the sheep.  If they are eating and drinking properly and there is no mouth or foot diseases, we are to leave them alone.  If  we observe mouth or food disease, we are to treat it with the Word of God, give them some antiseptic and move on.  Other than that we don't touch it or handle it until it's time to pick the fruit.  If we handle the buds & blossoms of what God is producing, we'll just ruin it and it will not produce.  We are to lead them before still waters, into green pastures and into places of resting in the Lord; and that's it.

Another advise for the Organic Sheppard would be that of a story in a book "The Fourth Dimension" by a Korean Pastor, Paul Yonggi Cho.  In the book it talks about someone had come to him and asked him, "you have such a huge church, how can you afford to spend so much time praying everyday with such a large church".  He responded and said, that's why I have such a big church; I cannot afford not to; from the time spent in prayer and spending time in the presence of the Lord, all kinds of things within the church springs forth".  As a leader of the church, he couldn't  afford  not to spend such a level of communion with God.  The morrow of the story is " If you want things in the church to be built, build them in the Spirit".

FOUR

The Organic Church is function oriented and not position oriented.  So many churches have competition for positions of titles of authority.  No one walks into these areas of positions of authority in these churches and step on toes or you'll have the hatchet fall upon you. Jesus calls us to places of functions and not this hierarchy of positions that have become an icon of status.  Pastors have a specific function to Sheppard the flock and should not be interested in the title Pastor (Apostle Prophet Evangelist or Teacher), but rather walking out the position of that title.  A good sign that you have been called to a particular position of title is when others call you by that title first, by observing your walk rather than by introduction or being told.  There should be no interest in their title, if they are following the Lord.

From the very beginning of problems in the universe was this arch angel who decided he wanted a greater position; God's.  He wasn't interested in God's function-- as the sustainer and life giver.  He didn't want that function at all.  He just wanted God's position (authority and glory) and not His function.  This created death and chaos in the universes.  He tempted Adam and Eve with title and position (you can be like gods knowing good and evil, i.e. you don't need God in your life you can be one yourself).  Whenever there is a struggle in the church for title and position, you'll see division, death, chaos and anarchy in the church. 

           

The organic Church has a healthy level of chaos. (Healthy chaos brings about unity and growth) It always values diversity multiplicity and is more about heart condition and substance than about image.

Listen to Sermon     The Organic Church

"America" The Weak Church

The Church in America is not holy.  Lack of holiness is preventing the full power of God from being manifested throughout earth, and is hindering the full will of God from materializing for the United States.  If God's will for America cannot be accomplished because His Churches in America continue to resist His voice through those, whom He has sent; we will face Judgment.

If God's will for America cannot be executed through His church due to its unclean state, judgments will fall upon America.  The state of the Church will determine whether or not God's will for America comes to pass.  If the Church repents and abolishes the structures it is currently built upon; which is not based upon the Bible, and put away their leaders, who man has ordained and not God, and begin to allow God to build His Church (by yielding to the Holy Spirit and not our minds and self willed desires) and  begin to hear those whom God has sent, than His will for America shall come to past.

America has brought shame upon the name of God.  Greed, Hatred, Violence, Murder, War, Racism, Pride, Arrogance, Unmerciful, Thievery and all that God hate has become associated with the God of America; America who proclaims the name of the Lord.

If the Church continues to cling to its structure, leaving the God of the Bible out, damnation will come.  The time is short, the grace period is short!  God's Spirit and protection for America is quickly approaching its end.  Woe unto the inhabitants of an America without the habitation of the Lord God!  Woe! Woe! Woe!

For further clarification click to view eye opening message