What is the New Testament Church?

What is the New Testament Church?

The N.T. church is the unseen God’s only instrument to make Him visible in the earth and universe.

Imagine an apple pie.

Do you remember in elementary school our teachers using the example of an apple pie cut into eight pieces?

This would help us understand fractions.

Every piece of the sliced pie would now become 1/8 of the pie.

Four pieces would be equal ½; seven pieces would be 7/8; and the eight pieces together would make the whole of the pie.

I describe the fullness of the Lord in His manifested glory in the same way. The church is the apple pie.

If only one member of the church displays the fullness of the Lord, the assembly will manifest only 1/8 of His glory.

If half of church’s members are holding to their responsibility to be filled with the Spirit and ministering in it, that local body will manifest 1/2 of God’s glory.

Displaying the fullness of the Lord takes the active participation of every member in a local body.

Many of our present church models are erroneous in that they encourage many to become pew sitters, and very few of us to participate and minister in the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Truly then, only a small fraction of the Lord’s glory is demonstrated in our local assemblies.

And it’s a tragedy that since Jesus death, this problem has still not been corrected, because of the ego of man.

The church should operate as a human body, since indeed it is called, and is, the body of Christ.

Our human body is made-up of 200 bones fastened together by tissues and ligaments.

The circulatory system makes use of our blood as it is drawn through the heart’s right chamber and makes its way through into the lungs.

The lungs furnish the blood with much needed oxygen, send it back to the heart via its left chamber, and finally propel into the main artery or aorta. The aorta’s blood branches into smaller and smaller places.

The first are arteries, designated as arterioles, which ebb into the furthest recesses of our bodies through minute capillaries.

Our immune system fends off unfriendly proteins, and infectious microorganisms, with the one two punch of antibodies. A deadly left uppercut by the immune system makes holes in the foreign cells, and its swinging right hook swallows up and digests foreign matter.

Our digestive system starts up in our mouths.

The food is broken into fragments by our chewing and is mixed with saliva.

It then goes down the esophagus and right into the stomach. The digestive process is redoubled by the ferocious activity of gastric and intestinal juices.

The digested nutrients are then sucked into the small intestine.

The remains of unassimilated foods, and waste substances from the liver, are passed into the large intestine and gloriously expelled from our bodies.

Finally, our skin is one big living organ!

It protects us from drying up, controls the loss of fluids, and shields us from harmful substances.

Its sweat glands are our body’s air conditioning, the skin receptors distinguishing the levels of body temperature and pain, and finally our fat cells insulate us. (Excerpts are taken from Microsoft’s 1999 edition of the Encarta Encyclopedia.)

In our human body, every one of its members knows exactly what its function are.  and they hold themselves responsible to fulfill them.

They do it with great effectiveness.

The members of our body do not take glory or attention upon themselves, and they always work at their peak.

Every member of our human body is active, and it is equally offensive as it is defensive in their roles.

The church as Christ’s body and should operate along the same lines as the human body.

The church is the most important institution in the whole universe.

This is the why God implemented it in the first place. He has none else.

The church’s most important job is to bring forth the glory of the Lord into all of the earth, and throughout all eternity.

Ephesians 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Glory is defined as the end product of the invisible God becoming visible. The Lord accomplishes this through His Word, His attributes, and righteous deeds.

Isaiah 40:5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

The glory of God is of supreme importance.

Through it, men are ushered into eternal salvation, physical healings take place, people are set free from demonic oppression, spiritual gifts are displayed, and revival of cities and nations that ultimately change civilization are started and carried out.

Civilization’s most essential requirement, and its most desperate need, is to be capable of beholding an invisible God, who desires to make Himself plainly evident, through Jesus Christ in His glory.

The key to all of humanity’s needs, past, present, and future, lie locked in the Person of Christ.

To the proportion that the invisible Christ becomes visible to mankind by His glory, is to the exact proportion that all of mankind’s needs will be met and answered forever.

John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

The church of Jesus Christ is GOD’S ONLY UNIVERSAL INSTRUMENT, which can make Him visible.

Aside from His glory as seen in creation, God has made for Himself no other avenue that will allow Him to become visible in a real, personal and intimate way to people.

Ephesians 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.