As we are continuing to read the book of Acts in our Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan, I am reminded of so many false teachings and misconceptions that have been believed by people for years, but have no basis in Biblical Truth! One is that Jesus began a new religion called "Christianity". He did NOT! Jesus Began His CHURCH with those disciples that believed on Him after His resurrection. They became members of His Body and the universal Church. The early church was made of born again JEWS! They were each, individually, priests and kings of their own lives and households. Jesus never did establish a "leader" of His Church! He GAVE ministry gifts, as described in Ephesians 4, for the edifying of the Body. Look at Ephesians 4:11-16:
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Do you see the picture that JESUS planned for us? HE never appointed a single MAN as head over anything! He ALONE is the Head of the Church! The "gifts" that He gave are for our benefit, and we are instructed as to the proper attitude (of gratitude) that we are to have towards those whom He has sent to teach us His Word! In Acts 13 today we see that Paul has been sent to preach the Gospel, that had been preached to the Jews, also to the Gentiles! This first missionary journey that Paul went on began about 44 AD. Up to this point the Gospel had been preached primarily to the Jews and the early church was made up, primarily, of Jewish believers. NOW the Gospel would begin to be preached to the entire world! The early believers were born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, full of the Word of God and God was confirming their preaching with signs, wonders and miracles! Mark 16:20:
20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
It was not until man got involved in running the show that the various "churches" began to be filled with empty form and ritual and lost the power! They were who Timothy was speaking of in 2 Timothy 2:5:
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
Today we are again seeing people step out of denominational walls and hindrances to truly seek HIM and the TRUTH of His Word! They are again being filled with His Spirit and obedient to His calling. Are YOU such a believer? If not, NOW is the time wake up! To learn more, or to find a church like The Spoken Word Church near you, check out our website through the link on the left. We would love too hear from you! In the meantime, here is a song from Hillsong Young and Free called "Wake":
Shalom in Him!
