About the house church: John White

I went to seminary (Fuller) with John Piper and generally I find him to do a good job of interpreting Scripture and drawing appropriate conclusions.  In this case, he has missed the boat, at least to some degree.  I submit that his paradigm of church (shaped by his own experience) is preventing him from seeing what Scripture and history teach us.

I'll work through his six observations with my comments (might take several postings).

1.  John:  "Church is about people not places.  In the NT, church is never referred to as a building or a place."  Then, John goes on to largely refute his first observation with his second observation.  There he lists all of the references to church that are linked to a house.  For instance, "Greet also the church that meets at their (Priscilla and Aquila's) house"  Rom 16:5. 

I contend that every church mentioned in the NT met in a home and functioned like a small spiritual family.  And, that this practice continued until the time of Constantine (early 300s).  Consider...

*Scripture is our authoritative guide for faith and practice.  The common practice of church in the NT was meeting in homes.

*Up to Acts 10, all churches were made up of Jews.  "Foundational to all theory on the biblical concept of family is the Jewish teaching that the home is more important than the synagogue.  In Jewish tradition, the center of religious life has always been the home.  The Church has yet to grapple seriously with this crucial concept."  Wilson, Our Father Abraham, p. 214.

*"Since 1980 we have seen a flood of popular and scholarly publications on the subject.  Here again it appears most scholars are in agreement:  the fact that early Christian communities met in homes is of great sociohistorical, ecclesiological, and missional significance.”  P. 1"  Gehring, House Church and Mission, p. 1.  In other words, meeting in homes was not just a matter of convenience.  It has major theological significance.

*“Of fundamental importance is Elliott’s insight that ‘households thus constituted the focus, locus and nucleus of the ministry and mission of the Christian movement.’” Gehring, P. 6

*“For Verner this concept of church as the ‘household of God’ (1 Tim. 3:15) incorporates two aspects:  (a) the house or family is the fundamental unit of the church, and (b) the church is a social structure patterned after the household.”  Gehring, P. 7

*"On the basis of our exegesis, we can go even one step further:  in Christ, mediator of creation, neither Paul nor the churches in Colossae and in Ephesus had the freedom to choose other social structures in the place of marriage and family.  They were theologically obligated to choose these, as both had been handed down to them through the creation traditions found in Scripture, primarily in wisdom literature…This is one more reason the Pauline churches attributed such great significance to the oikos as the seminal cell of the church…” Gehring, p. 250.

*"“…the choice of the gathering place was formational for the self-understanding and the organizational structures of the individual churches to such an extent that the ancient oikos can be seen as the formational model for ecclesiology.”  Gehring, P. 255.

*"Not until the third century do we have evidence of special buildings being constructed for Christian gatherings..."  Banks, Paul's Idea of Community, p. 41.

*"The Christianity that conquered the Roman Empire was essentially a home-centered movement."  Viola, Pagan Christianity, p. 14.

I could add more quotes but you get the picture.  More to come.

Emil Brunner Quotes about ekklesia

https://stevesimms.wordpress.com/2017/05/19/emil-brunner-quotes-about-ekklesia/

Emil Brunner Quotes about ekklesia

Posted on May 19, 2017

by Steve Simms

Ever since I encountered the risen Jesus in a Spirit-led meeting on a college campus, I’ve wanted to go beyond the formal way of doing church and meet the way Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 14:26. In 2008, The Salvation Army asked my wife and me to open a “non-traditional church” in Nashville on that model. In 2015 I wrote a book about meeting that way: Beyond Church: An Invitation To Experience The Lost Word Of The Bible–Ekklesia.

Today I discovered Emil Brunner, a Swiss theologian who died in 1966, and his writings about ekklesia. I am amazed at how much Brunner’s writings match what we do at The Salvation Army Berry Street and my book. Here’s a quote from him that matches how I feel about the opportunity to experience ekklesia with The Salvation Army:

“I am inexpressibly grateful that the Lord of my life has granted to me in such abundance these opportunities to take part in the life of His Ekklesia and to bear witness to the Living Christ in so many places and in so many ways.” –Emil Brunner (1889-1966)

Here are quotes from two of Brunner’s books:

Quotes from: Dogmatics: Volume III – Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith & The Consummation

“The Spirit who is active in the Ekklesia expresses Himself in active love of the brethren.”

“The Ekklesia does not only know that God is love. The Ekklesia also lives from the love of God.”

“Christ did not give the Ekklesia the Word alone, but His life also.”

“Luther realized that the true Church, the Ekklesia, was based wholly on the Word and Spirit of God and not on the Sacrament. He realized that faith is not the obedient acceptance of a doctrine but encounter with Christ present in His Word and Spirit.”

“The more time passed, the clearer it became that the official and institutional character of the the Church hindered the creation of Ekklesia.”

“Only by starting with the Ekklesia can we understand this bond that unites faith to the fellowship of faith.”

“Ekklesia, in it’s love individuals are bound together in fellowship and brotherhood at the same time.”

“The faith which stems from the Church and not from the Ekklesia, from doctrine and not from witness, is not in itself living faith.”

“The misunderstanding of the Ekklesia as the Church, as a sacred institution, corresponds to the misunderstanding of faith, through which faith was misunderstood as affirmation of doctrine.”

Quotes from: The Misunderstanding of the Church

“The ekklesia is what it is through the presence of Christ dwelling within it.”

“The very being of God is Agape — that love which the Son brings to mankind from the Father — and it is just this love which is the essence of the fellowship of those who belong to the Ekklesia.”

“The historical Church . . .has arisen, in the course of a long and complicated history, through a process of development, transformation and retrogression, out of the New Testament Ekklesia.”

“The New Testament Ekklesia is a is not an it, a thing, an institution, but rather a unity of persons, a people, a communion.”

“The Ekklesia of the New Testament, the Christian fellowship of the first Christians, was not a church and had no intention of being a church.”

“There was in the Ekklesia a regulation of the functions— Scripture declares this explicitly— assigned by the Holy Ghost to the various individual members who were thus equipped to perform their special services — falsely represented as offices. For an office belongs to a public organization; an office is part of an institution. The diakoniai, however,

the services, should be conceived on the analogy of the organs with their specific functions which inhere in a living body. Even though it be only a metaphor, this is relatively

the most adequate expression of the truth.”

“The New Testament surprises us again and again by the multiplicity of these functions and their bearers, of the various services and those who render them. One thing is supremely important: that all minister, and that nowhere is to be perceived a separation or even merely a distinction made between those who do and those who do not minister, between the active and the passive members of the body, between those who give and those who receive. There exists in the Ekklesia a universal duty and right of service, a universal readiness to serve and at the same time the greatest possible

differentiation of functions. The metaphor of the organism illuminates one aspect of the reality; the dependence of all kinds of ministration on the one Lord reveals the other. The

head of a body is something different from the ruler of a people. Yet both sides of the reality are expressed and must obviously be expressed, in order to do justice at one and the

same time to the vertical and the horizontal relationship, on the one hand to bring out the mysterious vital fellowship, on the other hand to show that it is the one Spirit who effects

the differentiation of functions. It is therefore quite wrongheaded to describe this pneumatic ordering of the Ekklesia as anarchical simply because it is something different from an organization or institution.”

“It is the mystery of the Ekklesia as the fellowship of the Spirit that it has an articulate living order without being legally organized.”

“The impression made by the life of believers plays a part of decisive importance in the genesis of faith. People draw near to the Christian community because they are irresistibly attracted by its supernatural power. They would like to share in this new dimension of life and power, they enter the zone in which the Spirit operates before they

have heard a word about what lies behind it as its ultimate transcendent-immanent cause. There is a sort of fascination which is exercised mostly without any reference to the Word,

comparable rather to the attractive force of a magnet or the spread of an infectious disease. Without knowing how it happened, one is already a carrier of the infection.”

“It is so much easier to discuss from an intellectual and theological standpoint the ideas implied in the revealed Word of God and to analyse them conceptually than it is to allow

oneself to be transformed at the center of one’s life by the action of the Holy Ghost”

“It is so much easier to secure the life of the fellowship, its coherence and its indispensable hierarchy by means of solid legal forms, by organization and offices, than it is to allow the

life of communion to be continually poured out upon one, to allow oneself to be rooted in it by the action of the Holy Ghost. You can handle and shape as you please such things

as law and organization, but you cannot act thus towards the Holy Ghost.”

“The fellowship of Jesus discloses a paradoxical unity of terms which elsewhere are incompatible. It is a mystical unity of visible earthly persons with an unseen,

heavenly, and yet present Person, their Head, with the eternal ever-present Christ.”

“The Ekklesia is the sphere of actual and realized fellowship with the Christ — a fellowship which is as real as faith and love and hope are real.”

The Ekklesia wherein the one Spirit bestows upon each his peculiar gift and therefore assigns to each his characteristic ministry . . . is reality, heavenly divine reality.”

“The Ekklesia of which the apostles speak was thus not simply a theory or ideal springing from the vision of Christ; it was also the sphere of the new life grounded in the historical

fact of redemption through Jesus Christ, and in His effective presence and power as living Head of the body.”

“What we know as the church or churches resulting from historical developments cannot claim to be the Ekklesia in the New Testament sense.”

“The meaning of the Ekklesia is what we recognized from the New Testament as its characteristic essence: communion with God through Jesus Christ, and rooted in this and springing from it, communion or brotherhood with man. The oneness of communion with

Christ and communion with man is the characteristic mark the Ekklesia.”

“With or without the churches, if necessary even in opposition to them, God will

cause the Ekklesia to become a real community of brothers. Whether the churches yield to this recognition or on the contrary blind themselves to it will determine the question whether or not they have a future.”

Here are a few additional quotes from Emil:

“To be united with Christ through the Holy Spirit means: to be directly united with Him. Here there is no difference between an ordinary Christian of our own day and an Apostle.”

“The fact of our redemption—the history of salvation—is transmitted by the proclamation of facts, that is, by the testimony of the Apostles under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”

“Above all the teaching of the Church, even above all dogma or doctrinal confession, stands Holy Scripture.”

“The Dogmatic Theologian who does not find that his work drives him to pray frequently and urgently from his heart: ‘God be merciful to me a sinner,’ is scarcely fit for his job.”

“Theology is an assault on the sin-distorted intellect.”

“Gospel preaching, is the spreading out of the fire which Christ has thrown upon the earth. He who does not propagate this fire shows that he is not burning. He who burns propagates the fire.”

“Take oxygen away and death occurs through suffocation, take hope away and humanity is constricted through lack of breath; despair supervenes, spelling the paralysis of intellectual and spiritual powers by a feeling of the senselessness and purposelessness of existence.”

“I am trying to express a view of revelation which does not fit in any of the ready-made patterns.”

Discipulo o Creyente?

The Shocking Truth about the Future of the Church-Francis Chan

Iglesias en las Casas: RW Grasso

Iglesias en casas (Fundamentos bíblicos resumen) de ICZUS ICZUS

El Modelo De Antioquia- La Transicion A Lo Apostolico

La Biblia describe a la Iglesia de Antioquia como la iglesia perfecta en el libro de Hechos. Favor de leer Hechos 13:1-3.

EL MODELO DE ANTIOQUIA: LA TRANSICION A LO APOSTOLICO

4R Vision: US Coalition of Apostles

http://www.uscal.us/4r-vision/ 

 

There is a seismic shift taking place today in the marketplace and the church. We need to understand how to respond if we are going to bring systemic transformation. This talk deals with how the church should apply the gospel in response to cultural shifts. 

First of all,

it is a mistake to believe that the culture will shift because of a church revival or a societal awakening. Often, we as believers think the key to societal transformation is to convert masses of people. But the truth is that everyone is led by the decisions of the approximately 3-5% of people who make up the cultural elite in a society. Thus the only way to affect cultural change is to convert the elite who formulate culture in every sphere of society.

Second,

it is a mistake to think that political victories will bring transformation. For example, abortion was legalized in 1973 yet the fight still rages on; same-sex marriage has been legalized in several states in the Northeast but the battle will never stop; homosexuality has been normalized by art, media and entertainment yet the rank and file of America still reject it.

The truth is that politics is only one expression of societal power. We need to influence the other mind-molding sectors of society if we are going to dictate the direction of culture. For example, we need to influence,infiltrate and control the Ivy League universities—especially Harvard, Yale, and Princeton—to change public policy, education, science, views on economics, etc. We need to influence major news outlets like the New York Times, CNN, MTV, etc. and not write only for Christian newspapers and appear only on Christian television stations like TBN.

Hence, we need to train the ekklesia to take the lead, not only in church but by actually being professors, board members and chief executives of leading elite entities in art, music, entertainment, education, media and public policy (for example, the Hoover Institute and the Manhattan Institute).

We need to distinguish between merely just assembling together which is to synagogue (episynagoge) as found in Hebrews 10:25 ( which is the common function and conceptual view of most church leaders) from the Ekklessia which in its classical and biblical usage means to come together to rule sort of like the parliament or congress of the kingdom under the king of kings ( tis is the way it was used in acts 19)

Having famous athletes and entertainers getting saved and giving testimonies is not nearly enough. We need revivals and multigenerational strategies to place our leading thinkers and practitioners in the highest levels of highbrow culture—like God did with Daniel and the three Hebrew youths in Babylon—if we are going to see societal change (read Daniel chapter 1).

Third,

we need to nurture and/or convert those who are part of the emerging “creative class” who comprise between 12-30% of the population but have by far the most wealth producers and will drive the economy for generations to come (read Richard Florida's book The Rise of the Creative Class). Those in the creative class used to be considered mavericks and non-conformists but are now part of the mainstream and part of a movement that has radically shifted the future of business and culture! Some of the characteristics of this new creative class-driven economy are:

Businesses are moving towards creative urban centers such as New York City ,Seattle and San Francisco. Thus geography is essential because it is moving from corporate driven to people driven; companies are moving to where the most creative people live, not just where there are tax incentives and highways. 

Typical hierarchical structures are fast becoming a thing of the past. New companies accommodate creative people who like to be self-managed, set their own hours, and are free to think, create, and dress informally. Autonomy, diversity and self-identity are valued more than conformity, conservatism, and group think. These people like to play at work and work at play; the lines between work and leisure are becoming fuzzier.

Top-down autocratic leadership, which expects people to just follow orders and not think on their own, is no longer effective. Companies are now encouraging creative people to join their ranks who are semi-autonomous and self-managed with leverage to set their own hours. 

A person being loyal to one community and one company for the rest of his or her life is a thing of the past. People are now moving from company to company every several years based on new opportunities to accommodate their interests, increased skills, need to meet new friends, creativity, and desire for change and advancement. (Because of the information age we are in, there are now also virtual communities with much information changing and being exchanged every day. This is making it harder to have cohesive communities and set societal norms which results in fragmentation and postmodernism.)

Diversity is in; conservative values are respected but not the norm. Only 23% of the families in the United States are nuclear families. Alternate family structures are now becoming the norm.

How should the church respond?

The church should build authentic communities to model the city of God before we attempt to transform the city of man. We have to honor unity, family, and kingdom unity with churches in our regions before we can transform the pagan systems and cultures around us.

World-changers need to experience creativity, leadership, covenant, unity, purpose and kingdom power in the church community (ekklesia) so they can be adequately discipled to recreate these things in the secular arenas to which they are called.
Senior leaders need to transition away from top down autocratic leadership style approaches if they want to attract the creative class to their church

We need to start investing a good portion of our monies towards educating and cultivating the most creative people in our churches and place them in every leadership sphere of society starting with the Ivy League schools. Consequently , we need a multi-generational approach 
We need to recapture the classical meaning of Ekklessia as used in Athens and in Acts 19 when it referred to assembling together for rulership as contrasted with merely assembling like the  word to synagogue

We have to understand that prayer, fasting and revival only among masses of people will not shift the culture, similar to how the 1857 Prayer Revival, the Azusa Street Revival in 1906, and the numerous Voice of Healing, Toronto Blessing and Pensacola revivals have not shifted culture. Only when revivals affect cultural thinkers who prove influential like Marx, Lenin, Freud, Darwin, and Gates will culture shift.  (This is not to say that prayer, fasting and revival are not important. Of course, reaching and renewing masses of people and Christians is important to spfead the gospel and save souls, but In this article we are discussing how to truly experience societal transformation.)

1. Even as we examine the Scriptures we see that God has used people that were already in high places of authority and/or culture before a nation was transformed. 
2. As we do a quick review, we find that Moses already was a prince in Egypt before he was called to confront Egypt and deliver the people of God out of slavery;
3. Daniel was serving as a top political advisor to the King of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) and later as a prime minister in Persia which positioned him to speak truth to power and transform culture; 
4. Nehemiah was the cup bearer of the King of Persia which enabled him to receive the favor necessary to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem;
5. Samuel was the first in a line of great Jewish prophets who also served as the political judge of the nation;
6. David his protégé may have been a great psalmist but he also became a king.

Finally,

all the great prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, Ahijah, Amos, etc.) did not just prophesy to small crowds of people in the temple or synagogue; they had access to political and cultural elites, even to the highest political office of the land. ( we need to cultivate kingdom prophets who speak truth to power outside the four walls of the church   )

Even church history reiterates this. For example, it took the conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine to legalize Christianity, placing it in a position to transform the whole empire. St. Augustine was first the professor of rhetoric for the imperial court, the most visible academic position in the Latin world, before converting and becoming the Bishop of Hippo, which platformed him to become the greatest theologian and thinker of his age. In 800 AD it was Christian Emperor Charlemagne who laid the groundwork for the first cathedral universities, which were the forerunners for all modern universities. Both primary leaders of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and John Calvin, received educations that included vast knowledge of the classics, not only the Bible. (Calvin at one point actually considered becoming a lawyer.) The two leaders of the First Great Awakening (which saved England from the destruction that France suffered later in their revolution, and was also the impetus for the American Revolution), John Wesley and George Whitefield, not only knew the Scriptures but graduated from Oxford. Thus they were already positioned to have the respect of the top decision makers of society.  Furthermore, Whitefield’s American counterpart Jonathan Edwards was a graduate of Princeton and later became the president of Princeton. The abolition of slavery in the British Empire was affected by the Clapham Sect which included William Wilberforce, who was a parliamentarian and a close friend of William Pitt the Prime Minister of England and many other cultural and political leaders. The Second Great Awakening in the United States was led by Charles Finney, a capable lawyer whose preaching was able to relate to many lawyers, judges and top decision makers in culture. He affected the course of our nation which led to the abolition of slavery, the implementation of child labor laws, women’s suffrage and many other things.

As we have already stated, the Azusa Street Revival and other 20th century revivals did not have significant cultural impact because they primarily converted masses of people without touching the cultural elite and top decision makers of society.


We must understand the delicate balance between infiltrating and engaging the cultural elites and highbrows of society without losing our souls and becoming elites in heart and purpose. The “Be Attitudes” of Matthew 5-7 teach us how to interface with others in our communities.

The church needs to learn how to avoid the extremes of the Christian Right, Christian Left, and the pietists who avoid cultural engagement altogether.

The Christian Right

thinks the answer is only political. This approach clothes the gospel of Christ with a particular political party and pits us against people in the world who we are trying to save. This results in us trying to exert power and control people through legal means and changing laws. Although I believe the laws of a state should be based on the Ten Commandments, and that the law is a school master that brings conviction of sin (and is an emblem of what a particular society values), that in and of itself the law is a very weak line of defense because of the vicissitudes of democratic elections.

This approach also smacks of Constantinianism. Although Christianity became the favorite religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century, this resulted in weakening the church from within because unconverted pagans joined the Christian community without abandoning their lifestyles and core beliefs. 

The Christian Left

only accommodates the gospel to the prevailing culture which results in losing the biblical distinctions of salt and light. A church that recognizes same-sex marriage and values the environment more than the Ten Commandments has already lost its soul and reason for existing as a Christian community.

The pietists or Anabaptists take the approach that the church should only build alternative sub-cultures that don’t engage or affirm the prevailing culture.

The kingdom alternative is to take the approach of the Celtic Church in the 6th to 8th centuries. They incorporated the Anabaptist strategy of building an alternative community that was a model for the pagan communities they lived among. However they also recognized God’s favor upon His created order (God blessed His creation and called it good) which many theologians refer to as common grace. Thus their communities of faith embraced the non-believing communities, loved them, and won them to Christ by demonstrating the gospel in everyday life.

The church is called to build

what James Davison Hunter, in his book To Change the World, describes as communities of faith that both affirm the good in their surrounding societal structures (hospitals, art, police, transportation, commerce, music, science, education, etc.) while also demonstrating the antithesis against that which is sinful and corrupt, not necessarily only in word but how we live our lives as Christ followers. Davidson also calls this approach having a “faithful presence” and bases it on what God prophesied to the Jewish exiles in Babylon and Persia in Jeremiah 29:4-7. In that passage God told the exiles to build houses, build families, settle down and live normal lives, seek the welfare of the city they lived in, and pray to the Lord for those around them, because as the city was blessed they would be blessed.

The church must also maintain a balance between honoring the traditions of the church and relating to contemporary culture. We are also called to model the power and blessing of the traditional nuclear family and marriage if we are going to be the antithesis to the fragmentation and curse of the alternate family structures of the present pagan world system.

We also have to repent for separating the gospels from the epistles in our approach to evangelism and discipleship which has resulted in attempting to change the world outside the master plan of Jesus for world evangelization - which is the local church  ( this is why the culture is continuing to decline in the united states  in spite of the fact that the united states has 33 percent of the population claiming to be evangelical as well as more mega churches and gospel proclamation in its history !)

The master or methodological  plan for evangelism is not found in the gospels but in Acts and the Epistles !
The gospels were written after the epistles were written to give context to the churches for the gospel story  -not the other way around !
Thus Acts 1: 1 teaches us that all Jesus began to say and do was to be fleshed out in its fulness by the creation of kerygmatic ( or proclaming)communities that would be responsible for converting the Roman Empire in three hundred years . This is what Jesus planned all along !

In the New Testament there was no separation between missions, evangelism , helping the poor and nurturing disciples from the local church as you can see from reading the epistles.

Thus planting simple  local churches that participate in complex apostolic networks that  function as kerygmatic communities in every community of the world ,that trains, and utilizes commisioned elite ( special forces)marketplace ekklessias that  function as a shadow government in every elite sphere without being disconnected from the local church is the key to world transformation 

Where you have complex apostolic networks you have less need for para church organizations that are not rooted in the local church because local churches that band together to train leaders and do missions can compensate for each other 's lack

In summary: If we are going to transform culture we need to engage and shift the influencers toward biblical values at the highest levels in every major sphere of society. We cannot only reach masses of people and change political elections. If we don’t reach the 3-5% who are the decision makers, then we will never reach our goals of societal transformation.

We also need to bring back the centrality of the local church that function as kerygmatic communities in association with complex apostolic networks 

As we think about the Scripture in Jeremiah 29:4-7 we realize the most important thing we are called to do is to live exemplary lives that are good witnesses to our surrounding communities. We need to embrace, serve and love our cities and communities, while at the same time train our children and those with the greatest potential in our churches to take the lead at the gates of every sphere of society. The battle for transformation is a multigenerational battle !

EL PROGRESO DEL PEREGRINO: PELICULA CRISTIANA

Cambio de liderazgo 2015: Mateo 16:13-19, Mateo 3:16//LeaderSHIFT 2015 (Matthew 16:13-19, Matthew 3:16): Apostol/Apostle Jim Becton

Cambio de liderazgo 2015: Mateo 16:13-19, Mateo 3:16.

¿Cómo distinguimos entre?: (Aprobando las cosas excelentes)

A.      Relacion casual: ¿Qué dice la gente que soy?

B.      Relacion nuclear: ¿Quién tu dices ser?

C.      Relacion en paternidad: Este es Mi Hijo Amado, en quien tengo complacencia.

Los resultados (Pero por la Gracia de Dios soy quien soy: 1ª Corintios 15:10):

A.      Hombres que solo quieren el don o manifestación del ministerio que Dios te ha dado.

B.      Los que se alinean contigo para trabajar como equipo.

C.      ¡Los que concuerdan contigo en torno a lo que El Padre Celestial dice de ti!

LeaderSHIFT 2015! (Matt. 16:13-19); (Matt. 3:16)

How do you distinguish between? (Approving things that are excellent..)

A.      Casual Fellowship- "Whom do 'men' say that I am?"

B.      Core Relationship- "Whom do 'you' say that I am?"

C.      Care Sonship- "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!

Results In: (But by the grace of God I Am What I Am... I. Co. 15:10)

A.       Men who just want your ministry gift or performance!

B.      Those who align with you and work together as a team!!

C.      Those who agree with what Father in heaven says about you!!!

Elementos claves de una iglesia apostólica: Apóstol C. Strickland

Hechos 2:42:

Y perseveraban en la doctrina de los apóstoles, en la comunión unos con otros, en el partimiento del pan y en las oraciones.

1. Doctrina (enseñanza) apostólica: Predicar y enseñar en torno a la vida, muerte y resurrección de Cristo.
2. Compañerismo: Algunas definiciones del griego para compañerismo lo son: comunidad, relación e intimidad. ¡Por favor purifique su mente! Esto habla mucho de las relaciones fuertes. Una vertiente que siempre veo en “iglesias proféticas” son personas que profetizan pero son inmaduras en relacionarse con otras personas o mantener relaciones saludables en torno a pequeñeces o reclamamos que los demás están mal mientras no nos fijamos en la viga de nuestros ojos. Yo reprendo una mentalidad enferma que lo que dice “todo lo que necesito es a Jesús”. No, usted también necesita a los demás. Usted necesita relaciones en cobertura.
3. Partir el pan (compartir cenando juntos) era otra forma de compañerismo.
4. Oración: El nivel de la iglesia era alto. La cultura de oración era por encima del promedio y una forma de vida que no se limitaba a los tiempos de crisis.
5. Apóstol C. Strickland

Key elements to the Apostolic church

Acts 2:42 

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

1. Apostolic doctrine: preach in and teaching centered on the life death and resurrection of Jesus.
2. Fellowship: a few definitions for fellowship translated from the Greek are: community, intercourse, and intimacy. Please keep your mind out of the gutter! This speaks of strong relationships. A trend I see too often in "prophetic churches" are bodies who can prophesy but are immature in relating to other people or maintaining healthy relationships over petty childish things or what we claim we see wrong with others yet somehow we don't see the PLANK in our own eye! I want to rebuke an unhealthy mentality that says "All I need is Jesus." You need other people. You need covenant relationships.
3. Breaking of bread eating together was a form of fellowship.
4. Prayer: The prayer level of the church was high. Prayer culture was above average and a way of life not limited to times of crises.

¿COMO CRECÍA LA PRIMERA IGLESIA?: Apostol Nahum Rosario

¿Cómo ser personas de impacto en esta sociedad?: Apostol Jose Alvarez

Tiempo crucial para la Iglesia

Geisha De Jesus-Reyes // Buenas Nuevas

@GeishaDeJesus

En el Puerto Rico de hoy son muchos los acontecimientos que están marcando la historia. Desde el IVA, la perspectiva de género y la emigración de profesionales entre otros asuntos, están impactando el acontecer noticioso. Ahora bien, ¿qué posición deben asumir los creyentes ante tales acontecimientos? ¿Cómo pueden ser los creyentes de impacto a la sociedad?

Buenas Nuevas estuvo en entrevista con el Apóstol José R. Álvarez Martínez, quien pastorea la Iglesia Restauración en Cristo de Bayamón, por más de 25 años, y quien conforme a la Biblia ofreció contestación a esta pregunta. 

“Lo primero que debemos hacer para que la iglesia sea de impacto es ser de testimonio. Los líderes estamos llamados y consagrados para el Señor. Si la iglesia no está consagrada para Dios, no fluyen en poder”, comparte el Apóstol José R. Álvarez, quien tiene un doctorado en Teología, y se destacó como ingeniero químico. 

“Este es el fundamento, todo en el mundo es natural, y si actuamos en lo natural no causamos impacto. Los creyentes debemos actuar en lo espiritual; causamos impacto, por medio de la oración, en el interior de la persona. Es en oración y declarando la palabra y decretándola”, añade Álvarez, ante la pregunta de cómo los creyentes pueden ser de impacto en la sociedad.“Haciendo esto es que se manifiesta el poder”, explica. 

“La tierra necesita ser sanada, nuestra casa necesita ser sanada, y esto ocurre cuando estamos humillados delante de Dios, invocando su nombre, y arrepentirnos de los malos caminos. (2 Crónicas 7:14) Pero todo esto ocurre como dice Dios, como dice Él, no como dicen las personas, porque este es su Reino no de nadie en particular”, añade Álvarez. 

La posición de la iglesia ante el gobierno

“Estamos llamados a interceder por los que están en eminencia, esto es los alcaldes, el gobernador, el presidente de la Cámara, el Senado etc. Debemos orar para que tengan una visión clara, que fluyan como Dios quiere que fluyan y que se conviertan. Ahí está la clave”, dice el Apóstol Álvarez Martínez.

“Debemos entender que en todas las organizaciones de la iglesia hay diferencias, pero debemos entender que en lo fundamental estemos unidos, en lo que no es fundamental tener libertad, pero en todo amor (Efesios 4:2)”, resalta Apóstol José R. Álvarez. Explica que lo fundamental en los creyentes es la salvación, creer en la Trinidad, que los que han confesado a Jesús como Salvador van al cielo y que los que sigan su llamado recibirán recompensa. 

“Hay una serie de características importantes (que debe tener todo creyente) que son la honestidad, la integridad, la fidelidad, ser transparentes, entender que todo es de Dios que no tengo que estar con celos, porque todo es de Dios”, explica el Apóstol José R. Álvarez como las claves en la vida de todo creyente. Explica que si la iglesia se mueve en estas características fluirían en testimonio a quienes les rodean. 

Instruir a los hijos conforme a la Biblia

“Pase lo que pase en el mundo, le debemos enseñar a nuestros hijos lo que dice la Biblia. Proverbios dice que instruyamos al niño en su camino, y aunque fuere viejo no se apartará. Lo que yo le enseñe es lo más fuerte. Debemos conocer la Palabra, y esa enseñanza pasarla a sus hijos; la situación es que algunos creyente no conocen la Palabra”, resaltó.

Fuente: http://www.buenasnuevaspr.com/2015/06/como-ser-personas-de-impacto-en-esta.html

©BuenasNuevasPR

ENSAÑANZA PROFÉTICA DE AMOR FE VS. POSITIVISMO: Profeta Yosef Gonzalez

No confundamos “declaraciones positivas”, con PALABRAS DE FE VERDADERA,

Tengamos en cuenta que muchas “declaraciones positivas” nunca se cumplirán, por más que las digamos, decretemos, gritemos, escribamos o las repitamos millones de veces, mal que nos pese.

"1 Reyes 18: 26 Así que los profetas tomaron el toro que la gente les dio y lo prepararon. Oraron a Baal hasta el mediodía. Le pidieron a gritos: «¡Baal, por favor, contéstanos!» Pero sólo hubo silencio, no hubo respuesta mientras los profetas bailaban alrededor del altar que habían construido"

Una PALABRA DE FE VERDADERA, se cumplirá aunque se diga una sola vez.

Mateo 8:8: Respondió el centurión y dijo: Señor, no soy digno de que entres bajo mi techo; SOLAMENTE DÍ LA PALABRA, y mi criado sanará.

Por más buenas intenciones que tengamos, no creamos que por ello sucederá lo que declaremos.

1 Corintios 4:20: Porque el reino de Dios NO CONSISTE en palabras, sino en poder.

Esta palabra me la habló Yahveh, directo a mi corazón y las extiendo para todos aquellos que con FE VERDADERA, la tomen.

Para que tu destino en propósito se concrete, debemos dejar de declarar positivamente y comenzar a hablar CON VERDADERAS PALABRAS DE FE. 

¿Cómo lo podremos hacer? Muy simple:

Juan 5:39: Escudriñad las Escrituras; porque a vosotros os parece que en ellas tenéis LA VIDA eterna; y ellas son las que dan testimonio de mí.

Nunca declaremos palabras que no sean inspiradas por la misma INSTRUCCIÓN, del ETERNO PADRE, si lo que declaramos no da testimonio de JESÚS EL MESÍAS, vano será que lo repitamos, gritemos, escribamos o decretemos.

Dejemos que nuestra vida sea sustentada por la VERDADERA PALABRA, LA DE SU PODER.

Hebreos 1:3: el cual, siendo el resplandor de su gloria, y la imagen misma de su sustancia, y quien sustenta todas las cosas con la PALABRA DE SU PODER, habiendo efectuado la purificación de nuestros pecados por medio de sí mismo, se sentó a la diestra de la Majestad en las alturas, 

Sean bendecidos 

Profeta Yosef Gonzalez

El liderazgo comienza aqui: Profeta Jorge Torres

desde que se inicia de fe debe colocarse la estructura de gobierno 

APOSTÓLICA Y PROFÉTICA

PLASMAR LA VISIÓN

MISIÓN

VALORES

el proposito divino para aquel grupo

PORQUE NO ES LO MISMO UNO QUE SE CREE PROFETA

O SE CREE MAESTRO

O SE CREE PASTOR

QUE UNO QUE SI LO ES ACORDE A DISEÑO DIVINO 

UNO QUE SI ES CONSTITUIDO DESDE EL TRONO DE DIOS

no es lo mismo uno que se procura

y que se anticipa a su llamado

porque hay iglesias que no manejan el diseño acorde a LA INTENCIÓN Y RAZÓN DIVINA

asi que dicen ser apostolicos y profeticos 

pero no lo son tanto

siguen funcionando en mente denominación

o en gobierno humano

entonces establecer para dejar bien claro cual es la visión

nuestra confesión de fe

metas y mision

valores por los cuales aquel grupo vivirá

reglamento es básico

DIOS ES UN DIOS DE ORDEN

y esto mantendrá el orden

el problema es que los que no gustan del orden

porque como sambalat

se benefician de una u otra forma del desorden

pero ES NORMAL QUE LO LEGITIMO AL LLEGAR A UN LUGAR ESTABLEZCA EL ORDEN DIVINO

y hayan reacciones

es normal también que UNA UNCIÓN MAYOR lleve a reacciones y sacuda a una unción menor y nadie se debe de molestar 

pero es la forma de DIOS DE ESTIMULAR CRECIMIENTO

si tu no entiendes lo que se te dice no te molestes y tampoco reacciones incorrectamente mucho mas fuera de principios bíblicos

LOS PROFETA PROFETAS HABLAN EN UNA DIMENSIÓN PROFÉTICA

pero otros no entienden

deben entrar a ese ambiente

POR ESO DIJE NO ES LO MISMO

PORQUE UN LEGITIMO PROFETA DE OFICIO YA MADURO

provoca un ambiente espiritual a donde vaya

una dimensión profética

un ambiente también de adoración

cuando yo no entiendo algo que DICE EL APOSTOL RONY CHAVEZ NUESTRA COBERTURA , esto me provoca a mas búsqueda para poder entender lo que DIOS HABLO A TRAVÉS DE EL

el asunto es que pareciera que los profetas solo llevan encontrones o conflictos

a veces hasta mal caen

porque hablando hablando

van diciendo verdades

que nos molestan

porque son cosas que no queremos sean removidas

no nos gusta sentirnos descubiertos no confrontados

pero alli VIENEN LOS PROFETAS DE DIOS

las limitaciones mentales son como cuando tu tienes fe natural

tu puedes creer con lo natural tuyo

el profeta viene a provocar tu fe sobrenatural

si has estado viendo limitaciones

te lleva a no verlas

y mostrarte que DIOS SI PUEDE

para tener limitaciones

no es necesario que seas un carnal

o sea no es que te estamos diciendo que no eres un espiritual

sino que la fe se ejercita

con una fe natural tu te adelantas a los tiempos

o te atrasas 

o andas mas perdido en tiempos

cuando no estas siendo direccionado por el ESPIRITU SANTO

EL ESPIRITU SANTO TE VA A DECIR CUANDO ES EL TIEMPO

LA HORA Y EL MOMENTO

PERO LA GENTE ENTENDIDA EN EL REINO ES HUMILDAD

ASI QUE SI NO ENTIENDE ALGO 

pregunto a una uncion mayor

la fe natural es aquella que es humana no depende de DIOS

en totalidad aun

es determinada por lo que yo creo, siento o pienso

PROFETA 

JORGE TORRES

CENTRO CONTINENTAL DE ADORACIÓN BVUMMKER

red de ministerios pregoneros de paternidad

unidos en adoracion bvummker

DISCIPULO: Apostol Becky Burga

Discípulo es un término que tiene su origen en un vocablo latino y que sirve para referirse a un individuo que sigue una determinada doctrina.

Para que exista un discípulo (o seguidor) es necesario que exista un maestro (o líder). El maestro le inculca a su discípulo una determinada doctrina, línea de pensamiento o estilo artístico intentando guiarlo en su crecimiento. Esta enseñanza puede hacerse de forma directa: hablando con él y corrigiéndolo cuando su accionar se contrapone a los principios de la doctrina; o indirectamente: a través de sus obras (un discípulo de Goya puede ser alguien que haya nacido en otra época que intente seguir sus pasos, emulando su estilo creativo).

En el habla coloquial suele utilizarse este concepto también como sinónimo de aprendiz, alumno o estudiante. Por ejemplo: “El artista francés está considerado como uno de los principales discípulos de Gerhard Richter”, “El escultor siempre se encarga de resaltar que no tiene ningún discípulo ya que, según afirma, nadie logró captar la esencia de su obra”, “Te presento a mi discípulo: él es el mejor alumno de mi taller literario”.

Como dijimos antes, un discípulo puede estar ligado a una determinada corriente o escuela aunque viva en tiempos posteriores a los vividos por el maestro. En ese sentido se entiende que Albert Camus haya sido discípulo de Friedrich Nietzsche, e incluso que este tuviera muchos discípulos no contemporáneos.

Los discípulos de Jesucristo

Los discípulos de Jesucristo fueron los doce apóstoles escogidos por el propio Jesús para que lo ayudasen a predicar su palabra y difundir sus ideas religiosas.

Estos primeros discípulos no solo lo acompañaron durante su vida sino que permanecieron a su lado, cumpliendo sus mandatos, después de que Jesús muriera. Entre ellos había dos que eran los que, según se registra en los evangelios, tenían un trato más cercano con Jesús; se llamaban Juan y Pedro. Los diez restantes eran Simón, Andrés, Jacobo, Felipe, Bartolomé, Tomás, Mateo, Tadeo, Simón el cananita, y Judas Iscariote.

Cuando Jesús murió, los discípulos formaron un grupo selecto de seguidores que continuaban divulgando lo aprendido de su maestro. Vivían todos juntos y se los conocía, y así pasaron a la posteridad, como la “Primera Comunidad Cristiana“.

La base fundamental de esta comunidad era la caridad. Todos los bienes se compartían al igual que se compartía la comida y lo cosechado. Eran como una gran familia donde no existían jerarquías y donde todos procuraban poner de su parte para que los demás estuvieran bien. El lema fundamental era trabajar juntos por el bien común a la vez que servían a Cristo, difundiendo su palabra por toda la región. Cabe mencionar que esta primera comunidad también contó con la presencia de María (la madre de Jesús) y María Magdalena.

Bendiciones.

PS Betsy

La Vida devocional y espiritual del hogar: Apostol Rony Chaves

Estudio Bíblico escrito por el Apóstol Rony Chaves

Una vida comprometida con Dios de los padres de una familia, producirá una vida devocional en el hogar especial; y ésta a la vez dará las bases para una vida diaria de testimonio al mundo y que agrada al Señor.

I. ¿Cuál es el fundamento de una buena vida devocional? 

a. El fundamento de una buena vida devocional está basada en el compromiso personal de los padres para vivir una vida verdaderamente cristiana. 

b. Si Cristo no es real en los padres, ellos nunca serán capaces de hacerlo a El real para sus hijos. 

c. El hogar debe ser un lugar donde operen los principios del Reino. 

d. Cada hogar cristiano deberían caracterizarse por: 

   1. La ausencia de muchas cosas innecesarias que son el centro de los hogares inconversos. 

   2. La exaltación de los deberes cristianos. Hay muchas acciones que son básicas para la vida cristiana que necesitan ser encontradas en abundancia en el hogar. 

      1. Amor entre unos y otros. I jn 4:7 

      2. Estimando a cada uno mejor que a nosotros mismos. Fil 2:3 

      3. Mirando por los intereses de cada uno. Fil 2:4 

      4. Poniendo la mirada en las cosas de arriba. Col 3:2 

      5. Sobrellevando las cargas los unos de los otros. Gál 6:2 

      6. Alimentando a nuestros enemigos. Rom 12:20 

      7. Corriendo la carrera de la vida con paciencia. Heb 12:1 

   3. La demostración del fruto del Espíritu Santo. Gál 5:22,23 El hogar debe ser el primer lugar para esto. 

   4. La ausencia de obras de la carne. Gál 5:17-21 Estas obras (pleitos, contiendas, hechicerías) no tienen lugar en nuestros hogares. 5. Un estilo de vida diferente al del mundo. 

II. ¿Qué significa la Palabra "Devoción"? 

a. La palabra devoción significa darse, atender, dedicarse, consagrarse y apartarse. También implica un sentimiento o mostrar devoción, ardor, celo. 

b. Cada hogar cristiano está para ser un lugar donde nosotros demos nuestras propias vidas para los propósitos de Dios. Es un lugar para ponernos a nosotros mismos apartados, consagrados para el servicio del Señor y la exaltación de su Reino.

III. ¿Quiénes son los responsables para tener una buena vida devocional? 

a. La responsabilidad es del padre. Dios se ha dado a él como cabeza del hogar. Ef 5:22 

b. Dios ha puesto la carga sobre él para guiar a sus hijos hacia Dios. Ef 6:4 

c. La iniciativa debe comenzar por el padre, no por su mujer. 

d. Dios equipará al padre para que entienda su llamado. 

IV. ¿Cuáles son algunas guías que ayudaran al padre a dirigir las devociones del hogar? 

a. El debe ser el iniciador del enriquecimiento espiritual del hogar. 

b. El padre debe crear una atmósfera que conduzca al crecimiento espiritual. 

c. El padre debe ser diligente en persuadir espiritualmente a cada miembro de su familia. 

d. El padre debe crear un tiempo especial para actividades espirituales. 

e. El padre debe continuar dirigiendo a sus hijos en su crecimiento. 

f. El padre debe crear diferentes actividades devocionales. 

   1. Memorización de la Biblia. 

   2. Oración por enfermos. 

   3. Adoración. 

   4. Testimonios. 

   5. Lectura de la Biblia. 

   6. Cánticos. 

   7. Dramatización.

   8. Lecturas devocionales. 

   9. Tocar instrumentos. 

   10. Contar historias. 

   11. Oración conversacional, etc. 

g. El padre debe usar cada oportunidad como una experiencia de aprendizaje, debe contestar cada pregunta correctamente. Debe ser sensible al trabajo del espíritu Santo en la vida de sus hijos. 

h. El padre debe estar preparado para conducir a sus hijos al Señor, para aconsejarles, para guiarles. 

i. El padre debe impartir conocimiento del Señor en toda circunstancia y debe ayudar a sus hijos a retirarse a su cama para tener en su mente y corazón las buenas cosas del Señor. 

V. ¿Cuáles son los beneficios de una buena vida devocional? 

a. Establece hábitos devocionales en la vida de los hijos. 

b. Ayuda a demostrar el hecho de que nosotros reconocemos a Dios como la cabeza del hogar. 

c. Ayuda a proveer oportunidades para sanar problemas espirituales. 

d. Une a la familia. 

e. Ayuda a mantener la comunicación entre los miembros de la familia. 

f. Establece al padre como líder del hogar, produciendo amor, gozo y paz. 

g. Provee un contexto en el cual los hijos aprenden de Dios, de su Palabra y a orar y adorarte al Señor. 

VI. Un culto devocional puede constar de 15 minutos a una hora y aun mas. 

a. El padre de familia inicia la reunión con una lectura bíblica y una oración, haciendo que cada miembro de la familia participe, orando por las circunstancias diarias de cada uno, cantando y adorando al Señor. Amén. 

Finanzas en el Hogar

El dominio sobre el dinero y el uso del mismo es la garantía para un cristiano de que muchos problemas serán eliminados y mucho gozo será añadido a él y a su familia. 

a. El área financiera parece ser un área muy “carnal” y puede constituirse en uno de los mayores problemas entre los matrimonios. 

b. I Timoteo 6:6-11, 17-19 

c. Jesús dedicó gran parte de su enseñanza a instruir sobre el correcto uso del dinero. 

II. ¿Cuáles son los mayores problemas finacieros de un matrimonio o una familia?

a. El hacer de la acumulación de riqueza la mayor ambición de nuestra vida. Lc 12:16-31 

   1. Esta roba el tiempo y energía que debíamos dedicar a la familia. 

   2. Padres trabajan más de la cuenta o tienen dos trabajos, quitando el tiempo a sus hijos y esposas. 

   3. Mujeres que dedican poco tiempo para su familia. 

   4. I Timoteo 6:6 Dios quiere que tengamos riqueza, pero riqueza espiritual. 

   5. No debemos acumular riqueza por influencia de otros, ni por adaptamos al estilo de vida del mundo, ni por gozamos en conseguir simples metas, ni mucho menos para ser apreciado por otros. 

   6. Dios desea que estemos contentos con lo que tenemos y confiando en El. Heb 13:5 

b. Cuando marido y esposa tienen desacuerdos con respecto al uso excesivo del dinero. 

   1. Los diferentes miembros de la familia tienen sus diferentes prioridades, intereses y perspectivas con respecto al dinero. Estos diferentes puntos de vista están basados en los deseos propios de tener cosas para sí mismos. Esto es peligroso. 

   2. Haga la determinación de usar el dinero para proyectos familiares. 

   3. Establezca metas familiares para comprar durante el año. 

   4. Abiertamente evalúe las compras con otros miembros de la familia basado en necesidades y deseos. 

   5. Lucas 3:10-14; I Juan 2:15-17 

   6. Oren juntos sometiendo todo a la voluntad de Dios para comprar mejor. 

c. Cuando tenemos grandes deudas que debemos pagar. 

   1. Esto crea gran ansiedad y presión en los padres. 

   2. Produce malas reacciones de los deudores hacia el resto de la familia. d. Algunas veces nos excedemos con respecto a las deudas porque: 

      1. Sobre-complacencia. Nos excedemos en comprar cosas caras, extravagancias, etc. Por simple capricho. Prov 21-17 

      2. Compramos impulsivamente. Compramos cosas bajo emoción, porque tenemos el dinero en la mano, sin haber considerado nuestras posibilidades económicas. 

      3. Inversiones inestables. Prov 28:20,22 

      4. Trabajamos perezosamente. Prov 21:25-26 

      5. Hay avaricia. Lc 12:15. Siempre se está deseando tener más de lo que se tiene. 

      6. Hay codicia. Sal 73:2,3. Siempre se codicia lo que otros tienen; los vecinos, lo que vemos en televisión, en revistas, etc. 

      7. Las deudas vienen porque creemos que amar es proveer a los nuestros cosas materiales. 

      8. Por comprar sin sabiduría. Se compra lo que no se necesita sin evaluar, sólo porque son ofertas (enciclopedias, etc.) 

      9. Mal uso del crédito. 

III. ¿Cuáles deben ser algunos pasos positivos para tener libertad financiera? 

a. Determine que Dios sea el Señor de sus finanzas y posesiones. 

   1. El es su dueño. Sal 24:1 

   2. El te ha hecho administrador de esto. I Cor 4:1,2 

   3. El es tu proveedor. Deum 8:17,18 

b. Adopte el sistema de Dios en sus finanzas. 

   1. Dele a Dios el primer lugar con sus diezmos y ofrendas. Mal 3:7-12 

   2. Asegure su prioridad en lo espiritual permanentemente y en las cosas eternas. II Cor 4:18 c. Crea que Dios suplirá todo lo que usted necesita. 

   1. A través de trabajar diligentemente. Prov 10:4-6; 13:11 

   2. A través de oraciones contestadas. Fil 4:16; Heb 11:6 

d. Desarrolle resistencia a las ofertas. 

   1. Recuerde que los vendedores tienen la meta de absorber tu dinero. 

e. Discierna cuidadosamente entre necesidad y cosas no esenciales cuando compra. 

   1. Ore sobre lo que quiere y necesita. Controle sus impulsos. 

   2. Sea sabio al comprar. 

f. Asegúrese de anotar sus fracasos del pasado para no equivocarse otra vez, y pregúntese: 

   1. He seguido un patrón escritural. 

   2. He controlado el impulso para comprar. 

   3. Me dio testimonio Dios. 

   4. Etc. 

g. Asegúrese que usted trabaja voluntariamente para alcanzar la meta de la libertad financiera. 

   1. No ignore las deudas pendientes. 

   2. Establezca una fecha en la cual usted pagará “todo”. 

   3. Haga los sacrificios necesarios. 

   4. Deseosamente disciplínese y establezca límites para sí mismo.