| i know, i know... my big SSOT post is waaaayy overdue. sorry. so now it's time for me to sit down and do some mass sharing and review.... =) [everybody who didn't go to SSOT... that includes all my friends from school.... you should read this!! Or at least some of it...] Especially get 7 minutes with the Lord at the bottom. =]
so. i'll start from the beginning and use my outline and notes. (oh boy... this is gonna be really long.) I guess i'll be taking chunks of what was really important.
this year's topic was:
THE CHURCH.
GOD'S ETERNAL PURPOSE AND ECONOMY
1. So when talking about the church, you need to scroll all the way back to Genesis- the reason being because the verse Genesis 1:26-27 (mainly vs. 26) tells us God's eternal purpose. "And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." That one sentence tells us what the meaning of our human life is. Amazing that so many people missed it, huh?
Man was created according to God's eternal purpose- a) to be God's image-- to express God, and b) to have God's dominion-- to represent God.
So we were made in God's image. i think most christians should know that. A very good example that is always used for this is a glove. A glove was made in the image of what? A hand. It looks like a hand because the hand is supposed to be able to fill it up and actually do stuff inside the glove (unlike those pesky mittens). The glove expresses the hand. How, you say? (if you're actually still reading this) Well, when you look at a glove, you don't think.... "oh. Nose." [haha... Bro. Ricky] no. you think of a hand, because it LOOKS like hand. the same thing applies to us. When people look at us, they should think, God! because we were made in His image. Sadly, this is definitely not always the case.
And really quick for dominion- to have God's dominion is to represent Him on the earth. We practically exercise his authority. (that's why cats don't rule the world. not because we're smart... because we were made to represent God.)
2. God's eternal purpose is fulfilled by the way of LIFE. as the outline puts it: "God is triune so that He can dispense Himself into man and be man's life, life supply and everything." Amen! this means ONLY GOD'S DIVINE LIFE CAN EXPRESS GOD. God wants us to express Him, but not by imitation... by life! His life, to be exact. He doesn't want us trying to act like Him. you know.. the ole WWJD (What Would Jesus Do??). we all learned it. not that it's a horrible thing, but if we're trying to fulfill God's purpose here we don't want to just imitate the Lord and do what He'd do- we want to be filled with Him and be saturated with the His life until we can't help but express Him spontaneously.
3. God's purpose is fulfilled by a corporate man, the church. (Gen. 1:26-27, Eph 3:8-11) The Lord doesn't just want individual christians trying to worship Him and pray and do things on their own. He wants a corporate expression to fulfill His purpose (Matthew 16:18, Eph. 3:8-11). The church is the one unique Body of Christ, built up by the functioning of all the members (Eph. 4:16. "Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.")
THE TWO ASPECTS OF THE CHURCH- UNIVERSAL AND LOCAL
1. There's actually only one church in the universe, the universal church- the Body of Christ. (Matt. 16:18, 1 Cor. 10:32). Christ only has one Body, right? and since His Body is the church, there can only be one church. This one church is universal- it covers both time time and space. So the univeral church includes ALL the believers that ever existed (including Peter, Paul, Martin Luther, Watchman Nee, etc.), all the believers everywhere on the earth in the present, and even all the believers that ever WILL exist in the future. Any christian you meet on the street is part of the universal church. It's a pretty abstract concept. God's goal is his built-up church, His Body, to express Him, (status #6 of the church) but it's sort of impossible to build up and fellowship with members of the past and the future. That's where the local part comes in. =)
2. The local church is just the universal church manifested on earth. Every locality is just the universal church expressed in that particular city. The one universal church and all the local churches are of the same nature and principles. (The universal church is heavenly, the local churches are heavenly. Both are the house of God, the Body of Christ, and the expression of God.) The universal church, the Body of Christ, is the goal of God's economy; the procedure to reach this goal is the building of the local churches. So practically, the universal church is built up in the local churches. =)
THE GROUND OF THE CHURCH
^Something we spent a lot of time on in SSOT....
The church is like a building. To build a building, you need 3 things- the ground (the actual piece of land you put the building on), the foundation, and the building itself. This is also true spiritually speaking. And, also spritiually speaking, the ground is very different from the location.
The ground of the church is very important. In the Bible, the sin of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:26-30) was considered very serious in God's eyes. By building 2 other worship centers on the ground(s) not of God's choosing (Mt. Moriah), he commited a very serious sin because it divided God's people.
In the New Testament spiritual building, it's the same. The building of the church MUST take place on GOD'S CHOSEN GROUND. This doesn't mean where we physically build our meeting halls, but the spiritual ground on which we stand. Only when we are standing on God's ordained, chosen ground can we live a proper church life for the building up of the Body of Christ. (thank you, outline!)
So what is the ground of the church, anyway? It's oneness. There are 3 crucial elements that make it up:
a) There is only one unique, universal Body of Christ (there's only one Christ, therefore He only has one Body!). So in the whole universe, there's only one Body of Christ, the universal church.
b) The ground of locality. There is only one local church per city. The local church takes the city as its unit: One city, one church. How do we know this? Titus 1:5, Acts 14:23. These two verses prove that the church is equated to the city in the Bible. Revelation 1:11 shows that the churches don't have names (Presbyterian, Baptist, Catholic, etc.) because they are known as the cities. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. In conclusion... there should be only one local church in each city. Not each country, not each state, not each borough, not each township, not each county.... and on and on. The unit cannot be any larger or smaller than a city.
c) The reality of the Spirit of oneness. (John 16:13) Everything practiced must be in the Spirit of oneness. For example, just say you're having some problems with a brother in your local church, and the two of you just don't get along. You know you can't stand being near him anymore, so you start meeting with another local church. It doesn't seem wrong, but you're not doing it in the spirit- you're doing it to get away from him. Or, taking advantage of the doctrine of one city, one church, you set up your own local church in a different city. Again, seems like it's just doing good. But if you're doing it to divide the Body, it's not in the Spirit of reality.
It's that time again for: random things I enjoyed!!!
1) HOW TO BUILD UP THE BODY OF CHRIST
1) grow up into Christ in all things (Ephesians 4:16).
2) function out from Him.
I think we all remember that message that Brother Ricky gave. =)
Basically we're all sponges, soaked with God's life. When we share or preach the gospel, we give out a little bit of the Christ in us. This definitely helps to build the Body. But if we're dry sponges (that just might break if you tap hard enough), how can we build? We don't have anything to give. The serving one's poking us to share, but it's like trying to squeeze and squeeze a sponge that's totally dry. You can't give out what you don't get. If you don't have Christ, how can you minister Christ to others? You need to grow up in Christ in all things. Every moment is an opportunity to gain more of Him by saying "Oh Lord! I just turn to You!" instead of like arguing and snapping back at your friend/mother/serving one, etc. We need to grow up into him in ALL THINGS. All things means.......
ALL THINGS.
Even the disappointments. Especially the disappointments. Small things. Like when you don't get to go to the mall or Mom is yelling at you to get off the computer or when your sister got a chocolate stain on your shirt or your friend just sort of ditched you or you're having a secret battle on whether or not to share in the big meeting or you lost your only pencil right before math class or the adult is telling you pick up the trash, even though IT'S NOT MINE...
Everything is included in ALL THINGS. ALL THINGS MEANS ALL THINGS.
How do we do this practically? By following the anointing. 1 John 2:27. We all have an anointing, a moving of the Spirit within us. We can feel it. Before reacting to anything, pause 5 seconds. Follow the anointing, turn to the Lord and you can grow up into Christ in that thing. By taking Christ as our Head in all things, we our gaining more of Him!
I NEED TO GROW UP INTO CHRIST IN ALL THINGS BY FOLLOWING THE ANOINTING, THE SPIRIT IN MY SPIRIT
*What is our attitude? Or, what should it be? Appreciation. We just need to have a fresh appreciation for the church life. Sometimes we just take so much for granted, including the church. It's much harder to appreciate something that we already have- family, running water, clothes, etc- unless we don't have them. We shouldn't wait until we're out of the flow of the church life to appreciate it! Lord, give me an appreciation for the church life today! The church life is NOT cheap! It is the only pure thing in this universe- everything else is mixed with the world, tainted.
The church, the Body of Christ, is organic- just like our own body. It's the issue of the dispensing of the Triune God into man. (Eph 1:22-23). Since the church is living, everything we do must be in an organic way. The living aspect of the Body is the divine life of Christ. Once we bring in the fleshly life, anything worldly, we're harming the Body. It's like we're bringing germs in. Anything other than Christ should not be mixed with the church!!
-If we know the church is living, we should have an attitude to grow in life. We need to fan our spirit into flame!
-We also need to love one another. Love is a crucial matter in the church life. We need to love the Lord, but we also should love our brothers and sisters. HOWEVER. Our loving one another is a spontaneous love, an expression God's life in us. It's not our own human trying to like everybody and be nice, it's the love of God.
- In the church life, we can't have favorites and cliques. No special parties or groups of friends we always hang out with. Obviously it's natural of us, but excluding others (even unintentionally) really damages the Body. The life of God in us spontaneously loves everyone, including new ones and people we don't really like. The saints are a real protection, we shouldn't despise any member! Stay in the fellowship of the Body- don't be so independent.
A HYMN I ENJOYED (#853)
1. I love Thy kingdom, Lord,
The house of Thine abode,
The Church our blest Redeemer bought
With His own precious blood.
2. I love the Church, O God!
Her walls before Thee stand,
Dear as the apple of Thine eye
And graven on Thy hand.
3. For her my tears shall fall,
For her my prayers ascend;
To her my cares and toils be given
Till toils and cares shall end.
4. Beyond my highest joy
I prize her heavenly ways,
Her sweet communion, solemn vows,
Her hymns of love and praise.
5. Sure as Thy truth shall last,
To Zion shall be given
The brightest glories earth can yield,
And brighter bliss of heaven.
Verse 3 especially touched me. Like I shared in the jr. high overflow meeting on sunday morning, it really made me think- how many of us, when we think of the church, shed tears for her because she's not built up yet?!?! Do we have such an appreciation, love and caring for the church? I don't think I do, yet. But I want one! When Brother Ricky was talking about this, I almost cried myself.
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OKAYYY. that took me like the whole night. and I only covered 3 messages. =P ah well.
SSOT was very enjoyable and lots of fun. it definitely woke me up (again... sigh. those conference highs....) to realize that the meaning of life is God's purpose. And if I know that, I shouldn't be wasting my time on anything or anyone else. Easier said than done, yeah. During SSOT we were given a method that helps you spend at least 7 minutes with the Lord each day. we did a few times during the training, and I discovered it really helped me touch the Lord. We just have to spend more time with the Lord, daily..... the more you spend time with Him, the more you love Him! the Lord is just so loveable!! anyways.... look below. I think we can all spare 7 minutes out of our whole day and give it to the Lord.
Seven Minutes (or more) with the Lord
CPPCCTP
Calling- calling on the name of the Lord to help us set our mind on our spirit. 1/2 minute
Praying- opening our heart to the Lord, telling Him something from our heart and what we want from Him. 1 min.
Pray-reading- Using our spirit to contact the Spirit in the Word by mingling our reading with prayer and personalizing the Word in our prayer. 2 1/2 min.
Confession- confessing our sins in the Lord's light to remove all hindrances to the fellowship with Him. 1 min.
Consecration- presenting ourselves to the Lord afresh, giving Him the full ground in us. 1/2 min.
Thanksgiving- giving thanks and praising (for anything!) 1/2 min.
Petition- praying for others or for personal needs and guidance. 1 min.
to remember it, say "C double P double C, T, P!"
<3 Lord Jesus, I love You!
[Hallelujah for the Body of Christ =]
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