Out side the matrix.

 Hi, thanks for the calls, NARROWWAY is faith based on the original intent of the NT age, relational non institutional, we believe in the priesthood of all believers not just the few. 1Corinth 1-3 in the kj3.

 Our desire is to remain faithful and keep things out side any additional forms that were derived from other sources than the Nt. There are no man made denominations, or added features by which you have go through other than Jesus Christ. We feel the blood of Christ was plenty to make us members of his body.

 We do not endorse buildings,  as the body, we are  temple of God  not rocks and wood. We meet where we can,  and operate by friendship and servitude  one to another and by a testimony of the life and power of a living not just a  historical Jesus. We do not operate in  any forms of priest craft nor do we use any  forms  of sacredodlism, we hold  all his people are vital and all contribute by  love and care through knowledge. Phil 1;9.


We believe God has not ended the Spirituals  or gifts today, or his ability to work through us, later refereed to as gifts, but is free to use  his people when and where he pleases. To worship God in truth and Spirit is found in  awareness and connection to his lead  as often as we listen.

 Our views of tithing is it was Ot practice a form of income tax it was instituted by men later in the 3-4th the centuries as means of doing well, early History quite clear on the back ground of the political ambitions by having done so.

We feel that giving is some thing done for faith, love, based in lives to really serve out of willing heart . The early elders acted as caring fathers and were not entertained on the economic modeling or the priest craft forms. We feel Jesus was the  complete model.

 Our desire is to see people built  for Jesus not our selves, that's the difference, the ecclesia is not  a compromised body  but only onto Christ, there are not external mediums here to qualify us be fore God other than Jesus alone.

It was real simple , human pride has to step aside and become more like Christ. Life long journey for us all.

 Our hope is once again to reach out and distribute the  life of Christ in nation on a  very dark voyage of addiction  , arrogance and anger, and almost a complete loss of direction. In culture that has lost all sense of  hope exchanged the for  the present thrill of now and getting what we can at all costs. We're praying parent take charge of the kids like it once was before killing became a cheap thrill and parents gave up their roles. Thanks to the wonderful prayers..

Jesus is relationship , thanks

One mind.

 One body and mind in jesus!,,  1 corinth 1-3

 Our hope and the Hope of world going Mad.
All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God: That He is; what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about Him....

"Faith is at the root of all true worship, and without faith it is impossible to please God. Through unbelief Israel failed to inherit the promises. “By grace are ye saved through faith.” “The just shall live by faith.” Such verses as these come trooping to our memories, and we wince just a little at the suggestion that unbelief may also be a good and useful thing....

The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. These are the 'poor in spirit.

Many of us Christians have become extremely skillful in arranging our lives so as to admit the truth of Christianity without being embarrassed by its implications. We arrange things so that we can get on well enough without divine aid, while at the same time ostensibly seeking it. We boast in the Lord but watch carefully that we never get caught depending on Him."

"Complacency is the deadly enemy of spiritual progress. The contented soul is the stagnant soul." 

 the great commission  is for all of his to do enjoy.....

The greatest of all !

The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you" (1 Thess. 3:12).
"We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, even as it is meet, for that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all toward one another aboundeth" (2 Thess. 1:3).
"For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which ye show toward all the saints..." (Eph. 1:15).

"And whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he gave us commandment" (1 John 3:22-23).
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God" (1 John 4:7).



 from me to you, always  his way NW

Love  Builds

In the light of the Lord's coming, it is very important to be well instructed and to have all the light that the Lord can give us, but never let us think for one moment that light and truth and teaching are inevitably the building factors, for there are many people with a vast amount of truth and love who are not very large spiritually; they are very small, shrunken and closed up. It is love that builds. Moreover, it makes differences in those who exercise it, it brings them into rest. Truth alone may bring a strained look into the face and eyes.

Love ought to bring into the countenance some suggestion of quiet strength and restful confidence. Look again at those closing verses of Romans 8 - "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors." Look at the things in question - the ultimate things so far as our lives are concerned.

No, none of these things can separate us from the love of God. Well, let us sit down in the armchair of His love and be at rest, and then get to work. You cannot work unless you have a background rest, and rest does not spring firstly from truth. It comes from love, God's love. Whatever else He gives us and adds to us, may the Lord make us a people who are characterized supremely by this love for one another and for all men.

 Prayer  for night street, Oh lord have mercy on those  wandering b7y night in and out of each season, place , show them your grace and delight so that they may be free and find what a real love is, break hold to those sold into the slavery of darkness, Jesus reach deep within, cast out that which is not of a you, fill them with your presence, lord spare those unable , visit them in their dreams with hope, and your presence, and bring love from one neighbor to another neighbor. All in your character and glory lords Jesus spare us as nation  lost her way.

NOT A WIDE PATH!!

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

why narrowway,? that's why!  we saw by 13 years of night street ministry the clear difference between religion and faith.

Clear way only

“Christianity began in Jerusalem as a relationship, it migrated to Greece and became a philosophy, then it was moved to Rome and became a religion, then finally it reached America and it became an enterprise (business).”

I think the ideas comes across pretty clear the ecclesia the way is a relationship and awareness  , the elders were simply people used to help aid the process of growth it was not a career   in sophistry but as servants.

God does no need temples,  your the temple alive and portable it helps breakthe bondage of stagnantion and complacancy. Itls alternative to spectator based faith . 

 

 Love does  just fine!! without all the other stuff, Jesus  well said  love over- comes, faith pleases God, and we are to worship in truth and Spirit. Lets focus on who we become not what we were? that's  the difference my dear one.


JESUS SAVES only....Jesus grows us only.....

A distinct differnce defined in the 1800's

 The article was written some time ago, the questions coming up  on the  influences that took place to get it away from  acts body an ecclesia where sharing and dialogue dominated . It was later the self made gain seekers formed ecclesiastical hierarchy where two distinctions of people were created to produce a medium state or form to go through is not a new topic nor is it scrpitural. Ref sections walkers  hiroty angus, onthe mystery relgions impact into Christianity, Robert Brown  on the word church and it;s form.

It's been well known as unrevealed in the post modern body and keeping it well institutionalized in various levels to sustain the post Acts model. Where the revelatory by intent was exchanged for the gnosis quoting (anger Bert) highkly descriptive quoting Oriegen effort to blend  or mix things into the faith.  Thus we saw the birth of platonics and many insertions from the mystics, sophistry, philosphphy with it;s former back ground ideas  and so many other manufactured terms to support the new constructuion of  institution subject to the state.

 Those elevating themselves. in order to extend the forms derived by some of the  modified political terminology replacing the relationship in Acts body to one more modeled from the pagan forms. With men at the center or acting as  a medium  in either themselves or the institution at large or any one part of it. Moeny is often used to sielnce the truth...We felt adding the history  section is way for people to make up there own minds as to the facts and forms. Thanks, early history is quite descriptive of the actuall acounts leading to the post modern forms. Wwe hpe people will test what they hear not to just slide along to get along.The article below reveals discussion and dialoge over the form's bondage.

Christianity vs. Churchianity

From ZWT Reprints, page 533, September, 1883, by A. A. Phelps.

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We are living in an age of shames and counterfeits. Satan seems to have abandoned the hope of crushing out the Christian Church by a process of undisguised hostility, and now seeks to destroy her efficiency by stealthily draining off her vitality, and robbing her of every supernatural element. He "transforms himself into an angel of light", and often assumes to be the special friend and guardian of the Church.

 

 

Craftily he infuses his deadly virus and inculcates his plausible philosophy, until the moral perception is obscured, the conscience is distorted, and policy runs nearly the whole ecclesiastical machinery. Thus a popularized religion -- which costs nothing and is worth nothing -- is readily accepted, while the old religion of the cross is utterly discarded. The consequence is, that there is religion enough, and Churchianity enough, but a great famine for real Christianity. We meet with thousands all over the land who, if catechized in regard to their spiritual condition, reply with much self- assurance that they are members of such a Church. They assume that the Church is an ark of safety; and, once ensconced within her enclosures, all further anxiety ends. Let us try to unmask this dreadful delusion of the devil.

There is a difference, we may premise, between the real and the nominal Church of Christ; The former is composed of all true Christians. Its boundaries are therefore invisible, as no man can tell exactly where to draw the lines. The latter is composed of those who assume the Christian name and practice the ordinances of God's house. It is commonly called thevisible Church, because its boundary lines are known. The epithet may apply to a single local society of a given denomination, or to the aggregate of local societies of all denominations. We use the term, in this paper, to designate the outward or visible Church.

1. Christ and the Church are not identical.

There may be ten thousand Churches, but there is only one Christ. Nor can all those Churches supply the place of our one, blessed all-sufficient Savior. A man may be saved without the Church, but he cannot be saved without Christ. A man may be in the Church and not be saved; but he cannot be in Christ without salvation. Sinners sometimes become members of the Church; but only saints are members of Christ. A person may live in the Church for years, with the old heart of carnality and selfishness; but "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature". The requirements of the Church are often wrong and ruinous; but the claims of Christ are always reasonable and right. The Church may become a sink of pollution; but Christ is ever the perfection of purity. The Church may be rent with divisions; but Jesus Christ is not divided. The Church may become terribly entangled in mysticism and error; but Christ is always the embodiment of light and truth. The Church may change her name and her nature; but Christ is "the same yesterday, today, and forever". The Church may be a crutch to walk with, but she is a poor Christ to trust in for salvation and eternal life.

2. Christian worship and Church worship are not identical.

Vast multitudes cling to some Church establishment as a drowning man would cling to a life-boat. They bow obsequiously to her priestly and official mandates, and imagine that the blind servility which they tender to the Church will be accounted acceptable service offered to Christ. The simplicity of the Gospel is lost in the imposing forms and glittering accompaniments of modern churchism. Splendid church edifices attract the eye. Splendid music charms the ear. Splendid prayers are addressed to the CONGREGATION. Splendid sermons please the fancy, and leave deluded sinners to slumber on. Church rivalry has achieved a glorious success, if success thundering organs, ostentatious dressing, theatrical singing, pointless praying, rhetorical preaching, careless hearing, and unscriptural practicing!

Much of the current worship is done by proxy. Lazy religionists surrender their sacred rights to others. They take it for granted that the preacher is on the right track, and readily swallow whatever may be doled out from the pulpit, without using their own brains in searching for the hidden treasures of truth. Thus religious ideas are transmitted from generation to generation, until tradition exerts a more powerful influence than the Bible in molding the sentiments of men. There comes to be a fashionable faith, as well as a fashionable dress. To embrace a certain stereotyped circle of doctrinal views entitles a man to the claim of "orthodoxy"; but let him not venture one step out of the beaten track, if he would not be denounced as a deluded heretic!

 

few have the moral courage to question the decisions of the Church, much less to discard what she has labeled as "orthodox". The verdict of a few leading denominations has thus grown up into a threatening tyranny; and the multitude cannot think of stemming the mighty tide. So they bow down in their narrow enslavement and worship this curiously- fashioned but pious-looking idol - the Church!

 

Since all idolatry is an abomination to God, we have no more right to worship a church than we have to worship a golden calf! We rob the Lord of His rightful honor, and ourselves of the highest bliss of Christianity, by looking to the Church too much, and "looking unto Jesus" too little. What can be done to deal a staggering blow to this cruel church- worship of the day, and at the same time give us more exalted and ravishing views of Jesus Christ? There is a grand failure to carry out the ultimate design, when the appliances of the Gospel result only in the production of Churchianity. Our perception, our prayers, our faith and our adoration must overleap the narrow precincts of the outward Church, and rise up to the eternal throne! "Worship God!"

3. Christian fellowship and Church fellowship are not identical.

The followers of Christ are called upon to "love one another with a pure heart fervently". Indeed, this is one of the Scriptural tests of discipleship. "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren". All Christians constitute one family, and love is the golden tie designed to bind their hearts together around the common cross. But love is a tender plant that needs to be reared with a hand.

 

Hence the many exhortations of Scripture to "consider one another" -- to "be kindly affectioned one to another" -- to esteem others better than ourselves -- to "bear one another's burdens" -- to exercise a forgiving spirit -- to "let brotherly love continue" -- to "endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace". All such injunctions point out the danger of alienated feelings and poisoned affections, and show the importance of making a special effort to promote Christian unity and love. How disastrous are the results of not regarding these Gospel precepts!

 

 Worship in truth and Spirit,  NW looking at the early history, ((has it changed))?

What it means and is and is not.

What does it mean
to be a Christian?
A brief study of what it means, and does not mean, to become a Christian and to be a Christian.
©1999 by James A. Fowler. All rights reserved.
You are free to download this article provided it remains intact without alteration.
You are also free to transmit this article and quote this article
provided that proper citation of authorship is included.

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A CHRISTIAN?
   There is much confusion among the general public, as well as the religious community, concerning what it means to be a "Christian."

Does it mean assenting to a particular belief-system?
Does it mean consenting to a prescribed morality pattern?
Does it mean changing and improving one's behavior?
Does it mean joining a church organization?
Does it mean practicing regular rituals of worship?

   Even those who call themselves "Christians" seem to have much difficulty articulating and verbalizing what it means to be a Christian. Their ambiguous explanations often convey an amalgamated "mish-mash" of affirming the above-mentioned activities.
    What is needed is a clear Biblical restatement of the basic spiritual reality of being a Christian. That will be our objective in this study.
    In order to do so, we will divide the study by differentiating what is involved in becoming a Christian initially, and what is subsequently involved in being the Christian one has become. Thus we can consider both the commencement and the continuance of what it means to be a Christian.
Becoming a Christian
   We are not referring to "getting religious," or "joining a church," or "believing and reciting correct creedal doctrines." The issue we address is "becoming a Christian."
    What must one do to become a Christian?
    In one sense, there is nothing anyone can DO to become a Christian. Everything necessary to become and be a Christian has been done by Jesus Christ, which is why He exclaimed "It is finished!" (John 19:30). It is only by the grace-activity of God in Jesus Christ that the opportunity of becoming and being a Christian is afforded to mankind. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (Eph. 2:8,9). There is no human performance or effort that can effect the spiritual reality of becoming a Christian.
    Becoming a Christian is not a matter of external physical attachment to a social organization called a "church." Nor is becoming a Christian effected by mental assent to historical or theological tenets of belief. Behavior modification and ritualistic repetition are not the essence of becoming a Christian.
    Becoming a Christian is a spiritual reality that transpires in the spiritual core of our being. Our "spirit and soul and body is to be preserved complete" (I Thess. 5:23) in Jesus Christ. The most basic need of man is not physical rejuvenation, or psychological adjustment, or social improvement, but spiritual exchange and regeneration. Because all of mankind begin their physical lives spiritually "dead in their trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1,5), the primary need of man is to be made alive spiritually.
    The figurative expression that the Bible uses to illustrate spiritual enlivening is the concept of being "born again" (I Peter 1:3,23) or being "born from above" (John 3:3,7). When Jesus told Nicodemus, the religious ruler of the Jews, that he needed to be "born again, from above" (John 3:1-7), he reverted to the literalism of physical obstetrics. As a "natural man," though extremely religious, he failed to understand spiritual things (I Cor. 2:14).
    Man's primary need is not more knowledge and education, nor is it self-realization and self-improvement. The need of man is to be re-lifed with the very life of God in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God gives life (II Cor. 3:6) to our spirit, causing our spirit to be alive (Rom. 8:10) with "newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). One who thus becomes a Christian "passes out of spiritual death into spiritual life" (I John 3:14).


    The spiritual life that the Christian receives is the divine life of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life" (I John 5:12). This "eternal life that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:23) is the spiritual life that Jesus came to bring (John 10:10) to restore man to God's intent for humanity. Eternal life is not a commodity or state of existence that we receive after we die physically, but is the life of Jesus Christ in the Christian presently with an eternal continuum of perpetuity.


    Spiritual re-lifing, or regeneration, occurs in the spirit of man. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). "The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom. 8:16). A spiritual union is effected whereby "one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him" (I Cor. 6:17).
    The singular reality that constitutes becoming a Christian is the presence of the Spirit of Christ in the spirit of an individual who receives Him by faith. "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him" (Rom. 8:9), i.e. he is not a Christian!
    This indwelling of the Spirit of Christ in the spirit of an individual is the life and presence of the Person and Being of the risen Lord Jesus. Paul encouraged the Corinthians to evaluate whether they were really Christians, by asking, "Do you recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?" (II Cor. 13:5). The spiritual mystery of the gospel is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27); the basis on which Paul declares, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me..." (Gal. 2:20).
    When a person is "in Christ" and Christ is "in them," they become a "new creature" (II Cor. 5:17), a "new man" (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10), raised to "newness of life" (Rom. 6:4) by the presence of Christ's life in their spirit. They have a new spiritual identity as a "child of God" (Jn. 1:12; I Jn. 3:1,2,10), "sons of God" (Gal. 3:26), Christ-ones or Christians.
    How does this spiritual reality transpire? How is it enacted or facilitated? There is no physical or psychological procedure or formula that one must follow precisely in order to become a Christian. It is not effected by the physical procedures of walking down an aisle in response to an invitation, or holding up one's hand, or repeating a pre-worded "confession of faith," or being baptized with water, though those may be engaged in to indicate or accompany one's response to Jesus Christ. Neither do the psychological responses of mental assent to historical and theological tenets, or the subjective experiences of human emotions constitute the means and manner of responding to Christ.
    Becoming a Christian is personally appropriated by coming unto God in faith. Faith is not believing the accuracy of certain data about Jesus Christ, nor is it having an existential experience of ecstasy. Rather, faith is a volitional choice of receptivity to the activity of Jesus Christ, willing to receive the redemptive efficacy of Christ's death on our behalf, and willing to receive Christ's life into our spirit. "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born...of God" (John 1:12,13). "Having believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13).
    Every person who receives Jesus Christ and becomes a Christian is assured of Christ's spiritual presence and empowering. "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20), Jesus declared. "Christ, the power of God" (I Cor. 1:24) "works within us" (Eph. 3:20).
Being a Christian
    Everything necessary for being and behaving as the Christian one has become is inherent within and derived from the One with whom we have spiritually identified and united, Jesus Christ. Being and living as a Christian is not a religious exercise of conformity to the example of the historic life of Jesus Christ, striving to be Christ-like. Attempts to pattern one's behavior after that of Jesus amount to nothing more than self-serving attempts to "parrot" or "ape" the behavior-pattern of another. The Christian life is not an imitation of Jesus, but the manifestation of His life and character in our behavior, "that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal body" (II Cor. 4:10,11).


    Living the Christian life is not comprised of going through the motions of repetitive religious rituals. Nor is it the legalistic keeping of behavioral rules and regulations in conformity to an ethical morality. Ecclesiastical involvement is not the essence of Christian living either; not church attendance, participating in religious programs, or tithing ten-percent of one's income.


    Being and behaving as a Christian is enabled and empowered by the grace of God in the dynamic of the life of Jesus Christ in the Christian. In His departing promise Jesus explained, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you" (Acts 1:8). "God's grace is given according to the working of His power" (Eph. 3:7), providing "all sufficiency in everything" (II Cor. 9:8). Therefore, consistent with our becoming a Christian, it is not what we do to behave and live as a Christian, but the recognition of the sufficiency of the life of Jesus Christ within us. "He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6).


    Jesus said, "I came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). "I am the life" (John 14:6), Jesus declared. The Christian can affirm with Paul that "Christ is our life" (Col. 3:4); therefore, "for me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). The Christian life is the "saving life of Christ" (cf. Rom. 5:10), whereby we are "made safe" from dysfunctional humanity in order to function as God intended by the divine impetus of Christ within the Christian.


    By His Holy Spirit, the living Lord Jesus wants to fill us (cf. Eph. 5:18) and control our behavior in order to manifest His character. This is not ethical conformity to a Christian value-system, but is the manifestation of the "fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Gal. 5:22,23). Thereby we allow for His holy character to be expressed in the process of sanctification (cf. I Cor. 1:30; I Thess. 5:23).


    Because we have such a performance-oriented, work-ethic mentality of accomplishing the objectives of any task, there is a constant tendency among Christians to question their responsibilities, what they must do, to live the Christian life. It is not what we do, but what He does that constitutes the living of the Christian life. Jesus told His disciples, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Paul, a religious activist if there ever was one, admitted that "we are not adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God" (II Cor. 3:5).



    Being the Christian we have become is not effected by increased dedication and commitment to God or the church. Nor is Christian growth and behavior enacted by "studying to show oneself approved to God" by the gnostic acquisition of additional biblical and doctrinal knowledge. Emotional experiences do not make one a better Christian. Participation in activistic causes, or serving the Lord in ministry or missions opportunities are not creditable means of enhancing the Christian life. God is "not served with human hands, as though He needed anything" (Acts 17:25). Paul credited Christ for everything in his life and ministry, when he wrote, "I do not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me" (Rom. 15:18).


    "As you received Christ Jesus, so walk in Him" (Col. 2:6), wrote Paul. How did we receive Christ Jesus in order to become a Christian? By faith! In like manner, then, the Christian is responsible to continue to make the volitional choices moment-by-moment to allow for the receptivity of Christ's activity in our Christian lives. Such receptive faith allows for the vital outworking (cf. James 2:26) of the life and character of Jesus Christ in our behavior. "Christ lives in me," Paul explained, "and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20).
    What does it mean, then, to be a Christian? Christianity is Christ! A Christian is one in whom Jesus Christ lives by His Spirit, and one who allows the life and character of Jesus Christ to be lived out through his behavior, in order to function as intended to the glory of God (cf. Isa. 43:7).

Trusting what matters.

Christianity is so entangled with the world that millions never guess how radically they have missed the New Testament pattern. Compromise is everywhere. Tozar..

 seeking to get free? we enjoy taking the time  off the beaten pathway.


“The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves. We're still trying to give orders, and interfering with God's work within us. ” 



 a huge difference in relationship verses a religion, one can no wait to meet the other , the other can only speculate.NW
― A.W. Tozer

A path way in a wilderness.

We are warned not to do this in Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."  According to what God says we can loose our soul by doing what seems right in our own eyes.  God’s word is no longer our guide, but it has been replaced with creed books, disciplines, manuals, confessions, etc.  Men want to do things their way and as it seems right in their own eyes.  

Please consider the consequences of being deceived by error or in intent as man pleasers.  What a pity it will be to stand before the Lord on Judgment Day having been fooled into accepting the unlawful religions of the denominational world.  What a terrible fate to believe error to be truth only to be lost for all of eternity.
Paul warns do not be divided, how long? far to long.

Having done so to please men.Why we added the personal way as as an  Ecclesia we felt it was far past due to get the facts we discovered out there so people of God  were?  I believe that is what many are seeking. People can rationalize away just about anything at any time, they want if they work at it hard and long enough, and because of this people worship God in ignorance,Acts 17:23 (KJv) says, "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship."

Jesus says in Matthew 7:l3-14, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." 

In Ephesians 5:17 we read, "Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is." 

2 Peter 1:3, "As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us." yes we can know? 1 Corinthians 1-3 Please use other translations as well  the kj3  or young;s literal.   Thanks
 

How long? Right now!

Jesus said:

·         “The labourers are few!” (see Matthew 9:35-38).

·         Does this not concern us?

Life is too short for us to be wasting our time, gifts and finances on things other than the purposes of God. I speak out of the burden of my heart. I see so many who are not fulfilled in their calling; or they are placed in a position where their frustration only grows larger! Unless we, personally, know our calling in God ~ and give ourselves wholeheartedly to that call ~ we will continue to “short-change” ourselves in the work of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. If we really want this year to be a whole lot better than our previous years, then we have to sow into this year differently and in such a way that we will reap the benefits of that which we sow. We have to be willing to make whatever changes are necessary to see God using us more. The problem cannot be blamed on other people. I have learned that if I am available to God, then He can move every obstacle in order to get me where He wants me to be. We have to be finished with making excuses, and simply come before God as we are, offer ourselves wholeheartedly to Him, let Him be LORD OF ALL, and make whatever changes are necessary. We will be amazed at what He can do in and through us. I well remember the saying: “If Jesus Christ is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.”

·         We DO reap what we sow! (see Galatians 6:1-10).

·         We ARE the products of our believing, or not believing!

Personal relationship verses a dead religion.

By Jim Fowler, Christocentric theology

A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST

If you were asked to choose one of the following phrases to complete the sentence, which would you choose?

To be a Christian is...

(1) to believe that Jesus was born, lived, died, and was raised from the dead?
(2) to accept that God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ in order to reconcile all men with Himself?
(3) to receive Jesus and have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?
Option #1 - has to do with the historical Jesus and the events of His life in the first century.
Option #2 - has to do with the theology of Jesus which explains incarnation and Christology.
Option #3 - has to do with the personal, subjective experience of Jesus.

There really should be a fourth option: (4) All of the above. The objective historical foundation and theological formulation are essential prerequisites to the subjective relationship with Jesus. But if one's understanding of Christianity is comprised only of assent to the objective facts, and devoid of the subjective personal relationship with Jesus Christ, can such a person be considered a Christian?

What does it mean to have a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ"?

Evangelical Christians have often proclaimed and explained that to be a Christian is "to receive Jesus and have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ." Many who have heard that proclamation have not been able to understand what evangelical Christians mean by that phrase. Is it possible for the non-Christian, the natural man, to understand or comprehend the meaning of that phrase?

The natural man can understand "religion" ­ how religious organizations function, how they solicit finances, how they utilize propaganda to get their message out. The natural man can understand rational assent to religious tenets, propositions, principles, statements of history, theology, and doctrine. The natural man can understand adherence to a belief-system, or devotion to an ideology or an organization. The natural man can understand "spirituality" if it is defined as the serenity of "well-being", or devotion to a meaningful cause, or the recollection of an ecstatic experience, or conformity to a moral ideal.

But is it possible for the natural man, the non-Christian, to understand what it means to "have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ"? The Apostle Paul explained that "the natural man cannot understand spiritual things" (I Cor. 2:14). Is "having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" a spiritual reality that requires the presence and appraisal of the Spirit of Christ to understand what it means? If so, is it possible to adequately explain the meaning of this reality to a non-Christian?

A philosophy student, with whom I had an acquaintance, was very brilliant, well-read and articulate. He was willing and desirous of considering the facts of Christian history and theology under the microscope of human reason. But with a sneer and derisive comments full of scorn, he would mock and make deprecatory comments about those who referred to a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ." Why? This was outside of his ability to understand on a purely rational, philosophical and scientific level.

In our attempt to explain the phrase and its meaning we will consider the individual words of the phrase: (1) Relationship. (2) Personal. (3) Jesus Christ.

RELATIONSHIP - In its broadest sense this simply means that one object has a connection or correlation with another object. 

The relation of this to that. Mathematically, it may be the relationship of x to y. Geometrically, it may be the angle of relationship between one line and another line. Mechanically, it may be the relationship of the clutch to the drive shaft of an automobile, or one part of a machine to another part. Cosmologically, it may the relationship of earth to the sun; or even more extensively it may be the relation or relationship of everything in the universe to a constant (such as the speed of light within a vacuum), which is how Einstein developed his "Theory of Relativity", which was essentially a theory of relationship.

The above mentioned relationships are all impersonal relationships. As it is our objective to understand a personalrelationship, we must explore what that means.

A personal relationship must involve at least one person. The first dictionary meaning of "personal" is defined as "how something relates to or affects a person." With this broad definition, a person can have a "personal relationship" with anything that affects or relates to them ­ a dog, a tree, a flower, a bottle of beer, etcetera ad infinitum.

An individual person might consider the historical evidence of a particular event or person, and then relate such to their own situation. Is that a personal relationship? An individual person might develop ideas into a logical explanation of how they fit together and function. Is that a personal relationship with a particular ideology? Can one have a personal relationship with history? ...philosophy? ...theology? If a person associates themself with, or relates to, a particular social unit, such as an organization like a fraternity, is that a personal relationship? Does loyalty, adherence, commitment and dedication to a grouping of other persons constitute a personal relationship? What is a personal relationship?

Surely the reader can recognize that I am questioning whether the phrase "personal relationship", as used in the evangelical terminology of contemporary religion, is but the personal affect that Christian history, theology and community have upon a person who consents and assents to relate to such. In its broadest definition this could be called a "personal relationship"; but are we content to accept that as the intent of the Christian relationship with Jesus Christ?

PERSONAL - How personal does the relationship have to be to be a personal relationship?

If you receive a loan from another individual, is there a personal relationship between the payer and the payee?

Is the legal and contractual relationship between an employer and employee a personal relationship?

Do you have a personal relationship with your great, great grandfather who may have died twenty years prior to your birth? Or is it just a biological and genealogical relationship of heritage?

Is it possible to have a personal relationship with George Washington or Napoleon Bonaparte?

Is there a necessary personal relationship between siblings within the same family? Does biological kinship establish a personal relationship?

Let me share a personal illustration: I have a sister. We are related. She is my relative. We have a genetic and biological relationship. Is that a personal relationship? I have not seen nor communicated with this sister for over twenty years, nor does she apparently ever desire to do so. Do we have a personal relationship?

We must admit that the broadest definition of a "personal relationship" allows for a unidirectional relationship whereby an individual person relates to an object, an idea, a cause, an image, a fantasy, a mental construct, or a person who is no longer living. A "personal relationship" also allows for a relationship of two or more persons that is merely contractual, biological or social.

But a "personal relationship" is also defined as a dynamic inter-relatedness between persons, an experiential relationship between two persons that involves subjective interaction and communication, a person-to-person relationship, the connection, correlation and interaction of at least two persons in what might be better termed aninterpersonal relationship.

I have an interpersonal relationship with Joe, for example. We are friends. We interact. We communicate back and forth. Since Joe is a Christian, I have a different kind of interpersonal relationship with him than I would have with a non-Christian friend. With a Christian friend I have something in common that allows for communion and fellowship (koinonia), a communication based on our spiritual commonality in Christ; a deeper level of interpersonal interaction and communication than I could have with a person who was not spiritually one with me in Christ.

But every other interpersonal relationship that I might have is not on the same level of experiential interpersonal relationship that I have with my wife. The interaction of our interpersonal relationship as husband and wife involves a connection, a "knowing", an intimacy, an "intercourse" (social and sexual) that is deeper than any other interpersonal relationship that I have. And the fact that she is a Christian wife allows a spiritual communion and oneness that makes our marital interpersonal relationship as deep as any human interpersonal relationship can be.

That is why the Apostle Paul uses the intimate interpersonal relationship of husband and wife as the best human and physical analogy to the interpersonal relationship of a Christian with Christ. (Ephesians 5:22-33). The closest oneness and intimacy of personal relationship on earth that can be used to picture and describe and explain the oneness and intimacy of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, is the marriage relationship.

JESUS CHRIST - What then is a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ"? Or would we be better served to refer, instead, to an "interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ", in order to avoid any idea that we are referring to an individual person relating to an object, an idea, a cause, an image, a fantasy, a mental construct, or a person that is no longer living?

Is a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" just a relation of our mental assent to an historical Jesus? Is a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" just an ideological relationship of belief based on the circumstantial evidence of reports that we can read in the Gospels of the New Testament? Is it possible to have an interpersonalrelationship with an historical personage that lived hundreds of years ago? Is it possible to have a interpersonalrelationship with a logical construct of theological tenets about God and His Son, Jesus Christ?

Or does an "interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ" necessitate an experiential, interactive relationship that involves an inter-relatedness, a oneness, a union, a commonality of identity, an intimacy, a "knowing" that can only be likened to the marriage relationship on earth?

That would necessitate the recognition that the Jesus of history, who walked around Palestine over 1900 some years ago, is still alive as a living Person, though in a different form ­ in a spiritual form, and capable of interacting in an interpersonal relationship with human persons today. That is the message of the Christian gospel ­ that Jesus lived, was crucified on the cross, and was raised from the dead in the resurrection, and having ascended to God the Father, He was "poured out" and made available in spiritual form, as the "Spirit of Christ" (Rom. 8:9), in order to indwell the spirits of persons in every age, becoming one with them in spiritual union, and becoming the basis of their new spiritual identity, as they engage in a dynamic interpersonal relationship with the living Lord Jesus.

At this point we need to admit that even the reference to an interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ might be inadequate. The marriage relationship that Paul employs in Eph. 5:22-33 breaks down in illustrating the relationship of Christ and the Christian because the relationship between the Christian the the living Lord Jesus is also an intrapersonal relationship, involving the indwelling presence of the Spirit of Christ within the spirit of the Christian.

In order for the Christian to have a dynamic interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ it necessitated that Jesus be a living Person. That was facilitated by the historic resurrection of Jesus when He was raised from the dead on the third day to become the every-living Lord Jesus. In order for the Christian to have a spiritual intrapersonalrelationship with Jesus Christ, it necessitated that Jesus be a Spirit-person. That was implemented by the Pentecostal outpouring of Jesus in Spirit-form when the Spirit of Christ became available to indwell the spirits of receptive individuals in every age as the life-giving Spirit (I Cor. 15:45).

This is why evangelical Christians employ the Biblical terminology of being "born again," to explain the living reality of the personal Spirit of Christ coming to dwell in the spirit of a receptive person in an intrapersonal relationship, and that to engage in a growing and developing interpersonal relationship whereby the living Lord Jesus functions in and through the Christian.

It is important to understand that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is not just an objective relationship to the benefits that Christ allegedly made available by His historical actions of death, burial and resurrection. Protestant Christian religion, in particular, has tended to objectify the relationship of the Christian to God and Christ in a forensic, juridical and legal framework that posits the relationship as but the "justification" of a right relationship with God the Judge in the heavenly realm. As a corollary, the relationship of the Christian with God has been viewed as a static "reconciliation" that is no more personal that "reconciling" one's financial books.

The intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship of the Christian with Jesus Christ must be recognized as a subjective, internal, spiritual reality, whereby an individual in any age receives the living Spirit of Christ into his or her spirit (Rom. 8:9), thus becoming a Christian, a Christ-one. That relationship must involve a dynamic sense of ontological interaction and communion, a living and functional communication.

Granted, this explanation of a personal, intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ requires spiritual understanding that can only come by the presence of the Spirit of Christ within the spirit of a receptive person. (I Cor. 2:8-16). That is the difficulty Christians have in attempting to explain what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It cannot be understood until He, the Person of Christ, is received by faith.Then, we have the spiritual and relational understanding of regeneration and new birth (Jn. 3:1-6).

 Then, we can have the spiritual understanding of the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ within our spirit (Rom. 8:9); that the living Lord Jesus Christ is in us (Col. 1:27; II Cor. 13:5), and lives in us (Gal. 2:20) as our spiritual life (Col. 3:4). Then,we can begin to fathom that we are united in a spiritual oneness of union with Him (I Cor. 6:17). Then, we can begin to understand that we are new creatures (II Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10), and that our identity is only "in Him" as Christ-ones, Christians ­ that who I am can only be explained on the basis of Who He is. Then, we can begin to understand the dynamic function of the Lordship of the Living Lord Jesus, not just as an assent to His being Lord, God, Deity, but as the acceptance of the fact that my life is no longer mine to determine, but is entirely as His disposal and determination.

(Of course, my life was really never mine to determine, anyway. I was just deceived into thinking that it was, and that I was an independent self-determining self. I am convinced that one of the major reasons why the natural man, as well as most religion, including evangelical Christian religion, does not understand what a personal, intrapersonal or interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ involves, is because they do not understand or accept that the non-Christian, the unregenerate person, has a personal, intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship with Satan, the Evil One - Jn. 8:44; II Tim. 2:26; I Jn. 3:10. cf. The Natural Man.)

So, how do we as Christians attempt to explain that the Christian life is a personal, intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ?

We do not want to "fake people out" and offer them "religion" instead ­ membership, involvement, commitment, dedication. In much of Christian religion today people are told about a relationship to "churchianity" rather than Jesus Christ. They are introduced to the "fellowship of excitement" whereby people can "get all excited about Jesus"; hyped up and "high" on Jesus. They are introduced to "programs", the success of which is evaluated by the numbers of buildings, budgets and baptisms. They are introduced to the "escape hatch" whereby the penalty of sin can be removed, and a "fire insurance policy" of eternal assurance in heaven is offered. 

The past can be forgiven, the future can be assured ­ such an offer provides an impersonal relationship to sin and an impersonal relationship to a future destiny, but it does not adequately encompass a dynamic and living personal, intrapersonal, and interpersonal relationship with the living Lord Jesus Christ in the present.

It is imperative that we, Christians, explain, as best we can by the empowering of the Spirit of Christ, how a personal, intrapersonal, and interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ is initiated and functions. Only God can effect that relationship of Christ with another, as an individual chooses in the receptivity of faith to receive the living Spirit of Christ into his or her spirit.