Families are both recipients and agents of blessing

Family is regarded as divinely instituted by God. Families owe their descent and composition to Him. By redemption, the Church, is described like family.

You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens with everyone else who belongs to the family of God. – Ephesians 2:19

We should help people whenever we can, especially if they are followers of the Lord. – Galatians 6:10

Great emphasis is laid on the sanctity of marriage, and the relation between children and parents.

It is the family that pledges to follow God.

But if you don’t want to worship the Lord, then choose right now! Will you worship the same idols your ancestors did? Or since you’re living on land that once belonged to the Amorites, maybe you’ll worship their gods. I won’t. My family and I are going to worship and obey the Lord! – Joshua 24:15

That is why Moses was given sacred meals and festivals in order to celebrate God’s mighty acts such as the Passover. During the family meal there was a recital and reenactment of Israel’s deliverance.

In the New Testament, the apostolic pattern for teaching was in and through family units, such as the very first such testimony of the family of the Roman centurion Cornelius. At Philippi, it was the Roman jailer and Lydia. In Achaia, it was the family of Stephanas, Crispus and Gaius.

Aquila and Priscilla used their home in Ephesus and Rome as an evangelistic centre for the gospel. Their were Church meetings in the home of Onesiphorus and Nympha.

 

Watch and be amazed

 Look and be amazed
at what’s happening
    among the nations!
Even if you were told,
you would never believe
    what’s taking place now. – Habakkuk 1:5

Habakkuk’s prayer that God should do something about Israel’s violence and injustice was answered. But not in the way he expected. The revelation that God was working out his purposes in history by rousing the Babylonians, brutal and ruthless conquerors, astonished and shocked him. As far as Habakkuk was concerned, God was not supposed to work with the unrighteous.

What? It’s going to get worse before it gets better?

The truth that God needed Habakkuk to understand was that in prosperity Israel missed what it was that they really needed – Him. And for us, until we embrace our own mortality – we forget that our real need is still Him. This life is short – but eternity is long.

God does not need our opinion on what He should do, nor does God work on
our schedule or plans. God is sovereign. God knows best. And I’ll take it a step
further, God timing is always perfect.

You really need to believe that God is going do to amazing things in your life. Unless you are truly ready to trust His process, you cannot really experience the unimaginable things that will happen to you.

Church

The presence of Jesus among His people called out as a spiritual family to pursue His mission here on earth.

This kind of church Jesus mentions in two place and this one is my favourite —

Whenever two or three of you come together in my name,^[a] I am there with you. – Matthew 18:20

To the Church that has lost their way, these are the words for them —

 Think about where you have fallen from, and then turn back and do as you did at first. If you don’t turn back, I will come and take away your lampstand. – Revelation 2:5

Disciple

If we are sent to disciple every “nation” by training them to obey all His commands, then that would mean that we disciple a “nation” only when it is permeated by obedient disciples. Spontaneous reproduction of churches means the Holy Spirit moves a church to reproduce daughter churches on its own without outsiders pushing the process.

Theological speaking, the good soil needed for the gospel seed to take root and multiply is bad people, and lots of them.

We must focus on one people group, the one God has given us. He knew what kind of churches to plant and where.

The right steps will vary for each field but will always include teaching the converts first to obey Jesus’ basic commands.  Take the shortest route possible to start a real church – a group of believers in Christ dedicated to obeying His commands.

That’s the funny thing about God’s grace – He wants us to slop it over on the unworthy.

We must use the best people God gives us as the churches multiply, or the new disciples have no leadership at all.

To build up the Church as a living, reproducing body, the pastors and teachers are to train members of the church for the ministry, to edify the Body of Christ.

Timothy was instructed on how to work with newly planted churches and their elders.

 You have often heard me teach. Now I want you to tell these same things to followers who can be trusted to tell others. – 2 Timothy 2:2

We all want a good, strong ministry and when you know it is right for the local body to choose their own leaders, they will make mistakes and you will be disappointed.

We all have to learn to let the Holy Spirit integrate diverse ministries and gifts in the united body.

Education objectives will include educating the leader. Our education should seek only to edify the church in love.

Have you ever seen a mission pastors practicing herding rather than leading?  Where do you suppose pastors pick up the bad practice of herding others?

After affirming His deity and total authority on earth, Jesus commissioned His Church to make disciples who obey all His commands. His commands take priority over all other institutional rules.

Here are some simple basic commands given to us by Jesus that every new follower should memorize.

• Repent and believe
• Be baptized and continue in the new life it initiates
• Love God and neighbour in a practical way
• Celebrate the Lord’s supper
• Pray
• Give
• Disciple others

Faith, repentance and immediate baptism of the entire family or group – no indication to make a decision – can be the norm. Repentance goes deeper than a decision – it is a permanent change brought about by God’s Spirit.

Healthy daughter churches need loving, edifying discipling relationships within themselves and with the mother church.

Each church should send workers to reproduce daughter churches. God promised to give apostles to every church.

The Holy Spirit flows readily through the bonds that exist between family members and close friends, so keeping new converts in a loving relationship with them is important.

Like a grain of wheat, each new church in a chain has the same potential to start the reproduction all over again. The growth of churches is compared to the growth and reproduction to that of plants. Like all other living creatures God has created, the Church has her own seed in herself to reproduce after her own kind.

Just as Paul plants, Apollos waters, and God gives the growth – we sow, water, weed, fertilize and fence the crop, but rely on the Church’s own God-given potential to reproduce.

 

 

Integrate our faith and work

Many of us are prone to over-work and anxiety and yet biblical principles would imply that we should not find our significance and identity in money or success. Others are prone to looking good to the boss at just the right time and other drudge their work.

Slaves, you must always obey your earthly masters. Try to please them at all times, and not just when you think they are watching. Honor the Lord and serve your masters with your whole heart.  Do your work willingly, as though you were serving the Lord himself, and not just your earthly master. – Colossians 3:22-23