We are at war!!!! Not with one nation against another, or rioting in the streets, or wicked politicians doing unbelievably stupid things, or any other human happening. We are at war with unseen powers that are manipulating all of these worldly disastrous happenings.

Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

The reason all the evil is happening in our world is because of an ineffective Church and it must stop or the world is doomed.

The only hope for this world we live in is for the Body of Christ to rise up and takes its place in this world and begin to battle against these unseen forces and solidify the victory that Jesus won at the cross of Calvary. We are to be about destroying the works of Satan and his kingdom of darkness, but instead we sit inside the four walls of our churches singing songs, listening to nice sermons, and rocking away waiting for the rapture to snatch us out of here. Where are the saints of God that have the same heart for the people of this world that He has. He died an excruciating death so the people of this world could be born again and saved from this world that is under the dominion of Satan, the god of this world.

Pastors and evangelist should be preaching and demonstrating that the kingdom of God is at hand with power and miracles, not simply tickling the ears of the listens with how much God loves them and wants to bless them and give them favor. We are to be equipping the saints of God to do the works of King Jesus and set the captives free from under Satan’s control, not just stroking their head and constantly trying to comfort people who are simply not willing to do what is required as a follower of Jesus. We are to be “over-comers” which means we must be in a battle in order to overcome something or someone.

Revelations 12:11 — “And they overcame him ( Satan ) because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even unto death.”

I am convinced that the Church in our culture has not been effective because we have not heard the truth that we are to “repent and believe for the kingdom of God is at hand” and what it really means when we say that “Jesus Christ is Lord” over all. We have not been adequately confronted with the truth of the kingdoms that are in conflict and our roles in it. We don’t understand the real difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. We do not really believe and act like we are “new creations in Christ” because of the new covenant. These comments are accurate because I see them demonstrated throughout our culture and the church world. Here are some examples:
• Our disunity
• Our greed
• Our pride
• Our love of material possessions
• Our love of pleasure
• Our unwillingness to sacrifice
• Our praylessness ( except for ourselves and our blessings)
• Our simply not wanting to rock Satan’s boat
• We demonstrate no real zeal for the power of God in our lives
It is a tragedy, but very true.
MORE EXAMPLES OF AN INEFFECTIVE CHURCH:
• As millions of unborn babies are slaughtered through abortion – almost 50,000,000 since 1973
• As homosexuality and perversion are being thrust upon our country
• As addictions are soaring to unprecedented magnitudes
• As women are become more and more militant
• As our culture is being stripped of all reminders of our Christian heritage
• As our children’s minds are being polluted and programed by godless humanistic philosophies in our government controlled public schools
• As godless Marxist and socialist government are being thrust upon us
• As the Bible’s infallibility is challenged in many mainline denominations
• As homosexuals are being ordained to lead mainline churches
• As Eastern religions thrive in our culture
• As Satanism and witchcraft are exploding by tremendous numbers
• As our government leaders are becoming more and more unrighteous in their manner of governing
• And as we are losing our children to the ways of the kingdom of darkness rather than leading them to Jesus

WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE OF GOD THAT CLAIM TO BE CHRISTIANS WHO ARE TO BE THE “SALT” THAT HOLDS BACK CORRUPTION, AND THE “LIGHT” THAT PENETRATES THE DARKNESS OF UNGODLY ACTIVITIES TO EXPOSE THEM?

WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE OF GOD THAT ARE ACTIVELY TEARING DOWN THE STRONGHOLDS OF UNGODLY CORRUPTION?

WHERE ARE THEY?????

What things affect your thoughts?  Things such as:  What you read, what you listen to, TV programs you watch, MEDIA, movies and videos you watch, billboards, TV commercials, etc.  Do you realize that the reasons for all forms of advertising are meant to change the way you think?  Do you realize that the amount of murders, illicit sex, violence, wrong marital situations, drug use portrayed, wicked people, etc. that your children and teens are exposed to actually affects the thinking of your children as well as yourself?  Have you every looked at the video games violence they see? Keep in mind that if I can control your head (thinking) I can control what you do with your body. How do you want your children to act in our society? Why are there so many school shootings? Why so much immorality in our culture? Why so much pornography on the internet? Why so much drug use? What you see and what you hear controls how you act. THINK ABOUT IT.

2 Chronicles 7:14

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Around the world nations are falling apart and allowing the darkness to overcome them. The Church that Jesus is building is supposed to be the LIGHT OF THE WORLD, but it appears that it is abandoning its mission to be that light.

Every nation that has Christian followers of Jesus has the power available to turn back the tide of this darkness and drive it back along with all the terrorism, unrighteous governments and rulers, poverty, etc.  We BELIEVERS have that power if we will simply BELIEVE WHAT GOD HAS SAID.  

The greatest problem I see is that the people of God don’t really  BELIEVE.  

Look at the scripture above:

“IF My people” —  are YOU one of His people and called by His name Christian?

“Will humble themselves” –  bow their knee to the Almighty God and confess your sins.

“And pray” —  don’t beg God to do something – speak His Word and use the righteous SWORD OF THE SPIRIT as a weapon against the principalities and spiritual powers that are causing the problems.

“Seek My face” – stand before Him clothed in the righteousness He has given you as His children and ask Him as His beloved child to intervene in these affairs of men.

“Turn from your wicked ways” —  repent, turn away, from you involvement in the kingdom of darkness and its ways instead of seeking first the kingdom of God in your life.

THEN 

“I will hear from heaven”

“I will forgive you sin” —  we have turn our back on Him – we need to restore out face time with Him.

“I WILL HEAL THEIR LAND” — that, friends, is the lands where you live.

The real questions that remain are:

1.  Do we believe what God says?

2.  Are we really willing to do what His Word says, or will we just ignore it to our own doom?

Water Baptism Is The First Step Toward Insurrection = Identification With Christ Through Death, Burial, and Resurrection

IS IT REALLY NECESSARY?

As the title of this page communicates, baptism is your identification with Jesus through your death, your burial, and your resurrection into a new life.

Water baptism is significantly important for several reasons. It is the (1) first act of obedience to your new Lord, (2) it represents your death to your former life in the kingdom of darkness, (3) you come out of the water as a new creation in Christ — raised to newness of life.  You have become a part of the “BODY OF JESUS CHRIST” on this earth.

WATER BAPTISM REPRESENTS OUR DEATH TO OUR OLD LIFE IN THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS AND REBIRTH AS A NEW CREATION IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

Water baptism by immersion is required for true salvation.

Tilt ! Tilt ! I know this last statement upsets the traditionally and institutionally minded people because they don’t understand the difference between being “saved” and being “regenerated”. Please continue through this post to uncover the truth.

Much of the church world does not understand the difference between being “born again” (regeneration) and salvation (“sozo“)- THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING.

MARK 16:16 —“He who has believed AND has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”

• BELIEVING leads to being “born from above”
• birth into the Father’s family
• “regeneration” of our human spirit by the Holy Spirit
• citizenship in heaven
• BAPTISM leads to “salvation”  [ which is not the same as being “born again”]
• “sozo”
• deliverance from the “world” by dying

• 1 John 2:15-17 — ”Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
• raised to a new life as a “new creation”
• a new “species” on this earth
• becoming a part of the “body of Christ”
• “in union with Jesus” on this earth

MATTHEW 28:19 — “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,…”

• “make disciples” of Jesus by training them
• to be a disciple of Jesus you must be baptized and understand what that actually means

JOHN 3:5 — “Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

COLOSSIANS 2:11-12 — “and in Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

ROMANS 6:4 — “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

• you died and were buried under the water at baptism
• your old life in the world ceased to exist
• you were resurrected into a new life in Christ
• you entered into a “newness of LIFE” in union with Jesus as a part of His body on this earth —  a new Species
• You were making a statement that was “insurrection” —  you were changing your allegiance from the kingdom of darkness TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD

There are several issues that the Scriptures bring up that we must address.
• In Mark 16 it says “shall be saved” — what does that mean?
• Also in Mark 16 it says “he who has believed” — what does that mean?
• In John 3 it says “unless one is born of water and the Spirit” — what does that mean?
• In Colossians 2 it says “circumcision made without hands” — what does that mean?
• In Romans 6 it says “buried with him in baptism into death” — what does that mean?
All of these questions have to do with the significance of water baptism.
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Within the mainline institutional church there are several ways that water baptism occurs. There are some denominations that believe babies should be baptized. This type of baptism is performed simply by sprinkling water on baby’s forehead or pouring some water over the baby’s forehead. If you search the Scriptures you will find no justification for this kind of baptism.

You will also find many denominations that believe baptism in water must be done by immersion, or completely dunking under the water. This method of water baptism is the only example of water baptism that we find in the Scriptures. It was the example that was given to us when Jesus was actually baptized in water by John the Baptist.

Some believe that baptism in water is not essential and therefore it is your choice whether to be baptized or not. There is only one Scripture in the entire Bible that is used to support this position. That is the Scripture about the thief on the cross where Jesus told him, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” This was an extremely isolated event and it is not the norm that is taught in Scripture, but I do believe that if you yield in your life to Jesus Christ on your death bed and you had absolutely no way to be baptized when you died that you would go to heaven. That would be an extremely rare situation.

Total submersion under the water is the only way that water baptism can be compared to be being buried as is indicated by the Scriptures.

WHY IS WATER BAPTISM BY SUBMERSION SO SIGNIFICANT?

In Mark 16 “he who has believed” and “shall be saved” have to do with the persons response to the message that Jesus Christ is Lord and that the kingdom of God is at hand.

When one believes that the kingdom of God is at hand and yields his life to Jesus as Lord by rejecting his participation in the kingdom of darkness he makes a quality decision to enter the kingdom of God and to begin a new life of obedience to King Jesus. When this is done that person believed that Jesus was raised from the dead and is now alive will receive admission into the family of God and be given the Holy Spirit to live within them. That person will be “born again” or “born from above” because before they yielded to the Lordship of Jesus they were “dead” spiritually and did not have the life of God until God gave them the Holy Spirit to live within them.

John 14:16 — “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”

Their being dead to God had been changed to life in God’s family by the “regenerating” power of the Holy Spirit. This act of regeneration is what we call being born again, but being born again does not mean the same thing as being “saved”.

Being born again gives us new life, but it does not give us the power or ability to turn our back on the kingdom of darkness. That occurs when we “die” under the water and are raised up as a “new creation” in Christ. We are “saved” when Jesus calls us to “come, die, and live”.

You are probably now wondering if I have been given the life  ( “zoe” ) of God by the Holy Spirit when I was born again, then what is “salvation”? What am I saved from? The answer: Saved from the consequences of your rebellion to God by living in the kingdom of darkness ( THE WORLD WITH ITS SYSTEMS OF CONTROL) that is ruled by Satan. Living in the world / kingdom of darkness is in essence a life of total “self willfulness” just like the prince of darkness, Satan. Satan, or the Devil, are the names most used when we refer to the fallen angel that was named Lucifer.

Put all of the Scriptures together and you begin to form a picture of something that is very significant. The basic significance is that baptism by immersion under the water is a public outward demonstration to the world and to spiritual forces that because of your decision to submit your allegiance to Jesus as the Lord of your life that your life has been changed and you have changed your allegiance from this moment forward. Your allegiance is no longer to the world systems / kingdom of darkness and Satan’s influence over your life. You have literally died to it and going under the water symbolizes that death to and burial of the old life. You literally turn your back on the “world systems” that are under Satan’s control and begin a life of following King Jesus as one of His disciples and becoming a child in the family of God.

In the first century when someone chose to follow Jesus and were baptized in water they became an instant enemy to the State ( the Roman Empire ) and an enemy to Satan and his kingdom of darkness because they were now giving their allegiance to a new nation, a new kingdom, under the rule of a new King and Lord.  That is the reason they had such persecution and so many of these disciples were tortured and killed.  When they were baptized they instantly became part of the insurrection and revolution started by that radical named Jesus.

Acts 17:6-7 —  “These men who have upset the world have come here also; and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

When you get baptized in water you too are becoming a part of that insurrection against the kingdom of darkness ruled by Satan because now there is another King you have submitted your allegiance to.

When you are raised up from under the water it represents your birth into your “new life” as a disciple of King Jesus and being in union with Him. You have become a brand new creation upon this earth. You have cut your ties to the world with its systems of control over your life and you have declared a new allegiance and a new citizenship that is in the heavenly nation called the “EKKLESIA“.  The Scripture says that you have been raised up into a new life. This new life is a life of allegiance to King Jesus because you are now “one with Him” and you now continue on with the same purpose and ministry that He was doing during His earth life. You now live a life of thanksgiving to Him for loving us enough to seek us out, tell us the truth about the two kingdoms, and deliver us from our enslavement to the kingdom of darkness and the consequences of our former allegiance to that kingdom and its systems of control. Once you have experienced water baptism after bowing to King Jesus, He enables you to become a part of the Church He is building called the “ekklesia” and you become a new creation as a child of God and are in union with Him as a new creation, or species, upon this earth.

The “ekklesia” is the “Church that Jesus is building”.  It is the “body of Christ” upon this earth.  As like the human body, it is broken down into small groups we call “cells”, or “kingdom communities”,  or “kingdom outposts”, or “covenant life groups” where the building up of the body occurs.

Ephesians 4:11-16 —  “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

The training for becoming a “disciple of Jesus” it to take place within the cell, or one of these small group communities mentioned above.

Matthew 16:18 (NLT) — “Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”

**NOTE:  The “rock” Jesus was referring to was not Peter.  It was the revelation that Jesus is the Christ.  The Church was not built upon Peter; it is being built by Jesus upon the revelation of who He is.

This whole process of: (1) being presented with the “good news” ( the gospel of the kingdom that declares the kingdom of God is at hand ), (2) you then acknowledged making Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, and (3) then you being baptized in water was all done to demonstrate how much God actually loves you by giving you His life and giving you the power to be “saved” ( delivered from & empowered to overcome the world systems) from slavery to the kingdom of darkness under Satan’s control which are also known as the “world systems”.

I John 2:15-16 — “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

• In this scripture “the world” is the Greek word referring to the systems of this world under Satan’s control.

JOHN 3: 16 — “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten and so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him”.

• In this scripture “the world” is the Greek word referring to the people in this world.

The Scripture in Colossians 2 deals with a significant spiritual truth that is called the “circumcision of the heart”. That is a significant act when someone enters into a covenant relationship with another person. It is called the “mark of covenant”.

The Scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that we have actually become a “new creature” because we have been joined with Jesus by His Holy Spirit as one new body of Christ on this earth through being born again, being baptized, and entering into  our blood covenant relationship with Jesus.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 — “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

According to Scripture as soon as someone makes a commitment to submit their allegiance to the Lordship of Jesus and repent by rejecting the kingdom of darkness in their life, they need to be baptized in water as soon as possible – not a month away in a special ceremony at a church meeting when it’s convenient.

Water baptism is actually your very first step of obedience to your new Lord and Master. It is a declaration to the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God and everyone on earth that you have made Jesus your Lord, you are entering His kingdom, and you are cutting all ties with the “world systems in the kingdom of darkness”. Your baptism can take place in the church building’s baptismal tank, or in a river, or in a swimming pool, or in a bath tub, or in a lake, or the ocean. It doesn’t matter as long as you understand what you are really doing.

If we’re simply doing a “religious” thing then don’t concern yourself with it because nothing has really changed. You are still doing what you want to do rather than what He is saying for you to do.

Remember, in covenant, there is an exchanged life — you exchanged the lordship of your life to Him and He became the Lord of your life and He imparted to you His righteousness and His faith so you could reign in life through Him —  by your baptism you literally became “ONE WITH HIM” as a “NEW CREATION” on this earth called the “BODY OF CHRIST”.

The reason so many Christians were put to death and slaughtered by the Romans was because the act of water baptism was an act of defiance and insurrection declaring the swearing of a new allegiance  to a new Lord.  When anyone said Jesus was their Lord that was direct defiance to Caesar;  for in the Roman Empire only Caesar was called Lord. 

To me, the absolutely amazing truth is that Jesus chose to embody a group of humans on this earth who He called out of the kingdom of darkness under Lucifer’s control and transferred them into an organism called the “ekklesia, or Church. He said that this Church that He was building would be the ongoing incarnation of God’s Word on this planet as the “Body of Christ” and would be empowered with the same Holy Spirit that empowered Him when He was walking this earth. This Body of Christ is composed of men and women called out of darkness, transferred into God’s kingdom, empowered with the Holy Spirit, and restored with the dominion that Adam lost, but Jesus regained. He has made us to be kings and priests replacing Him on this earth to continue with the work He started and enforcing His victory over Lucifer and the kingdom of darkness.

Are you one of those He has called out of the darkness and given dominion over His creation on this earth?

THINK ABOUT IT.

For more click here: Your Supernatural Christian Life

Covenant Life Groups, or other small group settings, are the only way the following Scriptural command can occur.

1 Corinthians 14:26– “When you come together, EVERYONE has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these MUST BE DONE for the strengthening of the church.”

According to the Bible, whenever the Church meets, EVERYONE is able to participate–and the meeting is to be like a family gathering. Notice, that according to the Scripture, when “the Church” meets EVERYONE has the opportunity to participate in a VOCAL WAY and that these things MUST BE DONE FOR THE STRENGTHENING OF THE CHURCH.

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Do your church meetings function like this descriptive command from the Scriptures?

If not, why not? Isn’t this a command from Scriptures as to how the Church is to function when it meets?

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Remember the questions I asked at the end of the “relational Christianity” page? If not,click here to go there now to review them. According to the Bible these practices are not to be done that way. Covenant Life Groups can solve all of these issues by following the Scriptures as written. Please, don’t get hung up on the name of the group – it doesn’t matter what we call them as long as they function properly.

Why Don’t All Churches Do What I Am Teaching?

Typically, when people start asking questions about “why things are done the way they are” the responses you get are comments like:

• “Be careful — that could lead into mysticism or error.”
• Or, “Watch out, that seems dangerous. You might get caught up in fanaticism.”
• Or, “If what we are doing is wrong, how come everyone else does it this way?”

My answer to those type of narrow-minded responses is “I can’t be in error, or fanaticism, or mysticism if I am doing what the Scriptures specifically instruct me to do regardless of some denominations, or religious groups, private interpretation of the Bible. Let’s simply read the Scriptures and do what they say to do. Let’s simply “Prove yourselves doers of the Word, not merely hearers who delude themselves.” — James 1:22

The ministry that God has given me was born out of a sincere desire to help other followers of Jesus become a true expression of the Church we see in the New Testament by helping people and ministries to develop basic Christian communities that I call Covenant Life Groups as an expression of the Kingdom of God.

Is the Church Irrelevant Today?

People in our cultures today are saying that the Church they see does not seem to be relevant any more. That all we do is go to meetings, sing a few songs, place some money in an offering plate, and listen to speeches that really don’t help them in their daily lives.

If you really look at the lifestyles of the people who are involved in the church and those who are not, is there really a great deal of difference?

Both groups of people seems to have:

• relationship problems
• financial problems
• health problems
• marriage problems
• and most of all a lack of peace.

Hungry for solutions to their problems people are looking to:

• psychics
• addictive substances
• immoral relationships
• the occult
• Eastern religious philosophies
• as well as a host of other escapes.

The Church, composed of people in covenant with Jesus that have the LIFE of the Spirit of God within them, is not expressing this life because the structure of the meetings prevents it.

The people of God should be able to help all of these people who are seeking solutions to their problems, but we don’t. WHY???????

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The Problem = Clergy & Laity Structure

I believe the true underlying cause of this situation is that the Church as we know it is structured with two classes of people: Clergy and Laity.

The Clergy is the professional ministers who supposedly hear from God for us and tell us what He said.

The Laity simply sit like mutes, listen to this professional speaker, hear what is said, forget it in about 30 minutes, and give money to pay this person to hear from God for us and tell us what He said.

Yet, doesn’t the Scripture tell us to be doers of the word, not hearers only that delude themselves? Are you are HEARER or a DOER?

Solution to This Situation

In order to overcome this problematic situation, I propose an alternative structure to the institutional church that is so common in our modern cultures.

This alternative structure is as old as the Book of Acts.

My current ministry as a servant of King Jesus is based upon helping people and churches in the development of the basic Christian community through what I call Covenant Life Groups. There are many other names for these small groups such as cell groups, house churches, open churches, etc.

The reason I have chosen Covenant Life Groups is because they are based on the building of covenant relationships, they are places where the life within the covenant brothers and sisters of Jesus can be expressed, and they are simple groups that can meet at any time and anywhere. Acts 2:37-47

People who are hungry for community life and relationships can learn the values of the kingdom of God by first-hand participation in Covenant Life Groups.

People can meet in small groups in homes, offices, boardrooms, restaurants, or any other place you choose.

“Church” becomes a way of life where discipleship and growth occur naturally as everyone has the opportunity to develop their gifts and “Learn by doing” under the mentoring of spiritually mature fathers and mothers in the faith.

We work together to foster accountability and encouragement in order to help people to grow in their spiritual walk with God.

No one lords it over someone else, or hears from God for others, or assumes “leadership” status.

The highest status earned is “servant” because “If you want to be great in God’s kingdom learn to be the servant of all.”

Covenant Life Groups can exist in any culture and are related to each other only by relational ties, no hierarchy of leadership like in the institutional church.

Again, look at the New Testament, Paul only had influence in any of the bodies of believers by relationship. His ministry as an apostle was a functional ministry, not a governmental position.

His primary calling was that of “servant of Jesus Christ”. His primary functional ministry was that of an apostle, one of the “equipping” ministries — or church planter.

We will examine the functional equipping ministries later in this website.

2 Timothy 2:2 — “And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will able to teach others also.”

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I call these related small groups a “cell-based network” simply because they function as the smallest functioning unit of the body of Christ. No frills, no catchy names, just simple functionality.

Now I know this “cell-based network” composed of Covenant Life Groups sounds like a contemporary concept, but it is really not; in fact, it is the way the New Testament Church operated in the Book of Acts in its early formation. Remember, on the first day the church was born it had over 3000 born again believers. How did they handle this? they had no church building to meet in and they had no trained “pastors” to handle that many people. They simply gathered together in their homes as they could and allowed the Holy Spirit to pastor them in the beginning.

God gave us the pattern to follow, but because of some men’s great desire for power and control, the people have allowed the simple structure to be adulterated and changed.

The New Testament believers did not “go to church” or join the church — THEY WERE THE CHURCH.

These followers of Jesus, who had had their lives changed because of encounters with the risen King, practiced their faith as spiritual families, met in homes, and radically changed the world.

They grew in number daily as they obeyed God by sharing their lives together in community in small groups like the Covenant Life Groups.

All three primary functions of the new testament Church occur within the flexible structure of the small group design of the covenant life groups:

1. Development of community to demonstrate oneness with God
2. The equipping and training of the saints for the work of ministry –the people are trained and equipped to perform the ministry of reconciliation – including healings, deliverances, and miracles.
3. Outreach to those still in the kingdom of darkness — being an ambassador of King Jesus and carrying on His ministry on the earth

This is the lifestyle we as covenant partners with Jesus are actively pursuing in this ministry.

If this is the lifestyle you hunger for, then this is where you have an opportunity to grow in your relationship with God and His other children.

Christians who participate in Covenant Life Groups, as well as myself, do not think they have arrived, or are better than people who meet in other church structures.

We are simply pilgrims on a journey of faith seeking to please Him as we come under His loving Lordship and learn to live a new life in a new way — in community relationships.

(NOTE: We do not live in any type of “commune”. We live just like all other citizens in a society.)

As we endeavor to grow in that relationship with Him, we simple sense that we must share this life with others as God enables us to.

Covenant Life Groups are very fluid and and can function like a house church structure or as a cell-group structure or as any other small group type of structure.

I do not say my way is the only way or the right way.

Jesus said, “I will build My Church…” It is His Church and He can build it any way He wants to.

Hosea 4:6 — “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

Have you ever noticed how much Christians struggle to get more faith and to live by faith?

Maybe you have struggled with this also, but realize that if you are struggling with your faith —– it is not really faith because for real faith to work you must be at peace or at rest and simply believe that whatever you are exercising your faith for is already done and you are simply waiting patiently for the manifestation.

Remember when Jesus cursed the fig tree? He did not see the results immediately. It was the next day when He saw the result of what He had declared. Patience is the spiritual force that keeps your faith working while you are waiting for the manifestation to be realized.

Did you know that the first apostles that were with Jesus also struggled with this?

Look at Luke 17:5-6 – “The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.”

This truth was taught to the apostles under the Old Covenant for the New Covenant hadn’t been made yet. This principle is also true under the New Covenant. Our faith, our authority, our dominion are all expressed through our words that we speak and believe they will come to pass.  The authority and dominion of a king are all expressed through his words.  We are ONE with Jesus the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Mark 11:12-14 & 20-24 — “On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.

“As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter *said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.” And Jesus *answered saying to them, “Have the God kind of faith. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.”

Again, Jesus was demonstrating how faith is used; by speaking to the obstacle or situation in your path and believing that what you say is done whether you see it immediately in the natural or in the future. Jesus said that if we believe what we say; it is going to happen.  (When we declare it, faith says it is already done as we declared and now we simply have to exercise patience until it manifests.)

*** VERY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND***Faith and believing are not the same thing. Believing works in the heart, or the hidden man of heart – the spirit. Faith is an action prompted by the heart, or what we believe in the heart, and implemented by speaking and actions.

Romans 10:8-10 – “ But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Notice that the Holy Spirit, through Paul, told us that to become part of God’s family we must BELIEVE IN OUR HEART and SPEAK OUT OF OUR MOUTH to activate the faith required for becoming born from above by the Holy Spirit or for anything else we want from God.

An example of this in the natural would be if I went to work for someone and they said that if I work for them for 40 hours per week they would pay me $300. If I believed what they said to me, I would work for the next 40 hours without seeing a single cent, but fully expecting to receive $300 at the end of the week after I had worked the 40 hours. I believed his words and acted as though the money he promised was already mine; that I had the title-deed to that money. I would say to anyone who asked me that I receive $300 per week for my labor even before I physically had gotten the physical pay yet because I knew I had it even though it had not materialized yet. That is faith on a human level, but faith on a spiritual level works the same way.  We simply exercise our faith by believing what God has said.

In this example above, we believed what the employer said and we acted upon it. Do we do the same in acting upon what God says to us by His Word or by His Spirit within us?

Psalm 89:34 — “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.”

God, once He says something, He does not ever alter what He has said. His word is His bond. Whatever He tells us through His written Word or by His Spirit is absolute and He will not alter or change it. We can put extreme confidence in the integrity of what He says. We can rest with confidence that what He says will be done as He has declared.

Here’s the biggest problem we seem to have with exercising our faith.  When we speak our faith out if it doesn’t happen quickly or we see contradictory happenings we change our faith declarations to agree with what we see, hear, or feel.  That alters our confession of faith and negates its completion.  We MUST learn to act like God acts and not alter our faith declarations because of circumstances.

The REST of faith is having the supreme confidence in His Word that when we truly believe it in our heart and we speak those words out of our mouth “IT IS FINISHED” and we “REST”.  We cease from work and we rest.  We let patience hold our faith in tact until the manifestation has been completed.  We DO NOT change what we have declared to be finished.  We see ourselves in possession of what our faith was used to bring into manifestation on the screen of our imagination and we simply live with thanksgiving to our Father who is our Source.

Scripture tells us in Hebrews 12:2 that Jesus is the “author and finisher” of our faith. We don’t need to struggle to have more faith, we simply need to use what has already been given to us — “THE MEASURE OF FAITH”, Romans 12:3. We already have the measure of faith that God has given us, but we activate it by believing in the heart and speaking out of our mouth.

Have you really ever considered, or meditated on, the fact that we are “IN HIM” and that He is “IN US”? John 14:20 – “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” He has said that we “ONE WITH HIM”.

1 Corinthians 2:16 — “we have the mind of Christ”

2 Corinthians 5:21 — “we are the righteousness of God in Him.”

Hebrews 11:38 — We live by faith because “But My righteous one shall live by faith;”

Galatians 5:25 – “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

Acts 17:28 — “in Him we live, and move, and have our being”

1 John 4:4 – “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

****So, if He lives in us and we live in Him, we are ONE with Him; therefore, we are His body on this earth with His faith, His life, His Spirit, His power and authority, and we are to continue to do the exact same works He did. He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven and we are seated with Him in the fourth dimension, but we are His spiritual body here on this earth carrying out the Father’s will.****

Ephesians 2:4-6 — “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions,
• made us alive together with Christ, and
• raised us up with Him, and
• seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”

Jesus said in John 15:5 – “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

If Jesus is the vine and we are the branches that is another picture of being in union together. There is no life flowing through the branch without being in union with the vine. He said that if we are not in union with Him as ONE we can do nothing in this life that is pleasing to God the Father.

“I AM, WHATEVER THE GREAT I AM, SAYS I AM”

It is a finished work and we rest in that fact.

Revelation 19:16 —  “And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

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The word “terrorist” is a person who invokes terror, or fear.  Terrorism are the acts of those who invoke fear.  This country is under attack by many terrorists including Islamic terrorists, illegal immigrant terrorists, democratic politician terrorists, (socialist, Marxist, communist) terrorists, and many other forms of terrorists attacking us from sides; but the two biggest forms of terrorism come from our own news media and the democratic politicians.  Americans seem to be filled with fear  (FEAR = false evidence appearing real) because we watch and listen to the news media; but God says to the body of Christ  “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

There are two kingdoms in conflict that are being made visible in this country right now:  the kingdom of darkness ruled by Satan and his army versus the kingdom of God represented by the remnant Church.  It appears the darkness is winning, but don’t be blinding by the darkness.  Help is on the way.  The power of the Holy Spirit working through His people will cause a significant revival of POWER with signs and wonders that will overcome the tactics of the darkness and cause paralyzing fears to come upon our enemies.  God was the guiding force that founded this country and He will not allow it to be overcome by a defeated fallen angel named Lucifer.

The primary weapon being used against us is debilitating FEAR that comes through the media and can be resisted and defeated by using our shield of faith and the Sword of the Spirit.

A large majority of the Church world, including most people professing to be Christians, consider Christianity to be just another religion like all the others, but that is a grave mistake.

Because of what Jesus did at His crucifixion by making a blood-covenant with the Father and with the human family, we can become children of God by being “born again”, or more correctly “born from above”.  He has restored a way for us to live the same way Adam did in the original creation of the human family.  We have also been restored to “THAT” which was lost and that is we now have the “LIFE” (zoe) of God within us and we have also had “dominion and authority” restored to us. 

The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift God has ever given to the human family.

The vast majority of people don’t realize this basic principle of life.  We humans are a “spirit” being that has been wrapped in flesh and happens to live inside a body made of flesh, blood, bone, etc.  We don’t think about that reality.  We only consider ourselves as flesh and the stuff that makes up that flesh.  Because of this, we don’t see or understand the truths concerning being a spiritual being.  We focus so much attention on this outer part of our being that we neglect the REAL YOU of our being and we don’t really believe what the Bible tells us because it applies predominately about the REAL YOU:  The Spiritual Man or Woman inside that flesh body.  Without acknowledging that you are spirit that is wrapped in a flesh suit you probably will not believe what the Bible says you really are and, therefore, will not inherit the benefits the Bible says you will have.  That would be a very foolish decision.  The BEST WAY to develop your spirit life is in a small group where you can ask questions and actually be discipled through TRAINING and watching others that are farther along in their training and by using what you have already been taught.

The Church should be the most powerful organism on the earth because it has the life of God within it, but the people sitting in the pews don’t know what they have.

We seem to have a “rocking chair salvation” — simply waiting on the rapture so we can go to the great retirement center in the sky. Many have an escapist mentality; sitting around waiting to be raptured out of here so they can escape any persecution, but the truth is we who have experienced true salvation have been saved to serve the King as His ambassadors on the earth, not simply go to heaven. Jesus didn’t die to get us to heaven – He died to restore us to union with God and to multiply His effectiveness on the earth by multiplying His presence through every born again person that is in relationship with Him. He didn’t die to get you into Heaven; He died to get heaven into you while you are living on the earth.

John 14:12 — “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.”

How can we do greater works than Jesus did? Think about it for a minute. Now, because we are in union with Him through covenant and the new birth, instead of one person doing these works there can be millions doing the works all over the world at the same time. That is definitely greater works and this is what we are to be doing as the Church – the body of Christ on the earth.

2 Corinthians 5:20 — “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, …”

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