Over the past few weeks, we have been investigating the Ship of the Kingdom diagram (below) , a visual illustration of the “sphere sovereignty theology” of Abraham Kuyper. Kuyper was a pre-WWI, Dutch theologian who also became Prime Minister of Holland.. This diagram beautifully pictures God the Father crowning Jesus as King of kings at the Ascension, and then seating Him at His right hand as ruler over the whole earth. Ten days later, at Pentecost, Jesus then DELEGATED THAT RULE TO US, living…

Last week we painted what appears to be a dark picture of mankind and its future. The results of man’s Fall are much more permanent and far-reaching than most of us have realized. This includes an addiction to trying to be God ourselves—trying to determine what is “good” and not “evil” ourselves, independently of God. However, this “terrible tragedy” of the Fall was exactly as God had planned, for He is ordering all things, even the “tragedy” of the Fall, according to “…the purpose…

When Adam ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, unlike Eve, he did so with a full understanding of what he was doing: “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14).  Eve was deceived when Satan, in the guise of a serpent (Revelation 12:7-9) approached her and they had a conversation. The details of this exchange form the foundation of the Fall, and hence our addiction.  “Now the serpent…

For the past few weeks we have been investigating how our individual families and churches will function as we learn to conform them to their biblical pattern. These are the weapons, along with the civil government (which we will soon examine), that God has given us to successfully carry out our eternal purpose of ruling over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). How these weapons are used constitutes one of the two edges of the Sword of the Word of God. As the author of Hebrews…

This title may be the question we are asking ourselves as we have discussed church leadership in thelast few blog postings. Interestingly, this universally-used word for church leadership—”pastor” (Gk., poimen)—is used only one time in the New Testament as a noun (Ephesians 4:11), and there it is among a list, NOT OF AUTHORITATIVE OFFICES, BUT OF INFLUENTIAL GIFTS–gifts that are the men themselves, called by Jesus Christ and given by Him to His church.  There they serve a specific function in the body of…

When one sees the word “church” in the New Testament it means something entirely different to the reader today than it did when originally written. As regular readers of this blog know, we want to present the original, intended meaning of “church” and present the amazing possibility of doing our best to follow that today! For example, in the New Testament church there was NO CHURCH AUTHORITY GREATER THAN THE LOCAL CHURCH; each was completely autonomous, independent of any extra-local authority. Of course, there…

Last week, we looked at the three structural models for today’s church, which unconsciously functions in society today as if it were a type of business—a ”sole proprietorship” (episcopal), “stockholder-officer” (presbyterian), or “partnership” (congregational). Are any of them what the Bible teaches they should be? A common thread  runs through each of these models (thus throughout all of American churches today), and that is the concept of the PROFESSIONAL CLERGY–men who are “called to the ministry.” It is considered normal for all to see…

We have discussed in this blog my belief that the wineskin of the New Testament church is made up of believers who have particular characteristics. These Christians have 1.) become as little children of their Father, Jehovah God (Matthew 18:2-5). They 2.) walk fully “walk in the light” together (James 5:16; 1 John 1:5-10), confessing  their sins to one another, freely and openly. I firmly believe that THE BIBLICAL CHURCH will eventually naturally, spontaneously and unconsciously (NSU) result as these believers do so! They…

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.” (Mark 2:22). These words from the mouth of Jesus are most easily applied today to the traditional church (the wineskin) and the message it proclaims (the wine). In Jesus’ day, the obvious application was the new wine of Jesus’ teaching and the old wineskin of the pharisaic religion that…

Last week we saw that Proverbs 29:18 gives us the big-picture orientation of life—forest-and-not-just-tree orientation. Without seeing the forest, we will not see or understand God’s eternal purpose for our lives. Could it be that GOD REALLY MEANT IT when He said, in Genesis 1:26-28, that man was created to 1.) bear God’s image, 2.) rule over the earth, and 3.) reproduce others to fill that earth and make man’s rule permanent—and that is our eternal purpose, our “forest?” I believe that He absolutely…