By His Grace Alone,

Peter good question.

I think the key is that an individual believer seeks out approval from God directly, the veil seperating mankind from the dwelling place of God being torn in half, nothing left to hider God's direct fellowship with those who have faith in Him.

When our Lord and later his disciples visited the temple it was to call sincere believers out of bondage of the law and out from under the unrighteous covering and traditions of men. They often debated and challenged self righteousness and works. Jesus even called the religious leaders white washed graves full of dead mens bones. This referring to the carnal way the Leaders responded to His message of life in the Spirit.

The Apostles preached and taught of the resurrection and the Life that Jesus was and is today. Jesus is recorded as saying to the religious leaders that "you search the scriptures thinking in them you will find eternal life. Yet you reject me whom the scriptures point to"

Through His life Jesus no doubt attended the temple regularly, but as He came into ministry He did not place Himself under the professional teacher's authority. Instead He taught with authority amazing them all. As did the "unlearned or un-credentialed" disciples after the resurrection of Jesus.

Today it is the same debate. That is the resurrection is real and the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is available and wanting to fill who-so-ever would believe the Gospel.

Popular Church's are knowledgeable of the facts but they often talk about the glories of God without entering into the fulness there of. Many use their knowledge {that tends to puff up and make proud} to control and manipulate the congregation rather than to release them to the available and living Spirit of God. So that every joint can provide as the Spirit wills. Programs replace relationships and compromises are practiced not for the benefit of the people but for the lack of any real Holy Ghost presence. Services scripted and crafted not to offend the people. Jesus called this teaching people with itching ears.

When one develops a personal relationship with the Spirit of God. Their prayers begin to get answered and they learn the importance of both hearing God's direction and obeying it. Then God may lead the individual believer to attend or visit a local "church" but the results will be the same as Jesus and His disciples experienced. Jesus even warned us that the religious leaders, believing their positions being threatened would throw us out etc.. They do this sometimes with calculated grace and professionalism and sometimes not, but they do it.

In Acts: 2:46 that you referenced it says that the believers where all in agreement as they were meeting. They were learning of and believing in, and experiencing the risen Lord. Who ever managed the temple obviously let them use it at least for a time. This would be nice if more churches would make their building available for other groups to meet in, many do and have done so for years. Reading further in acts chapter four a notable miracle was done and the religious leaders detained the Apostles commanding them not to speak of the power of the Lords resurrected spirit.

An important point is that when people start to pray everyday they begin to hear God's direction and they can obey His Spirit's Leadership. In Acts, chapter 2:46 that you referenced people where responding to the teaching of the Apostles. And the Apostles were preaching where the people were, in the temple. It is clear that they were challenged for doing so.

Where to meet is not a law, doctrine, or tradition. Go where God leads. You are the temple of God. "Where two or more are gathered in my name there I am in the midst of them". Just be aware of the leaven of the pharisees.

Love ya!
Prophet and teacher
John Mills
Dallas, TX
jcmills2@juno.com

But if we follow His organization, we can minimize dishealth in the Body. Our bodies, just as the church, as designed with mechanisms for handling an environment that is unhealthy and that frequently enters our bodies past first line defenses. Our bodies, and the Body, are designed quite robustly with the ability to effectively handle these things.

Gosh, it would take a long post to describe these in some detail. But does the point make sense? We can't try to work towards living in a sterile environment to preclude sin, but we can live within His guidelines to handle it well and maintain health in the long run.

Overall, the HC, just like the IC, is full of poor doctrine and poor practice. Moving into a living room hardly solves much of anything.

These two kinds of churches also have two very distinct kinds of meetings. The meetings of the whole church in the city are regulated by the instructions of I Cor.14:23-40 and I Tim.2 & 3. Males have the responsibility for speaking and praying and teaching in the whole church gathering while women are to be silent. But in the smaller but more frequent gatherings in homes there are no gender distinctions in audible participation. Heb.10:24,25 and I Peter 4:10,11 are examples of many instructions for such gatherings. They are characterized by mutual, reciprocal, and two-way ministry one to another. It is also in house meetings that breaking of bread in remembrance of the Lord takes place at full meals eaten by the people of God.

Trust this helps to clarify some things in your mind by scripture. (Acts 6 and Acts 15 also describe some other whole church gatherings.)