There are articles there relative to the church/ekklesia, Christian unity, the New Covenant, how the Old Testament Tabernacle pictures the True Tabernacle or the House of God (which house we are!), as well as a few testimonies of folks on the journey as they discover more of what life in Christ is all about.
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I did read some of the articles on your website. I am confused a bit, I must admit, by what you wrote. Not that I didn't understand what you wrote but rather that it didn't jive with what I thought you wanted to prove.
BTW, the essence of the two covenants was to restore a people to holiness that they may live in the presence of a Holy God. Both were for the same purpose. The essential difference between the two was the sacrifice. The first covenant had earthly priests and animal sacrifices. The new covenant was based on better promises. The blood of animals could never cleanse our consciences of sin. But the blood of Jesus can wash us and make us pure as snow.
The Jewish economy did have many ceremonies and systems which were to teach them and us about God's plan of salvation. But those ordinances were "nailed to the cross" and "taken out of the way." All may respond to the call of the cross and claim the blood of Jesus. The earthly has given way to the heavenly. We shouldn't focus on elemental things such as where we meet and how we meet. That got the Jews into trouble. Rather, our focus should be Christ. When we fall in love with Him then obedience will be in our hearts and we will hear His voice and follow Him.
Remember, "Circumcision is nothing, and the lack of it is nothing. But keeping what God commands is everything." (GWV).
We might rephrase this today in many ways. One example, "Home church is nothing, and IC is nothing. But keeping what God commands is everything."
(Now, don't get me wrong. There is a time and a place for home churching. But let's not make the fact we home church the focus of our ministry. Let's not present it as through it were a law--a requirement for obtaining salvation. Nor as a rule to distinguish between the saved (good guys) and the lost (bad guys). It can be beautiful of itself as an expression borne of a desire to walk more closely with God. But men always have a tendency to want to control their fellow man, don't they? And, a doctrine of that nature tends to divide rather than unite.)
We are not saved by works. Not even by where we meet. Rather, through obedience. "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."
The wisest man summed it up very nicely when, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he wrote, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."
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Hi jeff, I'm not sure why you're confused! What did YOU think I wanted to prove?
Where do you find in scripture that the essence of the OC (The Ten Commandments which Israel promised to keep) was to restore people to holiness? Galatians 4 clearly tells us that it gendered to or produced bondage!
In contrast, the new Covenant brings liberty.
That the NC focus is NOT on where we meet but rather upon the One who dwells within us and in whom we dwell. That again is one of the many contrasts between the OC and the NC! Under the OLd, the place was always very important so that if you weren't in the right place (the tabernacle or the temple where God had placed His name) you didn't get to meet with God! It is this same OC mindset that still controls the minds of people when they speak of "going to the house of the Lord"! God no longer dwells in temples made with hands. He does not dwell in buildings but rather in bodies. He does not dwell in places but in His people.
It is for this reason that saints who truly enjoy NC ministry realize that they need no temple in which to meet for the ARE the temple in whom God dwells!
I have certainly not presented the idea of a house church as a requirement for salvation any more than being baptized in water is necessary for salvation! Neither are ever commanded in scripture at all, but both were the common, ordinary and consistent practice of NC saints! Believers were baptized in water and believers broke bread, prayed, enjoyed fellowship and continued in the apostles' doctrine as they met in each others'homes.
(Glad to hear that the granddaughter is doing well. I am sure you are so happy to have her.)
Gal 5:1-6 explains the bondage and liberty of Gal 4 a bit more. Have you read it?
Romans 7 should shed some light on it as well as Isaiah 61.
Do you feel that it is the Ten Commandments which are bondage? Or, is it sin? Do you believe that our liberty is to be free of the Ten Commandments? How do you interpret and apply your freedom? What does it mean to you to be free? What are you freed from through Christ?
The entire plan of redemption was to restore man to his once noble state. To deliver him from the bondage of sin and to write God's law upon his heart and mind.
In Exodus 19:5,6 we read what the Lord told Moses to repeat to Israel. "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel."
Does that sound familiar?
And the children of Israel said, "All that the Lord hath said we will do." But they could not keep their covenant because their flesh was weak. The Lord heard their words and replied through Moses, "I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken. O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!"
"O that there were such an heart in them." They Lord new that if they were ever going to be able to keep his law and be holy he would have to write it upon their hearts. Then they could proclaim, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."
So since the law had no power to strengthen their weak flesh so that they might keep God's law, God sent Jesus to overcome where they failed. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us."
Now when you say that God dwells in us, what do you mean? Do you mean as the scriptures mean? "And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him." It wouldn't be possible for God to dwell in a sinful man because it is sin that separates us from God.
Scripture tells us that God is love. Well, does it tell us what love is? I looked up "love is" to see what I could find. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
Therefore, if the love of God dwells in us then we too will work no ill to our neighbor and will fulfil the law--just as Jesus did. And then the promise of Romans 8 is fulfilled--"the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us."
We don't dare justify ourselves by our own efforts at keeping the law, but if by faith Jesus dwells in our hearts and ours is a living faith then we will consider ourselves dead to sin but alive to righteousness. We are not to consider ourselves dead to sin only once we overcome, no!, but by faith in the promises of God purchased for us by the death of Jesus. If we waited until we felt like overcomers then we might have something of which to boast. But righteousness is not received by works, that is by trying to keep all of the law, but rather it is received by believing the promise.
What could be more liberating than this? To be free from bondage (service) to sin, to no longer fear judgment, condemnation, and death, and to know the true God?
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