The House of God

The House of God

Ephesians 2:19-22
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

The house of God, as most of us know, is not a structure of wood and stone. It is not a religion or an organization, but it is a living organism structured, designed, and formed by the Spirit of God for His Holy Habitation. It is like a house within a house. You and I are individually the temples and dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, but at the same time we are being formed corporately into the temple and dwelling of the Most High.
What comes to mind is a honeycomb of fitted individual cells all joined together into a hive. It is there that you find the honey, the anointing, the sweet out-flowing of the Holy One. All of its members work in one accord and unto one end, to perpetuate the life of that hive. Each member has their own functions and abilities and as each one is faithful to function in their gifting and calling, the hive will prosper.
Before we knew Christ we had no real home, no real purpose and we were strangers to God. It was His grace that led us unto repentance and salvation that He might join us unto His own where we now have purpose and true meaning in our lives.
It says we have been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. These were the stones through which God’s Word came forth and established what we now read as our Bible. They gave the tenants and blueprints of God’s design so that we could continue to be built with continuity from generation to generation, not wavering from the original design and purpose of our Master Architect and Builder, who is Himself the chief cornerstone, the primary support and anchor of God’s temple as well as the capstone and crown of glory that completes and finishes it.
Ephesians 4:11-16 says, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” From this scripture has come the terminology of what we call the five fold ministry. A brother shared with us a good analogy the other day as we were having fellowship. He said he saw the five fold ministry much like the forms in construction that are assembled with reinforcements placed within them and then filled with concrete. The forms are not the actual structure or building, but are there to give shape, dimension, and form to the structure, but once the concrete has set up and taken the shape it was designed for the forms are stripped away. The fivefold ministry is not an end in itself, but they are the materials and tools to build the house into God’s design. The end purpose is to have a unified structure that is an organism that functions in the fullness of Christ, whose head is Christ. Each member works together with the other and no one member works for their own good, but for the good of the whole. Much of our mindset today is “what’s in it for me.” In the true body of Christ, me doesn’t exist, it is all about Him. That is the house of God.

Blessings,
#kent

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Vision Leading to Revelation

Vision Leading to Revelation

The right hand of fellowship with God moved forward to lay hold of the door handle of the semi-transparent door of faith. Slowly it opened and we passed through. Glorious sunset clouds surrounded as we rose up in that place. Clouds giving way to the unlimited expanse of space.
Semi darkness was around as the sense of people and places past. Glimpses of ethereal forms showed the traditions of men come and passed. Moving on through this cemetery realm of relics that sought to live. There time had come and gone and they had no life to give.
Moving on through into the darkness and expanse of space. It was lit brightly by the stars, each one in its place. Suddenly a holy presence on each side of me, at hyperspeed, took me through space and eternity. Total darkness veiled any other form, till at last hands pulled back the darkened veil. There in the background of space I beheld a noble lion’s head. A majestic vision as He called me to come into this place.
Hosea 9:5
“What will you do on the day of your appointed feasts, on the festival days of the Lord?”
The place was no longer the form of tradition, feast and festivals, the place was the living reality of all that they represented and were. We are no longer to celebrate the Sabbath days, feast days, new moons and harvests, but become the feast and festival in the lives that we live and the expression of Him who is the fulfillment of all they represent.
Hosea 2:11
” I will stop all her celebrations: her yearly festivals, her New Moons, her Sabbath days–all her appointed feasts.”
Hebrews 4:14
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.”
Hebrews 10:1-8
“The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;
6with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.
7Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, O God.’””
8First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). 9Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Through the right hand of fellowship entering in through the door of faith, we are to enter into these realities that Jesus first entered into and became for us. We are His expression and His expression is through us becoming the manifestation of all that He is. As long as we hold on to the former, we can not be made perfect.
Hebrews 9:8-10
“The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 10Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.”
As long as we are still walking. living, celebrating in these former traditions, which are but a mere figure, they represent the first tabernacle built with hands and prevent us from entering into the holiest of all. God’s heartbeat is to bring us completely out of the former shadows into the full light of His truth and holiness. Only in that light and truth will we fully behold Him and the holiest of all.

Blessings,
kent