Why Write on Federal Reserve and Less Government

Some of you have been concerned over the inclusion of thoughts on the Federal Reserve and less government on Acts29review, as it has been committed to the vision of Jesus Christ and His church; living out that life together on a daily basis ... focusing on encouraging and building up one another to reach the measure of the stature of the fullness or Christ.

What does that have to do with the Federal Reserve and government? History has proven that those who commit to Jesus Christ together in a real way will always be persecuted by governments. The bigger and more powerful the government, the more potential for effective persecution.

Also, the devastating effects of the costs of propping up big government beyond the mandate government has from God is staggering. It causes everyone to suffer, as well as result in many professed believers turning to the government in place of God to provide them with everything.

Many alleged churches even beg and extract from the government money to run their operations. This is the horror that came about from the merging of government and the church in the time of Constantine.

As for the Federal Reserve and central banking in general, this is the ultimate enabler of big government, as it can't grow and survive without money being printed or digitized out of thin air.

That means central banks will debase their currencies in order to create money to feed the gigantic government beasts so they can continue their endless programs to keep people dependent upon them.

The problem of course is other people's money eventually runs out, and you have a major crisis. That's what's happening in America and Europe at this time, as the demonic socialist policies or wealth redistribution have come to the place where the promises and programs are no longer sustainable or affordable.

But because the vast majority of politicians only think of getting re-elected in democracies, or holding power in dictatorships, they continue to kick the can down the road, hoping the collapse doesn't happen on their watch.

This is why they rarely get specific when talking about making cuts. The opposing party would jump on it, making it look like they are heartless and opposing the poor.

So it goes on and on, with the Federal Reserve, in the case of America, printing out more and more money to prop up the irresponsible government.

Even in the Old Testament God said He would judge Pharaoh for extracting 20 percent in taxes from the people. And when Israel wanted a king, it was mentioned that he would end up taking 10 percent from the people to prop up growing government. That was also considered a very big negative.

All of you reading this would be thrilled to have taxes at those levels, which were considered outrageous by God.

We all need to understand the consequences of endlessly throwing artificial or fiat money into the economy. It weakens the U.S. dollar or any currency when a central bank does that, while also causing inflation to rise.

Since the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913, the U.S. dollar has lost over 95 percent of its buying power. It's identified by some economists as the hidden tax, as very few people understand the devastation accompanying money created out of thin air.

All Christians need to understand, pray against, and oppose this practice. It's destroying the countries where this is done, and in the case of the United States, because the U.S. dollar is the reserve currency, it's especially devastating, having an impact on all countries around the world.

Now that the unbelievably ignorant and irresponsible actions of Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve have instituted another round of quantitative easing, one that is open-ended, we'll see the value of the U.S. dollar come crashing down again, and the exports in the U.S. begin to drop because of the higher cost of products.

That's because when the U.S. dollar falls in value, countries can buy up U.S. goods cheaper than before using their currencies, which have gained in value against the dollar.

It's a little complex for those that know little about the consequences of big government and throwing fiat money into the economy, but the results aren't complicated: it's a bad thing for everyone financially, and creates a power far greater than was ever meant to be, resulting in an antagonism towards Christians who understand, or at least suspect, something is wrong.

This is why God gave Nebuchadnezzar the dream which foretold when Jesus came He would smash these world empires and set up an everlasting kingdom. In other words, Jesus opposes countries attempting to build global empires, and He will fight against those attempting to do so. That brings us who truly believe in and are regenerated by Jesus Christ directly into the line of fire.

That's why we must pray against all of the central banks in the world, that God would remove these enablers of empire, and bring the focus back to His eternal kingdom as expressed in His people who live it out together daily.

Ask God to give you wisdom in this if you don't see it, as it's one of the crucial issues of our day; one that will effect every human being on the planet.

We shouldn't be terrified or afraid, but we also shouldn't be unwise and unprepared.

Practical Help with Church Life

In talking about practical Church life, let's briefly define what I

mean by it: it's about the best ways to interact with one another as

Christian believers outside of the existing, man made church systems.

The purpose in pursuing something like this is the inability for

Christians to fulfil their mandate to be priests unto God under what

are considered 'traditional' practice of the church. Such as sitting

in a chair or pew for your entire life receiving varying degrees of

input - many times not even biblical input - which does nothing

more than to turn you into meaningless and spiritually worthless

moss on a rock, as you eventually get socialized into your comfort

zone and lose all desire and inspiration to participate in the great

fellowship of the Father and His son Jesus Christ together.

For example, how does one experience being a practical part of the

body of Christ as far as functioning goes? How do you express

yourself as part of the body of Christ when the only opportunities

are to sit and listen to what have been named sermons? At what time,

as measured by the the church you're part of, are you given chances

to share what Christ has done in, to or for you? How often are you

allowed to do that? What has been practically put in place to offer

believers the biblical requirement to share with one another? When

is the last time some type of so-called clergy has shut up and you

and other believers were doing the talking and sharing?

For the vast majority of people the answers to these questions,

sadly, are never. This is one of the major reasons we have such a

low-quality of Christian today, as they're not given the opportunity

to stretch their spiritual muscles and grow as a result.

Although this begins with a way of looking at the body of Christ and

it's purpose, it ends with the implementing of practical steps which

ensure the chance to live this way as the people of Jesus Christ is

presented to all who want to know more of Him; both individually and

corporately.

With this in mind, I want to show you several ways I've practically

experienced living outside the institutional or organized church

that has worked well to varying degrees, and each has its own

strength and weaknesses. After over 50 years of living like this, I

think I've pretty much found the only ways this can be done, and

some times it takes a combination of more than one to make it really

work well.

Born into body life

My first experience in body life was from the day I was born, as it

was part of my dad's and mom's life far before I was a twinkle in

their eyes.

You have to understand that this was back in the 1950s, and before

the strong interest in body life as we would look at it today was

rediscovered, and also before the Jesus people movement, which

generated a lot of interest just because it was very organic in its

nature, even with some of the unfortunate excesses connected with

it, which unfairly painted everyone with the same brushstroke, even

though it was far from true.

Anyway, what the practicals involved with this were the church

decided years before I was born in 1956 to buy a piece of land in

the country for the purpose of having a type of weekend retreat in

the summer months (I was born and lived in northern Minnesota, so

winters made it impractical for families to be there during that

time of the year).

What eventually happened was we got so close to one another during

these times that to not go up there, even when the weather was bad,

would be unheard of. We didn't miss a weekend, and it forever

changed our lives with the light that we had at the time.

The land itself was both flat and hilly, so you could partake in

some group activities, which always added to relaxing us for the

purpose of opening up to one another more when we sat and talked and

shared.

There was also a building built for the purpose of people who didn't

have camping trailers and such to be able to stay in bedrooms which

were located upstairs.

Downstairs there was a square hall with a large fireplace which

created great atmosphere and place to sit back and relax as well. We

had chairs in racks we could take out to sit on whenever we wanted

to get together for a meeting or whatever. There was also a cooking

area off the front area you could go through a door to to make you

dinner if you didn't want to barbecue outside, etc.

On the other part of the downstairs was an outer area (surrounding

the square hall) where there were tables where people could gather

together to eat as family and friends.

The idea was there were several things set up for moments when we

just wanted recreational down time, while everything else was set

for the purpose of enjoying all the aspects of fellowship together.

Bear in mind, that while this sounds all upper class and stuff like

that, in reality it was built by the brothers long before who knew

and practiced carpentry and other needed skills, and was in fact

very sturdy but humble; not a type of place where people wanting

only the 'American Plan' would necessarily go to.

It was very functional and added needed privacy, but also build in a

way you had to fellowship unless you stayed in your room or campers

for the whole time you were there.

It would take a book to write about the experiences of this

fantastic place with all the people there, but the bottom line is it

was something that existed for the purpose of organic church life

far before the word was even being used, or we had ever heard it,

and it was extraordinary in that the children of my age were

basically born into the experience without knowing anything else

like it.

The strength of this type of practical setup is it gives you some

room to move and hang out with people in a very uncrowded sort of

way, while still always being together.

For many of you who struggle with figuring out ways to incorporate

children into your organic church life, I don't think there's

anything that could do better than this as the type of environment

conducive to bringing that forth.

Another extraordinary strength of this practical way of meeting and

living together (albeit temporarily in the summer and primarily on

weekends, although some stayed almost all summer or weeks at a

time), was the much-needed intergenerational fellowship and

friendship, which amazingly thrived at a time when the social fabric

of the world and America were being torn apart in the 1960s

rebellion (in the negative sense of the actions of the time).

There wasn't a sense at all of being afraid to hang out with older

people at that time by the younger, and in fact, there were strong

and healthy relational ties between many of the younger people and

older, without it always being natural parents and children alone.

It truly went beyond that to a very spontaneous way of living and

life that I'll never forget, and hopefully many will be able to

experience as well.

I don't look at that experience as necessarily the best way to

experience body life, but I do think it's a fantastic way to enhance

it a minimum, and could be a big part of it if you were to do it

right and have other means of getting together on a more consistent

basis.

Even so, I would highly recommend something like this for those

already in body life. It's something you probably need, and I think,

'feel' you need, although you may not be able to put it into words.

This doesn't mean you have to go out and buy a piece of land and

build a home-like type of place to enjoy (although it would be great

if you could), but you could find a place that was available on a

regular basis you could rent for yourselves and make it an important

part of body life you participate in.

Another valuable thing this could be would be to test out whether

you're truly part of a people who would want to live in this way.

Sharing live together in a setting like this is a good way to test

the waters and see if it's something you could do or not. While I

think the way the scriptures speak of these things there's really no

other choice in the sense of sharing our lives together on a

consist ant basis, for some of you reading this is may be too much at

first, and so trying it out in this manner could be a great way to

see how you respond to it.

After all, reading about something his one thing, participating and

experiencing it is another.

For those of you already meeting outside of buildings, there are

many other tremendous lessons to learn from something like this, but

we'll leave that for another time.

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Meeting in Homes, living close together

Another experience I've had is to meet in homes as far as when the

church gets together to share Christ and to live close together.

In my years as an adult, when I met a group of people that were

doing this, it was a natural an easy extension and practice to move

into it after what I mentioned above while I was growing up.

This was a little different than living in a neighborhood together,

as while we lived close together, we didn't get real close until

some church planters from Britain who had built churches in that

manner helped us see the value of that.

So what we did in the beginning of being planted by a church planter

(outside the institutional church), was to meet in homes and get

together all the time outside of meetings as well.

As we grew in size, we eventually had to multiply into four groups

because there were too many people to practice church in the way we

had at the beginning.

Some people who have been seeing and doing this today have been a

little put off by this, saying it had broken up some close

relationships they've had with other people. While that may be true,

it really isn't the point when you come down to it. The church is

for Christ, and many people need to be able to experience the beauty

of fellowship with one another in Christ.

While close relationships in Christ are great and a worthy goal,

they are not the end of the purpose of Christ. In reality what can

happen in these types of relationships are the development of what I

would call 'soul ties.' Relationships built on the people we get

along the easiest with, or possibly may have very similar personal

goals and ways of looking at things.

I don't mean by that that you haven't struggled together, just that

it could have resulted in ties that are no longer only spiritual,

but soulical as well. If that's the case, you could strongly resist

change, even if it comes from the Holy Spirit, and end up being

pretty much a dead sea, with input coming in all the time, but no

place for an outlet, where that life you share goes beyond yourself

and the close group of brothers and sisters surrounding you.

What in fact is probably happening is a fear of losing what you've

worked so hard to build, or rather, what the Lord has worked so hard

to build.

If you've been together long enough to feel these things, be

cautious as to how you respond, because if the Lord is trying to

expand Himself and add to your number, if you resist it, ultimately

you will probably divide, as you can willingly multiply or

unwillingly divide. While the results may be the same as far as no

longer being around the same people you've grown so fond of, the

consequences are obviously worse if things are torn apart in a

negative way.

But I'm speaking in these last words to those of you who have been

around for a number of years together, not those who haven't been

around enough to truly be tested over a period of years.

The obvious strength of living like this is we had all the benefits

of meeting in a home in a very organic and spontaneous meeting

setting. The negative was we would have to make extra effort to get

together. That was negative because when it takes extra effort, the

result is you get together with those who you consider worth the

effort, and will miss out on getting to know and fellowship with

people you don't see very often.

While this isn't a bad thing as far as being in you, it's a

practical problem from living apart from one another.

Either way, it's far superior to going to a building and listening

to sermons all your life.

One final thing, in this type of setting, there are those that live

close together and those that are scattered. Without exception in my

experience in a number of different places and churches, those that

live scattered and not close to the core group of people, always

feel left out, and many times complain that they aren't included in

what's going on in contrast to those who live closer together and

have an easy task of getting together spontaneously.

In this type of circumstance, I've never found an answer to this, as

the one's who are living scattered, will never be able to live in

the way those living closer together do. To have everybody stop

living and doing things spontaneously together so those farther away

feel better about themselves isn't something I could ask those

churches I've planted to do. The only answer is to move closer

together, which leads me to the next practical way to live life as

the church outside the institutional church system.

Living in a neighborhood

I've lived in church life as a regular brother for a number of years

in a neighborhood, as well as planted churches that way.

Living in a neighborhood is extraordinary in that you eliminate any

practical barriers to fellowship, other than going about your daily

responsibilities.

But as far as getting together and sharing life together, it

probably beats anything else.

One way this is superior to only meeting in homes and having a lot

of people traveling, is the inevitable complaints from neighbors if

you have to drive to get to the home you're going to meet in. You

know neighbors will rightfully ask you to not park in the spots they

park in, which can create a lot of animosity, especially if they

find out you're meeting as a church in the home.

Some I've known have asked those doing this to travel in cars or

vehicles together in order to minimize the space they take up. This

can help in those cases.

Anyway, the point is, living in a neighborhood together eliminates

this type of problem because you simply have to walk to go to the

home you meet in.

But more than this little practical benefit, having the ability to

get together whenever you want to is something that can't be

explained and only can be lived. To share the life of Christ on an

everyday basis with other believers is something we all should be

able to experience.

Sure, you have the struggles that always come when human beings

interact with one another, but those edges can be knocked off in

time and patience, and eventually a great experience of sharing in

the life of Christ among a corporate people is unleashed.

While there is no doubt to me that living in a neighborhood is the

best way to experience church life together, I would say that with

one caveat after decades of doing that personally in a number of

corporate settings: you need a release valve off and on so you don't

become too suffocated from the experience.

This is why I mentioned above about the first practical body life

setting I experienced, and said it was a great way to enhance body

life. I'm referring to having that as part of your experience, as

living in a neighborhood can end up giving you a dead sea experience

if you're not going outside of it to do other things.

I think a setting out in the country, or a place you can rent,

really helps to solve many of the problems that come with living

close together. Having an open space like that really adds to your

quality of life in the Lord, and I think the two work together

better than the one.

Like I said, there is a ton more I could write on this as far as how

the experiences of these different types of body life are, but

overall, these are about the only legitimate alternatives you have

if you live in the western or emerging nations.

Obviously there are all sorts of secondary things you can do, like

planning all types of special events to enjoy and express the Lord

toward one another, but these are the foundations you have to

practically work from.

The only other option is to go to the building and sit.

Buying a home to meet in

One last thing connected to all of this is something I've seen some

of the brethren in Britain do years ago, and that was not to just

meet in homes, but to buy a home for the group to meet in or do

other things with.

I like this because it allows you to think of taking care of some

practical issues which can come up when meeting together as a group

in a home built for a family.

As with everything, there are pros and cons with this as well. For

example, one church bought a home like this, but also set it up for

brothers and sisters who visited them from other areas and

countries.

The problem was some brothers and sisters liked to be in a home and

not alone while visiting them. I'm not sure, but possibly a lot of

people came to visit, and so the home may have been an escape valve

for the church itself as far as stress on the believers in offering

hospitality to the point of collapsing. I don't know that for a

fact, but it's possible.

There is also a sense of having a home like this so people can stay

and hang out as long as they want, especially if some have children

you need to go to be at an early time.

I know some control freaks get frightened at the prospects of others

hanging out together if everyone's not there, but I think that's not

something to be overly concerned about.

If someone is going to gossip or talk about things, eventually that

will happen whether you try to stamp it out or not. Usually the

attempt and fear over things like that can end up with the solution

being worse than the original concern.

A proper foundation will help fight against that, and if someone

isn't founded in the Lord properly, they'll end up being influenced

somewhere down the road by somebody, so we shouldn't be too

concerned about people hanging out together in that sense.

The point is that for the most part a home bought by the church to

meet in and use will primarily be for those living in the

neighborhood anyway, so there's not that much to be worried about.

Final words on practical church issues

One final thing I wanted to say here, is that all of this won't

matter if you aren't doing these things unto the Lord and because of

the revelation of Jesus Christ which moves within you and drives you

to want to live in this way together.

No matter what practical steps you take, If Christ isn't the purpose

in it, it will fail no matter how right you get the practicals.

What the practicals do is give you the environment for the types

things and life the Lord Jesus Christ likes to live out among His

people; that and nothing else.

So doing all of this will do nothing if you don't see that Jesus

Christ wants to live and walk among His people, and that taking away

all the props and crutches allows that to happen in the most

efficient way this side of paradise.

Don't get me wrong, sharing in the life of Christ is best done in

the ways mentioned above, but if you don't center on and look to

Christ as your life and recognize that these are His ways, you can

have a fun and interesting experience, like you could anywhere, but

if it's devoid of Christ, it won't make any difference.

In the end, I think the best way to experience Christ corporately is

to live as close together as you can and then to have a place

somewhere which you either own or rent, which you can have various

activities and interactions in ways which allow you to let off

steam, and to offer up intergenerational fellowship across all age

groups in a way that goes beyond simply meeting together.

After all, meetings should simply be a culmination of the life we

life together with Christ on a daily basis. All sorts of fellowship

and life should be happening outside of meetings as well. Having a

place outside the neighborhood adds something to that which I think

answers a lot of questions for those who have lived in body life for

a long time but don't understand why they're feeling limited or

sufficated.

The reason is more practical than it is negative, and those trying

these types of things will find a new release that they've been

searching for for a long time.

Christ wants to be seen, not simply heard

The end result of the eternal purpose of God is that He will be all in all; everything that He is will be embodied in His people. This is the ultimate purpose of creation, that who He is invisibly will be shown forth visibly in a people.

He does this through a love relationship with His people, whom He calls His bride. But Christ isn't looking for a trophy wife that is seen as worldly eye candy; an ornament built to impress the world. Many of the people of God wrongly believe they can impress the world by outdoing them. Yet it's futile to try to impress the world this way. You can't outworld the world - we were never meant to.

Just like Christ is completely different than us, as we allow Him to form and shape Himself within us, we become completely other than this world, which bears the imprint of Satan.

In other words, our purpose as a Church is to show forth Jesus Christ, to bear His image, to be a testimony of who He is. That's why Paul tells the churches that they are a letter meant to be read by all men.

Talking about the church as a candlestick, T.A. Sparks said:

"But we say to one another together - what matters it that we have meetings, larger or smaller, and go on with our teaching, with our magazine with a candlestick of gold printed on it? None of these things matters at all. I say, let them go, the Lord save us from them, unless, as the fruit of all and as the source of all, there is this light which is an impact - without any inconsistency, without contradictions, without a lie - so that our teaching is not in the first place heard but seen. If there is to be a coming and an enquiring, it is because something is seen. 'I turned to see the voice.' People are hearing things, and they are turning to see. What do they see? A light, not a teaching? A light with an impact?"

Sadly, a number of believers who think they're being radical and doing this, have already started off wrong, and instead of being a testimony of Christ are moving off Him as their purpose for being a people, and are embracing all types of worldly ideas and thoughts they think are important to God.

Instead of pursuing Christ, they're more interested in being politically correct and believing the many philosophical lies taught them in the school system and universities.

They are trying to impress the world by parroting their psychology and philosophies, rather than embracing Christ as their wisdom. They're blindly following the environmentalist mantra of endless fears, and think they're doing some type of service to Christ. They're following cunning fables created by fallen man and attempting to wrap the name of Christ around it like He's approving of it.

Those doing this won't last along outside the religious systems of this day, as Christ doesn't give or commit Himself to these types of irrelevant things. As the scriptures say, "perfect love casts out fear," and the river of doctrine flowing out of the world that attempts to strike fear in the hearts of man (and God's people)doesn't belong amongst the people of God. We not only need to quit embracing it, but we need ignore it for the most part.

I'm even starting to see a number of misguided and deceived people repeating the ugly lie that homosexuals are born that way, not even realizing they're attacking Christ and His view of that evil lifestyle. It doesn't matter whether it's the old or new testament, homosexuality has always been condemned by God, and to imply that it's the fault of Christ is wickedness, and there are people being given a voice that are spewing out this garbage.

I'm bringing these things up because many seeking to change the practices of the Church of Christ are being deceived and/or talked into pursuing this nonsense, while basically abandoning Christian teaching and doctrine that has refuted this from the beginning.

The thing Christ is after isn't to change the basic doctrines of the church which have been in the scriptures and part of church life from the beginning, He's changing the practices of the church and calling us back to a close fellowship with Him intimately.

He's calling us again to embrace the cross and allow Him to work His work within us, weakening the old man so that the new humanity - represented by Jesus Christ - can be formed within us and be read by all men.

Christ isn't interested in changing or saving this dead world, He's interested in calling us out of it, which is what the term used for the church in the Greek actually means.

While we are to be salt in this world, it's for the purpose of keeping the world from completely imploding and self-destructing before its time, and so Christ can call all those who are to be saved to Him.

When I mentioned above that Christ isn't interested in saving the world, I mean by that that He's already done it. Anybody that calls upon His name shall be saved. From there we are to get back to the purpose God created us: to fill us completely with Himself. That is what we are to focus on and pursue.

Church History - Church outside the system

Throughout history, from the beginning of the church of Jesus Christ till today, there has existed those who yearned for two things. One is a passionate love for Jesus Christ that puts Him far above all things in this world or the world to come. Now the Father has already raised Him to this place of course, yet it must be worked into our inner man fully and completely.

Secondly, there has been the desire that the Christ be revealed in His people, not in a man-made system created from blending into the world system, but a living expression of this risen Lord. An exact representation of Him on the earth through His people.

When a person studies church history, we who have done it and live outside the institutional church system, notice a very interesting thing. There are always these things called footnotes that mention these little-known groups of people that wanted to take things further on into Christ than they currently had. They wanted more of Christ and got it. Untold numbers lost their lives as a result of this hunger and as a result of their response to that hunger. 

The reason for this bit of  history is to show you that there are many similar things that numerous of these people up to this day have had in common and have built upon in continuous pursuit of the Lord.

Below is a list of the things that happened and continue to happen up until this current moment in time.

While we need to learn the things that have existed from the past, each generation needs to take things to a new level.

But first we must learn the things of the past so that we do not have to start over from the beginning.

One of the reasons this is hard is because many of those outside institutional religion were slaughtered and their literature destroyed so that there could be no rebuttals to the “official” version of what happened.  Always remember one thing, history is written by the “winners.” Not the winners from God’s point-of-view, but winners in the sense of “exterminators.”

First they must exterminate then they write their version of what happened. That’s a great deal of what history is. Thankfully a lot of those who murdered these great saints, were so full of themselves that they wrote diaries and accounts of their persecutions to justify what they did.  Unbelievably to this very day I hear wicked men defending the actions of these butchers in the name of protecting the church. It will be very interesting after the resurrection to see these men in the fiery light of the judgments of the Lord.

Anyway, we do have enough things to get a good idea of what the lives of these saints were like. Specifically how they lived, which is what I want to concentrate on today.

Community

One of the main things that is always mentioned is that they lived in community together. I mean in close, physical quarters. Today we would call it a neighborhood. Some even built or settled areas and lived in cities that they built. The cities basically being the church. Ever since I became a Christian I have found that for the most part, many of those outside the church system do the same thing today.
I have lived and worked among a number of churches outside the system and each one had the desire to live close to one another.

Centrality of Christ

Another thing that always was part of who they were was the centrality of Jesus Christ. He was everything to them. He was their doctrine, their life, and their purpose. Jesus was far above everything else in this life to them.

Jesus being a part of their life 24 hours a day was another common part of what these believers always lived. Thinking of Christ as someone you met for an hour or two a week wouldn’t have fit into the matrix of their thinking.

Jesus was always more than a biblical doctrine to them, He was a living reality. He was deeply interested in every area and moment of their lives, and they relied upon Him in every way. These same characteristics have been part of those I have lived among and close to over three decades. 

Church is not a System

There was always a fervent rejection of the church being some type of system among us throughout history. It was always something alive and vibrant, not overly doctrinal in a way that systematically revealed Christ as some type of robotic creation that moved only within the confines of man’s personal interpretation.
 
Deep Inner Work

The deep inner working of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the Christian was one of the most continuous aspects of life of these Godly believers. They believed that Christ was very close in them, no, not only believed it, but practically lived it.

This inner working always challenged them to become more Christlike, to have more of the cross of Jesus Christ worked into their lives, so that the life of Christ could be shown forth.

Corporate Living

That brings us to another extremely important aspect of these brothers and sisters. They never only thought in terms of individuality, they thought corporately just as powerfully. What do I mean? They realized that they were a many-membered body of Christ. There was a strong brotherly love for one another that came about from daily living and working with one another. It was real and worked into their lives in every way.

They knew that God moved among them individually for the purpose of building up the corporate life. Like the Godhead, they were one but have various and diverse ways of showing Him forth. They were not lone rangers out there by themselves, rather they had a deep commitment to one another in Christ.

This doesn’t mean that there wasn’t uniqueness. Just that they used that uniqueness for the common building up of one another in Christ. Like Paul reveals to us, they were many members but one body. In their case it was true and practically real.

Conscious of God’s heavenly realm

The last thing I want to mention is that these brothers and sisters always had a sense of God’s spiritual realm. They understood that God was Spirit and they had that sense of otherworldliness that all Christians desperately need.

I don't mean by that the strange type of people that have glazed over eyes and appear outwardly to be in a trance-like communication with God. Rather I mean, and the Scriptures mean, that it's a people that have their hearts and minds set on the things above, and not the things on this earth.

There is a sense of the fact this world isn't all there is, and that there is another world entirely different from this one that represents God in another realm. It's a higher way of life and living, which is why we are taught to ask God for His will to be done and kingdom to come in earth as it is in heaven.

It's a realization that His world of heaven has come down to earth to dwell within us by the Spirit in a real and living way. That we can fellowship and enjoy His presence in peace and joy with one another.

That this great God of ours wants to share the fellowship of His son with us. That’s what truly eating and drinking of Him means; the great eternal purpose that He wants to share of that greatness and glory that He is with His created people.  There is nothing in the world that can compare with this.

What is fantastic about this is this is the just the beginning place of the legacy that has been left for us to continue on with.

Some of you fret about the fact that many of us want to live close to one another so that we can be together in Him on this earth as close as we possibly can. While it is definitely challenging, it is also more than worth it.

Pioneers must do these types of things. Maybe in a couple of centuries there will be neighborhoods all over the world living in this way so that no one will have to move more than a few miles or less to be part of this wonderful way of life. That’s the price many of us must be willing to pay now if we want to leave a true legacy to the next generation. We must think and live beyond ourselves. The early church did, as did many throughout the ages, so must we.