We can take heed to the admonition given by the Psalmist: Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. If we attempt to start a Church gathering without the calling of the Lord, the entire endeavor can be in vain. If the Church model is not built solely upon the Word of God then we can end up building our own churchand not the Lords. To have a desire to escape a religious atmosphere in order to have a less formal meeting where people are free to just be themselveswithout reverence for God or submission to authorityis not the Church. We are deceived if we think we can redefine the body of Christ to be a place where there is no leadership, no holy presence of God, no conviction of the Spirit, no crying out to God in prayer. We live in a world where comfort, happiness and financial prosperity are the goals, but we know that, friendship with the world is hatred towards God.We must look not to the culture around us for our example, but to our Lord and to the example of the early followers of Christ.Another helpful thing for us to do, is to look outside ourselves to countries where there are true organic models of New Testament Christianity being formed by the Holy Spirit. We think of the house Church movement in China, the underground Church in North Korea, and many others who are forced to rely solely on the Holy Spirit to guide their meetings. Such believers are not looking to find a model of Church that fits them or feels right for them, rather God is leading them to be His Church. Many of us reading this volume live in Western countries where not only the secular culture, but the church itself, has become saturated with a busy worldly mentality. The work of the Church cannot be done with the worlds ways or methods. There must be a divorcing of this system of men when we are seeking to be involved with the Lord in the building of His Church on this earth.Clever ideas never build the heavenly Jerusalem but just build Babylon on the earth.from: http://gospelfellowships.net/2013/06/06/the-church-must-be-birthed-from-the-lord-not-the-worlds-ways-or-methods/
_________________SI Moderator - Greg Gordon
Clever ideas. Those two words alone show that it did not come from God.May our fear and reverance for God be such, that we bring glory to His name.
Man can have a lot of ideas about buildinga church, it might have many programs,and prospering both financially and numerically, but unless it is being built onthe Sure Foundation and is organically grown, it will never produce spiritual fruitThat brings glory to God.Mikl
_________________Mike