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Online links to scriptures (New International Version [NIV] unless otherwise stated) are shown in blue
| 4. CHARACTERISTICS OF KINGDOM PEOPLE (Concluded) |
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| 13. UNITY OF SPIRIT (Concluded) |
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 Sadly, there has never been unity in the church, not even in the supposed halcyon days of the first apostolic age, prior to 100AD. Paul discusses the issue.
1 Corinthians 3:1-4
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 Right from the beginning then, people have, as Paul states it, been 'worldly' and followed the leadership of men instead of Jesus. This is a sign of immaturity in the church, of adherents being 'milk' feeders rather than mature partakers of 'solid food'.
All leaders are simply to be servants, allocated leadership roles by God to achieve His purposes. No single leader has it all.
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 Unity cannot be achieved in a church based upon current systems. Two thousand years of experience has proved that! The church needs to change.
It is only in recent times that the book of Hebrews has come to be truly understood. So it is logical then to conclude that the message it contains applies to the church of this day and age.
Hebrews 12:25-27
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 To inherit the kingdom our focus must be upon God, not men.
Hebrews 12:28
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 To receive our full inheritance, to be 'sons' of God, we must be led by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:14-15
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 True unity is unity of spirit. It cannot be built not within a structured setting but informally amongst those completely sold out to Jesus, those who allow the Holy Spirit to lead them into the perfect will of the Father. Those whose motivation is to see the kingdom of God come upon the earth now.
Colossians 3:2-3
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 Lord, we conclude our discussions in this series on the transformation of the church by praying, as you commanded us to:
10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
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| <i>NEXT WEEK:</i> RELATIONSHIP v THEOLOGY |
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 A series looking at a fundamental shift in the 'church' today.
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| A NOTE FROM DAVID |
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 Unity - the impossible goal? In the natural yes! In the Bible - No! The Lord will bring spiritual unity to His true church before He returns. the Word promises it!
Choose to believe? I do.
JESUS: BACKGROUND
Historical Overview
Jesus Before Annas and Caiaphas
by Alfred Edersheim
IT was not a long way that they led the bound Christ. Probably through the same gate by which He had gone forth with His disciples after the Paschal Supper, up to where, on the slope between the Upper City and the Tyropoeon, stood the well-known Palace of Annas. There were no idle saunterers in the streets of Jerusalem at that late hour, and the tramp of the Roman guard must have been too often heard to startle sleepers, or to lead to the inquiry why that glare of lamps and torches. and Who was the Prisoner, guarded on that holy night by both Roman soldiers and servants of the High-Priest. If every incident in that night were not of such supreme interest, we might dismiss the question as almost idle, why they brought Jesus to the house of Annas, since he was not at that time the actual High-Priest. That office now devolved on Caiaphas, his son-in-law, who, as the Evangelist significantly reminds us, [a St. John xviii. 14.] had been the first to enunciate in plain words what seemed to him the political necessity for the judicial murder of Christ. [b xi. 50.] There had been no pretence on his part of religious motives or zeal for God; he had cynically put it in a way to override the scruples of those old Sanhedrists by raising their fears. What was the use of discussing about forms of Law or about that Man? It must in any case be done; even the friends of Jesus in the Council, as well as the punctilious observers of Law, must regard His Death as the less of two evils. He spoke as the bold, unscrupulous, determined man that he was; Sadducee in heart rather than by conviction; a worthy son-in-law of Annas.
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So until next week.......
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD!
His servant and yours
Learn more about us at...
www.wwj.org.nz/about.php
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A DAVID'S DOODLING
404. The Godhead is the ultimate example of how a many faceted Church is to become united as one.
David Tait
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Check
out the WWJ website for….
More David's Doodlings: www.wwj.org.nz/dd.php
Till Death do us Part!: http://www.wwj.org.nz/tddup.php
Pets Rule!: http://www.wwj.org.nz/pets.php
The World's Greatest Groans: http://www.wwj.org.nz/groans.php
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Jesus is our foundational leader. 
The Holy Spirit is to be our guide.