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Online links to scriptures (New International Version [NIV] unless otherwise stated) are shown in blue
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 I write this article with a heavy heart, yet one from which hope springs eternal.
This arises from a picture, a revelation, the Lord gave me some time ago, about His church. As the picture came to me I was reminded of a well-known piece of scripture;
Matthew 16:13-20
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 In my picture I saw this huge church building, so big that it covered a vast land area, such as a continent. This church I can see now again as I write. It is expanding and growing in front of my eyes, a building that has never been finished, yet which at the same time is the most simple, beautiful and fluid structure one could imagine. There is one rock, one cornerstone around which the complete structure is designed, and centered upon. This foundational cornerstone is Jesus. As I look I can see millions of stones making up this vibrant building. These stones are disciples of Jesus, each continually being shaped to look like the cornerstone, the rock upon which the church is based. Like a diamond, the many facets of the disciples are being cut, the light reflecting from them in a brighter and brighter fashion until the light is brighter than the building itself. The light is now so powerful that, like a gigantic searchlight, it moves back and forth over the world attracting new stones, new people to its source, the building of disciples, all focused upon the cornerstone, the rock, our Jesus.
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 The remarkable thing is that the structure neither holds people in nor keeps them out. People can walk through the walls both ways. There is an attraction in, yet at the same time, outward propulsion that sees people dispatched into communities throughout the world, bringing the light to those still living in the darkness. The church is a vibrant, fluid, flowing mass of action that is irresistible to all who come into contact with it. A spiritual light so bright that the forces of evil cannot stand against it.
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Yes, this vision is so wonderful, yet I am sad. Why?
I trust you can understand that this picture is far removed from what we see in the church today. For our church today is built on the natural, physical pattern of the Old Testament. Instead of a Tabernacle or later, the Temple, we now have church buildings (sometimes called tabernacles) and cathedrals. But the New Testament, the New Covenant, tells us that Jesus came as the spiritual fulfilment of the natural of the Old.
1 Corinthians 15:46-50
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 The Old Testament is but a type and shadow of the things to come. Yes, amazingly, water came out of a rock that sustained up to 2 million Israelites when they were in the desert. So often, that is what we are still looking for today. In modern terms, for 'money to grow on trees', so that we might live a comfortable life. Yet this Old Testament miracle was a specific and deliberate type foreshadowing the spiritual miracle of the New Testament.
1 Corinthians 10:3
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 Yes, Christ, the foundation stone upon whom the church is built is a living, vibrant, spiritual rock! His church is not one of multitudes of physical bricks and mortar replicas. Multiple inert structures, keeping people in - or out - fractured into many streams and denominations. Rather, a dynamic, pulsating, single, universal spiritual body of people built upon the cornerstone of Jesus. Something no physical building could ever achieve.
1 Peter 2:4-7
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 The world, and much of our church today, cannot understand this principle. We are not meant to be creating 'super organizations' with structured management (priesthood) and programmes, meeting in magnificent buildings, copying the pattern of the world. Instead The Word declares;
Romans 12:1-2
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 Yes, I am sad because we so often missing the mark that Jesus sacrificed Himself to set for us.
Yet I still have hope, for I see around the world, people who are grasping the revelation of what the church is really all about. People who are putting man's theology and division behind them and going out as Jesus desired, spreading the light, making a difference in their communities. As Jesus Himself said;
Matthew 5:14-16
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"Yes Lord, I desire to be a living, shining stone in your spiritual house today, reflecting Your light to the world."
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| <i>NEXT WEEK:</i> A REVELATION OF... THE ETERNAL KINGDOM OF GOD |
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 A teaching that will challenge our ideas of what, when and where God's kingdom is all about.
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| A NOTE FROM DAVID |
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 I don't keep a dairy. Probably I should.
I came across this vision 'by chance' when I just happened to click on an old PGIM from 3 years ago.
The message seemed to be worthwhile repeating.
Let us not be trapped within four walls.
BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY
The Coins of Jesus' Time
Herod Archelaus, 4BC-6AD, AE Prutot, 18mm. Double cornucopiae with parallel horns, Greek inscription
(Herod)/War galley left, Greek inscription above (Ethnarch)
This coin was in circulation during the early childhood of Jesus in Nazareth.
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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
411. There is nowhere so dark that it cannot be penetrated by light.
David Tait
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Check
out the WWJ website for….
More David's Doodlings: www.wwj.org.nz/dd.php
Waxing Lyrical: http://www.wwj.org.nz/waxing.php
If Only I'd Thought of it: http://www.wwj.org.nz/thought.php
Laughing at Ourselves: http://www.wwj.org.nz/laugh.php
A look at some of lifes curious questions: http://www.wwj.org.nz/why.php
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