The New Testament Church

Ronnie T

Ol' Retired Mod
I propose that Christ's church in America be reestablished so that it bears up and resembles the church in Jerusalem.
Are you ready to do it????????

Acts 4:32And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.
33And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.
34For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales
35and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.
36Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement),
37and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
 

apoint

Senior Member
I propose that Christ's church in America be reestablished so that it bears up and resembles the church in Jerusalem.
Are you ready to do it????????

Acts 4:32And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.
33And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.
34For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales
35and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.
36Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement),
37and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

So who do you want me to bring all my sold goods to? And where should I live there after?
 

formula1

Daily Bible Verse Organizer
Re:

And if we ever got there, we would turn this world upside down, just as the early church did!

Acts 17:6 excerpt:
These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also
 

Ronnie T

Ol' Retired Mod
So who do you want me to bring all my sold goods to? And where should I live there after?

You and your church would work all that out.
Just do it the way they did in Jerusalem.

Could we do it today?
Better question: How did they do it?
 

Randy

Senior Member
It would take a total change in thought processes and cultures. I think the world and the US is too big to do it today.
 

rjcruiser

Senior Member
It would take a total change in thought processes and cultures. I think the world and the US is too big to do it today.

I agree.

I'm currently a part of a church that is set up very similar to the Jerusalem church...ie, we meet in a home, have several elders that rotate preaching on Sundays, very little overhead, high emphasis on missions etc etc.

We had a guest speaker a few weeks ago.....and he challenged us. It will be very difficult to grow as a church because we meet in a home. Because of culture, people aren't comfortable with going into a stranger's home.

Also, one must also look as to the reason they (the Jerusalem Church) was set up as it was. Majority of it was due to persecution. We don't have that today. Sure...in the former USSR and in other parts of the world, it would be necessary, but currently in the US, it isn't.

It has made me re-think my thoughts on "home-churches" quite a bit over the past few weeks.
 

Ronnie T

Ol' Retired Mod
It's obvious that the Jerusalem church depended on each other.
Their days were spent together, they lives were intermeshed together.
No one lacked for anything. Ever.
And it was all voluntary. They weren't reguired or commanded to do that. But something obviously lead them to give themselves to everyone else.
 

apoint

Senior Member
You and your church would work all that out.
Just do it the way they did in Jerusalem.

Could we do it today?
Better question: How did they do it?

Cant be done.
In ancient times the religion was the government.
It was ran in terms of a kingdom.
Today's government has nothing in common with the ancients.
 

formula1

Daily Bible Verse Organizer
It's obvious that the Jerusalem church depended on each other.
Their days were spent together, they lives were intermeshed together.
No one lacked for anything. Ever.
And it was all voluntary. They weren't reguired or commanded to do that. But something obviously lead them to give themselves to everyone else.

In a country(US) where independence is praised, its not hard to imagine that dependence would be a impossible thought for most to comprehend or consider viable or possible. I am convinced that one day, even in the US, dependence within the family of faith will be necessary for our survival.

Just some thoughts you sparked in me RonnieT.
 

Ronnie T

Ol' Retired Mod
In a country(US) where independence is praised, its not hard to imagine that dependence would be a impossible thought for most to comprehend or consider viable or possible. I am convinced that one day, even in the US, dependence within the family of faith will be necessary for our survival.

Just some thoughts you sparked in me RonnieT.


And I think those days might become the glory days for Christ's church.
 

Lowjack

Senior Member
I propose that Christ's church in America be reestablished so that it bears up and resembles the church in Jerusalem.
Are you ready to do it????????

Acts 4:32And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.
33And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.
34For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales
35and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.
36Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement),
37and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

Being Trying since 1974, it is not easy to pull people from erroneous doctrines and set them on the true pass.
 

Lowjack

Senior Member
Cant be done.
In ancient times the religion was the government.
It was ran in terms of a kingdom.
Today's government has nothing in common with the ancients.

Well my brother teh New Testament Church never depended on any government, they depended on the Rhua Ha Kodesh and each other, there is a lot to be learned on how they conducted church, IMO
 

Ronnie T

Ol' Retired Mod
Being Trying since 1974, it is not easy to pull people from erroneous doctrines and set them on the true pass.

I'm betting it will be a great day if the church can ever
get back to being the church it was then.
When a house burning down was no big deal.
When a man losing his job didn't have much of an effect on his livelihood because the folks of the church picked up the slack. All the slack.
No one ever had a chance to be 'down' because the whole church was busy building each other up 24 hours a day.

Yep. It's going to be nice.
 

rjcruiser

Senior Member
I'm betting it will be a great day if the church can ever
get back to being the church it was then.
When a house burning down was no big deal.
When a man losing his job didn't have much of an effect on his livelihood because the folks of the church picked up the slack. All the slack.
No one ever had a chance to be 'down' because the whole church was busy building each other up 24 hours a day.

Yep. It's going to be nice.

Hate to poop on the party, but it wasn't Nirvana in Jerusalem.

There were lots of issues in the early Church...internal problems, just like what we see today.

Acts documents them. They had Widows that were not being tended to, they had people of different backgrounds think that the church was treating they're people group worse than the others, there were doctrinal disagreements etc etc.

All of which we still see today.

We live in a sinful world and until we reach Heaven, all church's will be full of sinners.
 

formula1

Daily Bible Verse Organizer
Re:

Romans 6
9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Through Christ, I am dead to sin and alive to Christ. It has no power over me any longer. And I believe that those who truly consider themselves dead to sin will have no problem turning the world upside down, regardless of the human condition. I am highly confident that the power of Christ in me and faith in the son of God will far outweigh the weakness of the flesh.

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

One sees a glass half-empty, one sees it half-full. I see it overflowing with the power and love of Christ my Lord!

Oh yes, my party is still very much alive!!!
 

thedeacon

Senior Member
I love most of the attitude's here.
You are right, if you think it cannot happen,
"it certeinly will not happen for you"
but if you have faith you can make it happen.
That faith has to be followed with a lot of prayer and work.
Sometimes we limit God so much by
not believeing that it is possible.

God Bless
 

Ronnie T

Ol' Retired Mod
Hate to poop on the party, but it wasn't Nirvana in Jerusalem.

There were lots of issues in the early Church...internal problems, just like what we see today.

Acts documents them. They had Widows that were not being tended to, they had people of different backgrounds think that the church was treating they're people group worse than the others, there were doctrinal disagreements etc etc.

All of which we still see today.

We live in a sinful world and until we reach Heaven, all church's will be full of sinners.

I'm not suggesting it was the garden of Eden all over again in Jerusalem, but the philosophy of the church was certainly different.
Today, many churches would rather help someone outside the church than in it.
There are 'boards' and 'proper channels' that requests have to be funneled through.
Someone has to decide if a person is 'poor' enough for the church to help one of it's members.
A church won't help it's members because they own two cars. Got to sell one of the cars before the Lord's money can be used.

I've seen it and heard of it toooooo many times.
 

rjcruiser

Senior Member
I'm not suggesting it was the garden of Eden all over again in Jerusalem, but the philosophy of the church was certainly different.
Today, many churches would rather help someone outside the church than in it.
There are 'boards' and 'proper channels' that requests have to be funneled through.
Someone has to decide if a person is 'poor' enough for the church to help one of it's members.
A church won't help it's members because they own two cars. Got to sell one of the cars before the Lord's money can be used.

I've seen it and heard of it toooooo many times.

When you are a small church, there are benefits. Everyone knows everyone.

When you are a large church, there are benefits.
A bigger resource pool to pull from.


To say that one is the right way or the better way is ignorance. I've been a part of both and see the advantages/disadvantages of both.
 

Ronnie T

Ol' Retired Mod
When you are a small church, there are benefits. Everyone knows everyone.

When you are a large church, there are benefits.
A bigger resource pool to pull from.


To say that one is the right way or the better way is ignorance. I've been a part of both and see the advantages/disadvantages of both.

Well I'll be daggone, now people gonna get nasty on this subject.
I'm not talking about the size of a church.
And I'm not ignorant.
Good lord man.
 

Jeffriesw

Senior Member
When you are a small church, there are benefits. Everyone knows everyone.

When you are a large church, there are benefits.
A bigger resource pool to pull from.


To say that one is the right way or the better way is ignorance. I've been a part of both and see the advantages/disadvantages of both.

I am currently doing both sort of, so yes I see the advantages of both.
I belong to a good solid Church where my wife and I attend on Sunday and Wednesday's and we meet with a group of believers (most of which go to separate churches) in our leaders home every Friday night from 6:30 to 10:30 pm, sometimes as late as midnight. Everybody just brings there kids after work and such.
We start off with Food (us fat guys gotta love that :biggrin2:) then have Prayer and jump into the word verse by verse. It is lead by a Pastor not really in a sermon style, but more of a teaching style(not currently serving or interested in serving a "normal" church) but because it is a small group it is very interactive. If I or anyone else has a question or a point, we just stop and address it right then. We also will have a number of Good commentaries laying open and we will stop sometimes and see what they have to say on a passage or a particular verse. We also as a group take turns leading for a bit (under guidance for me) and doing it that way, it forces each person to really dig deep in study, reading and Prayer instead of just listening to a pastor all the time. I actually got to lead a Friday night at my house a couple of weeks ago when our Pastor was on vacation, Talk about sweating bullets..., but I have to say, it was a very rewarding experience ::;
We don't really take up an offering or anything as a group, but one of the young ladies that was with our group for a while is a missionary who just left for lebanon, so we all individually started supporting her.
The good thing about having it on Friday nights is that we are all still free to attend a "normal" church on Sundays and by having it of Friday when most people have Saturday off is we can generally go as late as we want. You can also cover a heck of a lot of ground in 4 hours!
I guess it is not really your typical home Church, but I would not trade it for anything!



Well I'll be daggone, now people gonna get nasty on this subject.
I'm not talking about the size of a church.
And I'm not ignorant.
Good lord man.

Ronnie , I doubt RJ meant that personally :cheers:
 
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