Most pastors wish that the members of their churches

would grow and flourish more.  The church members

often sense that God has purposes for them but they 

don’t know what He wants them to do. They often

end up playing the role of an unfulfilled spectator.

Church examines the early New Testament Church

and its teachings for answers to this universal 

problem.  It demonstrates how certain unbiblical attitudes

and traditions exist which cultivate this unhealthy spectator mindset.

Church challenges  leaders and “laypeople” to identify and discard these

unbiblical attitudes and practices that stifle spiritual health. This book

asserts that if the pattern of the early New Testament Church is followed

today, Christians will mature at a greater pace and experience fulfillment

as active participants in the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom.

Price for paperback edition $ 11.95  (160 pages), available at Bring My Sheep Back Books.

“Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil” (Hebrews 5:11-14). (Emphasis mine)

The writer of the book of Hebrews rebuked his readers because they had grown stagnant in their faith. He said that they should be teachers but instead, they still needed to be taught the elementary principles. He told them that they needed to grow up. According to this author, as believers mature, they automatically become teachers. Someone might object sighting that each Christian has been given different spiritual gifts and not every Christian has the gift of teaching. It is true that some Christians do not have the “spiritual gift” of teaching. But this does not excuse them from their responsibility to teach.

Moses told the Israelite parents to teach their children diligently. “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).

No parent was excused from this duty. It did not matter that some were less apt to teach than others. They all were charged with this duty. Moses did not expect the parents to assemble and deliver sermons. Rather, Moses told them to learn the words Moses gave them so that they were always on their hearts. They were to write them down on the doorposts of their house and their gates and bind them as a sign on their hands and as frontals on their foreheads. In other words, they were to be diligent and take whatever steps necessary to learn the Word. As a result, they would always be ready to teach their children throughout the day as teaching opportunities presented themselves.

Just as God expected every Israelite parent to learn the Word and teach it to their children, God expects every Christian to learn the Word in the same way so that he or she will be ready at all times to teach it as opportunities present themselves throughout the week. This is why the writer of Hebrews could say, “By now, you ought to be teachers.”

This type of teaching does not require a person to assemble and deliver sermons. Rather, he teaches from his own meditations on God’s truth as opportunities present themselves. This is usually how Jesus taught. An opportunity would present itself and He then used that circumstance to teach something spiritual that was relevant to that circumstance.

If a person does not have something to say when a teaching opportunity presents itself, then it is likely that he does not spend much time meditating on God’s Word. He is someone, “Who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant” (Hebrews 5:13). It is clear that God wants each believer to grow out of this condition and become mature. This is not something He expects only of pastors and other leaders. It is something He desires for every Christian. Even if a Christian has a diminished mental capacity, he can still strive to become spiritually mature and God can still use him to teach others, including some who might have a far superior intellect than his own. The person with the superior intellect might actually know more information from the Bible but the one with the inferior intellect might be more mature in Christ.

Spiritual maturity that enables a person to teach from the heart is not something that can be acquired at a Bible college or seminary. It comes only through “practice.” (See Hebrews 5:14.) Intellectual capacity is not the driver. Rather, one truth at a time becomes engrafted into a person as God trains him using trials. The truth only becomes engrafted when a person relies on it in the face of trial. If he cannot rely upon the truth in the heat of trial, it remains out of reach to him. It has not become engrafted or implanted into his soul.

“In humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:21-25). (Emphasis mine)

When the Word of God has become implanted in this way, we are then prepared to teach. We don’t have to first learn how to articulate the truth. Rather, we speak from experience with the truth. In other words, as opportunities present themselves, we teach truth by simply testifying to others from our own experience of relying on God’s Word in the face of trials. This type of teaching is actually leading by example. God delights when His people lead like this because such leading demands God-glorifying faith in order to rely on the truth in the face of trial. Only God can sustain us through such trials so He is the one who gets all the glory. Our testimony of His deliverance points to His glory. Let me site a couple biblical examples of this type of teaching.

A married couple, Prisca and Aquilla, sometimes traveled with the Apostle Paul. Paul testified that they risked their lives for him. (See Romans 16:3). They would not have done this unless their faith was firmly resting on God’s promise of eternal life. By risking their lives and suffering hardship for the gospel, they proved that they really believed that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory they were expecting at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Their actions served to teach others. They were thus teaching and leading by example. God was pleased with their example (leadership). Though the Bible does not record them, I am confident that they also spoke words when their faith was tested in this way in order to testify that God is trustworthy and that we can rely upon His promises.

In the fourteenth chapter of First Samuel, we read about a heroic act of Jonathan, King Saul’s son. The Philistine army was gathered against Israel. Jonathan and his armor bearer were on the other side of a ravine from the Philistines when he said to him, “Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the LORD will work for us, for the LORD is not restrained to save by many or by few” (I Samuel 14:6). This is a tremendous statement of faith. From a human perspective, this was sure suicide. But Jonathan believed what he told his armor bearer, “The Lord is not restrained to save by many or few.” This was two men versus an entire garrison! Faith is best displayed when one’s life is hanging in the balance. They went over and God indeed delivered them and brought about a great victory against their enemies. In this way, Jonathan was teaching by example. He was leading the way. His armor bearer was learning that God can be trusted with our lives. God used Jonathan’s leadership to teach His people back then and ever since then as they read this story in the Bible. God was pleased with Jonathan’s faith. He was pleased with Jonathan’s willingness to take the lead by entrusting himself into God’s hands.

A more recent example is the hymn writer Fanny Crosby. Shortly after my conversion, I heard that she was blind and yet wrote many glorious hymns that God used to teach and encourage His people. She served as an example to me that God can be known and trusted through any circumstance. Another person that God has used this way in my life is Joni Earecson Tada. She has been a quadriplegic for many years but she thrives on her intimate relationship with God. I look at her life and know that what she has is REAL and available to anyone that truly desires God to give it to them. Fanny Crosy and Joni Earecson Tada have taught me and encouraged me more than most people in my life through their example of trusting God. God used their examples (leading) to teach me. I pray that I will learn to follow more diligently the example they have provided.

God delights to show His power and wisdom through the acts of faith of His people. God wants every believer to mature and have a life full of acts of faith that glorify Him. Unless a person’s faith is tested in this way, he simply will not mature. He will remain a spiritual infant. It is dysfunctional for Christians to remain spiritual infants. After Peter lists several virtues that accompany regeneration, he said, “If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you” (II Peter 1:8-10). Paul said, “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (I Corinthians 16:13). (Emphasis mine)

In his song, Moses used the imagery of a parent eagle to illustrate how God trains His people to walk by faith.

“He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness;

He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.

“Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young,

He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.

“The LORD alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.

“He made him ride on the high places of the earth” (Deuteronomy 32:10-12).

I have not observed it personally, but I have been told that at the right time, parent eagles purposely push their eaglets out of the nest high above the ground in order to teach them how to fly. The eaglets don’t know how to fly and don’t want to leave the security of the nest. But the parent eagle “stirs up its nest” by forcing the eagles to learn how to fly. As they plummet to the earth, the parent eagle swoops down, spreads its wings and catches the eaglet and carries it back up to the nest. God purposely used this eagle imagery to teach us several things about spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity requires us to move from our comfort zones. Like the eaglet, it is not natural for us to step out in faith because we always come face to face with the temptation to retreat back to our comfortable nest. For example, a Christian may sense that God wants him to proclaim the gospel to his neighbors. By faith, he launches out and finds that many of the neighbors become angry at him for his efforts to tell them the gospel. He also learns that he is not able to convince anyone to become a Christian because only God can cause this to happen. He is tempted to retreat back to his comfortable lifestyle that does not include preaching the gospel. But if he persists in his faith, God sustains him and he learns to evangelize as a lifestyle. He may then be compared to the eaglet that has learned how to fly. It was not comfortable but by God’s grace, he now soars like an eagle.

Whether it is a choice to proclaim the gospel or a choice to leave a high paid job in order to spend more time ministering to people, such steps stretch our faith. These steps appear radical to many onlookers. Unbelievers do not understand why we would make decisions of faith knowing that such decisions will make our lives less comfortable.  To them, we appear peculiar. (See Titus 2:14 & I Peter 2:9.)

We have a choice to sit back and enjoy a comfortable life and experience little or no spiritual growth. Or, as a life style, we can make faith decisions that appear radical and reap the benefits of greater spiritual maturity.

When our lives are characterized by faith decisions that appear radical to others, we will also experience criticism. Even some people who consider themselves “Christian” will be uncomfortable around us because their manner of living does not include such steps of faith. This is why Paul could say, “All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (II Timothy 3:12). One way to determine if a person is making such steps of faith is to observe how much unexpected criticism and rejection he experiences. If he experiences little or no criticism or rejection from people about decisions of faith that he is making, then he is either a monk or not taking any significant steps of faith. He is like the eaglet that refuses to leave the nest. He should not expect to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus with this type of lifestyle. This is true whether he is a “lay person” or a pastor.⁹

In summary, God wants every believer to grow in their faith. Put another way, we are all called to be leaders who lead by example with lives of faith that appear peculiar to unbelievers. He desires for us to live extraordinary lives.  If we refuse to mature and become leaders, our example will teach younger believers to live ordinary lives and remain spiritual infants.

While there may be other potential benefits to meeting in a house, another one is that doing so could help us stay on track with the biblical mandate to equip believers to lead rather than follow. For example, if the assembly begins to grow too large, the believers must seriously consider if it is time to start another assembly of believers (another church) in a different house. That would require that leaders be trained from among the group that could take over the leadership responsibilities or be sent out to plant the next church.

Lastly, for house churches to flourish and continue, its members have no choice but to depend on God to manifest His presence and sustain the work. The believers have to look to Him. We think that is a good thing.

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Father, give us eye salve so we will see This Radiance of Your glory so that we will love Him more than life! 

A new believer can be satisfied with what Hebrews 5:13 calls milk. They are amazed with the truth they suddenly find so abundant in the Bible. New believers usually appear excited because they are drinking from the newly discovered living well. If asked why they seem so full of life, they might respond, “I was once blind, but now I see!” Is it normal for this excitement to wear off as the new believer becomes better acquainted with the Word? It seems to be common among North American Christians but does it have to be this way? Actually, the Bible clearly states that the intensity of our experience with God should only increase with maturity. The writer of Hebrews implies though, that as time goes on, the consistency of the nourishment must change in the normal maturation process. Perhaps the lukewarm nature of our spirituality is due to improper nourishment.

Where do we find the solid food necessary to satisfy our souls? Can we simply open the Bible and expect to find it by reading? NO! The solid food referred to here is not intellectually obtainable. I am convinced that the solid food is nothing less than treasure that must be uncovered by the power of His Spirit as a part of His work called “sanctification.” This is a supernatural process that involves the excavating of all that we formerly held dear in order to implant the Living Word in its place. In First Corinthians 2:9-16, we read that “the Holy Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God, and that He must reveal them to us.” James 1:21 pleads with us to “receive the engrafted Word, which is able to save our souls.” From these passages we see that this supernatural teaching process of the Holy Spirit reaches into the very fabric of our entire being, not just our intellect.

Since I consider myself spiritually famished with stunted growth and cut out of the same mold as the typical North American Christian, should I hope to be nourished on solid food? I do here claim certain promises God makes to me and all that are His. “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in me, will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ”(Philippians 1:6). He predestined me to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). Though these promises stand on their own, my experience in life testifies that they are true. In spite of my waywardness, God’s work of sanctification and teaching continue thereby resulting in my transformation, or said another way, spiritual maturation. Based upon the promises of God and confirmed by my life’s experience, I can confidently say that all who are in Christ will be transformed into the image of Jesus as their life unfolds. The extent of this process varies from Christian to Christian but nothing shall stay His hand or thwart His purposes for us. Coupled with these promises is another one, “Seek and you shall find” (Matthew 7:7). If I hunger for more of Him and plead with Him to glorify Himself in my life, this transforming process will be more noticeable and observable. God will move mountains and shake the very foundations of anyone who desperately pleads with God to show Himself. The heavenly city will become more visible and the earthly existence more loathsome in comparison. Desires will change so much that we will wonder why we once placed such high value on things like “having a good time” or having a comfortable life, or success or accomplishments. To those who have tasted of the Bread of Heaven, the pleasures of this world are at best, misery compared to being filled with all the fullness of God. The blessed one truly believes that to die is gain because only then will he fully experience glorious, heart-pounding eternal life and observe the very glory of God forever in His bosom.

God’s transforming process by its very nature, is designed to cause us to experience the essence of death, even without loss of physical life. In I Peter 1:6-8, this supernatural process is portrayed as God’s loving work to wean our hearts from its love of this life while filling it with new desires and “joy inexpressible and full of glory” (v8). Indispensable to this process are “diverse trials” (v.6) which he uses in this weaning process. Though we have a tendency to run from these trials, the mature believer has learned (really) to count it all joy when God providentially brings trials upon him (James 1:2). He knows that the trials will unearth the glory of God in his heart thus producing “joy inexpressible and full of glory.” The deeper the treasure, the greater the joy. Blessed is he who bears the shovel marks of God in the very walls of his heart. It is in that place where God plants His deepest treasure, the Living Word.

“Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance” (Isaiah 55:2b).” 

We are told to come boldly to the throne of grace. But what if we are struggling with sin and have been experiencing much defeat? During such periods, Satan whispers accusations against us into our mind in order to flame feelings of guilt and shame. If we listen to him, we will think that God would have nothing to do with us because we are such failures. How are we to come boldly to the throne of grace under these conditions?

To understand how, it is critical to realize the implication of any approach to the throne of grace that is not a bold approach. If we do not come into His presence boldly, we are not truly coming to Him by faith through Jesus. If we fail to come boldly, then we are coming to Him to some degree on the basis of our own merit and this dishonors Him. If when approaching God, Satan reminds us that we are wretched losers, he is correct! We deserve to be cast into hell because we are vile (apart from Christ). But if Satan begins to tell us that God will have nothing to do with us, he is lying and we must not buy into his deceit! If you are feeling like you do not deserve acceptance from God, good. No man does!! Rather than deny this fact, embrace it wholeheartedly and confess all of your wretched thoughts and behavior to God as proof that you do not merit His acceptance. To confess is to agree with what God already knows. But though you deserve to be cast away from His presence, you must also believe that your acceptance before God was purchased by the blood of Jesus. So, while confessing your sin, you must do as He instructs and boldly take your stand before God on the basis of Christ’s merits alone. If you persist on wallowing in guilt, you are insisting on standing before Him in your own righteousness.

It is critical to understand that our standing before God was purchased with a price of infinite value, the blood of Jesus, God’s own Son. It is this blood alone that speaks in your behalf no matter what your past, present or future sin might be. Jesus is the most precious possession of the Father. The spilling of His blood cost Him deeply. To come to God by faith, you must believe what He has said and recognize the weightiness of this matter with literal fear and trembling. If you do not come into His presence through Christ boldly, you are actually saying to God and your self that Jesus blood sacrifice did not satisfy God the Father. In this way, you diminish the value that God places on Jesus’ blood. Such unbelief suggests that God is a liar and makes light of the death of Jesus. It is a slap in God’s face to wallow in guilt as if your righteousness can secure standing before the righteous, holy God. So, if guilt is keeping you from coming into God’s presence with boldness, you (with fear and trembling) must immediately agree with God about your wretchedness and recognize that Jesus suffered and paid for it, and then run to God boldly on the basis of Jesus’ righteousness.

Summary statements:

Just a few verses that support the article above:

Paul did not say, “I used to be the worst sinner.” He said, “I AM the worst sinner.”
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst .I Tim 1:15)

Paul had the very same problem as every single Christian, he was sinful. These words of his demonstrate that he also struggled with sin constantly. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom 7:14-25)

Like Paul, you must come to God always confessing that you are a vile creature but perfectly washed because God has washed you with the blood of Jesus:
When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (Heb 9:11-14)

Because God has provided this way, we can come boldly:
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:19-22)

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father–to him be glory and power for ever and ever! (Rev 1:5-6)

God only desires that you be honest (always confessing/agreeing) with him and believe that He is the one who has made the way for you to come:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. (I John 1:8-10)

Come boldly through Christ and call upon Him to make you live (walk) by His Spirit.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matt 7:7)”

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Gal 5:16-26)