How did we get here?

1. How did we get here? And where is HERE?

2. Common week • Monday through Friday – work, deal with responsibilities as they pertain to obligations. (i.e. children, paying bills, work schedule) • Saturday – Rest and/or play • Sunday – Assuage our guilt and try to get some sense of purpose/direction to get us through another week

3. Why are we coming to church to get direction? • We believe the pastor has done “his duty/job” preparing for the week, and are hopeful to come to some conclusion within the service that will shed more light on our individual circumstance. • We are eager to hear God’s correction and repent for our wrongdoing in order to feel “right with him” • We believe the pastor has a more direct, or perhaps clearer path to God and can impart a truth to us we may or may not have access to. (i.e. healing line or prophetic word)

4. Where is Here? • Let’s change some plugs – is the church a body, working together for the greater benefit of the whole, or is it a “greater institution of learning?” • Is it a living body or a governing committee? • What is the purpose of the individuals and of the ministerial leadership within the organizations we call “churches?” • Are we living or simply existing? • What has changed in our lives as a direct result of the current “status quo?”

5. Is the Church a form of government? • Government – administration, management, rule, direction, regime, control, supervision, command • A group of people who have the power to make and enforce laws, the management or control of something,

6. Is the church a body? • Body is defined as an organized group of people or a collection of something considered as a whole • Being is defined as a life form or someone’s essential nature or character, or a living thing, especially one conceived of as supernatural or not of this world

7. Body of Christ • Rom 12:4-5 For as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office • So we, being many are one body in Christ and everyone members, one of another. • 1 Cor 12:12 For as the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many, are one body, so also is Christ

8. Is it alive? • Living is defined as having life, not dead or non existent, still used or in existence, interesting in a new way that is relevant and useful • Can be used to emphasize how real, intense or thorough something is

9. Living Body – A working definition • An intensely interesting collection of supernatural beings, possessing divine characteristics, relevantly ( pertinent, applicable, appropriate, significant, important…having some bearing or importance for real-world issues, present day events, or the current state of society) used by God to thoroughly impact their world.

10. How did Jesus view the Body? • Mark 16:15-18 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel (Good News) to every creature. • He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ( Made whole), but he that believeth not shall be damned. • And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

11. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

12. The Crux • Are we seeking to be governed? • Are we seeking liberty (free from obligation) in an endeavor to share a new way of life that is a real, and intense experience, significantly useful to others? • Do we desire to be controlled? i.e. kept in check and not expressed fully or at all (by way of the law) • Do we desire to control? i.e. Showing the skill, judgment and discipline needed in order to achieve a desired result, without doing too much or too little (our lives, homes, work environment, financial condition, health and mental well-being)

13. Jesus was the first born among many • Luke 4:18-19 The Spirit of the Lord ( Kurios, koo-ree-os, meaning supreme controller) is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel (to announce good news, to bring and/or declare a good report) to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, (completely shattered mind, will and emotions) to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty (to pardon or forgive) those that are bruised, (literally crushed). To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

14. Locating Questions • If this isn’t a representative picture of the Church today, what perverts/distorts our understanding? • What is the corrective measure that will free the hearts/ minds of believers and empower us to control our environments?

15. I’ve got the Power • For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good message) of Christ, for it is the power (literally a force, specifically miraculous power, ability, abundance, mighty miracle worker, violent) of God (theh-os meaning supreme magistrate) unto salvation (so-tay-ree-ah meaning rescue physically or morally) to everyone that believeth (pist-yoo-o meaning to commit your trust to) to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

16. Simplistically Speaking • I am not ashamed of the Good Message of Jesus because it is the abundance of the divine Judge sent to physically rescue me with violent force as I commit to trust to him.

17. By contrast let’s compare Paul’s confidence with that of the Israelites as Moses leads them out of Egypt • Exodus 19: 1-6 In verse 6 God calls the Children of Israel a nation of Priests. No mention yet of a King to govern. • Exodus 20: Pay special attention to verses 19-21

18. Exodus 20:19 -21 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die • And Moses said unto the people, Fear (Hebrew yaw-ray meaning to cause to affright, to be made afraid, to dread) not: for God is come to prove you, and that his Fear (Hebrew yir-aw.. Feminine gender meaning to morally revere (admire, respect, look up to, hold in the highest regard, be in awe of, worship) may be before your faces that ye SIN (Hebrew khaw-taw meaning to miss or forfeit, lack, bear the blame) not

19. Verse 21 – And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was Moses enters a personal relationship with God and the rest of the nation settles for a Mediator and the law

20. Fear results in Separation/Alienation and Anxiety/Uncertainty and WORK Gen 3:8 -11- We see evidence that transgression came long before the law of Moses (1st Testament/Old Covenant) and resulted in fear and withdrawal. Col 1:21-22- And you that were sometime alienated (Greek ap-al-lot-ree-o-o meaning to estrange away or to be non-participant) and enemies (adversary) in your mind (Greek dee-an-oy-ah meaning imagination) by wicked (Greek pon-ay-ros meaning mischief, malice, or guilt) works (Greek er-gon implying the act of doing, labor, or work) yet now hath he reconciled

21. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight

22. Understanding • And you that were for sometime estranged non-participants and adversaries in your imaginations by guilty acts of labor are now blameless

23. Guilt requires a mediator and WORK!

24. So the people requested a Mediator • Because they were afraid of God • To talk to God and convey God’s commandments through the Mediator to them.

25. Moses being a type of Christ becomes a mediator(Greek mess-ee-tace meaning a reconciler) between God and Israelites! • Synonyms – go between, intermediary, third party, arbitrator, negotiator, moderator, referee, umpire. • Definition – 1) somebody helping end dispute (somebody who works with both sides in a dispute in an attempt to help them reach an agreement) 2) substance acting as medium (a substance that acts as a medium in transferring something from one place to another in the body)

26. We are making the same choice today! We are afraid that we don’t measure up to the standard set forth in the 10 commandments and so we send our pastors to get a message from God and then come and tell us what we should do. We effectively equate our New Covenant with the Old and strip it of any power to effect change in our minds wills and emotions.

27. A look at what Paul says about a Mediator • 1 Ti 2:3-5 - For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; • Who will(thel-o or eth-e-lo…the first is a stronger version of the word meaning to determine the second meaning to wish, intend or have rather) have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. • For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

28. Heb 8:6 – But now hath he obtained a more excellent(Greek dee-af-or-os meaning to surpass) ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better (Greek krite-tohn meaning stronger, more noble) covenant (Greek dee-ath-ay-kay meaning disposition, literally a contract or testament) which was established (Greek nom-oth-et-eh-o meaning to legislate, to have enactments imposed, to be sanctioned) upon (Greek ep-ee meaning superimposed, above, have charge of) better promises

29. Hebrews 9:6-10:10 with specific attention to key words and phrases • Heb 9:9 – perfect(Greek tel-i-o-o meaning to complete or accomplish) • Heb 9:10– reformation (Greek dee-or-tho-sis meaning to thoroughly straighten or rectify) • Heb 9:12 eternal redemption (Greek ahee-o-nee-os and loo-tro-sis meaning a perpetual ransoming of)

30. Heb 9:14 – purge(Greek kath-ar-id-zo meaning to clean and purify) Conscience(Greek Soon-i-day-sis meaning co-perception or your consciousness) Dead(Greek nek-ros from root word meaning corpse) Works(Greeker-gon meaning labor) same word from Col 1:21

31. Working understanding • Heb 9:14 - ……..clean and purify your co-perceiver from your corpse creating labor, to serve the living God

32. Heb 9:15 –redemption (Greek ap –ol-oo-tro-sis meaning ransom in full) trangressions(Greek par-ab-as-is meaning the breaking of or violation of) Heb 9:22 –remission (Greek af-es-is meaning freedom, deliverance, liberty forgiveness)

33. Heb 10: 1 –shadow ( Greek skee-ah darkness of error or an adumbration ((meaning to give an incomplete or faint outline or indication of something)) • Heb 10:9 –taketh away (Greek an-ahee-reh-o meaning to violently remove, abolish, murder, put to death, kill slay, take up)

34. Heb 10:10 –sanctified (Greek hag-ee-ad-zo made holy or (venerated meaning to esteem or in a position of honor))

35. So we see then that the law was never meant to save men or to be a standard by which men were to be measured.

36. Galatians 3:19-25 • With specific attention to 3:22 and the word promise which means in the Greek the pledge or divine assurance of GOOD!

37. Law vs Grace • 2 Cor 3:6-18 – • Paul calls this the foundation of our faith in • Hebrews 6:1 – There leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God

38. We are choosing to live under an abolished contract that constantly reminds us we are not good enough. It revives sin (missing the mark) on a daily basis and preoccupies to the extent that we become ineffective in our realm of influence. • Imagine choosing to live under Communist USSR instead of America.