A dear friend said to me the other day that if he were in fellowship he wouldn’t have much to offer. I had to disagree with that statement. The truth is that even a young child has something to offer in the assembly if the Lord chooses to speak through them. But brethren, if any of us have studied Scripture for years we ought to be teachers by now. It doesn’t have to be anything on a grand scale. It just needs to be small and simple. It could be only one or two. It could be just family. The only rule to follow is put Christ first and look to Him to lead you by the Spirit. He will open up Scripture and Truth and speak to you. Let us move on to Solid spiritual food and be satisfied with Christ alone and not the trappings of the world. Blessings in Christ Jesus as walk on the narrow road.
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Last Days of the Age 
“It could be only one or two. It could be just family. The only rule to follow is put Christ first and look to Him to lead you by the Spirit”
Amen Brother Al, and for the most part, I think we’d be better off if we’d do just that.
blessings…..
Jesus anticipated the 2’s and 3’s and made a point to validate them.
Are we satisfied with Jesus?
How many do we need in an assembly to believe that we are fully and actively participating in assembly life?
It is old wineskin thinking to be more concerned about numbers than Jesus.
Amen sister and brother. Both comments are valid. It seems to me that the more folks that are involved, the more egos and pride is found in some in the assembly. I speak historically and from past experience. Many blessings in Christ Jesus.
I completely agree with people meeting up in homes or anywhere for that matter to fellowship. That said – the same errors can happen whether it is a “denomination” or a small group of varied families or just one family meeting up. Let me expand on this. First of all I fellowship with a small group of Christians which most of the time is one family (in the flesh) and sometimes has other individuals and/or families present. Christ moves among His people freely in this way but at the same time we must learn self control when we meet as a group.
Detect early when the group is moving off into their opinions and not what the bible actually says. This normally manifests itself along the lines and includes the word “Love”. I don’t mean this in the biblical sense but more in the sense of how the world sees it. In the name of love the world abandons truth. The ecumenical movement does the same. When a group is sufficiently saturated in Love for one another it sometimes, without the gift of self control, manifests into worldly love – naturally because we are still in the flesh. This we have to watch out for. It brings about compromise because we start saying things like – “We need to love Roman Catholics” – TRUE – “Its not all bad” – here comes the mixture (poison in the wheat) – “If they want to pray to Mary that isn’t bad – after all she is the mother of God” – ABSOLUTE FALSE.
Can you see what I am getting at? When you are reading the bible together you can always trace these kind of conversations back to not having self control.
I drink from mountain streams because the water is clean and tastes great but I always check further upstream for dead animals in the water. The devil throws in dead animals in the water…he doesn’t cut off the supply he mixes in poison. If he cuts of the supply then you will just go somewhere else but if he mixes in the poison then you will drink for a while and find out that something isn’t right later in time.
Some of the dead bodies that need to be taken out of the stream, which have been in far too long, are –
1. There is nothing wrong with infant baptism
2. You don’t have to be baptised to be saved (true) so don’t worry about it (false)
3. There is nothing wrong with having women pastors and teachers in authority over the men.
4. Women do not have to cover their head when praying or in worship
The reason all of the above are wrong is because it contradicts scripture – it contradicts the word of God. Anyone, absolutely anyone who contradicts the word of God is either a liar or deceived.
Yes 4 – is really hard to swallow but let me put it completely plain and clear. If women can ignore 1 cor 11:1-17 then why not ignore the rest of 1 cor 11 (The Lords supper). Let us remember it is nothing to do with legalism – Paul the apostle was a Pharisee saved from under the law by the blood of Christ but still he gave the teaching of head coverings after he was born again, the question is why? When you search for the why with head coverings then the bible has so much more to teach us about fellowship that we have completely missed by a royal mile because we don’t want to offend women.
And when you accept that apostles teaching was given by Christ for His church then you will accept all of the apostles teaching – in accepting their teaching and applying we are fulfilling Psalm 119:105 and it keeps us on the path. If you don’t believe me – just look at the devastation we have from not following the simple teachings that points 1 to 4 go against. And also notice that the devil didn’t completely remove the word of God he just played it down and poisoned it – like in Eden – like always! Impure isn’t the complete none existence of anything pure it is the mixture of that which is not pure with that which is pure…when we grasp this we can see how evil the devil really is.
My whole point is this –
“It could be only one or two. It could be just family. The only rule to follow is put Christ first and look to Him to lead you by the Spirit”
To do that – we must keep His word – to be lead by the Spirit is to not only hear His word but do it
John 6:63 – It is the Spirit that brings to life, the flesh profits nothing, *the words* I speak to you, are Spirit and they are life.
Another thing – When people say that you need elders and teachers to be a proper church (they will say something along those lines) just say to them that your elders are Paul, Peter, the apostles and Christ Himself because we follow His word and the teachings of the apostles…I believe that the reason we have the word so abundantly compared to the early church is because of this very reason that good teachers are so far and few between in these last days – and also it was the prayer of Tyndale who interpreted the bible into English so that the “common man” would have the word of God in his hand and be able to understand it as good as an “priest”.
Unless we read it and put it into practice then why do you have it?
Amen brothers – keep meeting, praying and fellowshipping.. It isn’t the numbers it really is just about meeting up and being the church. I encourage you to meet up with only one brother or sister if that is all you can find and do the work of the Lord together – that is as much church as any other.
Every blessing
Just thought I would add this for anyone who is struggling about coming away from a church.
I love my brother (in the flesh) lee. I love him but I wouldn’t go and steal a car with him. If he stole a car I would still love him and tell him he is doing wrong, if he was caught by the police I would still love him and not condemn him – I would love and pray for him and encourage him to put things right.
The same goes for a bad church – you don’t have to feel guilty about leaving if it gets that bad that you can’t stay any longer. Pray for them, feel sorrow and cry for them if they are really going off the rails – pray and pray and pray for them. No one would wish anyone to go to the lake of fire least of all those who confess Christ. We must pray for everyone to come to the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour and repent and help us daily…we are all weak children who need our Dad (Abba).
God bless.
Forgive and God will forgive you –
Micah 6:8 He has showed thee, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of thee,
but to do *justly*
and to *love mercy*
and to walk *humbly with your God*
Every blessing
Blessings in Christ Jesus Colin. Always great to hear from you. While I don’t necessarily disagree with much of what you wrote, the focus of this post is to stop feeding on milk alone and also to start in small gatherings. I realize you and a few others are in larger groups, but there are also those who have been hurt and abused. This is really meant to encourage those folks to walk on in Christ regardless of those abuses some have suffered. Not to lay down rules and regulations. Because following Christ is a simple thing being led by the Spirit. Learning to recognize Him as He speaks through anybody in the assembly. Not just one or two. This does not discount the gentle guidance of elders to help guide the less mature.
Hi Al 🙂 God bless you brother. I think that is what I was saying but in a long winded way I gave some things to “still” watch out for when meeting in small groups. Mostly our gathering consists of 4 people (including me) – the most we ever had together was two families (10 people – one was a new born baby) – I am in a very small group brother but we all contribute. We come together to be taught from the word of God and that was what I was trying to warn about – even small groups can wonder off into that which is not Christian. Keep meeting together and keep praying and following scripture – The church of Philadelphia in revelation was a church that “kept His word” because they have “a little strength”. Be prepared to swim against the tidal wave that is sweeping over us.
Every blessing.
Thanks for clarifying brother. I do appreciate your input. The Lord has been having me simplify what I say to bring things down. He has taught me that we don’t need to be intellectual. By that I mean we don’t need to approach the Gospel as a university professor with a degree in theology. Simplicity is the guideline. I have also been in a group that began to wander off from the word. We would spend time talking about music or guitars or motorcycles. Things of the world, rather than the Gospel and how to reach out to others. When the Lord tried to correct us the group broke up.