NATURE OF THE CHURCH, PART 1

I learned and believe that the Holy Spirit is the One who empowers the church, as a community of believers, so the world might see and be convicted of sin. History shows the inception of the church when the Holy Spirit fell on a group of disciples; the church is still moving and growing. In the early 20th century, the Asuza Street revival took place which spearheaded the Pentecostal and Charismatic renewal in that century, with great evangelistic power and it appears that it is still in strong force through the 21st century! Of course, the Holy Spirit is the guide, leader and power for the believers as individuals and as a community of believers to move in the Kingdom of God here on earth!

So one can see that the people of God, in other words, those that have had a born-again experience and call Jesus their Savior, make up the church and as they have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, this church, is the temple of the Holy Spirit. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3: 16. So as individuals or as a community of believers, the Holy Spirit indwells in them, giving off power so that the world might know the living God!

One image of the church is as ‘the people of God’: this concept emphasizes God’s initiative in choosing them. A second image of the church, is as ‘the body of Christ’: this concept emphasizes that the church is the locus of Christ’s activity now, just as was His physical body during His earthly ministry. It also speaks of the interconnectedness between all the persons who make up the church. It also talks of the connection of a group of believers with Christ. A third image of the church, is as ‘the temple of the Holy Spirit’ : It is the Spirit who brought the church into being at Pentecost(Read Acts 2). The church is now indwelt by the Spirit, both individually and collectively. The Holy Spirit conveys power to the church.

I was talking to a friend and he asked me what was the difference amongst the churches after I told him , I belonged to the Charismatic Protestant Christians or born again believers in Jesus Christ! So I told him: there is the Catholic Christians which has the charismatic Catholics, as well as the orthodox Catholics. Then there is the Protestant Christians where there falls the Pentecostals such as the Foursquare, the Assembly of God, the Calvary Chapels and a lot of the Holiness movements. There are also the Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Anglicans.1 Then there is the Messianic Jews, who are believing Jews: they follow both the Old Testament and the New Testament but are a little more rigorous in following the Old Testament rituals!

He then asked me where the Jehovah Witness fell? I told him they are a more independent group like the Mormons who are neither Catholic nor Protestant! I told him the Bibles used by both Catholics and Protestants are basically the same; just the Catholics have a few more books than the Protestants! The Jehovah Witness have a Bible which has some interpretations or wording which basically were not accepted by the Council of Fathers of Old of the Church as was taught by Dr. Jon Huntzinger at the King’s University in a hermeneutics class! They don’t believe in the Virgin Birth, the Deity of Jesus Christ, or the Atonement of Jesus Christ by shedding blood for the forgiveness of sins for all the coming humanity who believes! The Mormons use the Bible but they put more emphasis on their own ‘Book of Mormons’. They believe that Jesus Christ and Satan are brothers both created! That’s a little scary as the Bible in the Old Testament says Jesus is Creator and satan was a created angel who fell from grace! There is also the Seventh Day Adventists who follow a prophetess and follow the Bible.

I went on to tell him that basically on all these groups there were many who believed on the Lord Jesus in their hearts but just as well there were some who were spectators who really didn’t know Jesus as Savior! Never had a born again experience! I then went on to tell him that as long as you believed that Jesus died on the cross, shedding His blood for their forgiveness , they would be saved, letting Him be their Lord! “ …that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10: 9. I told him there were some groups who didn’t believe this and the Bible was clear on this , otherwise there was no reason for Jesus coming to earth to die, all would have been in vain! “ And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty” 1 Corinthians 15: 14. He also told me someone had told him people who didn’t belong to his church were going to hell! I told him this was a lie, nowhere in the Bible does say you have to belong to a specific church or you will go to hell!

NOTES
1.Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 1997),286.