housechurchesusa.com

I can not stop sharing this word from 1 Chronicles, still this morning it rings in my head it is so powerful for the Body today to realize what happened in chapter 13 and how it applies to us today. The reason why David wanted the ark back in Jerusalem was that they had neglected it since the time of Saul, they had neglected the presence of God, the symbol rather, of God’s presence in their lives. After so many victories of war, so many triumphs David conferred with his officers, a King with heart full of desire to worship, had realized that they had to have the true presence of God among them. But they did something not quite right in the eyes of the Lord, the ark of the covenant was in Abinadab’s house (notice the location), now they wanted to bring it back and to do so they brought it on a new cart. Now let me stop here for a moment, that new cart was a type of transportation a method of moving but this method or strategy was not what God had designed, you see the ark had golden rings and through those golden rings were to wooden rods for the sole purpose of carrying the ark from place to place not on carts but on the priest shoulders. The presence of God manifested through His Son Jesus Christ can not be brought correctly into the lives of others with new methods or strategies it must be brought in by us, we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9) As a matter of fact everything that represented Christ in the Tabernacle had the same two poles for transport purposes, the Altar of Sacrifice (offering), The table of Showbread (His word), The Alter of Incense intercessory prayer) all were meant to be carried by Us.  (more…)

By Dan Trotter

At a recent house church conference, before a panel discussion was about to begin, I whispered to Les Buford that I bet the first question was going to be: “how do we handle the children?” Sure enough, it was. This, in my opinion, is the number one question asked by those contemplating doing house church. It is a tremendous stumbling block. But it shouldn’t be.

This issue will examine three things: one, the differing philosophies or mindsets that the institutional and house church have toward children and the church; two, practical issues that arise; and three, the advantage to children of the church in the home.

“Jesus never, ever said: ‘Suffer the little children to be packed away in the nursery.’ Can you imagine the children being led to Children’s Church during the Sermon on the Mount?” (more…)

The Stone that the Builders Rejected, Part I

Reading: Psalm 118:19-29

There are four key words in Psalm 118:22: 1) stone 2) builders 3) refused 4) cornerstone. The first word to consider is stone. The Hebrew word for stone is “eben” which means to build. It comes from the prime root “banah” meaning to begin to build or to be a builder, this is the word used in Psalm 118:22 for builders. The passage would read something like this, “the “eben/stone” which the “banah/builders” refused…” The word refused in the Hebrew is “maac” pronounced maw-as. It means to reject with despite, disdain, loathing, count as utterly vile. If we could sum this up we would conclude that God wants a building, He provided material “The Stone” and builders, the Old Testament prophets and priests. But they utterly reject with hatred God’s building material. (more…)

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”   Matthew 1:21

He shall save his people from their sins,
The angel did proclaim.
But the preachers of our day
Make salvation so profane.
A different message from the Bible
These false men do tell.
Rather than be saved from sin,
They say “be saved from hell”.
The hearers gladly take their word
And follow this false trend.
In their minds they are saved from hell,
but their souls are bound in sin.
The birth of Christ into the world,
Tells quite another story.That so affects the lives of men,
We live only for His glory.
When Jesus Christ the Savior
Is born into our hearts.
He empowers men to quit their sins,
From iniquity they depart.
So now at Christmas ponder,
What our Savior did intend.
Did He save our souls from hell?
Or save our souls from sin?
His shed blood saves us from our sins,
So let this end all strife.
For if indeed we’re saved from sins,
We have eternal life!