Simply Church: A House Church Perspective

How to be an orchestra

When she comes together, the functioning body of Christ is like an orchestra, with the Holy Spirit acting as the conductor. The richness of a symphony occurs because all of the different instruments in the orchestra play the melody assigned to them. If we all play the same tune in church, we miss out on the magnificent creativity of the bride of Christ.

But Paul goes beyond that. He says that the weaker members are necessary and worthy of greater honor. The contributions of those who are shyer or more reticent to speak should be given greater attention.

Of course, the head of this body is Christ, and as each person follows the prompting of the Holy Spirit, the body functions as it should. You see, the Lord wants to be more than “the guest of honor” in our meetings. He actually wants to be in control.

If we are not careful, house or simple church gatherings can run like a traditional church meeting, what our friend John White likes to call “Honey, I shrunk the church.” Someone has been asked to lead the worship, another person has been asked to teach . . . the venue has just changed from pews to couches. But that excludes a major dynamic of a small group meeting; namely, that the Lord has a plan for our times together. He knows what is going on in people’s lives. If we will let Him, He will touch and change people and the world around us.

God has given us the pattern for this in 1 Corinthians 14:26 which says that each person should take part and bring a contribution to our time together. (This is one of the reasons that we are so sold on the concept of church being small. In a larger gathering, it would be impossible for everyone to have a part in the service.

(Taken from the rewritten and updated "An Army of Ordinary People", due out May 1st)

Listening to God together

God doesn't just speak to us as individuals.  He also speaks to us corporately.

A team of four couples led one of the church that we started in the UK.  Every week that team would meet to hear what God was saying to us.  He spoke in many different ways--through Scripture, through prophecy and words of knowledge and wisdom.  He spoke through visions and dreams, through tongues and interpretation.  He spoke on various different subjects.  None of us dared go into that meeting with unconfessed sin because the Holy Spirit would reveal  and deal with it.  He spoke to us about situations in the church we were part of.  He spoke to us about international and national situations.  Sometimes He would have us in prayer and intercession about a subject that we would then hear about in the next day's news!  They were exciting times.

We are now part of another group that gets together for two or three days every few months with no other purpose than to hear what Jesus wants to say to us.  We have had to lay down our own agendas and desires.  Again, He is speaking to us about many things.  One of the things He has told us is that there are things that we can hear from Him together that we could not hear on our own.

The Lord has an agenda for our times together.  It is too easy to schedule the Holy Spirit out of our gatherings.  If we will let Him, He will lead us clearly.  He is never boring!

Insights from John White on hearing God

John White talks a lot about listening to God.  A few days ago I briefly interviewed him to hear some his thoughts (and, to be strictly honest, to experiment with the technology.)  But what he shared is so good, I thought I would add it so you all can benefit.

John mentions Mark Virkler.  Many years ago I read his book, "Dialog with God."  It formed the foundation of my practice of hearing God personally.  Right up to the present, I still journal (write down what I think God is saying to me) on as near a daily basis as possible.

I'd also love to hear back from any of you on whether you like audio in a blog!

Other ways God speaks

The past few posts have described the different ways that God may speak to us as individuals and some of the criteria we have for evaluating what we have heard.

Other ways in which God may guide include our circumstances.  How often God speaks through the situation we may find ourselves in.  The apostle Paul ministered in Rome because he was in prison there.  An example: recently part of a small group interactive discussion that I was responsible for did not go that well.  What was my response to be?  I asked the Lord to teach me through what had happened, and He did, showing me how I might have better handled what went on. I could have just lamented the situation, but instead, God turned it into a learning opportunity for me.

God also speaks through His creation.  We can learn about His incredible attributes--His majesty, power and glory--through the things He has made (Romans 1:20)

God speaks to those who desire to hear Him.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear...  The question isn't, "Is God speaking?"  The question is, "Are we listening?" and are we open to the different ways He may choose to communicate with us.

In what other ways does God speak to you that have not yet been covered in these blog posts?  From here, we will also look at how God speaks to us corporately as His body.

When others advise us

 Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no counsel the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” God often uses what other people say to us to speak to us.  Sometimes we will go to them to ask their advice and we do well to seek the counsel of those who are wise in the ways of God.  Sometimes the other person has no idea that they are saying something that has the potential to change our lives. 

        I remember a time when Tony and I both sensed from the Lord that we were to sell the house we were living in and to do something very specific with the money that was raised.  We told no one what we were considering.  The following Sunday, a brand new Christian was speaking for the first time in a meeting.  During his brief talk, he twice used the example, “It would be just like if the Lord told Tony and Felicity that they were to sell their house and give the money to…” and went on to describe exactly what we were thinking the Lord wanted us to do with the money.  We were astounded by how specific God could be.        

    How often has someone said something in passing that grabs our attention?  To the person speaking, he has said nothing unusual, but the Lord uses it to change our thinking about a certain issue.  For example, recently someone mentioned the word authority in the context of discipleship.  It was a throwaway sentence.  But the Lord has used it to lead me into a study on the authority that we have as disciples within the Kingdom.  How do we gain the authority to heal the sick, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, and raise the dead (Matthew 10:8)?  It has the potential to change the way I think about these things.

God communicates through spiritual gifts

God also uses the other spiritual gifts to communicate with us.  Gifts such as words of knowledge or words of wisdom come to mind.  These occur when God drops a piece of information or an idea into our minds that we would have no natural way of knowing.

One example comes from Tony’s days as a doctor in London.  One day, a patient who was the wife of a local pastor who had just moved into the area came to see him.  Since Christians were few and far between in that area of London, he was very interested to meet her.  She had come for a prescription, and so Tony had examined her and given her the prescription, but as she stood up to leave, he noticed that she was looking a bit depressed so he asked her if everything was OK.  She immediately brightened up.  “Everything’s fine, Doctor,” she said with a smile.  Before Tony could stop himself, he responded. “Oh no it’s not.  You’ve just had an abortion!”  If he had time to think, he would never have said such a thing.  She dissolved into tears and the following story came out.  She had become pregnant just before she and her husband married, and to avoid the embarrassment of admitting their sin as they entered their first pastorate, they had succumbed to the “convenience” of an abortion.  Tony was able to minister forgiveness and healing to her.

Although this is a more dramatic example than usual, we often find God speaks to us in these ways.  For example, when we were trying to make ends meet during our early time here in the States, we quite often would pray from Deuteronomy 8:? which says, It is God who gives you the power to create wealth that He might establish His covenant.”  For many months we prayed over this verse asking God to give us a creative idea whereby we could support ourselves.  One day, an idea just came to us that resulted in the business that now provides for us and has freed us to spend time working more directly in the Kingdom.  Was it just a natural idea?  Maybe—but we are convinced that God provided it through a word of wisdom.

 

What is prophecy?

 

Prayer is when we speak to God; prophecy is when God speaks to us.  All of us are able to prophesy (1 Corinthians 14:31), and the Word tells us to desire to prophesy (1 Corinthians 14:39).  Prophecy occurs when a person speaks out words that they sense God is saying.  Prophetic words can be very powerful, but they should be weighed and handled with care. 

1 Corinthians 14:3 describes the safe parameters for prophecy.  It is to be used to strengthen, encourage and comfort.  It is not to be used to convict of sin, and if guidance occurs, it should confirm what the Lord is already saying to a person. 

Prophecy does not have to be spoken.  One of the most powerful prophecies we have ever been given was in a meeting when we had a friend of ours from England, Norman Barnes, with us.  Norman moves very powerfully in the gift of prophecy.  He had us sit on a sofa and covered us completely with a large sheet.  As his prophecy, he removed the sheet from us and told us that God had had us hidden for a number of years but now was the time when we were going to be revealed.  What was interesting was the context of the prophecy.  Back in the UK, we had been relatively well known.  When we came here to America, no one was interested in what had happened back in England and we entered a ten year period of total obscurity (very good for us!) We wondered if we were going to stay “on the shelf” forever.  It was shortly after this prophetic word that we helped to start House2House magazine which has again thrust us more into the public eye.

The fact that God has used a person to prophesy does not make them a prophet.  The 5-fold ministry of the prophet as mentioned in Ephesians 4 occurs when a person is used to prophesy on a regular basis and over things that effect the course of the church.  It is usually a traveling ministry.  Along with apostles, prophets are part of the foundation (infrastructure) of the church.

What is the purpose of dreams and visions?

   It is interesting to see how often the Lord used dreams and visions throughout the New Testament. 

• Joseph is guided by a dream to take Mary as his wife despite her “unplanned” pregnancy.  A dream leads him to flee to Egypt when Herod tries to kill Jesus, and another lets him know when it is time to return.

• Peter is on a rooftop when he sees a vision of all kinds of animals being let down on a sheet.  The Lord tells him to call nothing unclean.  The Lord uses this to show him that he, a Jew, is to go with the servants of Cornelius.  And as a result, the Gentiles are reached with the Gospel

• Paul is guided by a dream to go to Macedonia and so Europe is evangelized.

We too have been guided by dreams or visions on occasion.  For example, one night I dreamed that we put a course that we used to run in our home online so that it became available to a lot more people.  We have now done that and many churches have started as a result.  Another time I had a dream of a house being shifted on its foundations so that all the rooms in it were skewed and out of shape.  The Lord used that dream to cause us to re-examine some of the foundations of the Kingdom work we were involved in.

In Acts 2, Peter, explains to the assembled crowd what is going on when the Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost.  He tells them, “Your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.”  Dreams and visions are to become the norm. 

All over the world, God is using dreams and visions to speak to people.  In some contexts that are hostile to the gospel, for example in Muslim nations, it is becoming increasingly common for people to have a vision or dream of a man dressed in white robes coming and speaking to them.  One of the ways of reaching out to the lost in these nations is to ask people if they have had such a dream.  This then opens the door to explain that the person they have seen is Jesus and to explain to them how to become His follower.

One of the most common ways the Lord speaks to me is through a fleeting picture.  Is this a vision?  I'm not sure, but the impression, which is usually a picture in my mind that may last only a second or so, will open up a concept that the Lord uses.  An example:  in a time where a group of people were waiting on the Lord, just listening to what He wanted to say to us over a period of a couple of days, I had a brief picture of a key, but there was something about its design that meant it took a group of people to use it.  From that, the Lord showed us that there were certain situations we could only unlock corporately rather than individually.

If we are open to dreams and visions, the Lord will use them to speak to us.

What is our plumbline when we hear from God?

 

    Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path  (Psalm 119) 

 

God’s Word is the yardstick by which all other revelation from God is measured.  In Hebrews it talks about becoming skilled in the word because you use it (Hebrews 5:13-14)).  God’s word is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, and it works in our lives (Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:16).  As we spend time in the Word, letting it fill our minds and work in our hearts, all that goes on in our lives will be influenced by it.  It then becomes the standard by which we assess everything.

All of us have probably experienced God speaking specifically to us through His Word, the Bible.  It’s as though a verse becomes highlighted as we read, almost as though it has been underlined.  It jumps out of the page at us. 

When Tony was in medical school, one evening he attended a healing meeting where many people were getting touched by God.  As he watched what was going on, the healing evangelist suddenly joked, “Well, if there are any doctors here, they will be looking for a new job.”  It was as though the Holy Spirit was challenging Tony directly.  The only thing that he had ever wanted to do was to be a doctor.   The Lord was facing him with the fact that he had never actually asked God if He wanted him to be a doctor.  Then He had the thought, “You are to leave medical school!”  Tony returned to his room in turmoil.  Did God really want him to leave the very prestigious medical school that we both attended and give up the career that he had always longed for? 

Next morning in his time with the Lord, Tony turned to his regular reading, Micah chapter 2.  He does not remember what the first few verses said, but verse 10 says this.  “Arise and go for this is no place for you to rest because of uncleanness…”  He could not mistake the meaning.  It took nine months, but eventually he handed his resignation to the dean of the medical college.  He left the medical school and spent two years at a Bible school, never dreaming that he would ever go back.  It was a total surprise when, at the end of the two years, the Lord spoke equally clearly that he was to return.  And it was even more of a miracle that the college accepted him back!

God often speaks through the Scriptures.  Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus referring to the Old Testament to explain what He was doing (e.g. Matthew 13:14-15; Luke 4:18-19).  The same is true for the disciples in the Book of Acts (e.g. Acts 2:17-21).  The scriptures are written for our instruction and guidance (2 Timothy 3:16) and we do well to have our lives guided and molded by them.

Even children can learn to hear God

John White wrote this very helpful comment on a post I wrote a few days ago.  It is worth repeating in the main blog.  It is another great example of what can happen when a group listens to God together.  There are many wonderful stories of what can happen when people listen to God on the blog he mentions at the end.

John writes:

"Rather than just talk about listening, we've found it transformational to actually do this with people at every opportunity. Mary Geegh describes this practice in her powerful little book "God Guides". (Experiential learning vs theoretical learning) Then, we reinforce it at every level. First, with our alone time with God each day. Then, with our daily CO2s (churches of two which includes marriages). Then, with our house churches. And, finally, with our regional leadership teams (MRTs). In each situation we are seeking to follow in Jesus' steps: "I do nothing on my own initiative. I only do what I see the Father doing." (Jn. 5:19)

It's been especially fun to see how this works out in house churches. We teach each church to simply ask the Lord one question each week: "Jesus, what do you want to say to your church today." The group takes 20-30 minutes to listen and write what they hear in response to that question. And, then, they come back together to share what they heard. New Christians and children often are the best "hearers" in this situation. What we are discovering is that Jesus is really quite good at leading individual churches. (Who would have thought?!) As we listen and obey, everything else seems to flow naturally - Bible study, prayer, intimate fellowship, mission, etc. And, it makes starting new churches quite simple.

Here's a short video on how one family is putting this into practice. Very fun to see how the 7 and 10 year olds are "getting it"! http://storiesfromtherevolution.blogspot.com/2010/02/c02-and-family.htm"