Video Transcript: House To House - Chapter 6 Spiritual Families
In this session, we want to talk about spiritual families and how that the body of Christ really does fit together, and how it all works together. I mentioned in past sessions about my love for different denominations in the body of Christ, and you have to remember that really, almost every denomination, if not everyone, at one time, was a new movement. It was some started back in the Reformation, you know, Martin Luther, and of course, the Lutherans and and on and on. And so they started someplace. And of course, these movements mature and get to the place where you are today. And with that commerce maturity, and sometimes with that can come from stagnation. And many my denominational leadership friends would would tell me that. So they start as movements. But we have to understand is that it all starts. It's all family, it's all spiritual. But in the Old Testament, we find that there were the 12 tribes of Israel, and yet there were many clans in each tribe, and there were many families in each clan, and that get down to the individual person. Remember, when they looking for Achan, they found found in the book of Joshua. They went to, you know, the tribes, is this tribe, and then they went to this clan and this family, and they found him. And so we need to understand how the body of Christ works together. Now the important thing is this, we need many different kinds of denominations. We need many kinds of church structures. That's why we believe so much in the importance of the house church, but right alongside the Community Church and right alongside the mega church. And as I had mentioned, I I have many friends who are Community Church leaders, or who are even some mega church leaders who say we see the need for house churches. We want to help them plant house churches and they can. We'll oversee them and help them do that. Let's just give freedom to the body of Christ to be all that they should be. It's not we should never be threatened by a new church that's going to be started. You see, I don't believe there should ever be a church split, because a church split is often done because of control on one side of the fence or both sides of the fence, either somebody who's not willing to wait for the right timing, and they move too fast, they split a church, they start something new, or this, leaders who've been kind of stuck in a mother controlling and not willing to release. And then also, we have the same kinds of splits and problems. But there needs to be so many multiplications. We need to see churches multiply. So that's why everything with life will multiply. Trees, multiply animals, multiply, people, multiply plants multiply. It's who God is, Be fruitful and multiply. Replenish the earth. But we must understand how these families really work, any denominational families and these new families, because we're all created for connection. People say, Well, I'm going to be an independent house church or an independent church. I don't think we can be independent in the kingdom of God. We're dependent on the Holy Spirit. We're dependent on the Word of God, and we dependent on one another. Now here's the key. How does someone know where they connect? Where do they fit? Well, let me read to you. You join me, please in I Corinthians
12:18. Here's how Paul says it. In fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be so. God's the one who's arranging the parts in the body the new churches. And one of the things that when I was a young pastor, God showed me I need to do is begin to love on other pastors in the area. And I and another pastor of a significant church, and I sat down for breakfast one day, we said, Well, let's find a way we can work together in our county, we want to see revival come. There's not one church or one ministry that brings revival. It's us together, staying together. God loves unity. He commands blessing on unity, and we know that from Psalms 133 but see God's one who places people in the body as He wills. And now that works two ways. Number one, individual people are called to connect in a local church as their led by the Holy Spirit, to connect. That's individually. But then churches need to connect with other churches, if I may use the term tribe. There were 12 tribes in Israel. There should be many denominations. There should be many church movements. There should be older church movements and newer church movements all working together, because people are all different, and there's a different type of church structure or denomination or even theological background that may help one person, that may not help someone else. Now, when it comes to house churches, they are all so different. As soon as we try to put them all to one kind of house church, it probably isn't working. As I said before, most house churches have food that is kind of a staple, but if they don't, it's okay, but they're all different. Some are house church for older folks, some are younger folks. Some are mission. More mission minded than others, some house churches. Maybe we come out of a certain denomination. People have an affinity to certain things in Scripture, where they would grow together. The key is that we listen to God and allow God to place us in his body as He wills as he desires. Now let me show you a scripture that really helped. Me to understand all this. And you can find this scripture in I Peter 2. And the scripture says, As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by man, but chosen by God, and precious to him. You also, as living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, to Jesus, Christ. Now, what does that mean? Let's see for a moment. He says he is a living stone. That's Christ. They says were also living stones when we come to Christ. So anybody walking down the street of your village, of your town, of your city, or of your state, of your nation right now. Without Christ, they are walking but they are walking dead stones. When we come to Christ, Jesus changed our life. Let's say, for example, here's all these stones, but these stones are lifeless. Without Christ, when Christ comes into our lives, we come alive. Then the Bible says, What does God do? He builds us together. There's not any one stone that should be alone. We are built together into a spiritual house. Now, what is the mortar that holds us together? It's the mortar of relationship. We're relationship with God. We're relationship with one another. It's vertical relationship. It's
horizontal relationship. So we are living stones being built together into a spiritual house. So a house church or a community church or a mega church is called by God to be filled with living stones, but built together into a spiritual house. Now the reason I love house church is because we can really know everyone you know for many years, even when I pastor, people are coming to our local churches. I speak to, you know, 1000 plus people at a service, and what would happen people sit there and see the back of somebody's head. But I knew they had relationship in the house to house ministry. I knew that they were connected to other believers, and when they were not, guess what happened, that the devil could really knock them off course. But we stand together against the powers of darkness. We resist the devil and he please, according to James 4:7-8 however, if we can do that together, there is power in agreement. So living stones being built the other into a spiritual house. That's why I believe so much in house church. I've said this many times. I've said it to our churches, places I've preached. Said, you know, we say we're a local church here with 100 people, or 500 people, 1000 or more. We say we're church family, but we're really not. We are a weekly reunion. Now I understand reunions. My father grew up in a family of 14. There were 12 who were living and get all their families and families together. You had all these people. I didn't know most of them. You know my wife's family, my wife's mother's family. She grew up in a family of 19. They grow them really big in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 19, when they all came together, I knew a few people. It was a reunion, weekly reunion. And you know what happened? We'd often hang out with the people we really knew anyway, people in our family, so that, if you have a ministry, there's many people ask God to show your way. It can be broken down, where people can be in relationship with one another. House church is a perfect way to do that, and you house churches if they get too big, that's what we should encourage, starting more house church. Now people say this to me, how large should a house church be? Well, Jesus had 12 disciples, or 13 of them, Moses, we just read in the last session, last few sessions, Moses had 10, groups of 10s, 50s, you know, and and hundreds and 1000s, and, but here's what I found. It's not so much the amount of people, the number you don't multiply, you don't send people out to start a new house church until there are leadership. Leadership has been proven, leadership has been trained, and leadership is prepared to send them out. So I know of house churches of 85 people. I know of community churches have a big building. Have 20 people. It doesn't make sense, does it, but if that's what God's called them to do, that's what they should do. What I love about house church is built by relationship. These relationships, they work together, and you can only see this here, living stone, can only have so many other relationships close to it, even this one is one relationship away. So what happens is relationship with these four people, you can be in relationship with a few. Let's say these represent families. Even you can with a few, but you can't
with many, and that's why we need to continue saying, Lord, how do we train leaders for the next generation? How do we train leaders inside another house church and another house church and another house church, even though the new house church might look a bit different than our house church now, given these here living stones, they all look pretty much alike. They really do, but in reality, in the body. Christ, these people all do look different, and every house church will look different. The vision for your house church will be different than the vision for somebody else's house church. And that is a good thing, as long as we're loving Jesus, loving the scriptures, and being the spiritual fathers and mothers that our God has called us to be. I've often said, you know, it's interesting in the military, you know, whichever country you're from, some of our countries have military. Others do not. Our country. Here in the United States of America, we have the military, broke it up into many different areas. We have the Marines. We have the army. We had a navy, Navy with the Air Force Special offering. Go on and on and on. And you know, each of those learn how to work together within their own sphere of influence in a powerful way. Now they're not all the same, but we need all of them to keep our country secure, and that's the same thing in any country of the world. So all I'm saying is there's room for diversity, and what this looks like. That's what we need. Many different denominations, many different spiritual families, many different kinds of house churches, many different kinds of churches. But let's be clear, what has God called us to walk in? What is called us to do? Who is he called us to be? And we only get that as we pray, and then we are united together. The scripture says in Galatians 3:26-28 says this, you're all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you all one in Jesus Christ. So we are all one in him, even though we all may be very, very different. But God is the God of spiritual families. You know, when Gideon was called by God to deliver the people, the people of God, the people of Israel. His response was, Lord in Judges 6, my clan is the weakest, and don't call me, you know I. He said, I can't do this, because God said to him. He said, Go to strength. You have save Israel out of Midian's hand, I'm sending you. And he said, Who me? How could you ever call me? And that's the way many people feel when God calls them to start a house church. You might say, I could never do that. How in the world could I ever lead a house or the hand of God is all in your ways, you're really because a little bit of insecurity is good, because our security then comes from trusting God and trusting him. You know, Moses said, I can't lead the children of Israel. He said, I can't speak. I need Aaron. I can't speak very well. God said, I've called you. Jeremiah, and Jeremiah was called to be the Prophet his mother's womb. He said, I'm too young. But God said, I've called you. And Gideon said, God told him, you're called to lead the children of Israel, and you're called to defeat the Midianites. He said, How could God ever use me? Nobody in my family every did, I understand that, because nobody in
my family that I know of back generations was ever involved in church leadership. But I knew God had called me, and it wasn't what happened in the past, is what's happening now, what's happening in me and what's happening in you, is God calling you to lead a house church? Is he calling you to love the rest of the body of Christ? Is he calling you to be a spiritual father, spiritual mother? Have a spiritual family and expect that the house church you lead will look different than any other house church, or different any other any other House Fellowship, and we have found those great blessing come when we simply get free in our own skin, so to speak, to be who God called us to be. There's just grateful film and blessing that comes to that stop trying to be somebody else. We can learn from others. I've learned from the best. I mean, I've gone to Korea. I learned from Dr Cho. Years ago, we had Dr Cho come and help us with some of our cell books years ago, and training on that, and I appreciate that. I've gone all the world to see what God has been doing. But you know, every time I try to copy somebody else or copy their methods, it really wouldn't work. We need to do is learn from others, but then say, Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me? What is the kind of church you're calling me to be involved with? And you may not be called to start or lead a house church. Maybe you're called. Many of us are called to help somebody else start a house church. You know, most people in the world have heard the name Walt Disney because they heard of Mickey Mouse. They heard of Disney World. Walt the founder. A few people heard of Roy Disney. Roy Disney was Walt's brother, and every vision Walt had, Roy made it happen. He was the guy behind the scenes that made it happen. So are you a Walt Disney? Are you a Roy Disney? You may not have been called to start a house church, but you might be the best person in the world to stand alongside somebody else when they start house church, because you have the gifts that they need so that together you can see the kingdom of God advanced through the house church and house churches that you that you will plant. I love house church. Ministry, small group ministry, I love it. You know our daughter. Oldest daughter is a Katrina. Was 15. She was an assistant leader in house church. It trained her for her future. She now serves with her husband as elders in the local church. And and as a it is love Jesus and their family serving the Lord. It's just an amazing thing. But started with she was very, very, very, very, very young. And so I, I would simply say, to end this session, this God is a God of family. He loves spiritual families because of who he is, and we need to find our place in whichever spiritual families call us to be. Maybe start a new spiritual family and then connect with the rest of body. Christ, don't be out alone. Connect, have a sense of authority, accountability. There are people my life who can speak into my life. I always ask people who can fire you. If you get go crazy, do something stupid, who can fire you? Well, there should be people who can speak your life, not control us, but the same time, they were accountable to the Word of God. We're countable others outside of ourselves. I've seen too many
shipwrecks in the kingdom of God because people were had an independent spirit to want to go their own way. They didn't want to connect with the rest of the body of Christ. They want to connect with people who could speak into their lives. So the call of God is on your life. Just don't do it alone if you're a Walt Disney, find a Roy or some Roy's to help you. If you're a Roy Disney, find some, then find a Walt. You can help and follow and you can walk with because we are living stones being built together by relationship and a commonality of vision into a spiritual house to see the kingdom of God advance in the days we live in, and God is going to use you in ways that's beyond anything you could imagine