Jesus Focused on the Kingdom of God, Not Church Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, but we made a church instead. What if he never intended us to form a church? After all, Jesus did tell his followers to “seek first the kingdom of God,” (Matthew 6:33, ESV). Let’s look at where else the […]
In addition to these three remaining churches on my spreadsheet is my mental list of four more. The first of these churches is the Salvation Army. Most people know the Salvation Army for their red donation kettles at Christmastime. Beyond that, they focus on the needs of the homeless and provide disaster relief and humanitarian […]
We Must Be Good Stewards of All That God Blesses Us With The Old Testament church required a lot of financial support to keep it going. There was a tabernacle to build and transport. The temple later replaced the tabernacle, but it required regular maintenance. The priests and Levites received support too. This huge need […]
Stop Paying Clergy and Ministry Staff to Do What We’re Supposed to Do Ourselves In part one of Embrace a Fresh Perspective about Church we looked at adopting a new, biblically enlightened view on the role that a church building should play for our spiritual community. Now we’ll continue that theme by looking at church […]
We Don’t Need a Church Building to Encounter God or Enjoy Spiritual Community So far, we’ve looked at the Old Testament model for church—of building, paid clergy, and tithes—which we still follow today. Then we considered how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament and looked at how the early church functions in the New Testament, considering […]
We Must Correct Some Wrong Perspectives about Our Religious Practices We’ve looked at how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament to provide a new way for us and our churches to function, replacing the temple, paid clergy, and tithes. Then we explored ten New Testament practices and five New Testament examples to inform our church behavior. […]
Discover What the Bible Teaches About Meeting Together While considering a better New Testament approach to church, we talked about the three key perspectives that Jesus changed: meeting in homes, serving as priests, and helping those in need. Then we looked at ten more New Testament practices: relying on the Holy Spirit, worship, prayer, fasting, […]
Consider the Example of Jesus’s Followers in the Bible The commands in the Old Testament about the tabernacle/temple, priesthood, and tithe are clear. The New Testament, however, lacks specific instructions for us to follow. But this doesn’t mean we should adhere to the Old Testament model as a default. Instead we look at the practices […]
If We Don’t Protect the Innocent from Retribution, Who Will? God tells Joshua to establish cities of refuge, a safe place for people to seek sanctuary. The specific context is that a city of refuge is a place for people to go if they accidentally kill someone. Once these people make it to the city […]
Discover the Revolutionary Way Jesus Fulfills the Old Testament When we consider that Jesus came to fulfill the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets, what’s important to understand is that we must see these passages in their proper perspective, informing our perspectives about church today. This doesn’t mean to ignore what was […]