My wife, daughter and son-in-law work for a Charter School that does home schooling.  Would you want to send your children to a public school today?  Does it really do a good job educating our children?  Or, are they just keeping the lid on from one day to the next?  Here in California, people are going back to the beginning - when parents took the primary responsibility for educating their own children."  Parents are taking back responsibility for educating their own children because the institution has failed.  Can an institution do a better job than a parent?  If we have "home schooling", how about "home churching"? 

 As we said before, home churching usually fails.  Why?  As we have said before, a "body life" meeting is only as good as our collective walk with the Lord.  If we are living in the past, living off of experiences we had last month or ten years ago, we are going to be in for a rude awakening.  It may sound trite to say that we need to "have a fresh experience of Christ" daily, but it is true.  Many people can tell old "war stories" for hours on end, how the Lord did this or that for them years ago.  But what counts is what the Lord did in my life today, this week - not last year or 30 years ago.  An interesting thing about a small meeting is that there is no place to hide.  You are exposed.  If your experience is stale, your sharing will smell like a stale ash tray to you and others the minute you open your mouth. 

 Why do we end up with big meetings and professional speakers?  In the traditional service, there is nothing to do, nothing to prepare for.  It takes the heat off.  We can hide and don't have to deal with our shallowness and lack of reality.  Unless we can get to the point where we can be honest about where we are spiritually...Unless we can get to the point where we can really touch the Lord regularly in prayer and in the Word...Unless we get to the point where each and everyone of us can have fresh daily experiences with the Lord, fresh revelation of our own, rather than someone else's, our meetings are bound to be rather pitiful because they reflect our poor walk with the Lord.

 This is foreign to the average Christian, because we are used to being passively entertained.  Just the thought of having to share with others is scary to some.  I know through years of experience what works and what doesn't.  The only way a person will move from knowledge to reality is through the constant loving support of a group of brothers and sisters he/she trusts and knows are there to help rather than condemn.  This kind of dynamic can only be achieved in small meetings.  Saints need an opportunity to participate meaningfully in each meeting.  Its the little things - the things you are thankful for, how much the Lord means to you, how He pulled off a little miracle at work, how He let you share Him with someone.  Once all the members of the body gets released, people finally get the idea. 

 There is no such thing as a bad meeting or blaming someone else.  The meeting depends on me.  If the meeting is dead, it's because I had no life to bring to it.  What did I contribute?  If someone was obviously down and out, how did I help?  What can I say?  How can I pray for them this week?  The best part about an open fellowship is there is no one to blame but me.  That's why they work - and don't work.

In a very real sense, there is no "right" or "wrong" way to meet.  God doesn't care about methods.  He gives us very little instruction on what to do and how to do it.  The question is, is the meeting under the guidance of the Spirit?  Are there mature leaders who can sense the flow of the Spirit and move with it?  Now I am not talking in the sense of something "extra-Biblical", voices, miracles, signs and wonders.  I am talking about the ability of a small group of people to let the Spirit of God lead them in prayer, worship, song and testimonies.  One will find that there is often an unspoken or unrecognized theme that the Spirit will lead in a meeting and that everything will relate to it - without planning and without an agenda.  For example, the Lord may impress us this week with his mercy so the songs, testimonies, scripture and prayer will all relate to that theme. 

Think of the Holy Spirit as the conductor of an orchestra and each one of us is an instrument that He plays.  He has worked in our lives during the week, ministered to us through His word and through experience, and now we bring that to the meeting and offer it up to the Lord as a "sweet smelling sacrifice unto the Lord."    The meeting reflects the fresh moving and working of the Lord in each of our lives.

The Place of Leadership

Leadership is there to sense the moving of the Lord - not to carry out their planned order of business, not to follow an outline or course of study, or even verses that were picked the previous week.  Leadership should be there to sense the move of the Lord "real time" as they say in computer jargon.  Our relationship with the Lord should be living and powerful, not programmed and planned.

 If there is one main reason a small meeting won't work, it is the lack of effective mature leadership.  Looking back I can see that when there was mature, directed, visionary leadership, the meetings didn't get too far off track and people matured dramatically.  Saints weren't just little birds with their mouths open to be fed.  They quickly became foragers, bringing in what they had gleaned during the week so they could feed others.  That was the secret to their growth.  It is also the reason why the present day church is so atrophied.   People come to be fed rather than to feed others.

 The goal of leadership should not be to "lead by dominating," or doing everything for everyone so things will be comfortable.  The goal of leadership should be to facilitate so others can come forth, mature, share and function.  The goal of leadership should be to keep things on track, provide discernment and protection when strangers come in and provide a safe environment for growth.  They provide "on the job" training because there is a real opportunity to practice every meeting.  I hear pastors say their goal is to train so the people will take over but for some reason this never happens.  The training never ends and, even more important, the opportunity is never made available for the average saint to minister to others.

As long as we let the professionals, the gifted and the mature run the show, the less chance the little guy will ever grow up and mature.  I will grant you there are things to learn, but we seem to have forgotten that until the last hundred years or so, we got along fine without Bible Schools and Seminaries, commentaries and "how to" books.  Today, most people can read.  The best training we can have is our Bible, our daily walk with the Lord and the encouragement of one another.  We already have among us gifts to the body, every day saints with no formal training:  pastors - shepherds with a heart for people, evangelists with the gift for sharing Christ with others, teachers, exhorters, people given to hospitality, visiting the sick, helping others.  They are all gifts to the body for its building up.  None require a degree, special ordination or any such thing. 

 Yet, we have professionalized everything.  We are a society of specialization.  It used to be that a smart, educated person could get a job and learn the specifics needed on the job.  Now, the person needs a masters degree or doctorate with a super specialization to even get a foot in the door.  It is no different in Christianity.  Just look at the catalogue of majors available in the typical seminary.  We make the additional error of thinking that just because someone has studied and specialized in an area, he or she is an expert.  The Christian life is 10 percent knowledge and 90 percent experience.   What is real is what the Lord has worked into you, not what you have learned.

Although what I am about to say is a generalization and I admit that generalizing is dangerous, here goes.  This super specialization and professionalization of Christianity has only reinforced the feeling that there are "full-time, committed Christian workers" and "part-time less committed lay people."  Although there are many exceptions, I think the generalization holds, and this is not to take away from the dedicated “full-time” professional.   Full-time Christians have to do several things at the very least: give up their "secular" job and go to Bible School or Seminary for training and then prove their dedication by taking a much lower paying job than if they were on the "outside."  Again, the last point is not always true, but usually - we hypocritically expect the "full-time" Christian to live on far less than we do.  There are always a small number of committed "lay" people but the rest are mere spectators.  Modern churches are like the old saying, "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer".  Those who are the most involved are the most blessed.  If a person is “on the spot” every week, he has to produce so he grows in the Lord.  The key is to give everyone meaningful opportunity to be involved so all grow.

 Bible School and Seminary is not the way of the Lord.  As one brother recently said, in three and a half years the disciples went from fisherman to apostles.  Being a pastor, teacher or evangelist should have nothing to do with our education and training but the working of God in our lives.  Saints are given gifts for the body.  The teacher, prophet or evangelist in your midst will become evident.  A person does need to study and be grounded in the Word but he doesn't have to spend years in Bible School and Seminary.  They need to be equally grounded in life and experience with the Lord, not just knowledge.  The true servant will be evident to everyone.  You don't need a doctorate to be able to minister, to teach or evangelize but you do need an anointed, empowered life.

Is There Room for a Paid Full-Time Worker?

 I see no reason why any Christian, regardless of formal training, can't serve full-time if he or she feels called to do so and others are willing to support them.  However, there is a pathology at work if that person is working full-time in home churches.  The goal of the full-time worker should be to start new home churches and train leadership.  If he becomes a “little” pastor of the home meeting, he is likely to dominate and others will defer to him.  He may develop a power and financial base which is full of the same "perverse" incentives found in the institutional church (where a pastor must pander to the desires of the laity or be fired).  There is nothing wrong with someone being supported in Christian work - child evangelism, youth work, missions, church planting, prison ministries, in foreign missions, or in prophetic ministries to equip the last days church.  There may even be apostles who go from city to city, encouraging, building up and imparting vision.  At least money goes for supporting people, rather than buildings and programs. 

Some people in home meetings become so much the other way, they have a hard time accepting the idea of someone being paid.  This is short sighted and selfish.  Surely there is enough work to do.  I see nothing wrong with this.  There is the concept of tithing your people: every ten families support one.  This could rotate.  Care should be taken that they are concentrating on evangelism, child evangelism, training leadership, etc. rather than developing a mini-clergy/laity system.  Obviously, we don’t want to return to the abuses of the institution - only in miniature.  However, as the times get harder economically, it may just happen that people can’t get jobs and others have to support them.  There is plenty to do.

A Church Meeting in a Home is not a Church?

 Some pastors may be for home fellowships and bible studies but strongly argue that a church meeting in a home does not constitute a church.  They say it doesn't have all of the ministries, and that church is not a prayer group, a bible study or a home meeting and those who limit themselves to attending only a home fellowship or only a bible study group or only a prayer group, will never reach personal maturity.  They use the verses in Matthew 18 to prove that "two or three gathered in his name" is not necessarily the church, and we would agree in that context.  However, this whole line of reasoning is spurious and contrary to church history.  I would grant that a single purpose meeting (such as prayer or bible study) does not necessarily constitute a "body life" meeting, and we do define elsewhere the home church in a much broader context.  But, right now, let's examine what the Scripture says about the early church.  It is true the apostles initially went into the synagogues to preach the gospel, which was initially only preached to Jews.  However, it wasn't long before they were kicked out of the synagogues, and where did they end up?  Homes.  When they went to the gentiles, they also ended up in homes.

“And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.” (Acts 2:2)

“And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart”   (Acts 2:46)

“And when he realized {this,} he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying”. (Acts 12:12)

“And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.”  (Acts 16:34)

“And they went out of the prison and entered {the house of} Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.”  (Acts 16:40)

“how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,” (Acts 20:20)

“also {greet} the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia.”  (Rom. 16:5)

“The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.”   (1 Cor. 16:19)

“Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house.”  (Col. 4:15)

“and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house”  (Philem. 1:2)

 As the church became professionalized again by full-time priests, it returned to buildings.  Once the church became official with the Emperor Constantine, it was required to meet in buildings.  Not only was spontaneity lost, but so was the priesthood of the believer.  That priesthood will never be fully recovered until the church gets out of church buildings and back into homes, out of the hands of the professionals and back into the hands of average saints.

Further, if a home meeting does not constitute a church, what of the church of China that has grown to a hundred million during the communist era in homes?  Is this not a church?  Some ecclesiasts will say the church has to have the "five-fold" ministries (apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelist).  It has to have this.  It has to have that.  They give a thousand and one reasons to justify their own position.  There is no reason to think that 20 believers meeting in a home is no less a "church" than 2,000 meeting in a building.   The "church" is the people and has nothing to do with organizations, buildings, functions or size - and the small meeting may do a far better job meeting the needs of the saints than the large anonymous meeting.

Some Pastors say they are training people to be pastors, teachers, prophets, etc.   But the training never ends.  The teaching never ends.  The opportunity to become something other then a listener is a hollow promise never fulfilled lest it put the pastor out of a job!    Saints learn by doing, not by sitting and listening to lectures!  A baby doesn't learn to walk by attending lectures on walking.  No!  He crawls.  He pulls himself up on furniture, scoots around, falls down a lot and finally he walks!  He learns by doing.  God gives gifts to the church.  He gifts the members but they don't ever learn to exercise those gifts because they never have an opportunity.  Recently a pastor asked his congregation how many years they had been Christians - one year, two, five, ten, twenty?  Half the hands were still up.  What on earth are people doing sitting there listening to the same old messages after twenty years?  Shame on that pastor!

If you were an expert on grass lawns, water quality, birds or whatever, would it interest you to attend the same lecture week after week?  Yet, that is exactly what Christians do.  And if they dare admit their boredom at hearing the same thing ad nauseum, they will be labeled carnal and rebellious.  Why on earth do people go sit in the pews to hear the same message again and again?  Where is the "real church life?"  Where is the functioning of all of the "members" of the body?    Scripture is quite clear, you only have a healthy body when "all the members supply life, according to the working of every part, building itself up in love."  ( my paraphrase of Ephesians 4:16)

Why the Home?

 The 58 “one another” exhortations in the New Testament can only practically carried out in the home environment.  The home represents a natural and simple environment  in contrast to the stain glassed window, high ceiling, cross adorned edifices we call churches.  The awe inspiring church buildings certainly don’t foster an atmosphere of spontaneity and interpersonal fellowship but rather focus all attention from the pews to the pulpit which has become the centerpiece of the meeting.  Function follows form.  A sterile building produces a sterile meeting.  A warm, loving home produces life in the believers.

I would like to quote again from The New Wineskin: 

 “House churches have probably been the most common form of Christian social organization in all church history...Despite what we might think if we simply look around us here, hundreds of thousands of Christian house churches exist today in North America, South America, Europe, China, Australia, Eastern Europe, and in many other places around the world.  In some sense, they are the underground church, and as such, represent the hidden stream of church history.  But although they are hidden, and in most places not the culturally dominant form, these house churches represent the largest number of Christians worldwide...The New Testament teaches us that the church is a community in which all are gifted and all have ministry.  The church as taught in Scripture is a new social reality that models and incarnates the respect and concern for people that we see in Jesus Himself.  This is our high calling.  And yet, the church, in fact, often betrays this calling.  House churches are a big part of the way out of this betrayal and this paradox.  Face-to-face community breeds mutual respect, mutual responsibility, mutual submission and mutual ministry.  The sociology of the house church fosters a sense of equality and mutual worth, though it doesn’t guarantee it as the Corinthian church shows... In the house church model, equality and mutual ministry are not the result of some program or educational process; they are inherent in the very forms f the church itself.  Because in the house church everyone is valued and known--everyone has a place by definition.  The house church provides an environment of mutual care and encouragement that tends to foster a wide range of gifts and ministries.  The New Testament principles of the priesthood of believers, the gifts of the Spirit, and mutual ministry are found most naturally in this informal context...House churches are revolutionary because they incarnate this radical teaching that all are gifted and all are ministers.  They offer some hope for healing the body of Christ from some of its worst heresies: that some believers are more valuable than others, that only come Christians are ministers, and that the gifts of the Spirit are no longer to function in our age.  These heresies cannot be healed in theory or in theology only.  They must be healed in practice and relationship in the social form of the church.”  (Howard Snyder, Why House Churches Today as quoted by Frank Viola, The New Wineskin, p13-14, emphasis ours)

What About Authority

We need to demystify the office of an elder or deacon.  The qualifications are listed in Titus 1:6-9, and II Timothy 5:1-7.  Elders may be appointed by apostles (if there are any about), but they are usually evident by who they are and what they do.  Again, there is no need for special training, ordination, election or appointment.  The early church chose elders.  Leadership is not for the purpose of "lording it over the flock "but watching over, protecting and overseeing."  It is to protect from those who would lead astray.  It is to insure that there is the free moving of the Spirit and that every member is a free, functioning, vital member.  It is to help release others to minister.  Apostles, pastors, teachers, etc. are functions, gifts not positions or offices.  They are ordinary people gifted in the church and given to the church to serve and equip God's people.

Leadership and Ministry

As we mentioned, leadership is important, but the leadership should come from your own ranks.  You shouldn't do a national search for a leader!   You are responsible for your own meeting.  Each meeting is independent.  No one should "lord" it over you.  You should not be isolated from others, but you should be independent.  That is the only way to protect your­self from the "flockless shepherds" that are always trying to take over.  That is the only way to isolate error.  That is the only way to protect yourself from the prying eyes of the authorities.   I am not suggesting a "paranoid" mind set or sug­gest that anything sinister is happening today.  But we would be naive to think it couldn't happen.

What about teaching and all of the other gifts?  You should exer­cise them, develop them in yourselves and in one another within your own group.  There may be conferences or special meetings from time to time.  There may be 20 or 30 home meetings in a city and someone wants to teach the basics for the new Christians in the various groups or teach on a particu­lar subject.  These may be announced so people may attend.  But care should be taken that these meetings are not used to or­ganize people into power bases and factions.  The goal should always be to empower peo­ple, not to develop a personal fol­lowing.

There should be elders - elders because they are respected and rec­ognized as such functionally.  There may be deacons and deaconess, but again, the impor­tant thing is not the office but the function.  You will know who they are because they have it in their heart to serve.  Because of the abuses and tendencies to organize, we should look for the "spirit" of leadership not the "office".  We have been so prone to operate in the "letter" of the law rather than the "spirit."

We are talking about a complete change in thinking.  Our ex­peri­ence is that leaders take over and run things and the rest follow their lead.  They teach.  They talk.  We listen.  No, that kind of leadership builds up a body where one member func­tions.  The goal of the leader in the body of Christ should be to get all mem­bers to function, and give them the practical oppor­tunity.  They need to lovingly but firmly keep things on track.  They need to sense the move of the Holy Spirit and know what is appropriate from what isn't appropriate.   They need to be built up with other brothers.   A real leader should measure his success in the number of other leaders he raises up.

What about Tax Exempt Status and Other Benefits?

One of the most coveted things for people is the 501c3 tax exempt status granted churches.  Your gifts are tax deductible!  Is anything wrong with this?  Yes!  First of all, the church is not an organization.  It is a living organism.  Give your money freely as unto the Lord.  But second, and more important, without going into all of the legalese, incorporation and tax exempt status make the church the property of the state, deriving it's existence from the state and making it subject to the state control (if ever imposed).  The church does not belong to this world, this kingdom, this government and we should do everything we can to keep it out of it.

What about the new laws coming down where the State buys social services from the Church?  Isn't that wonderful?  Sure if you want the government in your business.  But think of all the money you can make if you turn your empty classrooms into a school?  With vouchers, think of how much money the church will have for other things like missionaries?  Right.  Just beware.  The State will soon be dictating curricula, looking at your operation, etc.  Best to stay away from the State.

Finish the Reformation - Free the Believer!

 
The Reformation tended to demystify and deprofessionalize the church, but only up to a point.  We got the Bible back but we still had a two tiered system of the clergy and the laity.   Hopefully, we will one day come to where leadership is a function of gifts, maturity, and a heart to serve and build up the body.  Think of the millions of “gifts” God has given to the church of pastors, evangelists, teachers and apostles sitting out there quietly observing in their pews week after week, unable to find their proper function because they never went to Bible School and Seminary to get the proper credentials.  Think of the millions of spectators sitting there longing to be participants but only having a few limited avenues open to them.  Think of the millions of faceless people sitting in pews hoping they could find a friend, wishing there was someone to share their little triumph or their special need with.  True leadership is making a way for those nameless millions of "spectator saints" to have meaning and purpose, to be able to function in a vital, living 'church life.'

Why did it end up this way?  Part of the fault lies with the so-called laity.  We are lazy.  We Americans are so egalitarian, we have tried to turn our churches into little democracies.  The laity has brought the clergy in to serve them and if they don't like the way they perform, out they go.  The church should not be a democracy or an autocracy.  It is an organism.  It isn't meant for "one man" rule or "all man" rule.  It is to be ruled by the "Head" - Jesus Christ!  We are to submit to one another and to those He has set up as elders.  We want to put everything down on an organization chart.  It can't be done.  The church is an organism - the Body of Christ. 

The only way I know for the Church to really stand and glorify the Lord in these times is for each and every believer to have a vital, living relationship with Him and with one another.  The relationships need to be real, not theoretical.  We need true community that only comes from meeting with one another where we live - in our homes - not in some church building where we congregate once or twice a week!  We need to somehow throw off the things that weight us down and get back to the essentials of the faith and practice of being a Christian. 

What About Children?

This is probably the most commonly asked question.  Home meetings are a wonderful and natural way for our own chil­dren and their friends (those who live nearby that they play with) to hear the gospel and grow in the Lord.  The Bible is clear, the par­ents should be responsible for the nurture and teaching of their own children, not a Sunday school teacher.  However, don't let this scare you, there is a way to do it all to­gether that is fun and rewarding.  It is natural to include child evangelism type clubs for your neighborhood with home meetings.  It is also pos­sible, even probable that a work for ju­nior high and high school or college age kids can be organized across several home meet­ings.  The only limitation is our willingness.

Just remember, people got along just fine without Sunday School for 1900 years.  Again, ask yourselves the question.  Who can best teach your children?   An institution?  Or a family?  Responsibility for the spiritual upbringing of children has always rested with the parents.

We had a tremendous experience with kids clubs - child evangelism meetings in our neighborhood.  This accomplished two things.  It reached our children’s friends and our own children.  This was the best of times for them.  It was also a way of reaching parents.  There was a time when we led nearly every child within a couple of block radius of our house to the Lord and some of the parents.  You would be hoarse from shouting praises of the Lord from one end of the block to the other.  At one time we had a half dozen clusters of people in different neighborhoods - each with neighborhood kids meetings and Sunday morning home meetings.  We would all come together on Sunday evening for the Lord’s Table.

As our children grew, we would have clubs for the kids as they reached junior high and high school.  Even today, the best friends of my children (who are in their 20’s and early 30’s) best friends are those friends they grew up with in these neighborhood meetings.

What About Money?

A home meeting does not take away our responsibility before the Lord to give.  Some see it as an excuse to not give - just because there is no building or large fixed expenses.  Others will tell you that you are not a church.  Don't believe it.  You are as much a "church" as that big building down the street.  The question is, what do you do with the money?  You will find that the average church spends over half its money on facilities.   How much money really gets to the poor, the needy, the widows, the sick, the homeless?  Now you can get it to them directly.  It is up to you. 

Giving is something that is between you and the Lord.  But just because there is no formal organization is no excuse for not giving abundantly.  You should have someone in charge of money and collect it weekly.  You should have a plan and spend it responsibly before the Lord.  The tithe, or 10 percent before taxes, should be a minimum.  What we do with our money is the measure of where our heart is.

As was mentioned before, the money can go for people in need, to support a house church planter, “end days” ministries, etc.  Plus, you should fellowship about any other preparations you should make for the economic collapse that is coming.  I believe the tithe is Old Testament, but the principle of the New Testament is not just 10 percent, but it all belongs to Him.  How much do we keep.  What we do with our money is the “bell weather” of where our heart is really at.  We need to have our thinking radically altered about this subject because we are so accustomed to giving to institutions and letting them spend it as they will.  We all need to be more actively involved in giving and we need to do so generously - not out of our abundance, but sacrificially.

Financial Turmoil in the Last Days

We can only imagine the turmoil and economic dislocation that will take place in these last days.  On the one hand, there will be unparalleled prosperity (as we see the stock market doubling every 18 months or so - now over the 10,000 limit on the Dow Jones Industrial Average).  Yet, we know that there will be the mark of the beast which everyone will need if they are to buy or sell.  There are internet sites devoted to this subject - how chips can be implanted in our hand painlessly with a needle.  They tell us these chips will be the end to fraud and abuse.  No more stolen credit cards.  All you have to do is pass your hand over the scanner.  It functions as a debit card, has your medical history, your credit history, your citizenship and who knows what else information on it.  This is not theory.  The technology exists today.   Under the guise of controlling illegal immigration, the government will insist that everyone have a national identification number, and the only way to prevent forgery and fraud is to imprint it into a person’s skin.  It was recently reported that a woman went into a grocery store and insisted that the employee scan her hand.  The checker had never heard of such a thing and called the manager.  The manager had heard of such a thing.  Her hand was scanned and it worked!

Imagine not being able to buy or sell anything without this handy little chip - but no big deal - people are so conditioned to using debit cards.  We are already becoming a cashless society - the next step is a simple one.  Implanted chips can be linked to retinal scan technology, finger prints and any number of technologies to make them fool proof.  How would you pay your house or car payment?  Buy groceries, clothing or anything else?  I don’t know what this all means.  We can only speculate on the one hand, but on the other we had better prepare.  What do we do?  How can we help one another?  What about gardens, farms, communes? 

Many years ago the Lord showed me that the parable of Matthew 25 “For I was hungry, and you gave Me {something} to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;” (Matt 25:35) refers to people who will help us in the last days - the Oskar Shindlers, if you will.  It behooves all of us to cultivate friendships with people, who although they may not be saved, will help us in that day.  Over the years, I have made very close friendships with people that I believe will help in that day.

Preparation:   There are storm clouds on the horizon as Satan's minions prepare to wreak havoc on earth once more.  One can hear the distant roll of thunder and see the flash of lightning.  You close your eyes and listen carefully.  In the other direction, the Legions of the Most High are also preparing for battle, get­ting ready for the great harvest.  Time has begun to count down to that great confrontation.  Satan is preparing a final challenge to God Almighty.  He plans to mobilize all of mankind to crush once and for all the people of God - Israel and the "true" Church. 

But overhead the sky is blue and the birds are singing.  Everything appears to be normal.  Babies are born.  People live and die.  They struggle with the problems of life as they always have.  Work, play, learn, love, hate, kill, defend, get, give, build, destroy... life goes on.  The hectic pace gains speed like an old "45" record played at "78".  People are scurrying around in fast time racing toward an unknown "end."  The Word says that "as in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be…they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark.  (Matthew 24:37-38)

This is the calm before the storm.  For those followers of Jesus, these are the final years of preparation.  Just as Daniel told Pharaoh he had seven years of plenty followed by seven years of drought.  These are the years of plenty.  It takes vision to prepare for drought when there is still abundant rain.  The Church is being called to her finest hour - to bear witness to the reality of their Wonderful Lord - in spite of the fact that Satan will unleash his wrath against her.

When Will the End Come and What Should we Do?

We don’t take a position in terms of naming dates.  Many were disappointed that 40 years after the founding of the nation of Israel in 1988 that nothing happened.  However, the Bible says that “Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles until the time of the gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24)   Then, in the same context of the second coming we are told that “this generation will not pass away until all these things be fulfilled.”  (Luke 21:32).  Jerusalem was recaptured from the Gentiles in 1967 and made the official capitol in 1980.  It is generally accepted that a generation in the Bible is 40 years.  This brings us up to the year 2007, or perhaps as late as 2020.  God only knows when, but we have many other signs of the end being near, so whenever it is, we  may have only a few years left so what can we do to be ready?  What can we practically do to prepare? 

1.   Get to know the Lord.  Immerse yourself in the Word.  Fall in love with it.  Let the Lord speak to you as you read the Word.  Praise Him.  Thank Him.  Love and adore Him.   Yield to Him.   Obey Him.

2.   Get grounded in the basics of the Word and of sound doc­trine.  Otherwise, you may not recognize the error all around you.

3.   Find a group of people who really love the Lord and get as close to them as possible. 

4.   Get out of debt as much as possible because the eco­nomic pressure will be tremendous.  Pay off and tear up those credit cards.

5.   Keep your eyes open to things happening around you.  You will see signs of people falling away from the Lord and to­ward a false unity.  No matter how good and right it may seem, beware and run away from it.

6.   Realize that the day may come when you may have to leave the comfort of your church.  In the last days there will be an apostate church.  There is every indication that many dear Christians will fall away and be de­ceived.  If you are really following the Lord, you may feel to leave or  you may be asked to leave.

We do not mean to condemn anyone or say that we are any bet­ter.  All we are saying is that the time will probably come when true Christians will want to leave or be driven out of the institu­tional churches.  Pastors will be replaced.  People will clamor for lead­ers who will lead them into deception.  You only have to read your Bible to know what will happen.

The Church in Glory

God says to not despise the little things.  Home churching is a little thing and will never compete with the grandeur, the musical splendor, the eloquence or the excitement of the big meeting.  The testimony of the day to day life of the "little saints" will never compare to the flowing sermon, the uplifting stories or the emotional altar call of the professional.  It will never have the kind of organizational flow a planned service will with a full band leading worship and a well structured program.  A home meeting is real.  It reflects where we really are spiritu­ally.  You can't run.  You can't hide.  If your relationship with the Lord is shallow, if your time in the Word is nil, if you didn't pray and willfully disobeyed the Lord during the week, what do you ex­pect?  A home meeting will reflect how real the Lord is to you.  You fail?  Then back to the drawing boards.  But don't give up.  Hang in community with other Christians!

The church is not for our entertainment but for edification.  We are to edify - build up one another in love.  We are to appreciate and encourage the gifts and working of the Lord in our brothers, esteeming them better than ourselves.  This requires the ef­fort of every member - not just one.  When the church comes to­gether, it reflects our true spiritual condition.  If we don't like what we see, we have no one to blame but ourselves.  So it be­hooves all of us to get real with the Lord and with one another.   This requires a complete change in our mind set - to see the treasure in one another.

We are to glorify the Lord, build up one another, encourage one another, be aware of the signs of the times, be watchmen on the wall to warn people - both the saved and the unsaved of the deception and judgment to come and to prepare for the coming storm.  It is coming.  We are to take care of one another, of our children.  We are to take responsibility for ourselves and our families.  We no longer abdicate that to the pastor or the Sunday school teacher.  These are our families, our problems and our solutions.  We are to give - not receive.

We are to support and start other groups, and hopefully, we are to participate with others who have a vision for the last days and the glorious role we are called to play in it.  We don't want to be isolated or elitist but to reach out to all people in love and provide a loving home for them to grow.

Continue to Chapter 20
The Challenge, upside and downside