Ekklesia of Crane Web Log

While customarily lifiting up my voice to the Lord this morning, it was impressed strongly upon my heart the multi-faceted voice that every believer has! These are just some that came to me. I’m sure there are more! Be sure to utilize and vocalize the voice that He has put in you!
Isaiah 58:1 “…lift up your voice like a trumpet…”

In Christ, I am THE VOICE:
OF THE REDEEMED! Ps 107:2
OF THE SAVED! Ps 34:6
OF THE ESCAPED! Ps 124:7
OF THE DELIVERED Ps 18:2, 54:7
OF THE RESCUED! Dan 6:27
OF THE HEALED! Ps 103:3, Is 53:5
OF HIS PRAISE! Ps. 66:8
OF TRIUMPH! Ps. 47:1
OF THANKSGIVING! PS. 26:7
OF TRUTH! Prov. 8:7, Eph 4:15
OF PRAYER! Ps. 130:2, 55:17
OF GLADNESS! Jer. 33:11
OF THE BRIDE! Jer 33:11
OF ONE OF MANY THAT SAY…”Praise the Lord of Hosts; for the Lord is good; for His mercy endures forever!” Jer 33:11

We’ve all heard the phrase “give him an inch and he’ll take a mile” which is usually used as a derogatory statement pointing out how someone takes advantage of something. But I was thinking about how God is somewhat like this – NOT of course in the sense of taking advantage of us but in the sense that He always does extremely abundantly ABOVE all that we ask or think… (Eph 3:20).
An awesome case in point is the entire chapter of Romans 5. I like to refer to this as the “much more” chapter, as that phrase is repeated five different times throughout the chapter’s 21 verses: (capital emphasis mine)
Vs. 8-9 “ But God commanded His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, MUCH MORE then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
Vs. 10 “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son MUCH MORE being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
Vs. 15 “But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, MUCH MORE the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many”
Vs. 17 “For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; MUCH MORE they which received abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”
Vs. 20 “Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did MUCH MORE abound.”
Let’s go back to verse 17, but this time in the Amplified Bible, to really drive this point home! “But God’s free gift is not at all to be compared to the trespass [His grace is out of all proportion to the fall of man]. For if many died through one man’s falling away (his lapse, his offense), much more profusely did God’s grace and the free gift [that comes] through the undeserved favor of the one Man Jesus Christ abound and overflow to for [the benefit of] many.”
Wow! You might want to go back and read that over again, and again and again and again! His grace is out of all proportion to the fall of man. You’ve got to see that God didn’t just ‘even up the score’ but He gave us a HUGE advantage, He did MUCH MORE!
It’s vital for you to know that grace and sin are not ‘equal opposites’. Grace FAR outweighs the effects, the consequences of sin in our lives! God didn’t just see fit to ‘save’ us but to ‘save us to the UTTERMOST’ – entirely, completely, forever. He doesn’t just want to ‘change’ us, it’s His intent to TRANSFORM us!
May we never allow our small thinking, our ignorant mindsets, to LIMIT the Holy One of Israel in our lives!

At the end of each calendar year I find myself looking back over the previous twelve months with a lot of thanksgiving. Instances of God’s grace, His favor, His help, His faithfulness, etc., are rehearsed in my mind. But along with that there’s something else that takes place and that is I also go back over specific things and I take “inventory” of my life in regards to how (or how not) I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.

2 Cor. 13;5 (Amp) says “Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves [not Christ]. Do you not yourselves realize and know [thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you?

I need to examine myself, take stock, make an assessment, give an account, and see what I come up with. The Message Bible says, regarding this same verse, “Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.” That last part is so important! If you fail the test, do something about it!

There’s a big difference between seeing where I have missed the mark and just kind of shrugging my shoulders and saying “Oh well” and apathetically continuing on in my disobedience, OR seeing it, repenting of it and doing whatever it takes to line myself up with the course God has mapped out for me and revealed to me through His Word and Spirit!!

My prayer and deep desire for our body is that in the year that lies ahead we will see a very significant increase in how the ‘ways’ of God are esteemed and treasured and guarded in our hearts and proclaimed and lifted up as the standard among us. The way of God for us as His bond servants; the way of God for those of us who are husbands and fathers; the way of God for those of us who are wives and mothers; the way of God for those of us who are young adults, teenagers, and young children; the way of God in how we handle relationships; how we handle our money; how we handle a crisis; how we handle His people, and how we handle unbelievers. God’s way, not our way.

Proverbs 14;12 and 16;25 both say the same thing: “There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end of it is the ways of death. “ It seems right, seems good, seems okay, sounds logical, feasible,it’s how Mom and Dad always did it, and how Uncle Joe does it, and all the kids at school do it, and Oprah says… You get the picture. The only time I can find in the Scriptures where it is safe to go with “it seems good to me” is if, and this is a BIG if, it is preceded by this: “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” as is found in Acts 15;28. If the thing in question lines up with and bears witness to the heart of God, the nature of God, the word of God, the ways of God, the principles of God, etc., then you can pretty much take it as the will of God and proceed! If it doesn’t pass that test, then you shun it, discard it, and turn away from it no matter what everyone else is saying or doing.

When the ways of God become something that you highly regard and esteem above all else, it will serve and prove to keep you in the will of God. His ways, treasured as something near and dear to your heart – the crucial factor at work in your life that will cause you to continue to seek the Lord. It’s what will cause you to choose life and not death; blessing and not cursing. It’s what will cause Him and His precious ways to be witnessed by others when they see how you live. After all, what they really will be seeing is Him living through you and isn’t that the crux of Christianity? My bold proclamation is to be that I’ve been crucified with Christ – I’m dead, my life is not my own, but some how, some way, as contradictory as this sounds – yet I stand before you living and breathing… dead but still alive! The catch being that the life I NOW live, is being lived out by the faith of the Son of God, Who loves me and gave Himself for me (Gal. 2:20)

In Philippians 2:12 the Apostle Paul urges the believers to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”. He is not, of course, referring to us somehow being able to achieve our own righteousness and right-standing in the eyes of God, which is only accomplished by the blood of Jesus Christ. Instead he is referring to, now that we are that new creation in Christ, continue to follow hard, pursue, and walk out our christianity. For our “conduct to be worthy of the Gospel of Christ”; to “walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing Him”. The mistake I see many of us make is we take Paul’s exhortation to “work out your own salvation” and then stop right there. We leave out the “with fear and trembling” part! There’s a circumstance or situation in our life that we need to “work out” but we attempt to do it totally on our own – not seeking and inquiring of the Lord and HIS way but our own way, or the world’s way, or the easiest way, or in keeping with our particular opinion or philosophy, etc, etc. There’s no fear or trembling in that! There’s no praying, seeking, inquiring, or maybe even fasting. There’s no searching the Scriptures, or seeking godly counsel. There’s no dying to ourselves and groaning from within saying “nevertheless, not my will, but Your will.”

I encourage, as well as challenge you, that this year of 2008 be one where you set out with all your heart, mind and strength to seek out, esteem, choose, obey, prize and hold especially dear the way of the Lord in all things and in every thing.

“Make me know Your ways, O Jehovah; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth, and teach me; for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day long.” PSALM 25: 4, 5

Submitted by Jim Hoag

Why did Jesus use the term “ekklesia” in Matthew 16:18 to describe His church? Why did He and Paul make so much of it? I mean it’s not a Christian term; they didn’t invent it. But it seems like they picked it up for its uniqueness and took hold of it and said, “That’ll work to describe what the followers of Jesus will be like”. And from there, Paul takes it and develops it and adds to it. But what was the “raw material” of that word with which they began? Well, “ekklesia” describes a gathering of citizens in an ancient Greek city-state; a “called out assembly”, a particular body of faithful people. As we know, in its simplest form, it has to do with a gathering of those summoned and called out of one sphere or group to form another entity or group.

Back in the first century, it was used more often than not as a reference to a particular meeting. In Jesus’ and Paul’s day, whenever a village grew largeenough, they’d wall it in with brush to keep the cattle and livestock from wandering off and the people safe. The entrance to the village through the brush fence was called the “city gate” and the elders of the city gathered there to meet everyday.They did so in order to help solve village problems; domestic, civil, and practical, bringing wisdom, help, and counsel. The gathering of those elders was called the“ekklesia”.

What did this gathering of elders do in the village? They made a tremendous contribution to that society. If you could go back in time to one of those villages and you stole away those elders, the people of the village would weep and lament over that loss. Why? They would feel the loss of their input, their practical help, their wisdom, love and the sense of their presence. They knew they were a better village than they ever could’ve been without them because of their assistance, their reliability, and their accessibility.

Now, in Paul’s understanding, the called out followers of Jesus would be a gift to their “village” (their culture, city, community, spheres of influence) of which they were a part, just as those elders or “ekklesia” were to their community. This new ekklesia would also bring wisdom, speak life, add discernment, and bring HELP (Acts 16:9) .They too would be accessible and live out God’s love and God’s life in the midst of the “village’. They’d be visible-manifesting the character and nature of God through acts of compassion full of honesty and integrity, hope and encouragement and practical and spiritual help; they would be salt and light. Take away the influence of that ekklesia of Christ from one of those villages or towns, and those people would grieve, not only for the loss of people that demonstrated unconditional love, kindness, and respect, but because they would not know how to be as decent, kind and as good a village themselves without the influence of that “ekklesia”.

I believe through this that God might be asking us, His ekklesia, “If your church, or you as an individual, were taken away from your town, community, or city, would anybody notice? Would they grieve? Would they say, ‘we would not have known God or what true unselfishness was like; we would not have known genuine love or how families and marriages ought to function if it were not for these called out, sent ones– this ekklesia of God.’” Jesus said about us, His church, that, “You are the light of the WORLD. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Let your light so shine BEFORE MEN that they may SEE your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven”. Most churches have become so inwardly focused that those on the outside don’t have a clue as to why they exist or have any desire to relate to them because they have little or no relevance to their lives. The church is seen through the eyes of most unbelievers as an uncaring, narrow-minded, judgmental group which they want no part of. But the day is at hand when if the ekklesia (the church) was takenout of a community, that the community would grieve over that loss. There is a great shift underway.The Holy Spirit was sent to empower and propel the ekklesia into culture as the blessing of God. (Acts 1:8). The redemptive mission of Jesus Christ is being restored to His ekklesia at the city gates to “a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out”. (Mt.16:18b, Message Bible).

  This may seem like a somewhat trivial little thing but it ended up speaking volumes to my heart:

Yesterday morning I was at our gym and this one young mom comes in every morning to work out and has her 2 year old little girl with her. Her little girl is such a doll and I look forward to seeing her each day.

I needed to walk over and mail something at the Post Office so I asked the mom if her little girl could walk with me. She said sure. So we set off, me holding her tiny little hand. It seemed like it took us about 10 minutes to go that one block because she has to take such tiny steps (and she was wearing flip-flops! too cute). We got there, mailed the letter and then I decided I wanted us to get back faster so I PICKED HER UP AND CARRIED HER.

The Lord brought this back to me this morning while in prayer as an example of what He does with us, with our limitations, our “weaknesses”. He could walk there right beside us, holding our hand, letting US set the pace, but then there’ll come a time when He’ll just lift us up, and we’ll be carried as if on eagles wings and be caught up in HIS momentum to get to the destination He has for us!

 Ephesian 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

“fitly joined”: to render close jointed together, to organize compactly

“compacted”: to force, to drive together, to unite

“joint”: a ligament, as fastening

“supplieth”: contribution

I recently purchased a small end table from a store here in Crane (shop local!:) that required some assembly. As I was putting it together, the assembly process spoke something to my heart regarding the body of Christ and how we go through a similar process when it comes to being first “fitly joined” and then “compacted” together so that “every joint” can supply their part.

In attaching the shelves of the table to the sides, screws and dowels had to be first placed in the pre-drilled holes of the one part and then placed into the same type of holes of the other part. I believe that we too, according to His plan; according to His will for our lives, already have in us “pre-drilled holes” that are carved out purposely, and sit empty and void, ready to be filled by other parts of His body – a void that we cannot fill alone, but is meant for connection to, by and from other members.

After completing this step the two parts of the table were now fitly joined together. By just looking at them, they looked completely and securely joined, but that of course was not the case. The slightest pressure would pull them apart. They were “set” in their designated places but they were not yet “compacted” together and secured. This next process took using what were called “cam locks”. Once these were set into the proper places and then tightened you could literally hear the “click” as the two separate pieces of wood locked together. They were now completely joined and connected to each other. Hard pressure and force could be used, one piece against the other, but they were not going to be separated. Now they were each ready to do their “part” because before that, the sides of the table could not stand on their own and the shelves could not be suspended in the air on their own! They came together in a joint, and at that joint was found the supply of their strength. Their function and contribution was not realized independently but joined together their individual and unique purpose could now be accomplished.

There were many parts yet but one table. 1 Corinthians 12:20 says, “But now are they many members, yet but one body.” Verse 27 of this same chapter, in the Amplified Bible, reveals even more clarity that can still be gained from the table assembly analogy: “Now you [collectively] are Christ’s body and [individually] you are members of it, each part severally and distinct [ each with his own place and function].”

If you will think about this little table one more time in its preassembled state; various pieces scattered here and there; nothing connected together, you see how it could not yet be used for its intended purpose.  It’s also just as easy to see that in order for the body of Christ to function and flow; to flourish and grow; to show forth His praise and glory in the earth we must submit ourselves to Him and allow Him to set us, join us, connect us, and compact us together as it pleases Him.  This takes complete, total and utter surrender, devotion, commitment, dedication and consecration on our part, not just to the Lord, but also to His body.  To accomplish this there is a basic step that cannot be skipped, left out, thought little of, or ignored:ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

 During our recent corporate assemblies the word of the Lord has been very powerful in getting across to us God’s heart, intent and vision for the Body of Christ. It has been impacting me strongly and deeply and I can now see more clearly than ever three expectations that He has for me within His body. He wants me to be counted IN; be counted AMONG, and be counted ON.

1.BE COUNTED IN – Herein lies my agreement and support with the vision and emphasis of the particular body where He has placed me and set me. My inclusion and participation on the direction and leading that the elders bring forth. “Yes! Amen! I agree! I am with you. I am for you. Let’s do it, let’s go, let’s build, etc. You can count me IN!!”

2.BE COUNTED AMONG – This is where my actual presence comes in to play. I am an active and present member. I whole-heartedly participate in the events, the ministries, the outreaches, the get-togethers, the fellowshipping, the worship, the assembling of ourselves together. My presence, participation and support can be seen, heard and felt by the other members of the body! I am neither M.I.A. (missing-in-action) nor M.T.A (missing-THE-action!) When the elders “pass the hand” over the flock I am there and accounted for! I am counted AMONG the flock of God, the household of faith, the people of His pasture, the sheep of His hand! Therefore I am able to be current and in stride and in cadence with what God is saying and doing in our midst! I am not “apart” but “a part”! It’s my desire to “be in that number”…(remember the old song?)

3.BE COUNTED ON – I realize the reliance and dependence that we all have on, first of all, Jesus Christ the Head, and then Jesus Christ, His many-membered Body. The other members are looking to me. They can rely on and count on my presence, my devotion, my commitment, my passion, my encouragement, my prayers, my contribution, my participation, my love, my strength, my gifts, my anointing, my help, my support, my time, my money (ouch!), my consistency, my obedience, my fellowship, my enthusiasm. If they need me – I’m there. If they turn and look for me – I’m there. If they reach out and feel for me – I am there. You can call on me. You can depend on me. You can COUNT ON ME!

So, what are you waiting for! If you have allowed yourself, for whatever reason or excuse (whether from your own apathy or lethargy, from the world’s busyness, or from the enemy’s deception) to be missing out on the blessing that’s in the “cluster” you can change that right now as you read this and you can stand up and be counted for!

Our ignorance and misconceptions about God’s rich purpose and provision that is found within His body causes the advancement of the Kingdom of God in our communities and region to be halted and stymied. It’s nothing less then heartbreaking! Instead of being able to equip, inform and build upon week after week after week, valuable time has to be spent on “catching people up” and bringing them current on what God has been saying to the body, or worse yet, having to send out search parties looking for the sheep!

 I can’t imagine wanting to face the workplace, the world, the lost, or even my spouse and immediate family – without having been in His rich, manifest presence found in the assembling of the saints before Him nor miss out on the equipping and edifying that comes from the function and flow of His body. The enormous pressures and responsibilities of our daily workloads alone are all the more reason to rush in to the strong tower of His body and be refreshed in His presence and strengthened within from hearing His Word! We need Him, we are indebted to Him, we need the Body and are indebted to one another! Do you believe that?

The hour and times that we are in are so exciting as well as crucial in requiring the full attention and participation of the entire body of Christ; each member growing and maturing in Him so we can be a valuable asset, actively obeying and participating in what He has called us to in our lifetime as we “serve our own generation by the will of God”! What a privilege, what an honor, what a joy, what a mandate!

Many are the afflictions of the righteous.

Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.

We are troubled on every side, we are perplexed, we are persecuted, we are cast down.

How are they increased who trouble me,Many are they who rise up against me,Many are they who say of my soul “There is no help for him in God.”

With men it is impossible.

Feeling a little discouraged yet? Depressed? Well, you should be because those words leave the listener or reader without hope or remedy. I am sure you probably recognize that those “statements” are actually Scriptures. I purposely left out the second-half of the verse that begins with one small and yet very significant word: “BUT”

Let’s look at those verses again in their entirety (bold italics mine):

Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:19)

For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,and gross darkness the people:but the Lord shall arise upon you and His glory shall be seen upon you. (Isaish 60:2)

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed but not in despair;Persecuted but not forsaken; cast down but not destroyed. (2 Cor. 4:8,9)

How are they increased that trouble me, many are they that rise up against me, Many are they that say of my soul “There is no help for him in God” but You oh Lord, are a shield for me; my glory and the lifter of my head. (Psalm3:2,3)

With men it is impossible but not with God:For with God all things are possible. (Mark 10:27)

Hallelujah! What a difference! What faith, hope and joy come when we get the whole picture! Yes, the circumstance or situation may be factual, it may be actually happening, we may be seeing it with our eyes, or hearing it with our ears, or feeling it in our bodies BUT be sure you bring into account the God-factor – what God has said about the situation!!!

Too many times we, as Christians, let a conversation drop without making sure that God has the last word regarding the situation. Before you hang up that phone, or walk away from that conversation, or maybe send that letter make sure you have interjected and boldly declared and proclaimed what God, the Alpha and Omega; the Author and the Finisher; the Beginning and the End has said regarding the present circumstance! Don’t leave the hopelessness and heaviness hanging in the air. At times you may have to be the bearer of bad news, or may be on the receiving end of hearing a bad report but don’t ever let the communication end there.

The other day a dear friend called me with serious developments in an ongoing situation that were weakening her spirit and eroding her faith. If our conversation had ended right there we both would have hung up feeling defeated and despondent. But as we turned our communication to what God has said; as we reminded ourselves of what we believe; as we ended the conversation with prayer it made all the difference in the world to her countenance and the strength of her spirit. We both hung up edified and encouraged!

Even in the bleakest and grimmest of circumstances if you can only eke out and proclaim just this one pervading and dominating truth – but with God all things are possible – you will leave faith hanging in the atmosphere, something for both the listeners on the earth as well as in the heavens to reckon with!

In conversation recently a Scripture came up that reminded me anew about the necessity and vitalness on my part to be actively and fervently pursuing the will of God for my life:

Philippians 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended by Christ Jesus.  (KJV, bold emphasis mine)

Though God made the first move towards me, and apprehended my life and made me His own, the ball is now in my court to passionately and devotedly apprehend all that He has for me to receive and to accomplish during my pilgrimage on this earth.  Verses 13-14 (once again, bold emphasis mine) go on to say:

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before,
I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
In these three verses alone there are four words and/or phrases that emphasize effort and activity on my part: follow after, apprehend, reaching forth, and press.  The Greek definitions of these words reveals I am to be stretching myself forward; pursuing; taking eagerly, seizing and possessing all that God has made possible in so great a salvation!

I remember seeing an advertisement years ago that compelled me to write its content on one of the back flaps of my Bible so that I could periodically be reminded of the type of posture and attitude that God does not want me to have!  The ad was for some kind of drink to aid in the losing of weight and it touted this tempting slogan for the would-be dieter:

“NO WORK OR LIFESTYLE CHANGE REQUIRED!”

That’s ludicrous! But, sadly, isn’t that what a lot of us as Christians want?  We want to experience the presence of God; receive the promises and blessings of the Lord; have changes that will produce Christ-likeness in us, but we want all of these things to happen with minimal effort (or better yet no effort) on our part! We just want to go about as we’ve been doing – God forbid we’d have to change our lifestyle! I’m not talking about getting caught up in dead works, or busyness without fruitfulness but a true fervent spirit that follows hard after the Lord with whole-hearted dedication, devotion, commitment and consecration.  Apprehending with such determined purpose that we will let no one and no thing get in the way of or hamper our pursuit!  The rewards, blessings, fulfillment and satisfaction of such an all-out/sold-out pursuit are beyond description! 

I encourage you to take a quiet moment before the Lord and allow for a long, hard look to examine the manner and the premium you have put on “apprehending that for which I am also apprehended by Christ Jesus”.  Remember this:

If you are looking for excuses you will find them.
If you are looking for God you will find no excuse!

You have been apprehended, chosen, and called, and have come into the Kingdom for such a time as this.  “Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord”!  (Romans 12:11)  The word “fervent” is one of my favorite Greek words in the whole Bible.  It’s the word “zeo” (dzeh-o) and it means: to be hot, to the boiling of liquids and the glowing of solids.  Now that’s hot!  And that is the type of posture and attitude that God expects and desires from us.  When I read that phrase I can see that the first statement is interchangeable with the second – to be fervent in spirit is to be serving the Lord; to be serving the Lord is to be fervent in spirit! To think we can have one without the other is to only be fooling ourselves, and only amounts to presenting to the world a diluted, compromised, impotent form of Christianity that they will not be interested in having! 

Be encouraged and compelled to follow hard after Him, to follow on to know the Lord, to follow the Lamb wherever He goes, to seek Him with your whole heart.  You will find that the workmanship of God that takes place in your life will have been so worth the effort, and that the godly lifestyle changes wrought in you will cause you to be “sought out” by those watching and observing your manner and standard of living!  Be counted among those who want to apprehend the Lord. Be not in the company of those who have settled for a complacent, apathetic walk with the Lord that requires “no work or lifestyle changes” – but with those who want ZEO!