By Sidharth Mohandas

I have been dwelling on the importance of committing ourselves to a local assembly and the essence of fellowship with God and His people. Many people have wrong notions about both these areas. Recently I was talking to a person and I asked him which local assembly he went to and he said “I belong to the Universal church. I don’t belong to any local church”.

Yes, we are all part of the Universal Church, but this by no means eliminates the importance of being committed to a local body. In the book of Revelations, we see letters being sent to the seven churches in the province of Asia. I thought to myself, what if there were those in that area who hadn’t committed themselves to one of these churches? They wouldn’t have received this letter that God had for them. God had a different message for each of these churches. I’m sure in this age God will question many individuals why they haven’t taken their place in a local church that He has called them to. “I had a role for you in that local body [church]. Why did you ignore my calling?”

In the age we live in, people have the “switching-church” mentality. If a little discord sprouts up in the church, people use that as a sign to switch churches. This should not be, unless and until the church is teaching heresy or is not founded on the Word.

When I ask people if they fellowship in their church, most of them tell me, “Yes, we sing songs, listen to the Word and talk to each other after the service…”. That my friend is NOT the essence of fellowship! The Greek word used for fellowship is “koinonia” and this means “to be one” or “to have in common”. Fellowship has to do with unity of purpose or oneness.

You also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. [1 John 1:3]

How much of the local church’s vision have you taken on as yours? How are you contributing to that vision? Are you using your gift or calling in the local body that God has placed you in? Or are you one of those who come to the assembly just to sing some songs, listen to the sermon, talk to some people and then go on with life without getting involved in each others life?

Are you sharing your life with the family of believers? Or do you snap when you think they’re getting too close and say, “You are entering private property, step out!”?

The intimacy of the early church never ceases to inspire me… They even didn’t consider their belongings as their own!

And all that believed were together, and had ALL THINGS COMMON; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. [Acts 2: 44-45]

All the believers were one in heart and mind. NO ONE CLAIMED THAT ANY OF HIS POSSESSIONS WAS HIS OWN, BUT THEY SHARED EVERYTHING THEY HAD. [Acts 4:32]

Today, let us make a decision to work together with one heart and one mind in the local body God has placed us in and to really get involved in the lives of others in the assembly.

By PJ Sorensen

“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Moshiach/Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13)

If you know how to listen to the voice of G-d, you can hear Him calling throughout the Body of Moshiach/Christ today. He is calling for unity. He is calling us to lay down our disagreements and come together in preparation for Yeshua’s/Jesus’ return.

Just the thought of that scares some believers. “How can I unify with someone from another denomination?” they say. “I’m not going to give up my doctrines and agree with theirs just for unity’s sake!”

What they don’t realize is this: scriptural unity isn’t based on doctrine.

Winds of doctrine, according to Ephesians 4:14, are childish. Winds of doctrine don’t unify. They divide and blow people in every direction. The Word doesn’t say anything about us coming into the unity of our doctrines. It says we’ll come into the unity of the faith.

In the past, we’ve failed to understand that and tried to demand doctrinal unity from each other anyway.

“If you don’t agree with me on the issue of tongues,” we’ve said, “or on the timing of the rapture…or on the proper depth for baptismal waters, I won’t accept you as a brother in the L-rd. I’ll break fellowship with you.”

But that’s not G-d’s way of doing things. He doesn’t have a long list of doctrinal demands for us to meet. His requirements are simple. Yochanan Aleph/First John 3:23 tells us what they are: to believe on the Name of His Son, Yeshua Hamashiach/Jesus Christ, and love one another.

Once you and I come to a place where we keep those requirements and quit worrying about the rest, we’ll be able to forget our denominational squabbles and come together in the unity of faith. We’ll grow so strong together that the winds of doctrine won’t be able to drive us apart.

When that happens, ha`satan/satan is going to panic because the unity of the faith of G-d’s people is a staggering thing. It’s the most unlimited, powerful thing on earth.

Right now all over the world, the Spirit is calling the Body of the living G-d to unite. Hear Him and obey, and you can be a part of one of the most magnificent moves of G-d this world has ever seen.

By Robert Pennington and Sidharth Mohandas

A number of months back my grand mom shared with me a vision she had. In the vision she saw 5 men approaching her and then heard some one behind say, “These have been sent to equip you”. She said the Lord led her to a verse in Ephesians 4:11-13

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Those five that she saw were the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers. This is what we know as the five-fold ministry. I felt it was important that I share with you the role of these five ministries in the Body of Christ. I can say that not many Christians in our day know why these five ministries are present. Scripture says it is to PREPARE GOD’S PEOPLE FOR MINISTRY, and to build up the Body of Christ and the final goal is: Unity in faith. Don’t you think that’s exactly what’s lacking today in the Body of Christ? God has ordained these five not so that people can come every week and listen to what they have to say, but so that they can be equipped to minister the Gospel to others wherever they are.

Today there are a lot of people who take pride in saying, “Oh I’m in the ministry… In the full-time ministry…” Well, be sure to knock their heads and tell them God does not have part-time jobs for anyone!

In the early church every believer was a minister.

Don’t ever think that you’re not a minister of God just because you are not among the five. You see, God is no more proud of the Apostle than He is of the Janitor, all He looks for is obedience to the call. You can be a Janitor or a Business man and still be a minister of God. And so don’t try to be the Apostle if you are called to be the Janitor!

Pauls statement here proves it:

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. [1 Corinthians 1:11-12]

The great apostle Paul encouraged by normal believers!? Yes! Do you see those two words I see? MUTUALLY ENCOURAGED…? I say again, every believer is a minister of God. God has a position for you in the Body of Christ that only YOU can fulfill, do not belittle your calling, my friend. And this is why God has ordained these five…to equip you to fulfill your calling.