Apostolic Unity

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Shingledecker

What prevents the apostolic church from experiencing the type of unity Jesus desires (Jn 17)?

We are very human and carnal. Look at what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 quoted from the KJV below:
1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Their divisions showed that they were carnal, or fleshly, or governed by their carnal/fleshly/sinful natures.

Here is a Jim Ellis paraphrase of that passage:
1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of UPC; and another, I am of PAW or AMF or CoJC or WWPF or GNC or GIB; are ye not carnal?

My opinion on the subject.
I am ordained in a Jesus Name Apostolic organization and also ordained in a local trinity church. In my opinion, all who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior have been placed into the One Church--the Body of Christ-- by the Holy Spirit and are my brothers and sisters. In my opinion, their status in the Body of Christ or Family of God has nothing to do with water or Spirit baptism, what they believe about the godhead, or how they dress.

[onefaith2]

Originally Posted by Sam

We are very human and carnal. Look at what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 quoted from the KJV below:
1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Their divisions showed that they were carnal, or fleshly, or governed by their carnal/fleshly/sinful natures.

Here is a Jim Ellis paraphrase of that passage:
1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of UPC; and another, I am of PAW or AMF or CoJC or WWPF or GNC or GIB; are ye not carnal?

My opinion on the subject.
I am ordained in a Jesus Name Apostolic organization and also ordained in a local trinity church. In my opinion, all who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior have been placed into the One Church--the Body of Christ-- by the Holy Spirit and are my brothers and sisters. In my opinion, their status in the Body of Christ or Family of God has nothing to do with water or Spirit baptism, what they believe about the godhead, or how they dress.

My friend I hope you are right for all sakes involved but I do not see that in the Bible. I only see one faith, one Lord, and one baptism.

I don't see a HG baptism without tongues, I don't see anyone ever baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost using those words. I don't see a believe of a co existent persons Godhead or do I see a church that does not strive for outward and inward holiness both in word and in deed.

I see a church that fails often but works in the miraculous. I see a church who believe in Christ Jesus as the son of God. I see a church who believe in ONE God and calls him Father. I see a church who practices holiness and loves one another. I see a church who only baptizes in the name of Jesus and that it was commmanded, not an option. I see a church who encouraged all to seek for the baptism of the HG that do believe and that tongues came as a sign to them. I believe it would behoove us to follow that church.

[Sam]

I'll give you an example of Apostolic unity that happened a couple of weeks ago.

I met a young man at an Apostolic Church which is about an hour and a half away from where I live. I found out a few days later that he was going to an area hospital for chemo and radiation treatments. I found out that someone was going to meet him there and have lunch with him and pray for him. I invited myself to join them and they agreed.

I drove 3 hours to the hospital. The young man (age 27) who was going there for treatment goes to a UPC church but has a license with an independent organization. The other young man (age 22) goes to a UPC Church. The two young men drove about an hour to get there. Another man, age 62 is a Bishop in an organization called The Apostolic Church of the Living God. I think he drove a couple of hours to get there. All 4 of us met and had lunch together. Then we went to the Chapel and talked, fellowshipped, and prayed for each other. I think this is a good example of Apostolic unity.

A week later I drove an hour and a half to speak at an Apostolic Church. The pastor and I belong to the same OP organization and he knows how I believe but he allowed me to speak.

Last night I spoke to the Bishop (mentioned above) and told him to let me know when he is going to be at a certain church (independent OP) preaching and I will try to get there. This church is between where he lives and where I live and is about 2 hours away for each of us coming from opposite directions.

I have a list of several ministers and ministries that I pray for on a regular basis and I support a couple of them financially. The people on them are pretty diverse, some are trinity and some are oneness. I obviously do not believe everything each of them believes but I consider them to be servants of the Lord and brothers and sisters in Jesus.

I think these are a few examples of unity.

[onefaith2]

Originally Posted by Sam

I'll give you an example of Apostolic unity that happened a couple of weeks ago.

I met a young man at an Apostolic Church which is about an hour and a half away from where I live. I found out a few days later that he was going to an area hospital for chemo and radiation treatments. I found out that someone was going to meet him there and have lunch with him and pray for him. I invited myself to join them and they agreed.

I drove 3 hours to the hospital. The young man (age 27) who was going there for treatment goes to a UPC church but has a license with an independent organization. The other young man (age 22) goes to a UPC Church. The two young men drove about an hour to get there. Another man, age 62 is a Bishop in an organization called The Apostolic Church of the Living God. I think he drove a couple of hours to get there. All 4 of us met and had lunch together. Then we went to the Chapel and talked, fellowshipped, and prayed for each other. I think this is a good example of Apostolic unity.

A week later I drove an hour and a half to speak at an Apostolic Church. The pastor and I belong to the same OP organization and he knows how I believe but he allowed me to speak.

Last night I spoke to the Bishop (mentioned above) and told him to let me know when he is going to be at a certain church (independent OP) preaching and I will try to get there. This church is between where he lives and where I live and is about 2 hours away for each of us coming from opposite directions.

I have a list of several ministers and ministries that I pray for on a regular basis and I support a couple of them financially. The people on them are pretty diverse, some are trinity and some are oneness. I obviously do not believe everything each of them believes but I consider them to be servants of the Lord and brothers and sisters in Jesus.

I think these are a few examples of unity.

I have had several good conversations and prayed with a baptist preacher. He believe he will see three figures in heaven and I believe we will see one. He believe the Father Son and HG is the baptismal formula. I believe the apostles understood the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost was Jesus and therefore only people were baptized in the name of Jesus in the NT.
He believes in the HG but not a secondary experience in receiving the spirit after what he called being saved.

I do not believe salvation is complete without the baptism of the HG.

We had several differences but appreciated one another and he is studying Jesus name baptism. So We had unity but yet we also witnessed to one another about the doctrine of God and we appreciate each other's views. I still preach acts 2:38 as salvation plan and he still believes you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ only.

I didn't change my position and praying and that he changes His. He appreciates my position but doesn't agree.

To me we are unified in our belief of the word and Christ but disunified on soteriology and the Godhead.

You can have unity and disunity at the same time.