House churches/Organic church, your opinion?

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by AtlantaBishop

You guys keep saying House Church like the House is the Church and we all know that buildings are not the Church but people are the Church! I wish you guys would get this right.
Slap your neighbor and say, A Church is not a Church because the People are the Church and a House is not a Church unless the House Church People say it is! AMEN! We all get it now!
Don't it just make you want to run from anything called a CHURCH and go a little house that is called a House Church where you can wear house shoes (or "no shoes" for that matter) and read the Bible and drink coffee and eat goulash and talk about those deceived people that go to buildings that are called CHURCH and how much better we are than them and teach them to STOP TITHING!
GO HOUSE CHURCH PEOPLE! GO! It just seems so exciting!

Yes the church is a people, not a building with a steeple. It's also not a house.

And when the "church" (the disciples of Jesus) meet Paul tells us several things are to take place....

- Everyone being able to bring a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.
- Gift of tongues coupled with interpretation, two or at most three.
- Two or three anointed teachers speak and guide the meeting.
- If a saint attending has a revelation or something to share, whoever is speaking must stop and give them the floor so that all might be able to prophesy, learn, and be encouraged. Meetings are to be discussion based.
- Those who address the group must realize that their spirits are subject to the anointed teachers guiding the group.
- Women (or anyone for that matter) are not to use the time for socializing.
- Those who think they are spiritual Christians should acknowledge that this order of service is a command from the Lord.

All of this is found in (I Corinthians 14:26-38).

Now... if the disciples of Jesus strictly meet in a setting that is too large to facilitate this kind of body ministry... biblical fellowship and discipleship as Paul would describe it isn't taking place. Therefore, rather the church meets occasionally in large building or not (mine does) the small group gatherings are more beneficial for a deeper and more biblical Christian walk and experience.

[TGBTG]

Originally Posted by AtlantaBishop

You guys keep saying House Church like the House is the Church and we all know that buildings are not the Church but people are the Church! I wish you guys would get this right.
Slap your neighbor and say, A Church is not a Church because the People are the Church and a House is not a Church unless the House Church People say it is! AMEN! We all get it now!
Don't it just make you want to run from anything called a CHURCH and go a little house that is called a House Church where you can wear house shoes (or "no shoes" for that matter) and read the Bible and drink coffee and eat goulash and talk about those deceived people that go to buildings that are called CHURCH and how much better we are than them and teach them to STOP TITHING!
GO HOUSE CHURCH PEOPLE! GO! It just seems so exciting!

Actually, this is what everyone has been saying all along, which you have been ridiculing. The building is NOT the church. It is the people. Hence, whether they meet in a mega-building or in a little house, it's still CHURCH.

The emphasis being laid on house-church is that it is easier to get edified in a little group than in a large mega group. Everyone in a "little group" is able to participate during fellowship unlike in mega-churches where one just sits down and drinks from one person standing to talk. Simple as that...

[ThePastorsCoach]

WOW TGBTG - Thank you so much for clearing that us for those us us that thought God lived at the Church God! "It is the people". Incredible Revelation! I am overwhelmed!

I will tell those 20,000 that come through our campus on Sundays that they cannot participate and will just have to sit down and drink from one person standing to talk and it is as "simple as that..." Brilliant!

[ThePastorsCoach]

How many on here that go to a building called a Church or one that has a steeple or a cross on it - and you though that GOD lived in that building and by saying CHURCH that the building actually housed the Lord God of Heaven and Earth? Give me a break!
I have been in "church" all of my 55 years and never did think that God lived in the building and never met anyone that did!
This argument is stupid and it makes you look stupid when you argue that God does not abide in a building! Your arguing a moot point because NOBODY BELIEVES that God abides in their church building! You are just arguing for arguments sake and it makes you feel superior to tell everybody that your little house church meetings are better. They are not better - they are just more convenient for YOU and you like them more. More power to you.
God is where we are, in a mega-church like LAKEWOOD or POTTERS HOUSE or your little house. Get over it!

[Digging4Truth]

Originally Posted by AtlantaBishop

WOW TGBTG - Thank you so much for clearing that us for those us us that thought God lived at the Church God! "It is the people". Incredible Revelation! I am overwhelmed!

I will tell those 20,000 that come through our campus on Sundays that they cannot participate and will just have to sit down and drink from one person standing to talk and it is as "simple as that..." Brilliant!

Do you ever actually have a conversation on a subject like this or do you just continue to shovel sarcasm and condescending remarks at the subject and the people discussing it?

If you don't have anything to actually add to a conversation other than ridicule and disdain then why do you continue to just make snarky remarks page after page after page with nothing real to say?

I just cannot get my mind around why you continue when you know that all you have to add is smart mouthed remarks and ridicule for the way your brothers in Christ might choose to worship?

Do you consider what you are "adding" to this conversation to be substance of any kind?

Do you not consider that what you are "adding" to this conversation is little more than 200 proof ridicule for the way a brother might choose to worship God?

Do you consider what you "add" to be helpful to anyone/anything but your own ego?

I'm not trying to attack you or anything. I just cannot figure out why you continue to do what you do on subjects like this. I am sure there are subjects where you actually engage in the conversation but there are a few subjects, like this one, where all you ever do is cut people down for what they believe and make sarcastic remarks about nearly anything they say.

What does it add?
Why do you continue?

[Amanah]

I know an elderly Sister that taught us that to go to the church in the early morning to pray was the best time to reach God, as the angels were ascending and decending (the jacob's ladder thing) at that time.

I actually think a place and a person can be holy unto the Lord.

[TGBTG]

Originally Posted by AtlantaBishop

WOW TGBTG - Thank you so much for clearing that us for those us us that thought God lived at the Church God! "It is the people". Incredible Revelation! I am overwhelmed!

I will tell those 20,000 that come through our campus on Sundays that they cannot participate and will just have to sit down and drink from one person standing to talk and it is as "simple as that..." Brilliant!

I don't think you understood my previous comment. You were ridiculing the house church meetings and everyone was saying the building is NOT the church.

I think you should read my last post again, perhaps, your response might be changed.

[TGBTG]

Originally Posted by AtlantaBishop

How many on here that go to a building called a Church or one that has a steeple or a cross on it - and you though that GOD lived in that building and by saying CHURCH that the building actually housed the Lord God of Heaven and Earth? Give me a break!
I have been in "church" all of my 55 years and never did think that God lived in the building and never met anyone that did!
This argument is stupid and it makes you look stupid when you argue that God does not abide in a building! Your arguing a moot point because NOBODY BELIEVES that God abides in their church building! You are just arguing for arguments sake and it makes you feel superior to tell everybody that your little house church meetings are better. They are not better - they are just more convenient for YOU and you like them more. More power to you.
God is where we are, in a mega-church like LAKEWOOD or POTTERS HOUSE or your little house. Get over it!

Honestly, I don't think you get it. Really, you don't. Nobody is arguing for building (large or small).

We are talking about the edification of the body.

[ThePastorsCoach]

Originally Posted by Digging4Truth

Do you ever actually have a conversation on a subject like this or do you just continue to shovel sarcasm and condescending remarks at the subject and the people discussing it?

If you don't have anything to actually add to a conversation other than ridicule and disdain then why do you continue to just make snarky remarks page after page after page with nothing real to say?

I just cannot get my mind around why you continue when you know that all you have to add is smart mouthed remarks and ridicule for the way your brothers in Christ might choose to worship?

Do you consider what you are "adding" to this conversation to be substance of any kind?

Do you not consider that what you are "adding" to this conversation is little more than 200 proof ridicule for the way a brother might choose to worship God?

Do you consider what you "add" to be helpful to anyone/anything but your own ego?

I'm not trying to attack you or anything. I just cannot figure out why you continue to do what you do on subjects like this. I am sure there are subjects where you actually engage in the conversation but there are a few subjects, like this one, where all you ever do is cut people down for what they believe and make sarcastic remarks about nearly anything they say.

What does it add?
Why do you continue?

I don't care where you worship! I have worshiped and led worship under a tree in the middle of a cow pasture in Cuba and preached to 150,000 in a massive church in Nigeria, West Africa. I have preached in slums, shacks, tents, storefronts, cathedrals, city auditoriums, houses, barns, in the park, on the rooftop, street corners, sidewalks, in front yards, on buses, in cars, trains, planes and in 61 nations and have sense enough to know GOD DOES NOT DWELL IN BUILDINGS MADE WITH HANDS!
The condescending, rude, sarcastic, ridiculing, "snarky" (never heard that word before), smart mouthed remarks have been made about people that think "the building is the church". I have never know anybody in my life that believed that! These guys must be in a highly Catholic area or something where they think God lives in the Catholic Cathedral. I have never actually met anyone that believed that and certainly not any Pentecostals that I have ever met.
If you can't stand the heat - get out of the kitchen! If you don't like large Churches - don't go! If you don't like house churches - don't go!

Your argument that every time someone says CHURCH that you hate it because you THINK they are saying the Church is a building... is STUPID! NOBODY is saying the building is the place where God lives! Lord have mercy!

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by AtlantaBishop

How many on here that go to a building called a Church or one that has a steeple or a cross on it - and you though that GOD lived in that building and by saying CHURCH that the building actually housed the Lord God of Heaven and Earth? Give me a break!
I have been in "church" all of my 55 years and never did think that God lived in the building and never met anyone that did!
This argument is stupid and it makes you look stupid when you argue that God does not abide in a building! Your arguing a moot point because NOBODY BELIEVES that God abides in their church building! You are just arguing for arguments sake and it makes you feel superior to tell everybody that your little house church meetings are better. They are not better - they are just more convenient for YOU and you like them more. More power to you.
God is where we are, in a mega-church like LAKEWOOD or POTTERS HOUSE or your little house. Get over it!

AB, you're precious. lol

You aren't getting it. The issue isn't house vs. church building. The issue is the biblical methods of discipleship. When we meet Paul specifically states that the following should occur in I Corinthians 14:26-38:

- Everyone being able to bring a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.
- Gift of tongues coupled with interpretation, two or at most three.
- Two or three anointed teachers speak and guide the meeting.
- If a saint attending has a revelation or something to share, whoever is speaking must stop and give them the floor so that all might be able to prophesy, learn, and be encouraged. Meetings are to be discussion based.
- Those who address the group must realize that their spirits are subject to the anointed teachers guiding the group.
- Women (or anyone for that matter) are not to use the time for socializing.
- Those who think they are spiritual Christians should acknowledge that this order of service is a command from the Lord.

Notice a very important verse:

I Corinthians 14:37
37If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

God commands that the above be present when disciples of Jesus gather together. If the above commandments cannot be obeyed or a setting isn't provided where they can be put into practice, biblical discipleship and gathering ISN'T taking place.

This isn't about houses vs. church buildings. This is about obeying the Word of God as it relates to how God commands our gatherings to be. A small group setting of no more than 12 to 20 adults is the largest the format God gave us can be applied to.

AB... if I attended one of your mega churches could I walk up to the platform, request the microphone, and share a passage and what the Lord put on my heart at will??? Would the pastor of that mega church "hold his peace" as I essentially "preached" to the people? Could anyone in the congregation comment and request the microphone after I used it? Would the song leader allow me to sing or play a song God put on my heart for the congregation if I walked up and requested to do it during service? If not... the meeting isn't biblical. In God's order, every child of God has a voice, a gift, and something to contribute. In man's model... we're passive spectators expected to do nothing more than show up, smile, cheer lead the preacher, and give our money.

This is an obedience issue. Not a house vs. building issue. Obeying what Paul told us are commandments from the Lord regarding our gathering together.