Using the previously posted diagram

The Rapture and Millennial Kingdom diagram that was previously posted gives a very meager look at Eschatology. Diagrams are helpful to some that learn better seeing pictures, like myself. In saying all that, I gave it so that you could see a time line of what is to come and it helps to keep things in place in order that we understand what is going on right now. It is a common idea that Christ's reign is happening now, we see it in the hymns we sing, and in the contemporary music (CCM) that is sung. (This is one of the reason I do not listen to CCM) We also can see that it is pervading many local churches and the vast majority of seminaries. If we have a way that we look at theology, then that way should show up in every area that we are involved in, church wise. Christ is not the King over the Bride, He is our bridegroom and His kingdom, is not now!

Spell Check

I am really bad about checking my spelling! I image everyone that has read any of my posts will understand that. I apologize for that, I know that even in that I show a representation of Christ. Please bare with me as I work on this problem. Thank you.

Diagram on the Rapture and Millennial Kingdom

Taking a look at the Church at Ephesus

Understanding Ephesians.

Vs.1
Paul explains that His apostleship is:
a. By the will of God
He goes on to say that this letter is to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
When I take a look at this in its immediate context I realize that Paul is writing to the Church (universal) and Local (Ephesus). Now we can assume that this letter may have gone to a specific church at Ephesus, a house church, but it very well could have gone to a group of churches(houses). It would infer that it would go to other believers as well because of the "faithful in Christ Jesus".

Vs.2
Paul gives his usually greeting "grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." When you read in context every word is very important to understand who this letter is addressed too. We address God's as Father, because of our relationship that we have with Him.

Vs.3
1. Praise is given to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ... We give praise to where it rightfully belongs. We also recognize with reverence God as God, in His might, Holiness, Righteousness, Justice, and other attributes given to Him, yet we recognize Him as the abba Father figure (Rom.8:15) that reflects His love, patience, mercy, and kindness.
2. "who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. This is where some separation of thought comes into play. We understand that all the blessings that we have can be traced to Christ and His work on the cross. When we were given the adoption of sons we were placed into the family of God. Now once again understanding the separations that the Church has with Israel, this relationship is one of future reigning with Christ unlike that of ruled over by Christ in the future, literal, millennial kingdom. We also must recognize that these blessings are not of this earth, they are spiritual blessings. Where Israel's promised blessings by God, to be avenged of it's enemies and given a promised land. The Churches blessings in Christ are those of reigning, being married to Christ, our conforming to His image.

Vs.4
Here is a portion of scripture that always makes some uneasy. I believe it is of the utmost importance to understand who the addressees are and the context in this particular case, we also must understand the pronouns in light of that context. "according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundations of the world...". Some look at this portion of scripture and see only the "chosen", which is an important aspect, but not to the neglecting of "us". Who is the us?
a. some would say that the "us" is all of the saints of all times. They would hold to a soteriological or salvation context of this passage.
b. I personally would say, in light of the context, that the "us" would refer to the Church. The context of Paul's writings were to the Church, as the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, in its entirety. He was writing to the local church at Ephesus, immediately, but was talking to the universal church in relation to the dispensation that he lived in Eph. 3:2-5.
We see that we are chosen "in him before the foundations of the world. This relationship is unique among the dispensations of God being the bride to Christ, instead of the people of God. Throughout several of the other dispensations previous to the age of the Church, the people that God deals with is the nation of Israel.
We are exhorted to be "holy and without blame before him in love:" Holy and without blame speak of purity. When you think of a bride, adorn for her bridegroom, you have a picture of her purity in the white dress that she wears. She has kept herself pure from a promiscuous life to be presented to her groom as blameless. Every saint must keep this in mind, continuously. We are to abstain from the filthy things of this world, fornication, lies, etc. A sinful lifestyle does not fit the life of a pure bride.

Vs.5
"having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,"
Predestined us(Church) unto the adoption of children. These terms also get swept under the Reformed theology rug. We know that we are brought into the family of God through adoption. We are not like the nation Israel, Children of God, but we are adopted into this family. Remember that Context tells us that we are talking about the Church here, not all saints of all dispensations.

Personal ramblings on our capabilities

I am so thankful that I can understand God's word, with the teaching and leading of the Holy Spirit. I feel that to many of us depend solely on being taught by commentators and by our pastors, without realizing that we also can learn a great deal if we spend time in God's word. I use commentaries and listen to my pastor to lead me as they have been lead by the Holy Spirit, but I can not neglect my responsibility of communing with God. If you look at some of the older men that have written and published studies that they have done we must realize that they did not have more of the Holy Spirit than we do. We must do as Phil. 2:12 says and " ... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."
We are given everything for life and godliness as 2 Peter 1:3 says, therefore we need to be diligent.

Some minor corrections

I wanted to make a clarification on being apart of the Bride of Christ. We are just that in our local churches. To be apart of this great standing, you must be saved. Now I took this for granted, that everyone would know this, but taking things for granted is exactly what I am trying not to do.

When are we?

Why is it that we are the only dispensation that seeks to live in every other dispensation. There are those that seek to put themselves under the Law, to live according to works of their own hands. They seek to justify themselves by their own unrighteous sacrifices. There are those who say that the Kingdom of God is now, with Christ ruling in our hearts and are not willing to take a literal view of the 1000 year reign of Christ. When I see this, I say if Christ is ruling now, He is not doing a good job. Also when did this thousand year reign start, if at the death or ascension then it has been more than a 1000 years. If we believe that Christ is reigning now then His position is that of King and not intercessor, I need the intercessor now more than the King. Why is it so hard to take His word at face value?

Worship

I think there is a lot to be said about worship. I also think that there is a lot being said about worship that is wrong. If you look at the Old Testament example of worship, that occurred in the tabernacle, we see a great picture. When the priest went into the the "holy place" there was a lot of preparation. After he made all of the sacrifices of the day he would then go to the Laver and prepare himself for worship. The Laver was a piece of furniture, much like a sink, it contained water in it's basin and it's bottom was made of mirrors. The priest would look at himself as he washed all of the filth off of his body, the dust of the earth which was the tabernacles floor, the blood of the sacrifices of the day, etc. I see a great picture of how a christian prepares him or herself for worship. We must come to God, clean of the filth of the world, our sins. This also speaks of how worship to God is not tainted by the world. You see, worship back then is the same now, we worship a Holy God, one of Jealousy and Righteousness. Yes He is Love, but that mentality that God is Love, tends to stop right there, and ignore the other attributes of God. I believe that the philosophy that we can worship God in anyway that we see fit, without meeting any standard, is a very unrighteous philosophy. I know that there is no prescribed manner given to us for worship, but there are plenty of principles to follow and we worship God for who He is, Holy, Loving, Righteous, Forgiving, Jealous, Longsuffering. Remember Worship and Praise belong to God alone, and when we seek to worship Him and try to find what will personally benefit us while we do that our focus is turned the wrong way. Worship is a matter of our hearts, our hearts must be contrite, but when you come to Him in that state, and you love Him, then you will do what He wants and worry less about what you want.

What a Relationship we have...

When you look at what we are, The Bride of Christ, what do you think. We are apart of a very unique relationship, one that has never occurred in the history of man. Israel is God's people, a relationship of citizens in the kingdom of God. The Church on the other hand is altogether different. We have a marital relationship with Christ, being heirs with Him, throughout eternity. Where Israel has the blessing of being ruled by God, we have the blessings of ruling with Him. I wonder how this will affect our relationship to the Father, since we are His Son's bride. This is why I stated in an earlier post, the possibility of "election" in Ephesians 1 could refer to the choosing or predestining of "us"(Church) as Paul says, as being chosen to be a part of the Church, that unique relationship.

Who I am

I have decided to write down my Philosophy of, well everything.

This is not a doctrinal statement, but will focus on doctrines. It is what you would call a philosophy of Ministry, although I believe this relates to my entire life as well. I do not wish to compartmentalize any part of my life, this is a mistake that many people make. What I mean by compartmentalize is: to separate my church life from my private life. I am a part of the Church and there is no separating me from that, thus I must be the same in every area of my life in order to be glorifying to God and real as a person.
I have a conservative view in music. I believe first and foremost that all of my worship must be truthful(based on truth) and from my heart(real). The words that I sing must hold to the doctrines that I believe, which can make for a very interesting experience, even in the hymns I sing in my hymnal. I believe that the notes play just as an important part as the lyrics. If I was to ignore the fact that music(notes) do not move the human emotions, then I would be ignorant. I am not one that believes that I must have that "right" feeling in order to say that I have worshiped, because worship belongs to God, but when I sing lyrics that are true according to God's word it does move the heart.
I take a literal hermeneutic in translating my bible, therefore when I teach, whether in a bible study, S.S. class, or from a pulpit I prepare according to that conviction. I am not concerned with numbers I would be more quality vs quantity. I believe that when a person gets saved they must understand the core doctrines of scripture, before you put them out into service such as teaching. I am dispensational in my theology and Premillenial. When I teach through a passage I like to teach in an expository fashion. I will use topical styles, but in studying and teaching, I believe an expository approach is best. I believe it is very key to keep all of your teachings in context, historically and grammatically, so that you can properly bring out principles to the people that you are teaching. As I said earlier, I am a dispensationalist, therefore when I teach it is very important for me to keep Israel and the Church separate.
When I work with teens and younger children I understand that attention levels differ from adults, but entertainment can never take the place of doctrine. It may seem hard to understand to some, but when you are working with any age group teaching style may vary, but you must also remember if they are saved then they are accountable to God and will stand before the Bema seat of Christ, just as you will, and if they are not saved then why make them think that church is just like the world when it is not.
My vision for the future ministry that God has for me is like this. I do not desire to have a huge church, I actually prefer a smaller group so that I may be more involved in individual lives. I would like to pastor a flock and bring them along in the knowledge of God's word, an in depth knowledge of His word. I prefer a smaller group of people so that I can teach them so that they may then go out and start a work of their own, according to God's will for their life. I want to be faithful with what God's has given me instead of making an empire for myself. I do not care if I leave a legacy for myself, but rather a history for God.

I would say that if I had a primary focus in my ministry it would be to remind the saints of who they are. We are the Bride of Christ, and when we keep that concept in the front of our minds then we will make all the necessary choices for personal sanctification. There is so much involved in being the Bride of Christ that is not "really" taught; blessings, our place with Christ, our place in the millennium, our place in eternity in relation to other saints throughout human history. I want to focus on who we are an not mix other dispensations with the present one (the Church). We are a part of a relations with God and with Christ that is like no other.

I realized, with the help of my wife, that I have not mentioned anything about evangelism. I believe that all saints should have a continual focus on evangelizing the lost. I enjoy working with people one on one, discussing things, and bringing salvation into any topic when dealing with a lost soul. The idea that we must use whatever means necessary to reach the lost is wrong. I believe that through living a different life from the world will draw attention to those around you, opening an opportunity to witness. If I am going to call myself a Christian then I must exhibit some Christ-like character.


There will be more to follow in this philosophy in the future, but it gives a surface understanding of who I am.