In the House

[Kennie Cagle]

Inside of me are two bayit (houses).

One is the bayit of YHWH Elohim where the Ruach Ha Kadosh abides. This is where HE communes with me and gives me the guidance that only a Good Shepherd can give. When I maintain this bayit, it flourishes. YHWH blesses and that house grows strong. Here in that oasis abides His Fruit, the manifestations of Himself emanating out to those around me. “Yahshua in me the tifferet (hope) of kabod (glory).” As I maintain and sustain this bayit, the other bayit begins to fall apart and waste away. It’s not long before there is a stark contrast between the two bayit. One is a castle with a Melech (King) sitting on the throne. He is in control and rules with shalom and tzedakah (righteousness). It is then I become a light to those around me, they see Him in me and wonder what it is that I have that they need. This allows me to witness to those around me in word and deed.

Unfortunately, there is a flip side to this beautiful story. When I maintain the other bayit, it flourishes as well. Anything that doesn’t help build the bayit of YHWH, builds this other bayit. I tell myself that there’s nothing wrong with what I am doing. I even justify my actions by saying that this thing isn’t necessarily bad it just doesn’t lift up YHWH. I can do this, watch this, read this or listen to this and be all right. Only later do I realize that was a lie from the father of lies. ALL things that do not draw me closer to YHWH take me away from Him! There are no gray areas. By not maintaining the bayit of YHWH, I am maintaining the bayit of the flesh. Even when I do good deeds for the wrong reason it becomes a stink in the nostrils of YHWH. As the bayit of the flesh is maintained it soon becomes a castle as well. I see myself on the throne and think I am in control. But the worse part of this castle is the real king hides himself and I am in fact a puppet king. Satan rules and I don’t even recognize that until it is too late. While the bayit of the flesh flourishes, the bayit of YHWH begins to fall apart and waste away. Bats and rats take over. Soon there is decay and damage; this eventually leads to complete disarray.

Choose you this day who you will serve. He has set life and death before us. There is a way that SEEMS right to man, but the end is death.

[THE BODY OF CHRIST]

Very well put my friend

Paul himself couldn’t have said it any better




Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.




But Paul tells us that there is hope for them that are in Christ Jesus




Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.



Paul said that There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And then later in the same chapter he states



Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.




Why Paul


Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:




But how does one get in to Christ to be able to receive that blessing?




Gal 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.





Oh, So one must be Baptized in order to put on Christ and recive these spiritual blessings. Well my friend have you been baptized in to Christ so you can recive that which was promised


If not, why not?


You see brethren we must Follow the pattern given to us by God in order to be accepted by him.




God has never left man to his own ways; He has always told him what he must do to be acceptable in his sight. Many have the misconception that it does not matter what one does in religion, as long as they are sincere. This idea implies that man, even without a revelation from God, could determine a way to live that would please God. However, God said, "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23). Solomon warned: "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Pro. 14:12). God has given us the Bible to guide us! Just as The seamstress must carefully follow her pattern to make the exact desired garment. A builder must adhere to his blueprint to build the designed structure., in like manner men must strictly follow God's Scriptural pattern to live and worship acceptably.

God's Old Testament Patterns

God told Noah to build an ark. He then said, "This is the fashion which thou shalt make it of," giving him the kind of wood, number of floors, dimensions, and so forth (Gen. 6:14-16). Noah carefully followed God's pattern: "Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he" (v. 22). Noah's obedience to Gods insturctions demonstrated his faith (Heb. 11:7).

God commanded Moses to construct a tabernacle (with furnishings) as a center of worship for Israel. He gave detailed instructions concerning its materials and even for the size of each object. He then said, "According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it" (Exo. 25:9). Notice the word pattern used by God here!

Similarly, the Lord gave David a blueprint (which he was to give to his son, Solomon) for constructing the temple. "All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern" (1 Chr. 28:19). Again, the word pattern shows the exacting nature of God's instructions.

The Lord's Pattern for His Church Today

The Lord has a spiritual temple today the church. Its builder is "greater than Solomon" (Mat. 16:18; 12:42). It is not a physical building, but one made up of people (all the saved, Acts 2:47). Paul told Christians, "Ye are God's building" (1 Cor. 3:9). Rather than the stone and cedar of Solomon's temple, the church is composed of living material: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house" (1 Pet. 2:5).

Is there a pattern (a blueprint) for the church Jesus built? Just as God gave instructions for the building of Noah's ark, Moses' tabernacle, and Solomon's temple, so He gave specifications for the church. Jesus gave the twelve the pattern for the church: "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mat. 18:18). Jesus first made this statement to Peter in connection with the promise to build the church (16:1819). A more literal translation is, "Whatsoever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatsoever you release on the earth will have been released in heaven." God's instructions for the church would be (and were) given through the apostles, recorded in the New Testament.

The book of Hebrews teaches that the law of Moses typified the New Testament system (i.e., "the heavenly"). Speaking of the Mosaic priests who followed God's pattern for tabernacle worship, the writer tells us they served "...unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount" (Heb. 8:5). Therefore, we are also to follow God's pattern for us today.

Did God Intend the New Testament To Be a Pattern?

Many Scriptures demonstrate that God most certainly expects men to follow His revelation given through the apostles. The Jerusalem Church "continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine" (Acts 2:42). The things Paul wrote were "the commandments of the Lord" (1 Cor. 14:37). He warned that if any man or angel preached a message different from what Paul preached, he would be "accursed" (Gal. 1:89). Everything taught or practiced had to be "in the name of [i.e., by the authority of] the Lord Jesus" (Col. 3:17). We must strictly abide in the doctrine of Christ (2 John 9). The one who speaks must speak "as the oracles of God" (or, as God's Word speaks, 1 Pet. 4:11).

We must not "go beyond the things which are written" (1 Cor. 4:6, ASV). The curse of God is upon anyone who adds to or subtracts from God's Word (Rev. 22:1819). Those not obeying the epistles written by the apostles were not to be fellowshiped (2 The. 3:14). Paul enjoined, "Hold fast the form ["pattern," ASV] of sound words, which thou hast heard of me" (2 Tim. 1:13). One could not hold to a form, or pattern, that is constantly changing, which suggests that the New Testament was/is a fixed and permanent pattern for all to follow. Christ promised to be with those who teach His message given through the apostles "unto the end of the world" (Mat. 28:20).

The New Testament Still God's Pattern Today

Occasionally someone says that, although the New Testament was the law for people of the first century, we live in a different time and thus cannot still be expected to follow it today. However, Jude 3 declares that the system of belief given to them was "once for all delivered unto the saints" (ASV). The word translated "once" here is the same one translated "once" in Hebrews 9:28. There it is evident that Christ being "once offered" means that He died once for all time. Christ need not and will not die again for us. Likewise, once in Jude 3 shows that "the faith" (the New Testament) was given once for all time. It will never be changed or amended, but shall stand as God's pattern for us all to follow until time shall end!

There Is No Need for a Change in the Pattern

When Jesus built His church and, through the apostles, gave the New Testament as the pattern by which it was to continue, He thereby gave men "all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Pet. 1:3). Through the inspired Scriptures God's people were completely furnished to all good works, constituting a pattern for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteous living (2 Tim. 3:1617). Although we live in a changing world, this blueprint from God is unchangeable, because:

* Human nature has not changed. Men still sin (Rom. 3:23), and thus still need the salvation that comes through the changeless Gospel of Christ (1:16).

* Sin has not changed. It is still "the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4) and results in death/separation from God (Rom. 6:23). Thus, it is still essential that we live by God's instructions to avoid sin and death.

* Satan has not changed. He is still the tempter (1 The. 3:5; Mat. 4:3), wishes to devour us (1 Pet. 5:8), and thus wants to take away God's Word from our hearts so we will be lost (Luke 8:12). He wants us to be in Hell with him eternally (Mat. 25:41). To resist him we must carefully follow God's Word the pattern God has provided to guide us to Heaven. Jesus used what was written in the Scriptures to resist and overcome Satan's temptations (Mat. 4:4, 7, 10). We, too, must have God's Word in our hearts to keep from sinning against Him (Psa. 119:11).

* Christ has not changed. He is still both Head and Savior of His church (Eph. 5:23) and has all authority in Heaven and on earth (Mat. 28:18). He is "the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him" (Heb. 5:9). His New Testament (9:15) is the pattern we must carefully obey. AND IT IS His Word will judge us at the end of time (John 12:48).

* His will for the church has not changed. He still has just one church (Mat. 16:18; Eph. 4:5). It began on Pentecost (Acts 2) and is the one that continues to follow the New Testament pattern. We must not confuse modern denominations with the Lord's church. It must be without blemish (Eph. 5:27),WHICH IS accomplished only by following the New Testament pattern!

The New Testament (Not a Particular Congregation) Is the Pattern

Some reject the idea of following God's Word as a pattern and thus restoring the church as it existed in the New Testament. They sometimes ask, "Which church in the New Testament do you wish to restore, Jerusalem where there was prejudice against the Gentiles, Corinth with its many problems (including a man living openly in adultery), or another? They were all imperfect." Such is an effort to belittle the idea of restoring the church the New Testament reveals.

Any thinking person who carefully studies the Bible should understand that no person or congregation is to be imitated except as they follow Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). The New Testament makes it clear what God did and did not approve of in every first-century congregation. Just as God's Word was His pattern for the church then, it still is the sole means by which we determine if He approves us today. Not some particular person or congregation, but the New Testament is God's pattern for us to follow

[Jimmie Santiago]

Shalom Brother Cagle,

I believe the same way as you have written and I thank you for letting the Ruach haQodosh lead you to some deep insight of YAHUAH and what He requires of us.

May you have a blessed week and may YAHUAH be ever with you.

I send you my Avahah

Baruch haShem YAHUAH

gideon144k