The Word instructs us regarding “one-another” because we tend towards the opposite: “one-who-smothers.” If we are all wrapped up in ourselves, we will never see the unveiling of Christ in each other. Our true passion comes from our position:  we must be seated together around Christ in order to stand together as His Body revealing His Truth.

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:4-7

This is not something to be conceived only in a spiritual plane, but every Truth of God is Spiritual Seed to be conceived in hearts made virginal by the Blood of Christ and born into a world desperate to know Pure Life. The reality is, we are seated together and everything we do impacts everyone around us: if we are not allowing the reality of Christ to be borne in our attitudes and actions, then we are aborting The Messiah, our reborn identity.

It’s sad at one point in my life that I was taught that these walls in my life were “for my safety.” When in reality if elder believers had examined these songs in the beginning WITH me in light of scripture, for example, God could have used them in our lives for spiritual growth!  In Christ all things ARE possible and NEW! Not just things labeled “Christian.” Especially when there is nothing wrong with them scripturally. If we truly have a loving foundation IN Christ these “test” will not cause us to fall away but draw us closer.  If they do cause us to fall away we never really had a foundational relationship in Jesus in the first place but dead religion.  It’s better that we stop propping people up with wide generalization warnings and do’s and don’t list and allowing them to see the true state of their soul.  They need to learn to be led by the Holy Spirit early!  Otherwise we are giving them a dead religious Law system!

When we see Christ in the “secular,” whether it be music, movies, nature, speech, etc. these can be bridges to reach others for Him! We are to be “IN the world” too. “GREATER is He that is IN me than he that is in the world.” IF we truly have Christ we can walk in the world with boldness and still not be of it, if we’re not actively allowing Christ to shine through… Well, what’s THAT saying?

Jesus displayed this to his disciples when he went to Caesarrea Philippi. The disciples were probably shocked that he would take them to such a place. This was known as the “Gate of @#!*% ” for good reason! Here there was all types of idol worship. This included sex with animals, sacrificing infants, devilish music, orgies, etc. Yet, Jesus went there to build His Church and to recover lost ground for the Kingdom of God. He did NOT go to take part in it, WITH them for enjoyment.  See the distinction?  He also displayed accountability in the situation.  He did not go into this situation alone to build his Church. Too often Christians are going in to take lost ground with good intentions, but they are going into these situations alone and that’s not what Jesus modeled. There are two extremes, and then there is balance. Balance is to proceed with the caution and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was interested in taking whole cities for the Kingdom of God.  This included the cultures music, language, art, dance, etc. There was no distinctions between secular and sacred like we see today… New testament believers couldn’t comprehend such things when Christianity WAS, and still IS a WAY OF LIFE!

Psalms 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and ALL its fullness…”

Is this MY life at all that I’m living or are we all just going through the motions? If serving God is, or never has been, a choice then what’s the point if everything had been decided for your future by peers or parents? Does this make these influences “godly” if they “made” you do right?

But, one day when you do wake up… I would say there is a less to repent of! The only things I had to repent of is allowing others to pressure me to the point of doing things that were not in my heart to do in the first place. I suppose I could wonder about what God “could have” done. But really, I could see him actually doing the same thing but just giving ME time to accept things on my own. Maybe I would have made some mistakes along the way… I guess I wish others had as much faith in me then as I believed my God did. For so many years I didn’t realize how this has caused me to struggle with not “choosing” this path for myself. This is what I repent of… This is an abuse of power in the Body of Christ. Nor is it biblical submission. It’s so important that people KNOW they are choosing to serve God on their own. That they are FREE.

So, the lesson for me here is that we can give our young people advice but I don’t want to pressure them into doing something that is even “right.” It’s my desire that they choose it for themselves…

PS- Note to my children: This does not include your daily chores! Think again!

It seems to me that it is all consuming of both spheres.  God must rule.  I think the abuse that I have seen wasn’t in matter of believing God too much for something in this life but when.  We have to be willing to accept “no” from God.  We have to be willing to accept responsibility when God gives us a shovel and quit waiting “for God” when we are his resource and his hands and feet on this planet.  His Body. 

Yes, there is a beautiful delicate balance how the Body works in sync with it’s Head…

This is what caused the downfall in the garden.  This doctrine teaches the individual that what they speak has to or will comes to pass.  So they focus only on the ”blessing.”  Remember, they are “like God.”  Therefore, they often will not listen to others correction since they see this as “cursing.”  So, it’s difficult for these individuals to face any personal issues without a major crisis first.  

But, God will chastise those he loves…  For God to “get through” to these individuals he usually has to totally distroy their world.  We’ve seen this time and, time again…  The bigger they are, the harder they fall…  It’s so much better to humble ourselves…  to admit we can do nothing…      

I believe in miracles!  I was healed of cancer and I shouldn’t be here!  I will continue to pray for people for miracles…  But, I would never say God HAS TO heal anyone.  God is sovereign. 

I don’t know how many hundreds if not thousands of times I’ve been through sound checks: your spirit is sizzling, your clothes are dazzling, you have your voice ready, your instrument tuned… But no one is going to bless or be blessed unless “they hear” the Sender through “the one who has been sent.” And how can we be sure they can hear unless we go out into their situation in the sanctuary and sit and listen: this is the sound check and it is also sound doctrine- we must be able to discern what is to be said and what is to be heard.

When it comes to sound doctrine checks, I believe we should be our own harshest critic. We need to tear ourselves and our staging down, examine the pieces in the light of Christ and ask Him to rebuild us. Regularly.

This is as true on a wide scale as a local Body, as an individual and on every scale in-between: as a family, in our close discipleship group… Nations, corporations and all institutions do well to follow this principle.

TOGETHER

But, there is only one constructive way to do so: together. If we fail to converse with each other, we stop participating in artistry and become an art critic who can do nothing to alter the work. This is not something for the back board room but for the baptistry: we must publicly profess and corporately confess to release the potential locked up in “having all things in common.” The community of Christ enjoined in continual comely conversation and all forms of communal participation experiences constant invigoration.

Perhaps the frequency of such examination needs not be as great in a larger context as in our moment by moment personal conversation with Christ, but neither should we misconstrue the appearance of the “work of the ministry” as the righteous availing much. Just because something is happening in the Body doesn’t mean something constructive is getting done for the Kingdom of God.

Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
1 Corinthians 11:28-29

Good reason indeed to examine ourselves- and “the body” in the relevant scope of examination. We must know when the telescope and the microscope are appropriate- but I’ll leave that for later.

ARE WE SERIOUS ABOUT EKKLESIA IN KOINONIA?

Just as the first followers of Christ continued house to house daily in the breaking of bread, so also the frequency and fervency of our examination and participation in the Body should be a daily walk through life together. Are we serious about seeking the results of ekklesia in koinonia?

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you -unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” 2 Corinthians 13:5

Can we say Christ is in us when we are wandering around disconnected from His Body? It is for good reason we are commended not to forsake the assembling of ourselves: otherwise we are headless zombies with body parts flailing and lifeless. It has been thus from the beginning…

when God communed with His beloved in the cool of the evening, through the Hebraic pattern of rabbinical walking through promises as commanded in Deuteronomy 6, and in the Christ’s fulfillment of this and all the law.  The constancy of Christ is not found in a momentary or occasional consummation during some weekly quality time, but we function as a body in continual conjugation across the continuum of all of our resources in time and space: “having all things in common” and “house to house.”

When examining the actions and activities of your life and that of your local Body, keep asking why until the answer is “Jesus said…” or “Jesus did…”   Or, if that’s not the answer, then stop it.

BUILDING ON THE LAW AND THE PROPHETs: a GOOD place to begin your self-check

Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets perfectly.  He and His Followers constantly had experiences and conversations in which they examined themselves individually and corporately to the law and prophets; Christ even used the sarcasm and insinuations of the Pharisees to examine – and sometimes cross-examine.

It is the Body now who is carry on in the same manner doing what He commanded and doing what He did that fulfilled what He commanded.  It seems most believers agree with this until it comes to how it was that He fulfilled the Scriptures. After 30 years of sitting with religious believers in many different brands of church institutions, I concluded that I needed to get out and walk with Christ followers. It took another year or two of useless wrangling on Facebook and other social networks for me to reach this conclusion:

The religious believer refuses to accept that how Christ lived is as relevant to their lives as their religious traditions and theological theories.

Seminarians are particularly lost.  It is astounding the volumes of rhetoric that they can produce to obfuscate their rejection of simply following Christ in order to sustain the practices that give them their authority and paychecks.  The Roman Catholics and their progeny- especially those who claim to be Reformers- have now had just as many centuries or more as the Pharisees of Scripture to bind the Body.

Key prophetic phrases from Deuteronomy 6 that precisely predict the life of the first followers of Christ in Acts 2:

• “all the days of your life” = “daily”
• “that it may go well with you” = “having favor with all the people”
• “that you may multiply greatly” = “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved”
• “love the Lord your God all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” = “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

Is it any wonder in the environment of such obedience that Acts 2:43 records this description:

“And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.”

God has given us explicit prophetic instruction in the Old Testament and He has shown us the results in the Gospels and the book of Acts.  Why do we think our “Acts” take precedence over those He has lovingly recorded for us?

RADICAL SIMPLICITY

Is God asking too much of us? Is this really radical?  Or, is it just radically simple and therefore unappealing to the educated? It may seem impossibly radical for those Jesus fans who are just standing around watching.  It is common sense- common spiritual sense- for those who are truly intimate team players with Jesus.

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9

HEY, FANBOY, ISN’t YOUR LIFESTYLE REALLY THE ISSUE?

If we find our seminary sponsored western lifestyle is not conducive to radical discipleship and we decide that we are not willing to change then our expectations of the efficacy of our faith should be curtailed accordingly. Don’t blame Jesus and don’t beat His Bride when she is being misled by blind guides! Her minister has her thinking her marriage is to be one of convenience and not one resulting in oneness conforming to the One and His Way.

Examining me… impacting the body

In light of the gravity of what Paul has said (“light” and “gravity”- how I’d love to take time to talk about the relevance of this phrase to the Kingdoms of this world, space-time, and the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ)… Urgently I come constantly to the task of testing my consistency: I hold my beliefs up to the Light and set to determining what it is I truly believe.

Can I say I believe something if I do not follow it? If I find I do not follow, I must repent before further corrupting the Body and contaminating the fellowship. I do not attempt to describe or pretend to be a perfect person, but I purpose to be a persuadable person not resisting the perfecting process.

Bringing it down to just ONE verse

When I read this next verse I believe it is VERY important to consider it in it’s context to the TRUE believer. I perceive its meaning is only clear and relevant to the true Christ-following believer.

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Romans 10:4

Paul says, “to everyone who believes.” To be clear, this statement and those surrounding and connected to it are addressed to believers- true, obedient, literally following the Christ believers- ones who examine themselves in the way I’ve been describing.

We MUST learn how we are to determine what constitutes being a true believer or we will read Scriptures such as these- nearly all of the epistles- and we will misapply them and remain undiscerning and indiscriminate in wielding the Sword of God’s Word. We will find our expectations will run aground and we will wreck others faith in the process.

Without discernment, I become exasperated by self-proclaimed “believers.” There have been occasions when I literally have stood waiting for such people to pursue Christ- and been left disappointed and bitter. And to those who say I only need an attitude adjustment or a chill pill, I beg you to read on and avoid glossing over where we are commanded to be deeply involved – or, perhaps more painfully, vice versa: we dig into things with people when we should leave them to God and Satan to sort out.

I have discovered that it is no more likely for a merely mentally assenting believer to spontaneously become a follower than for a sports fan to come leaping up from the stands to enter a game in progress- and on the rare occasions I’ve witnessed such a spectacle, they certainly didn’t contribute to the team’s progress and only brought unwanted attention to themselves and, not surprisingly, a foul or injury becomes inevitable: and I am most certainly speaking of the Body of Christ.

With Scripture as our Guide and the Holy Spirit as our Helper, we learn that there is a discernible progression by which the believer joins the Team of Christ. Otherwise, it seems the believing fan is just as likely to start rooting for the wrong team if they don’t like what they see on the field or disagree with what the Coach (a retired Player Himself) is saying.

There are many fans who will clearly just want to be cheerleaders and then there are those who want to wear a uniform but would be quite put out if it were somehow to become soiled. They’d rather just get their jersey autographed and get back to their clean and comfortable life in the stands.

Perhaps I’m taking this analogy a step too far, but in being a fan, or an uninvolved non-participating believer, allows only indirect participation in any blessings the winning team will receive on earth and certainly does not entitle them to any of the season’s winnings, a championship ring or induction into the Hall of Fame. Who notices when a fan retires? But I digress.

WHAT WOULD JESUS SWALLOW?

I have found it helpful to my sanity to learn to differentiate between mentally assenting believers and the following faithful. When I fail to make such a distinction, I can end up in useless conversations, wasting extreme amounts of energy, and eventually burned out and sometimes burned up as the end result. Leaving the ninety-nine applies to sheep, not goats – we are not called to pursue the obstinate bucking animals, but those who have been transformed into meek Christ-followers and yet have encountered a snare or other danger.

To put it plainly, as Jesus always did, we’re exploring with Christ what He described as the difference between wheat and tares, and sheep and goats. Most graphically, we are describing the difference between being Jesus’ puke and being palatable to Him.

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith. 1 John 5:2-4

AMERIDOCEA

I have previously written an essay entitled “Ameridocea” which has since been lost to the vagaries of the ‘net.  Perhaps there are other more generic passages that aptly describe the North American church, but this address by Christ seems to most specifically describe the self-satisfied, “define success for yourself and you always win” American monstrosity masquerading as the Body of Christ:

And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.

15‘ I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”  Revelation 3:14-22

Read Romans 10:14 carefully again- it is vitally important if we are to keep our head in the game and not be distracted by the noise from the stands:

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Who then truly is part of “everyone who believes?” From the earlier analogy, we are NOT talking about a fan of the team. We are not talking about someone who thinks fondly of the coach’s managerial style. This phrase and countless others like it in Scripture addressing “believers” demand discernment on the part of the reader and require insight into the REAL meaning of belief- belief with on-the-field results. Or, to borrow from
James 2:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe-and shudder!
20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”-and he was called a friend of God.
24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Someone might say I am being too harsh- that by being so critical I am
making things too hard on everyone. Can’t we all just get along? Here’s Paul’s advice from 2 Corinthians 13:

14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

Others have objected that we are suggesting that Christ is engaged in spousal abuse, to which I respond that we are only clarifying who the Spouse of Christ is by the bridegroom’s own description and choosing: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” Revelation 3:19

As adopted children of God, we must get this right to move forward- can the team accomplish it’s goals if it doesn’t know who it can count on? How much more important is it just to know who is on the team?

When it comes to Romans 10:14 we have a very important clue for those who are training their minds to be discerning.

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes”

To those fans of Jesus who say this means that the law is ended, we who have more discernment will understand that we must read it in a manner to be reconciled with this statement from 1 John 5: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.”

Keeping these concepts in mind, we can now appreciate this paraphrase of Romans 10:14: “The one who is intimate with Christ knows and experiences in Him the total experience of obedience and fulfillment of the law.”

Looking into the Greek, “the end” is “telos,” which is to say “the ultimate expression” or, as some interpreters unfortunately have chosen, “the end.”  I say “unfortunately,” because countless believers have taken this as an opportunity to pretend they are not subject to the law, and so neither are they availed of the blessings of keeping them.  I have seen utterly lost and confused believers unable to find their way to follow Christ because of this wrong signal – it leads to a rejection of the less palatable aspects of God’s moral law and even of the Ten Commandments themselves.

Ironically, it is precisely those who are in such a state who need the law most desperately to bring them to Christ

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
Galatians 3:24

who has said

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17

I will stop writing for now with this last discourse by Christ. If there was some altar call or word of hope to cling to amongst what is recorded by Luke on this occasion, I would be glad to share it.  But this is a warning for those who will build on the Foundation of Christ:

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.^c49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”  Luke 6:37-49

I think it’s good to get our thoughts down in a “book of rememberance” since it helps our brains not get so full of information.  I feel a little bit better about allowing myself to forget practical information if I can go look it up later if I need it.  At the same time there is so much in my brain that I want to remember to tell our children to help them later in life.  Already I can feel it slipping away as a memory…  For example, things about childbirth, nursing, and toddlers…  now that I don’t have any little ones in these stages if I don’t write these things down soon I don’t think I’m going to remember them much longer.   So, that’s what I’m doing now.  Maybe that’s why I’m dealing with all this surgery now.  God knows me.  If He doesn’t cement my feet to the floor I doubt I would ever do it!  ~Margaret

And yet, perhaps because the simple things of Christ profoundly overturn human thinking and practice, they are ridiculed and rejected by nearly everyone, professing believer and confessing atheist alike.

•• Wherever you find one of man’s systems, you will find a simple truth confounded.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Whatever you are (truly) building, The Cornerstone and The Foundation is Jesus Christ, The Perfect Fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. We each are lively stones built on Him.

At the giving of the Law, God spoke of how we are to lay the Foundation of The Law in Deuteronomy 6. It is clearly stated and repeated for emphasis in the giving of the Law, throughout Scripture and throughout history by enlightened Followers.

•• It is the Apostolic work of parents to lay down the Law in their home.

It is clearly God’s intention that home and family are to be the birthplace of faith and parents are to be the foundation layers. We are to do this as Jesus’ parents’ did, preparing Him to be fully conversant with the Law by the age of 12 and to endure severe temptation and lead men by example by the age of 30.

•• 2 Timothy 3:14-15 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it
15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

There are those who say that the first Christ followers met in homes for lack of other space and persecution. If there was a pack of lies that has done more damage than this to the Body, I’ve yet to encounter it. Did God give birth to His Son at an inopportune time? Did He give birth to His church in a bad spot?

If this persecution/spacecrunch lie is to be believed as valid and then accepted as God’s will for His people, may we experience it once again so that we can begin praising the Lord, that He will “add daily to the church” and so that we can “grow in favor” with our supposed persecutors.

•• Acts 2:47 “…praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Simply read the Bible and set aside the (barely) reformed seminary-born institutions, systems, and hierarchies.

1. Find God’s explicit instructions about perpetuating faith [look for verses regarding giving instruction and parenting],

2. Examine where and how Christ spent His time [how much of His time did He spend discipling by following the pattern of Deuteronomy 6?] and then

3. Follow the Apostles across their known world [how often do we find Follower's gatherings in a building expressly built as a sanctuary with pulpits, pews, etc]

You will see that there is a consistent record from the solemn assemblies of the Old Testament, through the exile and return, and until the last recorded Acts of the Apostles recorded in the epistles: it is one of evangelizing publicly and discipling at home.

God always prepares His ministers to be uniquely gifted for their calling, and so it is that parents are finely tuned instruments in the Master’s hand. To be sure, “having all things in common” and “going house to house” exponentially multiplies and magnifies the importance and impact of collaborative parenting as alluded to in Galatians 4:

“1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything,
2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.”

But a plain reading of Scripture avails us of no other understanding than the direct responsibility of parents to raise up godly seed that can bear fruit and even be transplanted at God’s discretion. God has underscored His priorities when He give this among the qualifications for those who are to be respected as spiritually mature in 1 Timothy 3:

•• 4 “He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive,
5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?”

It appears simple to me- there is one pattern, whether it’s a painfully short time as it was with Moses and Samuel, or a long, painful time as it was with Samson- God has given parents not just the natural ability to -have- children, but also a supernatural giftedness to nurture and admonish them in the way He has foreseen they should go.