Ekklesia #2

28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

After Adam and Eve sinned they were told by God to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth...

After Jesus rose from the dead the mandate on His bride (the Ekklesia) is to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue and rule over again.

People ask me what is the purpose of the church?

Why should we go to church?

We are His Bride, His Ekklesia.

We are called out by name, to experience Him together and be transformed by Him and then sent out and commissioned to bring heaven to earth.

The gathering part is what equips us to go.

What was the first gathering of the Ekklesia?

-Acts 2 in the upper room.

The first gatherings of the Ekklesia were in courtyards of homes and sometimes temples.

Ephesians 1:22–23 (NASB95)

22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

The Ekklesia is the fullness of Him fills all in all.

We are His Body. His body takes action with our feet and hands.

We gather to be transformed by His love and power.

We gather to rule over darkness by brining His Light

We gather to bring His dominion over sickness and death.

We gather to become more His bride and fill the earth with heaven.

The purpose of the church is to:

-Experience Love, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Deliverance, Freedom, Heaven

-Become Love, like Jesus, filled with Holy Spirit, Delivered, Free, Like Heaven

-Give Love, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Deliverance, Freedom, Heaven

What are the core attributes of an authentic Ekklesia?

Acts 2:38–47 (NASB95)

Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

“For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”

So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common;

and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.

Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,

praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

This is the first calling out and gathering of the Jesus’s Ekklesia.

Obviously there is a lot happening at this time.

There are Seven Core Attributes of His Ekklesia.

1.) Repentance

There are many more signs and side effects of the Ekklesia.

Lets talk about the first attribute of the Ekklesia:

Repentance

Repentance = changed mind.

1.) Repentance, Commitment, Born to be loved, repentance or change of mind. Stay at the table, Spirit of the Lord

So many of us need a changed mind.

So many of us need our minds to turn from one way of thinking to Christ’s way of thinking

What is it called to change your mind from a destructive way of thinking to a live giving way of thinking?

-Repentance.

Acts 3:19 NASB95

19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;

Repentance is to return to Truth.

Repentance is to return to connection to God.

So many people are consumed with life and trying to just survive their days and weeks. Sometimes the only time people focus on God is in a church gathering. During that time they often get a sense of hope, love or that God is real. Their mind is being changed because they gathered together.

Stories of Repentance

I remember a man coming to a worship practice that his mom dragged him inside right after he got out of jail.

We all gathered around him and he cried is eyes out. He felt the love of Jesus and gave his life to Jesus.

He later joined that worship team and still to this day loves Jesus.

Stories of football teams were praying together God showed up in a powerful way. People began to confess sins and all there could see Repentance.

People were experiencing the presence of God, The Spirit of the Lord.

People were experiencing being Loved by Jesus.

I have watched people come into ALife over the past 30 years and they have experienced feeling unworthy then all of the sudden they feel the love God.

Those people have gone from feeling alone and unworthy to knowing God is with them and Jesus paid a price of worth for them.

I have personally experienced repentance and changed mind more times than I can count when we come together.

I have experienced the presence of God and it changed how I think about Him and life.

I have experienced Holy Spirit speaking to my heart and that changed my mind.

Playing drums and seeing people get free, Harold challenging us to ask for more of God, Identity Events…

When we gather together around the presence of God our minds are changed by Him.

Do you have an experience where you had a change of heart and mind while gathering together?

How do we get a changed mind?

I can only find two things that lead to repentance in the bible.

Romans 2:4 (NASB95)

4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

Romans 2:4–5 (TPT)

4 Do the riches of his extraordinary kindness make you take him for granted and despise him? Haven’t you experienced how kind and understanding he has been to you? Don’t mistake his tolerance for acceptance. Do you realize that all the wealth of his extravagant kindness is meant to melt your heart and lead you into repentance? 5 But because of your calloused heart and refusal to change direction, you are piling up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.

2 Corinthians 7:10 (ESV)

10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

What two things lead us to repentance?

God’s Kindness

Godly Grief

In my personal experience I have not seen much kindness used to help people mind be changed.

I have seen people use anger, reactions, and strong judgments to try and change people’s minds.

At best these reactionary ways of doing things change behavior of people but not their minds.

Example:

Jesus knew Peter was going to deny Him.

Did Jesus try to change His mind with force or correction?

Did Jesus get angry at Peter?

Did Jesus shame Peter to get Him to see he needed to change.

No, No, No...

Jesus let Peter make the mistake.

Jesus watched as Peter grieved.

Jesus came in and showed kindness and trust at the beach when He made him breakfast and told him to take care of His sheep.

Godly Grief

Worldly Grief

Paul wrote a letter that brought grief to the church of Corinth.

2 Corinthians 7:8–9 (ESV)

8 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. 9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

Godly Grief = conviction in heart of intent or action

Worldly Grief = grieved or sad about a loss.

Have you ever heard someone say they were sorry but you knew they were just sorry they lost something.

God’s Kindness

Human Kindness

God’s kindness can be harsh in nature yet it still produces conviction and feels like hard love.

God’s kindness can be kind words when you are using harsh words towards yourself or others.

Human kindness looks kind and sounds good to the ears but is not true.

Human kindness tries to make someone feel better not bring a changed mind.

What is true confession?

Is confession something like: I lied today, I cheated on my test, I stole this from my friend?

Or is confession something more?

I propose and can back up with evidence that confession is something more than surface truths. Confession is identifying the belief behind the actions you took. More specifically confession is identifying the lie or false identity you believe behind the destructive actions.

Confession = not to deny, to profess one’s self

Repentance = changed mind.

Healed = to make whole.

Confession: G3670

Confession = to say the same thing as another, not to deny, declare, to profess, to declare openly, speak out freely, to profess one’s self the worshipper of one, to praise, celebrate.

To confess sin is to say what you believe about God and yourself that is not truth. Holy Spirit is the one who searches your heart and helps you see the lies. Confession invites Holy Spirit to heal, which leads you to a changed mind.

To repent is to change your mind.

Confess the truth of what has been off in your life.

Repentance is to replace lies you’ve believed with truth.

Start by being honest with what you know is not right.

Confession is getting to the truth behind the symptoms that are not true. This is a very healing process to let beliefs (most of the time subconscious) about who you are and who God is come to the surface.

Confession is exposing the identity you have been operating out of.

Confession is telling the truth about the lies you believe about yourself and God.

Let go of lies that don’t reflect what God says is true.

Lies Like:

“I need to be more like someone else,”

“I don’t have anything to offer,”

“Being confident will make me prideful and selfish,”

“I have to make people happy”

“I need to provide to be a good man”

Behind each of these lies is an ‘I am’ statement that is your false identity.

“I am who others say I am.”

“I am not enough,”

Behind each of your lie is an ‘I am’ or a one’s self statement that is your false identity. “I am who others say I am.” “I am not enough.” . . .

Confess sin is to say what you believe about God and yourself that is not Truth. Holy Spirit is the one who searches your heart and helps you see the lies.

To Repent is to change our mind.

We then confess the Truth of who we are true identity in Christ.

Activation:

Confess a lie you have been believing about yourself or God.

Give those lies to Jesus and ask for your mind to be changed.

If He tells you Truth then speak that out loud.

Closing

If you see a group of people where repentance is happening, then that is an Authentic Ekklesia.

If you see or if we are a group of people where Repentance never happens, then we are not an Authentic Ekklesia.

Other Resources:

Repentance:

Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon 3341 μετάνοια

3341 μετάνοια [metanoia /met·an·oy·ah/] n f. From 3340; TDNT 4:975; TDNTA 636; GK 3567; 24 occurrences; AV translates as “repentance” 24 times. 1 a change of mind, as it appears to one who repents, of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done.

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.(James 5:16)

Matthew 18:17 NASB95

17 “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Colossians 1:18 NASB95

18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

Ephesians 1:20–23 NASB95

20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon 1577 ἐκκλησία

1577 ἐκκλησία [ekklesia /ek·klay·see·ah/] n f. From a compound of 1537 and a derivative of 2564; TDNT 3:501; TDNTA 394; GK 1711; 118 occurrences; AV translates as “church” 115 times, and “assembly” three times. 1 a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly. 1A an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council for the purpose of deliberating. 1B the assembly of the Israelites. 1C any gathering or throng of men assembled by chance, tumultuously. 1D in a Christian sense. 1D1 an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting. 1D2 a company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order’s sake. 1D3 those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are united into one body. 1D4 the whole body of Christians scattered throughout the earth. 1D5 the assembly of faithful Christians already dead and received into heaven.

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