What is the purpose?
God put us here with a purpose - the purpose to change the world with the good news of Jesus. This must be done in community. We are here to be part of that community - to bring together people who share the vision of disciples who make disciples who plant churches. This is about ordinary people being used by God in extraordinary ways. This is the priesthood of all believers in action!
How will we accomplish that?
Educate biblically - our actions must be grounded in scripture.
Train skills - Hands on training in skills that can change lives.
Connect - through the community tab, the comments, and social media
What will it look like?
Mobilizing everyday Christians.
Learning and being trained here to go out and put it into practice where you live.
The time to activate everyday believers to be world changers through the power of the Spirit is NOW!
Thanks for being here. I love and appreciate each and every one of you.
- Matt
Revolution of Ordinaries
We have it easy compared the how hard unity was in the first century.
A first century Jewish person had a specific view of Gentiles and Samaritans.
Gentiles, because they were often sexually immoral, pagan idolators.
Samaritans, because their family history went back to the exile and those Jewish people who stayed in the land who intermarried with Gentiles who were imported in Israel from other nations by the Babylonians. They were seen as traitors and that is why in John 4 there is so much disdain demonstrated by the disciples for them...and just how stunning that the Samaritan woman becomes the first "missionary" of the gospel - going to the city to tell everyone about who she met!
Remember Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10?
"27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?” - 10:27-29
There was an idea that association and contact could lead to being unclean or bringing shame on yourself.
There was a prayer Jewish men would pray that went like this,
"Blessed are you, Hashem, our God and king of the world, who did not make me a Gentile. Blessed are you Hashem, our God and king of the world, who did not make me a slave. Blessed are you, Hashem, our God and king of the world, who did not make me a woman."
Hashem means "the name" and is a euphamism to keep them from blasphemy.
This is why Paul wrote the following in Galatians 3:26-29,
"26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."
Remember Acts 15...after Peter and Cornelius and how Peter had baptized uncircumcised Gentiles because the Holy Spirit had shown no favoritism with them?
They had a big meeting of the leaders as to what to do about this and they determined to not force circumcision on Gentile converts but that they were to abide by some specific rules,
"You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things." - 15:29
Why these rules?
Two reasons: 1) because if you look these up in the Torah you will see all of these rules applied to the "alien and stranger living among you" - that these already applied to the Gentiles...and 2) because these things were associated with pagan idolatry.
Pagan idolatry was a deal breaker because people were unclean and not to be associated with.
This kept a separation between Jew and Gentile and in the OT, the only way to bridge the gap was for a Gentile to take on the identifying markers of Judaism (Kosher, Sabbath, circumcision and holy days). And that was quite the ask, especially for the men!
So what you had was a HUGE chasm dividing Jew and Gentile and no one really had a good way of bridging that gap until Jesus came and the Holy Spirit came.
You see the problem in Romans where the Jews had been expelled from Rome via the edit of Claudius in 49AD (mentioned in Acts 18:2). That meant the young church in Rome lost their founders/leaders and that meant the ex-pagan Gentile converts were left to lead the church. This went on for 5 years when in 54AD Claudius died, the edicts expired and the Jews were allowed to return to Rome. Guess what the Christian Jews found when they got home? Ex-pagan Gentiles running the churches! And they didn't like it.
Stop for a minute and go read Romans 1-3 with this in mind and all kinds of lightbulbs will come on - chapter 1 = the Gentiles are messed up...chapter 2 = the Jewish Christians are messed up, leading up to 3:23 - for all have sinned and fallen short! Now that all makes sense...he was leveling the field, removing the pride and bringing them together in his opening chapters!
Here is my point.
We get divided over if we have one cup or many cups...kitchens or no kitchens...Sunday school or no Sunday school.
It looks absurd compared to what I just described above...and here is the amazing thing! God united the ununitable in the first century!
And He can do it again today!
They struggled to love each other...and I believe we are still struggling with that today.
What can we do?
Pray! Pray for unity and ask God to use us to make it happen.
Fast - beg God for direction, beg God for help, beg God in repentance for whatever role we have played in fanning the flames of division.
Spend time with each other...get to know each other...listen and learn and love!
This will not be easy but God has done harder things than help a Baptist get along with a church of Christ person! We are not that far apart...certainly not like what they lived out in the New Testament!
29 minutes ago | [YT] | 2
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Revolution of Ordinaries
Our Home Church Resources minisry is putting out weekly live training webinars. You can catch the first two trainings on prayer and bible study on that channel. We just kicked off a training series on discipleship last night...catch lesson 1 of that series here as well - youtube.com/@homechurchresources
13 hours ago | [YT] | 3
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Revolution of Ordinaries
Finding others in home churches can be difficult. There are online directories but they go out of date and most home church people prefer to not advertise their home address online.
So what do you do?
I want to help connect you to other home church people, if you are part of a home church or lead a home church.
I have created an online community that will put you in a group with others who live in your state and are involved in home churches. This will help you find each other, collab, encourage and pray together.
This is brand new so it is going to take a minute for things to hit critical mass and conversations and the praying to get traction.
Here is the link - discord.gg/nzpca4PaA
1 day ago | [YT] | 3
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Revolution of Ordinaries
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they haven't studied.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they disagree with God - I know, I know...easy to get those confused, right?
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean you need to end the relationship. Do all your relationships hinge on perfect alignment?
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they hate God.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't automatically mean you are right and they are wrong.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they have left Jesus behind.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean you need to take it personally.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't give you the right to be mean spirited or hateful toward them. Sure, you might feel threatened but your reaction might be worse than the issue disagreed upon.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they are compromising the truth.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they haven't prayed about it.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they are less committed to Scripture.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean their motives are bad.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they are trying to deceive people.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they are your enemy.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean you have nothing to learn from them.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean you have to convince them today. Our views take time to develop.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they deserve a label instead of a conversation.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean the Holy Spirit isn't at work in their life.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean you are seeing every passage or every issue correctly.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean humility is no longer required of you.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean love becomes optional.
What would you add?
1 day ago | [YT] | 16
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Revolution of Ordinaries
This may be the biggest mistake most traditional churches and families who attend them have made over the last 50 years. Do you agree? Why or why not?
Also...if you do disciple your own kids, what advice would you give everyone else?
https://youtu.be/lMjNlwE6xPM
1 day ago | [YT] | 1
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Revolution of Ordinaries
A live webinar series on discipleship launches tonight at 7pm central! Come and learn the biblical foundations for discipleship, ask your questions and be encouraged!
You can rsvp here and/or just join at 7pm - home-church-resources.circle.so/c/live-training-we…
1 day ago | [YT] | 2
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Revolution of Ordinaries
I hope you have an amazing Sunday! Find someone to encourage today!
"What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. " - 1 Cor 14:26
"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." - Heb 10:24-25
3 days ago | [YT] | 19
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Revolution of Ordinaries
If you love God and love the Bible...this is for you. Here are a dozen things that can help you come to a deeper understanding of the Bible. These are things I wish someone had told me years before I learned them.
What tips would you give to those reading the comments?
https://youtu.be/fWkXgmF0--0
5 days ago | [YT] | 4
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Revolution of Ordinaries
We got used to the church doing things for us. Here's the truth - No one is going to do it for you...
No one can be obedient for you. No one can confess for you.
Jesus said to go and make disciples. The church can't make disciples for you so that you can say it is getting done.
The "one another" passages (love one another, be kind to one another, forgive one another) cannot be done by proxy via the congregation either.
The "church" cannot create unity for you.
All of this could also be said of the elders or the preacher or the "pastor".
We got so used to churches that programmized the work so that it feels like we are doing something when the truth is they are doing something. If you aren't doing it, you aren't doing it.
What does this mean practically?
Three things come to mind: 1) Don't wait around on other to do the things God called you to do, 2) talking about it may feel like doing something but it really isn't (it is a start but not a solution) and 3) get to work!
What can you commit to do to be part of the solution by living out what God called you to do?
6 days ago | [YT] | 22
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