Chapter 01 - What the Early Church Was Like

The Early Church

Matthew 16:18 says this.

And I say also to you, That you are Peter the little stone, but upon this huge rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell will not be able to stand against it.

Acts 2:46 and 47 says,

And they continued to unite together daily in the temple and had meals in the homes, eating their food with great joy and unity of heart,
Continually praising God, and having favor with every person. And the Lord grew the church daily with the addition of new people who were being saved.

They were just having parties and times of celebration in the presence of the Lord. So how were people getting saved? Because people found out about it. They saw a church that was God’s kind of church, and they said,

“I would like to be part of that.”

Before you knew it, they were saying,

“How can I become a real part of it?”

That was easy. You just had to accept the Lord as your Savior and get saved.

There didn’t seem to be any big evangelistic services and meetings. They had one on the day of Pentecost. But after that, all they did was get together and worship in the temple. They had their meals together and just fellowshiped together in the Lord.

Agape Love

Then in John 13:34 and 35, Jesus says this.

I am giving you a new commandment: That you should continue to [agape] love one another; to the same degree that I have [agape] loved you, so you should also continue to [agape] love one another.
By this will all [men] know that you are my disciples, if you have [agape] love one for another.

I put the word agape into the GBM version so you can see what kind of love it is. It’s not just any old love, like when you say,

“I love my dog.”

Love has become so commonplace. You might say,

“I just love that kind of food.”

No, this is agape love. This is a sacrificial love; a love that gives.

Finding the Perfect Church

So I would like to ask you this question. What does the perfect church look like? Have you found one yet? You may speak to many people and say,

“So, what church do you belong to?”

“Well, I’m actually between churches at the moment.”

Usually, when we hear that, we know it’s probably a Prophet who is saying it. The Prophets can’t fit in anywhere. They are too outspoken. They say what they see, and nobody wants to hear that.

We will be looking at that more as we go on. We will look at how we should minister correctly.

Well, what does that perfect church look like? What kind of church does God want, and what kind of church is Jesus coming for?

I mean, He is making a lot of effort to come and receive the church. And when He arrives, what is He looking for? I’ve heard preachers through the years who say,

“If you’re not ready when He comes, you’ll be left behind in the rapture.”

What is he looking for you to be ready for? What does ready look like to the Lord?

What the Church Is

Let’s look quickly at the church. What exactly is the church? We all have ideas. Catholics think,

“Catholicism is the church.”

Usually, it’s that place down the road that we sometimes go to. But we need to understand how God sees the church before we can make one that looks like what He wants.

Two or More Believers

Firstly, the church is the gathering of two or more believers. At each meeting during the Pastoral Conference, we were a church. We all came from different places around the world, but in Christ we were a church.

There were more than two of us gathered together in His name, and that means it was a church. So, I hope that during our time together, we found something that looks like God’s kind of church.

I also hope that by the time everyone left, they said,

“It was really great belonging to that church. I’d like to go back again sometime.”

Two Kinds of Churches

There are two kinds of churches. We have the Universal Church and the Local Church. The Universal Church is composed of believers everywhere. It is the entire Body of Christ.

God calls people to minister in the Universal Church. And especially as we look at the Fivefold Ministry, many of the Fivefold Ministries are called to minister in the Universal Church.

Apostles and Prophets, especially, can travel around all over the world, stand up, and speak for the Lord. It doesn’t matter which church they are in. It is part of the Universal Church, and their authority extends to the Universal Church.

A Prophet can stand up and give a prophetic word in a church in another part of the globe, with a different culture and people of a different race, that is totally different from his own church. But he stands in an authority to minister to the Universal Church.

But that’s not the church where we live. The church where we live is called the Local Church. And that’s where some believers are gathered together in one place, in a location. So, when we talk about church, we usually mean the Local Church.

You might say to someone,

“What church do you belong to? What church do you go to?”

They might say, “I go to this church.”

Everybody has their fancy names. But I’ve yet to have people even remember our name. We are Global Business Ministries, but people say,

“Global Ministries something.”

They call us all sorts of things. You see, people are not looking for an organization. They’re looking for people that they can relate to. And inevitably, if you ask somebody what church they go to, they will say something like,

“I go to Pastor Les’s church.”

It is often circumscribed by the leader of their church, right? Most of what we’re going to discuss about the church will refer to the Local Church.

You can get away with a lot when you go to the Universal Church because people don’t know you. But in the Local Church, it’s like family.

They know you. They have sometimes watched you grow up. They’ve seen you lose your temper and act very unchristian like. And their attitude towards you changes. It makes it very difficult, doesn’t it?

A Close Knit Body

The church is the spiritual body of Christ. And Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 12:27.

Now you are the body of Christ, and all separate members.

What is a member? It’s a member of the body: a finger, hand, nose, mouth, or eye. We are all separate members. And again, using the allegory of the body, Paul says the body should flow together as one.

In 1 Corinthians 12:25 and 26, he says,

That there should be no division in the body; but [that] the members should have the same care for one another. 
And if one member suffers, all the members suffer together; or [if] one member is honored, all the members rejoice together.

Do you see this in the visible church? No, the moment a person goes under and starts to suffer, people say,

“Serves him right. He was so arrogant. He thought he was a big shot. He thought he could run the roost here and tell us what to do. Now look at him. He’s in trouble. Yeah, serve him right!”

You kick the dog when he’s down.

You might say, “I don't do things like that.”

Recognition Or Not

When you start moving into ministry, it gets worse. Because you see, this other guy gets promoted. He gets given an office in the church, and he’s allowed to do things that you’re not allowed to do.

His name gets mentioned, but you say,

“Me? I’m just the dog’s body. What am I here for? Nobody even notices me.”

That is, until I decide I have a ministry, like sweeping the churchyard or something. Then the pastor says,

“That’s your calling, brother! Yes, you are of use to us. We can give you recognition for that.”

You say, “But, how about I have a turn to stand behind the pulpit this Sunday and preach?”

The smile disappears, and he says,

“You’re not serious, are you? You want me to give you my pulpit that I spent years preparing for, studying for, and qualifying for?

And imagine if you preach better than me. What would the people think? I can’t have you detracting from my leadership. I can’t have people saying,

You know what? That guy really speaks well. You should get him to preach more often. So what’s wrong with mine?”

Human nature comes right in there, doesn’t it?

No Automatic Spiritual Healing

You see, the natural body heals itself automatically. When you cut a finger, the whole body rallies together. You don't even realize it, but your whole body gets involved there.

All the blood corpuscles and everything flow together to get working on healing that wound. And you didn't even need to think.

“Blood platelets, we need you here. Can you just get to that location on the finger, please?”

No, it happens automatically, even while you’re sleeping.

But now we come to the church, which is meant to be the Body of Christ. Somebody gets wounded in the church, and what does the rest of the Body do? Do they say,

“Let’s rally around and fix him.”

No, they say, “He deserves what he got. He was arrogant. He was always shouting his mouth off and thinking he was such a big shot. Serve him right.”

Until that happens to you. Then you say,

“That’s different. I’m important.”

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