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What is the scriptural blueprint for how a church should be structured? Is our current model of church structure even close? In this teaching we will be delving into the church model of operation both in our current world and understanding and the the scriptural model of how a church should be structured. So join us as we learn the God Honest Truth on the subject. https://godhonesttruth.com/wp/2023/05/19/a-biblical-model-of-church-god-honest-truth-live-stream-05-19-2023/
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What is the scriptural blueprint for how a church should be structured? Is our current model of church structure even close? In this teaching we will be delving into the church model of operation both in our current world and understanding and the the scriptural model of how a church should be structured. So join us as we learn the God Honest Truth on the subject. https://godhonesttruth.com/wp/2023/05/19/a-biblical-model-of-church-god-honest-truth-live-stream-05-19-2023/
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Tonight's talk is about the biblical model of church. The current church structure is compared to the model presented in scriptures. The Catholic model has a pope at the top, followed by cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, and then the laity. Protestant churches have a similar structure with various pastors and ministers. In small churches, there is usually a head pastor, deacons, and Sunday school teachers. The Moses model is often referred to, where Moses set up a leadership structure with rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Yeshua is seen as the prophet like Moses and the high priest. He is our mediator between Yahweh and man. There is no need for an intermediary like Moses or a priest. Yeshua is the head of the assembly and the husband is the head of the wife. The local congregation has elders who should be blameless, able to teach, not greedy, and rule their own house well. Deacons are servant So like I said, tonight's talk is going to be all about the biblical model of church. We're going to go over some things about current church structure and models and going back and looking at the church model as it was presented to us from the scriptures as well. If you would like to see the notes that we have taken, you can go to godhonesttruth.com, click on that post for a biblical model of church, or you can go right down below and click on the direct link to the post itself. And that doesn't matter if you're watching on video or even if you're watching through one of the audio podcast platforms, it should be right down there in the description below. There on that post at godhonesttruth.com, you'll be able to find the on-demand video starting tomorrow morning, Saturday morning. You'll also be able to find these Drosh slides as well. And with tonight's posting and tonight's Drosh, you'll also be able to find the notes that we took for the study on this subject. So make sure you go check that out. It's at godhonesttruth.com or in the link down below in the description. So with that being said, let's go ahead and get started. And to begin things off with, we're going to take just a real, real quick look at the current structure of, well, a lot of churches nowadays, whether that be Protestant, Catholic, or what have you. Now, if we look at the Catholic structure, this is really where it kind of all began, the way we know of it anyways. But anyways, the way it quickly became to be, at least in the context of history, is that you have a pope at the very top, and under the pope, you have various cardinals. Under them, you have various archbishops, and then you have various bishops, and then you have various priests, obviously. That's pretty much who most people are familiar with, besides the pope, obviously. And then, of course, at the very bottom, you have the regular people, or the laity, as the term goes. Now with Protestant churches, it can somewhat be very, very similar. I looked up a, what could be called a megachurch here locally. I'm not going to say their name, because I'm not intending to pick on them. This is just an example of what a lot of large churches have in ways of leadership. Okay? You start out with the lead pastor, go to the pastor of college ministries, the finance pastor, the production minister, the central facility and security pastor, executive pastor of next-gen ministries and residency, whatever that is. Pastor and engagement pastor, central worship pastor, lead missions pastor, mature adult and pastoral care pastor, executive pastor of discipleship and engagement, executive pastor of creative ministries, central student pastor, and on and on. I just listed out the ones they had listed with the name pastor in the title. There's lots more that was on that page as far as their staff goes. But this is, wow, yeah. But just keep all this in mind from the church, I mean, the Catholic model to like a large Protestant church model, and then you even get down to the small church model, which is where I was, you know, born and raised and came up in the small church Baptist flavor. But you have something like a head pastor or preacher, or just the pastor, there may not be more than one pastor. And pastor, preacher, reverend, whatever you want to call them. Then you would have something like a few deacons down below him. Then also you would have sometimes the choir leader or worship leader. And then you would also have your Sunday school teachers as well. That's for small churches, okay? Now after all these that we went over, the Catholic model, the large church Protestant model, and small church model, keep all this in mind as we go through scriptures on the church model and see what it is that lines up with scripture and what doesn't line up with scripture. Now, when you talk about church models and the way church hierarchy is structured, a lot of people will automatically appeal to Moses and say they're following the Moses model. So, let's take a look at that real quick and see what the Moses model was and what they're referring to. As we all know, Moses, or Moshe, led the people of Israel and the mixed multitude, don't forget that, out of Egypt through the wilderness and Moses made it all the way up to the borders of the promised land but didn't get to go in. But anyways, he led them out of Egypt and through the wilderness. And while he was doing that, there came a point where he had to set up some kind of structure, leadership structure, right? And this is what they're talking about when they talk about the Moses model. Look at 8, I'm sorry, Exodus 18, 13 through 26, and it came to be on the next day that Moshe sat to rightly rule the people and the people stood before Moshe from morning until evening. And when the father-in-law of Moshe saw all that he did for the people, he said, what is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit by yourself and all the people stand before you from morning until evening? What you are doing is not good. Both you and these people with you shall certainly wear yourselves out, for the matter is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it by yourself. Seek out from all the people able men who fear Elohim, men of truth, hating unfair game, and place these over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And it shall be that they bring every great matter to you, but they themselves rightly rule every small matter. So make it lighter for yourself, for they shall bear with you. And Moshe chose able men out of all Yisrael and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they rightly ruled the people at all times. The hard matters they brought to Moshe, but they rightly ruled every small matter themselves. So, when these modern churches, preachers, Pope even, might appeal to the Moses model, saying as the leader of their church or their congregation or what have you, they have to have people under them like Moses did to help divide up the workload, right? And this is what they're appealing to. So, keep that in mind as we go forth because this is going to be, it's going to be important. It's going to fit in with the way everything comes about here. Now, directly after this, we are told about the coming prophet, the coming Messiah. Deuteronomy 18.15, Yahweh your Elohim shall raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brothers. Listen to him. So, Moses himself says that Yahweh will raise up a prophet like him, like Moses, from amongst their brothers, or from amongst our brothers actually. And again, Deuteronomy 18.17-19, And Yahweh said to me, what they have spoken is good. I shall raise up for them a prophet like you out of the midst of their brothers, and I shall put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And it shall be the man who does not listen to my words, which he speaks in my name, I require it of him. And then et cetera, et cetera, right? There's all sorts of prophecies about the coming Messiah and this person like Moses that Yahweh is going to raise up from amongst the people. And Yeshua fit every single prophecy from the Tanakh. That's how we know, or one of the ways we know that Yeshua was that promised Messiah. Now, even in the Brit Hadashah, it reconfirms these things we just read in the Tanakh. In Acts 7.37, this is the Moshe who said to the children of Israel, Yahweh your Elohim shall raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers, him you shall hear. So, Yeshua was prophesied to be a prophet like Moshe from among the people, and he was a prophet like Moshe in more ways than one. This is confirmed multiple places, but we'll start out with John 1.45. Philip found Nethanel and said to him, we have found him, I'm sorry, we have found him who Moshe wrote of in the Torah and the prophets, Yeshua of Nazareth, the son of Yosef. And again, John 4.19, the woman said to him, master, I see that you are a prophet. This is the woman at the well. Again, confirming that he is a prophet. They saw that during their time. Again, John 6.13-14, so they gathered them and filled 12 baskets with broken pieces of the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten. Then the men, having seen the sign that Yeshua did, said, this is truly the prophet who is coming to the world, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Over and over again, Yeshua is confirmed as a prophet amongst other things, but he's confirmed as a prophet and the prophet like Moses that was foretold. So, we've got that down pat so far. Now, let's start taking a look at the scriptural model. We've learned about the current church model, which we're all probably familiar with. We learned about what's referred to as the Moses model and how Yeshua was the prophet that was foretold of, that was going to be a prophet like Moshe. Now, let's take a look at Hebrews 2.17. So, in every way, he had to be made like his brothers in order to become a compassionate and trustworthy high priest in matters related to Elohim, to make atonement for the sins of the people. Yeshua, our high priest, again, Hebrews 4.14-15. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Yeshua, the son of Elohim, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has tried in all respects, as we are, apart from sin. Okay? So, another aspect of Yeshua, he is now our high priest in the heavens. There's no priesthood here on earth, at least not currently. But we have a high priest in the heavens, and that is Yeshua. Yeshua, our high priest, and the promised prophet like Moshe. So, what does all this have to do with each other? Well, stay tuned. It's all going to come together in fit. Hebrews 5.4-10. And no one obtains this esteem for himself, but he who is called by Elohim, even as Aaron also was. So also the Messiah did not extol himself to become high priest, but it was he who said to him, you are my son, today I have brought you forth. As he also says in another place, you are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. And having been perfected, he became the causer of everlasting deliverance to all those obeying him, having been designated by Elohim a high priest, according to the order of Melchizedek. So again, just reiteration that Yeshua is our high priest. And again, I just want to reiterate this for what's coming up in here in just a minute. That Yeshua is the prophet like Moses, and he is our high priest. Those are two aspects that are going to fit in here in just a moment. Let's look at another aspect real quick. First Timothy 2.5. For there is one Elohim and one mediator between Elohim and men, the man Messiah Yeshua. So, Yeshua is now our mediator between Yahweh and man. Do you know who once filled that role? Moses. Let's look at Exodus 20, 18 through 19. And all the people saw the thunders, the lightning flashes, the voice of the shofar, and the mountain smoking. And the people saw it, and they trembled and stood at a distance and said to Moshe, Moshe, you speak with us and we hear, but let not Elohim speak with us, lest we die. So, the people were afraid of the glory and the majesty and the power and just everything that was going on of Yahweh. So, they said, we don't want to deal with that. We're afraid. We'll deal with you, Moses. You go deal with Yahweh and then come back and tell us what Yahweh instructs. So, Moses was the mediator. So, not only is Yeshua our high priest now, and not only is Yeshua the prophet like Moses, but he's also the mediator like Moses as well. So, that's the third aspect we're looking at right here too. Okay. Now, it's all going to start coming into play. 1 Corinthians 11, 3. Now, I wish you to know that the head of every man is the Messiah and the head of woman is the man and the head of Messiah is Elohim. Okay. So, we do not go through a priest now to get to Yahweh or even to Yeshua. Okay. We go directly to Yeshua and go to Yahweh through Yeshua. He is our mediator. That's what scripture just told us. Okay. We don't have Moses to go through. We don't have a high priest in the temple. We don't even have a Catholic priest or a pastor or a preacher that we have to go through. We go directly to Yeshua because it says Yeshua is our head, our authority. Okay. Here it says that Yeshua is the head of man, right? I wish you know that the head of every man is the Messiah. And it also says that the head of woman is the man. Check out the wordplay here in Ephesians 5.23. Because the husband is the head of the wife as also the Messiah is head of the assembly and he is savior of the body. See how these two verses kind of link up where originally what we read in the last verse is that Yeshua is the head of man and man is the head of the wife. Here we see that Messiah is the head of the assembly and also that the husband is the head of the wife. This is another wordplay that comes in when you read through scripture about Messiah being the bridegroom and we as the assembly, as the body of Yeshua, we are presented as the bride, right? So it just makes sense that Yeshua would have authority over us directly because we are his bride just as a husband would have authority over his wife and there's no in between. There's no intermediary. The same thing is true for Yeshua and the assembly, the bridegroom and the bride. So you've got that direct relationship there. So what about the structure of a local congregation, local church, local assembly, whatever you want to call it? What does that kind of look at? Sorry, what does that kind of look like? Well, we start to see this in James 5, 14. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly and let them pray over him having anointed him with oil in the name of the master. Now here I want you to take real good note of what it's saying here. It says it in a lot of the other verses we're going to look at as well, but you'll notice the word elders is in the plural. It's not speaking about a one man leader at the top of the pyramid, whether it's a pope, a preacher, a priest, or what have you. Here it's saying that if, in this instance, if any of you are sick, let them go to the elders, okay, congregation or a group of elders that were leading the local congregations, right? So we'll get into more of that in just a minute because it's now starting all to come into play. But what about the qualifications for an elder? In 1 Timothy 3, 2-5, it states, an overseer, sometimes translated as bishop or elder, then should be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, sensible, orderly, kind to strangers, able to teach, not given to wine, no brawler but gentle, not quarrelsome, no lover of silver, one who rules his own house well, having his children in subjection with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how shall he look after the assembly of Elohim? Now, again, it says an overseer, not the overseer, right? But also notice that this elder or someone who wishes to be one of the elders should have all these qualifications, right? He should be sober, not given to wine. He shouldn't be stirring up trouble, not being a brawler. Should be gentle, should be able to teach. And this is kind of where the notion of elder comes in. Someone who is mature, especially in the Word. Not necessarily in physical age, but definitely mature in the Word. Knowing the scriptures, knowing some history, knowing how to accurately apply that through wisdom to guide and to teach. And one of the qualifications here is able to teach. Some people aren't given the gift of teaching, and that's fine. We're all given different gifts. Some people are, and this is one of the qualifications of a elder. Now, yep, also not greedy, that's another important thing. I mean, how many televangelists do you see constantly asking for money, right? And you see them living big, lavish lifestyles, driving big, lavish cars, fancy clothes, all kinds of stuff. And most of their congregation is not anywhere close to that, nor are the people that they're helping, okay? Scripture says that anyone who is an elder, overseer, bishop, however you want to translate it, that they should not be greedy of gain, right? No lover of silver. And someone who's not quarrelsome as well, who's not going around arguing with people. But definitely keep in mind those who are able to teach. I would add willing and able to teach, but I don't want to add to Scripture. So, these are the qualifications of a elder, or bishop, or overseer. There's also a second group of people that Scripture talks about as well. These are called deacons, or what most people refer to as deacons, 1 Timothy 3, 8 through 10. Likewise, attendants, sometimes translated as deacons or servant-leaders, are to be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy or filthy of gain, holding to the secret of the belief with a clean conscience, and let these also be proved first, then let them serve if they are un-reprovable. Now, one thing that stands out right here, maybe it's just for me, but maybe one thing you noticed as well is that the ability to teach was not in the list of qualifications here for deacons. Okay, that falls on the group of elders. But deacons are a role and a position of authority for a group of elders. But deacons are a role and a position within the church structure, within the church model. Interestingly enough, this word deacon here, which is Strong's G1249, is translated in other ways as well. It's also translated as minister or servant, which kind of gives you an idea of one of the main roles of both deacons and elders, okay, is they are there to serve, not lord over, not rule, but to serve. And this goes right along with the teachings of Yeshua. We'll be getting into some of those in just a minute too. But this thought was interesting that deacon is translated only, I'm sorry, the word is only translated as deacon three times in the King James, but as servant eight times. And then minister 20 times. So going on to Acts 20, 28, it says, therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the set-apart spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the assembly of Elohim, which he has purchased with his own blood. Notice again that the word overseers or elders, however you want to translate it, is in the plural. Again, it's not just a one-person show. Also notice that it's talking about the overseers as shepherds, right? Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, kind of giving that word picture there about how overseers or elders are supposed to teach and guide. Nothing about ruling or lording over. Again, Acts 14, 23. And having appointed elders in every assembly, having prayed with fasting, they committed them to the master in whom they had believed. Again, in the plural, elders. Acts 20, 17. And from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the assembly. Again, in the plural. Acts 16, 4. And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the regulations to keep which were decided by the emissaries and elders at Jerusalem. Now here it says both emissaries and elders, both in the plural. Who are the emissaries? Well, the emissaries are what we would refer to as the apostles, right? Apostle Paul, Peter, et cetera, et cetera. The elders were some of the rest of the 12 who didn't really go out like Paul did, right? But this is calling them the emissaries and the elders from what they had just decided previously in Acts 15, right? In the very previous chapter. And if you remember, what they decided there was that new converts were not to be bombarded with everything and it's not, right? But they were to abstain from blood, from whoring, from things strangled, right? And from idols. Whoring, things strangled, from blood, from idols. And then go to the temple or congregation every Shabbat where Moshe is read, meaning where the Tanakh is read. So, they learned gradually by and by. This was a group decision. That's why it says, the things decided by the emissaries and elders. It wasn't just one pope there issuing decrees and bulls. It was a group decision about what was going on and what to tell new converts. Which is an example for us. Which is an example for us. So, why didn't they have just one person making all these decisions? Well, they did have one person. They had Yeshua, like we have Yeshua. But the next level down after Yeshua is the congregation. Not a pope, not a pastor, not a preacher. The congregation. The emissaries or apostles and elders here, as we see in this passage, in our day and time, as the elders of the congregation, right? Not just run by one person. Titus 1.5, the reason I left you in Crete was that you should straighten out what was left undone and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. Again, the word elders is in plural, not singular. This is big, okay? Get this in your head, okay? It's in plural. There's not one place in all the scriptures that I can find, if there is, you know, write me and let me know. But there's not one place in scripture I can find where there is an example of after the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua, after he ascended into heaven, became the high priest in the heavens, that now I cannot find one instance after that where scripture talks about one person being in charge over the congregation. Would that be over the congregation of a house church, over the congregation of a group of house churches or churches, or even one person over all of the believers? Like we see with the Pope today, cannot find one instance of that anywhere in scripture. Now, some people might point to Peter because Yeshua said that he would build his church on this rock, speaking of Peter. But no, as we see from example, and what we just looked at, is that when it came time to decide things, make decisions, and issue decrees, it was a group decision. As they were being led by the set-apart spirit and by Yeshua. They didn't go and get decrees from the high priest. Why? Because we have a high priest now. We don't need that high priest from the temple because Yeshua is our high priest. Because Yeshua is our mediator between us and Yahweh. See how it's all kind of fitting in now? Now, some people might raise the objection is that, oh, well, you read in 1 Timothy about the qualifications of a bishop, and then in other places, it talks about elders. So, clearly, there is a difference between a bishop and an elder, right? If it says two different things in two different places, it uses two different words. At the surface, that would seem about correct. Now, for instance, we look at 1 Timothy 3, 2, which we've already read, but again, an overseer or bishop then should be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, sensible, orderly, kind to strangers, able to teach. Then, in verses like Acts 20, 17, we see, and from Melitos, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the assembly. So, here we have two different words in English, both overseer or bishop and elders, two different words. We look in the Greek, there are two different words here. For 1 Timothy 3, 2, the word is Strong's G1985, which is pisgahpos, and then for Acts 20, 17, we have G4245, that's the Greek word for strong. G4245, and that's presbyteros, two different English words, two different Greek words. So, these are two different words, two different offices, right? Well, let's look at the definition real quick, because as everyone who watches this knows, I'm one of those geeks who like this kind of stuff. So, I know others out there who like this kind of stuff too. Now, if you can't see everything here, well, you can go to godhonesttruth.com, view the slides yourself, or view the notes we took, because this is all in those notes also. But yeah, the pisgahpos, or bishop, as we first saw, is, according to Strong, a Christian officer, or Greek English lexicon calls it one who serves as a leader in a church. Irish Greek lexicon pretty much says the same thing, an overseer, someone charged with the duty of running things at church, etc., etc. Then, we get to that other word, elder, or Strong's G4245, presbyteros, that means someone who is older, an elder, and especially someone who's mature in the word, okay? That's the main takeaway. So, is that two different things? Here's the Strong's definition in the Greek English lexicon for G4245, and here's the Thayer's Greek lexicon for that same word. Now, admittedly, these are two different English words that are usually translated, two different Greek words, so that means they're different offices and positions, right? No. In Scripture, these are actually used interchangeably as the same thing, okay? And a great way to see that is in Titus chapter 1, verses 5 through 9, a letter by Paul. And it reads, the reason I left you in Crete was that you should straighten out what was left undone and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. If anyone is unreprovable, the husband of one wife, having believing children, not accused of loose behavior or unruly, or an overseer, has to be unreprovable. As a managing one of Elohim, not self-pleasing, not wroth, not given to wine, no brawler, not greedy for a filthy game, but kind to strangers, a lover of what is good, sensible, righteous, set apart, self-controlled, clinging to the trustworthy word, according to the teaching, in order to be able to both, I'm sorry, in order to be able both to encourage by sound teaching and to convict those who oppose it. So here, in the Greek, it uses both of those words, both for elder and for bishop, but it uses them interchangeably in the same context as the same position, same person. And it gives the exact same qualifications as we saw back in 1 Timothy 3. Now, we've already seen that the structure looks like this, like it goes Yahweh and below him Yeshua, and below him is the body, the assembly, the group of believers, us, right? This is actually something that goes on even in the end times, as we read in Revelations. Now, this is just a few select verses. There's many, many in Revelation, actually, that would illustrate this point. But here's just a few. Revelation 5, verse 6, And I looked and saw in the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a lamb standing, as having been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of Elohim, sent out into all the earth. Verse 8, And when he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the set-apart ones. Verse 14, And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the twenty-four elders fell down and bowed before him who lives forever and ever. Notice it doesn't say, and the pope, or and the preacher, or and the televangelist. Right? It says the group of elders. A eagle-footing group of people. Even in Revelation, even in times, it still has that same model and picture for us. Again, in Revelation 11, 16, And the twenty-four elders sitting before Elohim on their thrones fell on their faces and worshipped Elohim. Again, the congregation of elders. Not a pope, not a preacher, not a single man from a congregation. Revelation 19, 4, And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped Elohim who sat on the throne saying, Amen. Hallelujah. Again, group of elders. All in equal position on the level with each other. That are right under Yeshua and Yahweh. Amazing stuff, right? Think back to what we looked at at the beginning of how our modern church structure is and the example that we have seen from scripture. And think to yourself, how does all that compare? Now, some people might say, you know, we go by the Moses model. Okay, well, you should go by the Moses model. But the person in the position of Moses is now Yeshua. He is the prophet like Moses. He is our high priest, so we don't need to go through a high priest. And he's also the mediator between Yahweh and man like Moses once was. Like Moses once was. So, the person in that position that Moses had is now Yeshua. Not a preacher, not a pope. That's the Moses model. And then below Yeshua, you have a congregation over here who is operated and run by a group of elders. And you have another congregation over here who is operated and run by a group of elders. And each of those groups of elders are all equal. Now, just so it's out there and said, the elders and deacons and the laity, for a lack of a better term, is they're all equal anyways. Because even the laity, their head is not the elders, their head is Yeshua. So, what's the purpose of the elders then? The elders and the deacons, but especially the elders, are there to oversee the functions and the running of the local congregation. They turn the lights on, making sure everything's mowed, bills are paid, stuff like that. They're not there to lord over and rule the laity. They're there to serve and teach and guide because they're supposed to be the ones most mature in the word, right, and the most wise. So, they're there to teach and to guide and to shepherd and to serve. But they're not there to lord over and rule over. This can also go into, kind of cut it down, didn't go into some other areas. But some other areas that we could have went into is the role of other positions. There's, in the early church, there was actually a position for widow, which is very interesting. We could have went into that, but trying to cut down here, it's already kind of long. But there's also a role for women as well. We didn't get into that. That's probably a teaching all on its own. So, it's not just deacons and elders. They are the main ones. There's also other positions as well. But this is just to illustrate the church model and how the example we get from scripture is not the pyramid scheme we have today where one person is on top, ruling over and deciding everything. That's not the scriptural model. And back in the early church, some other interesting things we see here as well. This is just kind of a tangent, but thought it might be interesting for some of you out there. We see in Colossians 4.15, read the brothers in Laodicea and Nufa and the assembly that is in his house. Acts 20.20, as I kept back no matter that was profitable, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house. Acts 2.46, and day by day, continuing with one mind in the set apart place and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. So, we can see here what was going on during this time was that a big thing was house churches. Now, is that required? No, I don't think so. If we look at back at Acts 20.20, no, I'm sorry. Well, we'll look at this real quick. He's talking about how he taught them both publicly and house to house. So, it was in the house church that he was teaching, but it was also publicly. That could have been in the town square, but it could also been at the temple as a temple as a corporate structure, right? We see in Acts 2.46, where was it? Oh, hang on. I've lost it now. Yep, Acts 2.46, where it's relating that they were in the set apart place as well. Says they were continuing with one mind in the set apart place. What is the set apart place? The temple. So, the temple was still standing in their time. So, not only were they going into house churches, but they also went to the temple. So, don't be afraid to go to a house church and don't be afraid to start a house church either. There's a lot of ins and outs with that, space, location, et cetera, et cetera. But this is the way they did it back then for a variety of reasons. Number one, the newly formed religion of Judaism had control of the temple, okay? So, that was kind of difficult for them to go and hold services like we would in like a megachurch today. So, they kind of had to meet in houses because that was the locations they had. Later on in history, they were persecuted by the empire and others. So, they kind of had to hide their services in their houses and not in public gatherings. Sort of like the Christians do today in places like North Korea and China. They've got to kind of keep it hush hush as much as possible. Then after Constantine, that's when we really start seeing the big churches and public gatherings and the rise of the Catholic Church come up. Does that mean that public gatherings and church buildings like that are bad? No. I wouldn't say that. If you want to get, you know, several dozen people together in one building, go for it. I'm not personally a fan of the megachurch. I, like I said, was born and raised in a small church and that intimate fellowship that you have with everyone there, you just can't replace that. And that's something a megachurch does not have. You don't get to know all the thousands of people there, right? Like you would in a small church, which might have 60 to 100 people. This is maybe this is my opinion, but yeah, anyway, back to the point. Don't be afraid of house churches, whether they're going to them or starting them. And don't be afraid of going to a actual church building either, okay, or a synagogue building. Because either way, we can see both examples from Scripture. We can see them going to a church building. Because either way, we can see both examples from Scripture. We can see them going to the temple as a corporate public thing. We can also see them going in house churches as well. So, in a nutshell about the church model. We looked at the Catholic model, where it's got, as they would say, God at the top, and then Jesus, and then you have the Pope, who is right under that. Then you have the cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, and the laity, right? But you still have that pyramid structure where the Pope is at the very top. He's the one man leading it. Now, we looked at Yeshua about how Scripture says that he is the head of the assembly, and he is the head of man, just as man is the head of wife. You think about a married couple, and we look back at this analogy again, where we see Yeshua as the bridegroom, and us, the assembly, as the bride of Yeshua. This is exemplified in Romans 7-4 and other places. But in 7-4, it reads, Wherefore, my brethren, ye are also become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. So, again, we get that word picture there about Yeshua being the bridegroom, and us as the body of Christ, or body of Messiah, as the assembly being the bride of Yeshua. Now, just as Yeshua, I'm sorry, just as we as married people don't want anyone coming between us and our spouse, whether it be us and our wife, or us and our husband. Also, Yeshua as the bridegroom and us as the bride don't want anyone coming between our husband, between our bridegroom as well, whether that be a pope or a preacher. We don't need anyone there to get in the way. We can go right to Yeshua. Does that make it clear enough? Because we are not to have anyone lording over us, like a head guy at the top of a congregation. In Matthew 20, 25-28, the very words of Yeshua reflect on this. And it reads, But Yeshua called them near and said, You know that the rulers of the nations are masters over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you, let him be your servant. Even as the son of Adam did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So again, Yeshua is making this very same point, that we are not to lord over each other. Not to have a pope, not to have a priest or a preacher or someone there to rule us and have authority over us, because the one who rules over us, the one who has authority over us is Yeshua. Not the head guy at church. Not even the elders at church, like we said before. So one way to view the biblical model of how it's set up, you have Yahweh, below that you have Yeshua, and then below that you have the council of elders and deacons and the entire church. All right. Another way of looking at it is you have Yahweh and Yeshua, and then you have the elders and deacons and husbands and wives. Right? Sort of on the same plane. Whereas the elders are the teaching and guiding, but not authority. And then another way to look at it is you have Yahweh and then Yeshua, and then you have each individual congregation, right? Made up of elders, deacons, and the laity. And of course, they are all on the same level and equal without having authority over each other. But again, as we saw from time and time again, and time again, that scripture does not exemplify for us anything about one person being in charge over congregation and being between us and Yeshua. That's not how scripture puts it. You have a plurality of elders to guide, teach, and serve that are on the same level and equal with everyone else. So, in summary, we see that Yeshua is our high priest, the prophet like Moshe that was foretold, and the mediator between Yahweh and man. Okay? We don't need a high priest to go through. We don't need a pope to go through. We have Yeshua. Local assemblies are not to be led by one single person. Rather, local assemblies are to be led by a group of elders who are to teach, guide, and serve. Deacons are to assist the elders and to serve. Elders and deacons are not to exercise authority or lord over the congregation. Remember those words we just read from Yeshua. And Yeshua is the head of assembly. I'm sorry. Yeshua is the head of the assembly, not the pope or pastor. And that's just the God honest truth. you
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