| Early Church History
Introduction
The whole purpose of the Christian church,
with all of its Holy Spirit filled denominations, right on
down to all the local congregations, is to bring together
in a group setting born-again Christians who have and are
being filled--daily and weekly--with the power and indwelling
presence of the Holy Spirit. The reason for bringing these
Christians together in a group setting is for their mutual
and individual spiritual edification and growth. Ephesians
4:11-16 basically states this, when talking about the purpose
of why God has called some to be apostles, prophets, pastors
and teachers within the body of Christ--for the spiritual
edification and growth of its members. Be sure to look up
those verses and read them.
You can be a part of or join a church that has all its doctrinal
beliefs correct and in place--all filed into neat categories--but
if this group of people meeting as a church or denomination
doesn’t have and experience the constant and repeated
in-filling of the Holy Spirit in its members, it is a dead
church. Here is a useful analogy. All the electronic devices--
TVs, microwaves, radios, cell-phones, electric stoves, motors,
everything that uses electricity--would be worthless pieces
of junk without the electricity to run them. Without the Holy
Spirit, well, you get the point. But the Holy Spirit is not
some sort of spiritual electricity, instead he is the Provider
of the spiritual power of God that enables our Christian walk
and growth in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. He
also provides spiritual understanding (cf. John 14 & 16).
Romans 8:9,16-17 basically defines a Christian as one who
has the indwelling Holy Spirit residing in and guiding him
or her.
The first article in this three part series has to do with
how the Christian church was born--by and through the power
of the Holy Spirit--and not through any puny effort of man.
This first part will eventually be composed of three sermon
transcripts on Acts 2 (linked together), given by Pastor Joe
Focht of Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, PA (http://www.ccphilly.org ).
The second part of this three part series is composed of
an article I
researched, based on many early church history books, authors
and research
papers (I tried to give credit to as many of the sources
as I could). This
article on early church history is fascinating, and may upset
current views
and paradigms on early church history. But it will
help us understand two major and related branches of the
body of Christ, the Sabbatarians (long misunderstood) and
the Messianic Jews, both groups having suffered being misunderstood
by many mainstream Christians
The third part of this series is an article written by me
and is titled “Choosing a Church”. For the new-believer
this article may prove helpful in making a wise choice, but
clearly shows that the choice is yours to make. So read it
and chose wisely.
Pete Benson
Editor UNITYINCHRIST.COM
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