Dear One,

The Lord bless you!

This is the next installment of our study of the seven different types of faith. Much of what I learned that is presented in the first section I gained from my dear friend Henry Hon. In the second section, much of what I share was gained under the inspiration of my kind acquaintance, Dr. Alveda King. Please don’t blame them for any mistakes I make with the material!

Henry’s website is www.onebody.life

Dr. King’s is www.alvedaking.com

Love you! KRP

OUR COMMON FAITH

To Titus, a true son in our common faith: Titus 1:4 NKJV

And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  Mark 3:25 NKJV

The Church in America is irrelevant. There once was a time when men of God spoke, and governors and presidents and kings trembled. But no more! There may be many reasons why this is true but the one we want to handle here is that we have lost the oneness of our common faith. The solution is twofold: for us to embrace being spiritually minded and turn from being carnally minded, and to gain a clear understanding of unity and oneness, and how it is to be carried out.

And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one…John 17:22 NKJV

My jaw dropped as I listened to Henry share about the oneness of the Body. In forty plus years of ministry I had never seen unity in even a city, let alone the whole body of Christ. Yet Jesus prayed that we may be one. “There MUST BE factions!?!” I thought. Wait a minute! I thought factions were evil. That the word in Greek for factions – HAIRESIS – was the word from which we get our English word heresy. I knew that one mans heresy was another mans glory, especially when it came to gifts of the Spirit. But there must be factions in the body of Christ, and if so, how do we walk in unity?

For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 1 Cor 11:19 NKJV

Henry pointed me out to the congregation and said, “Kevin represents the speaking in tongues faction in the Church. Now, how is he going to be in unity with the cessationist faction in the Church?” I was getting challenged now because Jesus prayed that the tongue talkers and the cessationists, who logically can’t exist together, would now be and walk as one. How is that possible? My first realization is that I was taught that unity was based a common understanding of the scripture; that our brand of Christianity was right and everyone else just needed to realize it, and repent. But that’s not what the Word says!

For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 1 Cor 13:9 NKJV

The Word says we know in part. None of us has the full understanding, the complete package of doctrine, because we only know in part. The other thing I realized is that no two believers, even from the same faction, have unity of doctrine and understanding because each of us is being individually taught by the Holy Spirit. Even my wife and I who have loved each other in covenant relationship for over forty years don’t exactly believe everything about everything, together. Does it mean that one is right and one is wrong? Not necessarily, because we may be at different levels of our understanding in that area. Do you see?

Henry explained that the word translated ‘church’ was EKKLESIA, and it was first used of the political assemblies of the early Greek city – states. In these EKKLESIAs were factions: maybe the merchant’s faction, then the sheepherders faction, the coffee planters faction and the ship owners faction, among others. All these factions would have an orator who would present the opinions and concerns of that faction to the whole body, then the body would vote on the different issues. In the end, having heard everyone, and respected everyone’s differences, and having voted, they would stand as one to represent their city-state. They were all members of that one body, that EKKLESIA.

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 1 Cor 1:10 NKJV

As I listened, I knew my sacred cows were becoming hamburgers. My last ‘unity of doctrine’ holdout was 1 Corinthians 1:10. How do we all speak the same thing? Surely, everyone must believe in speaking in tongues! Uhhh…no. How do we get to no divisions, perfectly joined and all that? The process of EKKLESIA – speaking, listening, respecting, voting, deciding – left all the factions intact but with the body having become united by voting and agreeing to stand by the decisions made. The Greek city states had learned, as Ben Franklin had wisely observed, that ‘if we don’t all hang together, we will certainly all hang separately.’ Guests of honor at a grand necktie party…

The ‘all speak the same thing’ was speaking as the EKKLESIA had decided to speak!

…that those who are approved (Grk. DOKIMOS) may be recognized among you. 1 Cor 11:19 NKJV

Let me get to the ‘those who are approved’ in verse nineteen. The word translated ‘approved’ in verse nineteen is the Greek word DOKIMOS, which means to be tested and certified. Certified in what? The unity of the one body, literally as a peacemaker, a son level believer. I might be the hotheaded orator for the speaking in tongues faction, but if I offend everyone else by saying that they are not walking with God if they don’t speak in tongues, then I am not DOKIMOS. The DOKIMOS, the approved ones, are the ones to bring the whole body together. Do you see it?

Finally, Henry brought up the point that we need to greet one another.

Greet Priscilla and Aquila …Likewise greet the church that is in their house…Greet my beloved Epaenetus…Greet Mary, who labored much for us…Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Rom 16:3ff NKJV

This greeting was not just a casual wave of the hand, but usually involved sitting for a meal together where hearts could be shared, opinions given and received, stories and laughter shared, respect could be mutual and bonding. When we moved our church membership to JPC in Albany, our pastors Denny and Ann Cline took RM and I out to dinner where we sat and enjoyed each other’s company for three hours. That was a greeting. Likewise, when we visited Henry and Sylvia Hon. That greeting lasted three days! Practical unity will come when the members of the different factions in the Body greet one another. Do you see how the Body comes together as one through the EKKLESIA process?

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Rom 8:5-7 NKJV

Our choice is to be carnally minded or spiritually minded, faction minded or Body minded. Our dear brother Denny Cline said that the key to revival is the restoration of family. When the Church becomes One, as one family, in an area then the authority of the EKKLESIA will be restored – the voice of the Lion of Judah will be heard again in the land.

In our common faith let’s slaughter two more sacred cows: racism and genderism.

Is racism scriptural or cultural? If it’s not scriptural, then we must repudiate it in all its forms, including black racism, white racism, Asian, Hispanic, African and other racism.

I stood in front of Dr. Alveda King, the niece of the great civil rights leader, and I said, “I want an impartation of your anointing to bring disparate racial groups together!” I knew I had that anointing on my life because of what happened with the Hutus and Tutsis in 1998 – a story for another day –  but I wanted more. “You know that there are no races, right?” she said emphatically. Dr. King is a much more imposing person when she’s in your face than she appears to be when she speaks from the pulpit. I said, “Yes, ma’am, Acts 17:26 says He has made of ONE BLOOD all the ETHNOS (nations) of men.” She said – same tone of voice – “I don’t think you believe that but raise your hands!” When she touched my hands the lightning of God went through us and we both almost went down. She said quietly, “You got a good dose!”

Afterward she gave me some of her books. I sat down nearby to start reading one. I started laughing! She looks over at me with that same serious emphatic tone and says, “What are you laughing at?” I said, “You and your uncle were Trekkies (fans of STAR TREK, one of the first TV shows to have a strong, black female character – Lt. Uhuru (UHURU means ‘freedom’ in Kiswahili))…like me!” We both laughed!

Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God,  just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. 1 Cor 10:32-33 NKJV

God only recognizes three groups of people: Jews, Gentiles and the Church of God. The Lord made the human body to adapt to outside circumstances. For people who lived on the Equator the intensity of the suns rays over generations caused the body to produce more melanin to protect the flesh. For groups of people who lived farther north and south, less melanin was needed, but other bodily characteristics were developed. Special thanks are given for Father Mendel and his blessed peas to help us understand genetic laws that account for different skin colors and other characteristics, not some ‘mark of Cain’ or other foolishness. To segment ourselves by skin color or even cultural heritage is to become AT BEST a faction in the Body, and at worst it brings us to the place the Body enjoys now in America, the place of irrelevance. We are of one common faith. We are of one blood. No races! We are the Church of God, and nothing divides us when we are spiritually minded. This is where we stand!

Finally, the dear sisters in Christ! There are only two genders. To say anything else, that a man can become a woman, or vice versa, is laughable and contemptible. Every aspect of our standing in Christ that a man has the woman has as well. There are also scriptural examples of women apostles, prophetesses, evangelists, pastors and teachers. You may be one of the ‘Only Men Can Be Bishops’ faction in the EKKLESIA, so we respect you and love you. Amen! This is our common faith…

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:26-29 NKJV

Finally, my brethren, let me share a little bit. My heart breaks for the lost. The days of youthful lusts like fame and reputation and striving to be better than ‘the other guy’ are over. I have but one ambition after my worship of the King and my joy in my family and that is to help the Church bring in the lost. Jesus said, “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” This is our common faith. Amen? Love you!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…