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By Robert C. Ewing
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The Church is Christ’s Living Body on this earth, and as such, it’ll manifest Christ’s soul as well. When the Holy Spirit reveals this truth to us, He is enabling us to see Christ’s soul reflected through His churches in the book of Acts. As we are about to see, the twelve members or faculties that compound the soul set, will show God’s destiny for the twelve kinds of New Testament churches. Christ’s great desire and purpose is to pour His fullness into each local church that is submitted under His headship. When these churches give liberty to the Holy Spirit, He will reveal what special part of His soul is to be manifested within that congregation. Every time we identify with the Great I AM, a living Christ will be manifested again to destroy the works of the enemy.
1) The Jerusalem Church:
This first church is found in Acts 1 – 8:3; 11:1-18 and 15:1-29 where we find Christ first soul faculty reflected as described below. Legalism seems to have returned into their hearts after a while, as seen in cp. 21:17-26.
The soul’s first faculty is the heart. The heart is that which motivates life (Pr. 4:23), and will drive our soul towards God. In the unbeliever the heart makes his own gods, that’s why covetousness is idolatry (Col. 3:5).
When our soul’s heart is really possessed by the Christ in our spirit, it becomes a spiritual member of the soul. Jerusalem is where Christ poured out His very blood as an offering to His God and Father. Jerusalem is the heart of all the other churches, because they all originated either directly or indirectly from her.
There are twelve biological life principles that determine what natural life is all about, in the same way there are twelve spiritual principles that will determine what kind of life is flowing from the heart. All of them will relate to the Jerusalem church. In Hebrews there are twelve purposes for the Blood of Christ, which may also coincide with these 12 biological principles of life. These are the twelve biological life principles applied to Jerusalem church showing Christ’s heart.
- All life comes from pre-existent life – No life comes spontaneously; it is given. Christ’s pre-existent life sprung forth, overcoming death and hell, giving life to the apostles, disciples and witnesses that started this church.
- All life has response, sometimes called irritability. Here we see a glorious response when the Holy Spirit was poured on them, boldness came to their hearts.
- All life duplicates, divides, and replicates itself. The way Jerusalem church multiplied itself after Peter’s first message shows this principle.
- All life repairs or fixes itself in the process of life, so that it is continually repairing itself. Divine healing not only for the body, but also for the soul is seen in the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate.
- All life has homeostasis. This is the tendency of living organisms to maintain a state of equilibrium, so that the metabolism can go on. When circumstances change, including that of body heat, life can go on by adapting itself to the new environment, becoming a self-regulating being. When the external circumstance of Ananias and Sapphira came to the church, we see this principle in action, bringing the fear of the Lord to adjust any thought that would risk the church existence.
- All life consists of living cells. In the human body there are 20 to 30 trillion cells. They all maintain the metabolism within themselves while the metabolism of the body goes on (a cell is the smallest complete unit of life in the body). Jerusalem church was a living body made up of living organisms, working together in one accord at Solomon’s Porch (Ac. 5:12).
- All life has growth (that is controlled growth), and energy to keep it going. In developing, it increases the amount of protoplasm. It doesn’t crystallize like a rock or volcano, but develops. (Protoplasm is a semi- fluid complex substance, which is the “stuff of life,” the living matter of all cells.) The growth came to Jerusalem church when the priests and elders of the Jews began to threaten the apostles and to put them in jail. In every case they sought the Lord in prayer and the growing process was increased.
- All life has energy (or nothing else can exist). It comes through a process called glycolysis, which is the breakdown of glucose into simpler sugar lactic acid, a usable form of energy. Stephen (Ac. 6 & 7), a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, is the example of this principle in Jerusalem’s church, when Christians are full of divine energy they are invincible. Not even persecution or death itself would stop them.
- All life reverses the natural process of randomness back into order. In all chemical reactions what generally happens is that the state of higher order goes to the state of lower order. But in life it is not so, for things in lower or more random order go into a higher ordered system. And so it is with the human body. It reverses chaos into order. The beginning of a lower order in the church was detected when the widows of the Greek were neglected (Ac. 6), the apostles, appointed the 7 deacons to reverse a developing chaos back into order, also, by remaining in their calling they kept God’s Divine Order for church government.
- All life has the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) molecule, this is the genetic blueprint of each cell, and ultimately the blueprint that determines every characteristic of a living organism , this is done by carrying the information of the genetic code, or blueprint, to each cell, telling each cell its function. When the apostles and brethren at Jerusalem heard Peter’s testimony on how the Gentiles had received the gospel (Acts 11), they understood the blue print of salvation by grace, this is the right message for the whole body. Legalism sends confusing information that deforms local churches.
- All life has an electric charge to all nerve cells in order to keep the right balance, harmony and affinity between the minerals (sodium & potassium) and chlorine, within and without the nerve cell. When the electric charges, in and out the cell are in balance, everything is at rest, but depolarization (electric charges unbalance) is needed to produce motion of muscles. When those scattered because of the “depolarization” of persecution kept moving on, the gospel began to reach the uttermost parts of the world. This is something very deep in Christ’s heart. Antioch church was born when Christ’ body began to move outside Judea.
- All life has enzymes, which are organic substances originating from living cells that, by catalytic action, stimulate and increase chemical reactions, so things can be done in the body. Without them, for example, food is indigestible. When the question of circumcision arose in Antioch (Ac. 14 & 15), the right kind of “enzymes” were needed to digest this matter, in order to avoid damage to the body. Paul and Barnabas “stimulated” a wise reaction by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, and the letter sent to all the churches produced peace and joy.
2) The Samaria Church Acts 8:4-25.
The soul’s second faculty is that of the five soul senses, which are the communication members. This second
church is reflecting these senses (reason, memory, affection, imagination and conscience) in action.
This church was conceived by Christ’s words to the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn. 4:1-42). There we find Jesus and the Samaritan woman talking about 5 matters that will reveal what was in her soul. It’s also interesting to note that she had had 5 husbands that could have perverted her senses, making her insensitive to the hope of glory that Jesus was showing her. Jesus goal was to show the woman a new perspective of things, in order to awake her senses to a new reality. Understanding how the woman’s senses were triggered and then ministered by Jesus, and realizing that the same thing happened with Samaria church, we will learn a great key for evangelism, by which we can reach the soul senses of the people, and then turn them to the Lord.
a) Jesus approaches the woman asking for a drink; here we find the woman’s affections stirred up. Since she knew that Jews and Samaritans had no dealings, her question was: How a Jew would ask a drink from a Samaritan? This reveals that sectarianism and/or racism had affected this woman’s affections. Jesus then shows affection to her by telling her of the “Gift of God” (Jn. 3:16; 4:7-10). Philip, another Jew, came to the Samaritans bringing this same “Gift of God” message a few years later (Ac. 8).
b) The woman’s imagination is triggered when Jesus is telling her about something called “living water,” and of a well springing up for everlasting life. She is therefore trying to discover, or figure out (imagination process) how He is going to get the living water and how it’d spring up. Also, in her wondering if this Jesus would be greater than Jacob was, shows the work of her imagination. Imagination is where thoughts are produced trying to find answers for new concepts, new challenges or new things; it is also where we handle subjective ideas.
In Acts 8 we find Simon the sorcerer wanting to be acknowledged as a “great one,” earning that recognition by bewitching the Samaritans for a long time. But when true miracles arrived, they had the Samaritans amazed, beholding in wonder God’s supernatural power, which is the imagination’s challenger.
c) The third sense that is revealed is her conscience. How? When Jesus bid her to call her husband. There she tried to hide her tainted past, showing the rebuking work of her conscience in her soul. The supernatural gift known as “word of knowledge,” served here to deal with the deepest secret of her conscience. Once the truth is revealed and dealt with, conscience is healed. This was so impressive to the woman that her message to others is: “Come, see a Man that told me everything I ever did.”
Samaria church had a great deal of repentance, shown in their quick response to water baptism, which is an answer of a good conscience toward God (1 Pet. 3:21).
d) Then comes the reason. The word “perceive” is a clear indication for this sense. Deduction and analysis are the main functions of reason. Also, she argues with the Lord regarding the question of worship, showing a doubt that was lingering in her soul. Jesus’ answer is a clear-cut explanation of the why, where and how of worship, to minister peace to her confused reason.
At Samaria church we find an astoundingly fulfilling of this truth, they all became true worshippers in spirit and truth. This fact brought to surface Simon-the-sorcerer’s reason, his wrong conclusion that, by offering money to the apostles he’d be able to impart the baptism of the Holy Spirit, revealed his old man’s way of reasoning. This of course had to be rebuked to teach the onlookers right standards of judgment.
e) The woman’s fifth and last matter with Jesus is about the Messiah. Here comes her memory in action. Memory is where knowledge is stored, and her affirmation “I know,” gives us the key to find this sense here. All of the questions she had stored in her mind were to be answered by the Messiah. This is why as soon as Jesus declared Himself to be the Messiah, there were no more arguments. At this point she knew very well, by remembering all the prophecies and scriptures, and confirmed in verse 42, that this man was the Savior of the world, and therefore the Savior of her soul.
At Samaria church, the Bible emphatically says that Philip preached Christ (Messiah), this message together with the signs following doubtlessly reminded them of the prophecies that were being fulfilled before their very eyes, also making some of them remember the experience they had with Jesus Christ Himself not long ago.
3) The Damascus Church Acts 9:1-25 & 2 Co. 9:31-33.
In this church we are going to find the third set of soul members that is called the Four Laws which are:
The law of sin and death. This is seen in Saul of Tarsus before he was converted, he became the chief of sinners by persecuting the Christians.
The law of faith: The fact that Saul acknowledges Jesus as Lord, after He declares to him who He is, shows the law of faith in action (Ro. 10:13).
The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus: Christ imparting life to Saul of Tarsus as he acknowledged the headship of Christ and was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Paul became a channel of life for others.
The law of the mind. The law of the mind is the process by which we establish the way we live, our principles, habits or customs, either good or bad, all of them are set by this law. There are seven steps that define how this law works.
a) Attention, this is seen in the shinning light.
b) Attraction, Jesus’ answers to Saul attracted him to His Lordship.
c) Decision. Saul decided to obey the Lord’s command.
d) Action. Saul stepped forward to fulfill the decision he’d made, he was praying and fasting.
e) Possession. This is seen in how Saul was being possessed by Jesus’ love, by the way he preached.
f) Nature. Saul’s nature was being transformed from a sinner to a true Christian, his name change to Paul also speaks of it.
g) Set direction. Once Paul wholeheartedly began to follow Jesus, there was no turning back; this was his point of no return.
4) The Caesarea Church (Little Rome) Acts 10 & 11:1-18.
The story here speaks about Peter receiving resistance from the Jerusalem Church because he was ministering to the Gentiles. This shows that at first the Jerusalem Church didn’t have the right vision of God’s Church, they saw it as an extension of Judaism instead of a new creation of God, which it was.
We see Peter had apostolic oversight because this is what he was practicing here. Peter was not only an apostle of the Jerusalem Church, but to the churches that were in Judea as well. Here we see many coming from all around to Jerusalem to hear the gospel.
The Seven Soul Drives:
a) Self Preservation. Cornelius’ prayers, fasting and alms show his intense inner need for salvation, which is the
only way to satisfy for good this self-preservation desire.
b) Self Expression. Acts 10:3-7, 17. Both, Peter and Cornelius expressed what they had in their hearts when their respective visions were before them. Visions and dreams are ways of God’s self-expression.
c) Security. Acts 10:11-23. Peter had a security drive problem because he said he had never eaten anything unclean. But God set him free to be secure in Christ and thus he could minister security to Cornelius.
d) Loyalty. Acts 10.23-33. Peter’s loyalty to self-righteousness had to change in order to fulfill God’s purposes. Peter learned to be loyal to God and His instructions, regardless of his own traditions.
e) Control. Acts 10:34-36 (Ro. 1:16) God took control over the situation through the visions, and also by pouring down His Holy Spirit as soon as the message of salvation reached the hearts of the Cesareans. This action avoided men’s control drive that, because of a short vision of God’s purposes, would have hindered the Gentiles to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This marked the beginning of Caesarea church.
f) The knowledge drive. Acts 10:34-48.
- Experiential Knowledge. Acts 10:34. “I perceive that God is not respecter of persons.” Peter received experiential knowledge of what God had already shown him in the vision.
- Acts 10:36-37. Knowledge by mental understanding. The word preached to the Gentiles, though brief, shows a clear-cut process of events so the mind could understand and receive the word.
- Knowledge by revelation. Acts 10:44-46. The Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles, as a token that the revelation of salvation by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ had come to them. Otherwise nothing would have happened.
g) Acts 11:1-18. The Fourfold Acceptance Drive.
- Acceptance through Identity. When they saw that the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit as they also did, they could identify with them as fellow believers.
- Acceptance by the Right Criteria. They were also baptized in water. God set the same criteria to pour down the Holy Spirit upon Jews and Gentiles, and as Peter put it, “what was I, that I could withstand God?
- Acceptance by Intimacy/Friendship. When Peter was delivered from jail by the angel, after showing himself to the brethren in Judea, he went to Caesarea and abode there (Ac. 12:19), this fact shows more than a mere relationship, Peter knew that he was greatly welcome at Caesarea.
- Acceptance by destiny. In Acts 21:8-14 we find Caesarea church linked in destiny with the rest of Christ’s Body, because Philip and family lived there, and also Paul, on his way to Jerusalem stayed there for many days as his last stop before Jerusalem.
5) The Antioch Church Acts 11:19-30
This is the death, burial and resurrection church.
The Directive Faculties (the leadership faculties) of will, intellect and emotions. Since this is the “death, burial and resurrection” church, we will see how their directive faculties had to undergo this process to become sanctified, resulting in having Jesus directing them through these faculties.
In the story of Antioch we will find several instances by which we see this principle working. Each time we will notice that it is not according to man’s intellect, will or emotions that decisions should be taken regarding Christ’s churches, instead, the Holy Spirit, as promised by Jesus Himself, has to lead the believers in what to do, etc.
1. Jerusalem church decided to send Barnabas, a man full of the Holy Ghost and faith, instead of Peter or any of the other apostles, this is heavenly direction. God knew that He was about to raise a second pillar for the House of God, therefore it was not convenient to have any of the 12 apostles of Jerusalem over this work.
2. When Barnabas saw the grace of God, he didn’t go back to Jerusalem, but to Tarsus to seek Saul who was experiencing his own death and burial steps at that time.
3. The believers at Antioch were so immerse in Christ’s Lordship that they were called Christians first in Antioch, reflecting Christ’s leadership in their directive faculties.
4. The disciples, according to what the Holy Spirit had spoken through Agabus, decided to send an offering to Jerusalem, here again we see them directed by the Holy Spirit.
5. When the time came for Barnabas and Saul to be sent to the missionary field, once more this was directed by the Holy Spirit (Ac 13:1-4).
6. When the matter of the circumcision arose, the resolution letter sent by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem said that, “it seemed good to the Holy Ghost…”, showing again how the directive faculty has to be submitted to the direction of the Holy Spirit. The general assembly shows in Acts 15 these three faculties working together to arrive to a conclusion regarding circumcision.
a) Intellect is seen in the arguments exposed,
b) Emotions are seen in the disputing (v. 7) and;
c) Will is reflected in the final agreement spoken by James.
7. The story found in Acts 15:36-41 is a very clear example of the threefold directive faculty working along.
a) Paul’s intellect came with the thought to revisit the churches.
b) Paul and Barnabas’ emotions were stirred up regarding John Mark.
c) Their will decided the split between them.
If we look carefully we will find that the Holy Spirit had to redirect Paul’s steps, because He forbade them to share the Word in Asia, Bithynia and Troas. It was only until the Holy Spirit spoke to Paul in a vision that he should go to Macedonia that the things worked together again. “Everything works together for good to those who love God”, the split caused no harm to the churches or ministries, it rather helped both, Paul and Barnabas, to continue developing their respective callings.
It’d take lots of space to go through each one of the instances that show the directive faculties related to the church at Antioch, but for the sake of the present article this will suffice.
6) The Philippi Church Acts 16:12-40
The sixth soul faculty is Nature (origin), Every human being is born with a nature, which is the essence of every personality. Here we find soul characteristics that are not learnt, but are part of that person since birth. This is where Adamic nature is inherited. When Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, his nature was transformed from a pure one into another where mixed impulses of good and evil fight.
Having said that, is not going to be difficult to understand why Paul and Silas had that kind of dealing at Philippi, mainly in the life of the jailer. This man shows how a wicked nature could be transformed into a holy one by the power of God. He saw the earthquake and the doors of the prison opened, then, when his evil nature tried to kill him, Paul’s intervention stopped him, and he came asking: “what must I do to be saved?” The glorious answer came: “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household.” This is the only way the Adamic nature could be tamed, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal savior. This new birth brings a new nature with it, by which we can overcome the lust of the flesh by continually dying to ourselves.
The Epistle to the Philippians is filled with references to the nature of Christ, as the one found in 2:5-11. A strong emphasis on how we believers should show the new nature of Christ ruling over the old Adamic nature.
7) TheThessalonicaandBereaChurches.Acts17:1-9,Acts17:10-15. 6
This twin churches are going to show the 7th soul faculty: Character. (operation).
Character, is understood as something that is developed in the process of time depending on circumstances, family, friends, environment, etc. that affect in one way or another the life of the people.
Character is something peculiar to these two churches, it is there where a strong persecution came from the Jews against Paul, and it’s precisely in those circumstances where character is developed. This can been seen especially in Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, where the emphasis is on suffering, afflictions and such. The nature of Christ is fully in us, that is, in our spirit, but the character of Christ has to be formed in our soul through difficulties and trials, producing in us the consistency of character that pertains to those who are mature in Christ.
8) The Corinth Church Acts 18:1-18.
1 Cor. 2:1-5 speaks about how Paul preached with the power of God and not with enticing words.
The eighth soul faculty is Influence: (outcome). Influence is the outcome of the personality, a person is known by its deeds. Once nature and character work together through the different events of life, they are going to produce some kind of influence affecting those around, people may have either good or bad influence.
Corinth church had in its calling to be an influence to the world. Large churches have great influence, and Corinth was not the exception. Paul had to spend so much time with them in order to straighten their influence, first, internally among themselves, to deal with those things that were not reflecting Jesus, and then, externally to be the light of the world. Again, there is so much to see, both in the book of Acts and in the letters Paul wrote to them, that would show how influence is so important for individuals and churches as well.
The following four churches are going to show the four temperaments, which are the inner forces of the soul that will focus the rest of the faculties to a specific perspective of life. None of them is wrong, difference is the enrichment of life. The same way we have four seasons in the year, and our natural senses perceive different colors, flavors, sounds, textures, aromas, so it’s with this temperaments, each one see life from a different perspective that, when properly approached will give the church the riches of Christ.
9) The Ephesus Church. The Outgoing Temperament. Acts 19:1-41.
The outgoing temperament is also known as the people oriented temperament. This shows a strong inclination
toward people instead of things, projects or goals.
Here we find Paul, pouring down his life in love for those twelve disciples at the beginning of this church. After 2 years with them, the outgoing temperament of the church have reached the whole Asia, that have heard the Word of the Lord.
The special miracles by the hand of Paul (Ac. 19:11) is another sign of this temperament, those with this kind of inclination love to attract people by doing special things, wanting to be the center of attention.
This same attitude is seen when Paul sends for the elders and speaks to them from his very heart as a loving dismissal from them (Ac. 20:17-38).
The letter to the Ephesians is filled with Christ’s perspective towards His people, this is where we find the believers chosen, resurrected and seated in heavenly places, also we find here the gifts of Christ, the children of light and many other pictures of the church that are people related.
10) The Troas Church. The Goal-centered Temperament. Acts 20:6-12.
It says that Paul taught all night, he had a goal to fulfill, and not even the death of beloved Eutychus stopped him from getting it.
The goal-centered temperament is shown in that Paul ministered to them ‘till the daybreak and then, walked from there all the way to Assos.
In 2 Corinthians 2:12,13. We see Paul goal centered towards this church, even before it could get started. Paul had to wait for Titus because he had gone off to Corinth, and even though everything was ready, he lacked the right help. Nevertheless he waited ‘till all four points of Divine Order for building were in place (doing the right thing, in the right time, with the right help, and in the right way), so the fulfilling of the purpose could remain. This is a very important key thought for this kind of temperament, it is not succeeding in any way regardless of the consequences, it is succeeding for good.
11) The Tyre Church. Introspective Temperament: Acts 21:3-6.
This is the only church that speaks about the wives and the children, revealing the introspective temperament of the church. This church shows more emphasis in developing strong families within her than the outreach ministry .
This church was located on an island. Isolated people seem to have a greater tendency to be introspective. People with this kind of temperament are close knit; they develop close friends but don’t go out easily to make new friends. These families are so bound together that they all go everywhere. Here we see them with their wives and children going to the shore to greet Paul as he departed.
When the Spirit revealed to the disciples the sufferings that awaited Paul, their introspective temperament brought out the idea that he should not go up to Jerusalem. This type of people usually has a strong will, so they tried to dissuade him. But Paul knew better. One caution for this kind of temperament is not to interpret what the Holy Spirit is saying, otherwise, supernatural would begin to fade from those churches.
12) The Roman Church. Visionary Temperament. Acts 28:16-31.
This temperament is the one that is always looking forward to the future in hope. The visionary temperament
sees what the final outcome would be and gets filled with great anticipation.
Paul’s God-given vision was to appear before Caesar and testify about Christ, and regardless of the imprisonment, storm, shipwreck, snake bite and other trials, he never lost that vision.
This is the only church with the unfinished story, with the purpose to open our vision to greater things in the future, in other words, the history of the church doesn’t end with Rome, it’ll continue till Christ return. God has the greatest vision for His Church, and in the last century He has been restoring the prophetical ministry, so that the church would have His vision restored. People without the vision build up denominations, and they just see their own local church or ministry as the whole. Acts 27:21-25,30-31 tells us how the centurion believed more the captain and pilot of the ship than the vision that Paul had received. But God was merciful and gave them a new vision through Paul. They had to choose if they were going to believe the new vision. Paul said that if the sailors escape using the lifeboats they would not be saved. They had to choose to let loose of their own hope and strength so they could depend on God’s strength. If we really want to trust God and keep His vision for our lives, we must cut the lifeboats, and steadfastly stand in God’s vision.
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