John Pike

Read Time: 5 mins

A Spirit Filled Community: What Does It Mean?

 

This nation, along with the Western and European world, has traditionally based its faith and belief in God on a Roman Catholic or Protestant Christian religious system of doctrines and traditions, regardless of whether they are Bible based or not. Y’Hovah God is not looking for Christians or Christian Churches; there are too many to pick from. He’s looking for Ruach, or Spirit filled Communities of Torah based believers.

Question: What are we and Christians being called out of, and being called into?  We’re being called from the kingdoms of men and self-righteousness into the Kingdom of God and His righteousness!

Matthew 6:25-34; 7:21-24  What does it mean, and how can we practice putting the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first? What changes do I have to make to be part of Messiah’s Community?  What is Y’Hovah our Heavenly Father looking for in us? 

John 4:23-24 “But an hour is coming – it is here now – when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people as His worshippers. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in Truth.” People living in the Ruach and in the truth!

Ephesians 4:17-24, 5:15-21 This is about completely changed spiritual lifestyles. How difficult is it to stop living a Christian lifestyle, and from having a Church mindset, and become part of a spiritual community based on the truth of God’s Word alone? If we are citizens of God’s Kingdom, and are part of His spiritual family, then it is a very different mindset and lifestyle. One is a religious lifestyle based on self-interest, and is lived for this temporal life. The other is a Kingdom of Heaven lifestyle and is based on that which is eternal, or the millennial reign of Yeshua the Messiah.

Christians will often, very often, put personal interests ahead of going to Church on Sunday. And even when they do go, then work, shopping, sports, family is still the order of the day. “As long as I went to Church, it doesn’t matter what else I do.” And that’s because there is no fear of God, and no understanding of how the Kingdom of Heaven is being established here on earth through His Community, the true Body of Yeshua Messiah. It can be very difficult to disentangle ourselves from Christian lifestyles, beliefs and mindsets.

Too often we don’t understand what’s important to God; what is meant by the narrow path, and that Torah – the ancient path – is the will of God, and is the way in which we must live our Spirit filled lives.  When we don’t understand that, that’s when we put our own interests first, unlike Yeshua who put His Father’s interests first and His Kingdom. We are told to delight ourselves in the Torah and obey Shabbat. Psalm 1; Nehemiah 13:15-22  If we honour Elohim and His word, then our delight will be to live it, love it and put nothing before it.

Colossians 2:16-23 Paul is very clear: following man-made religious rules, teachings and false humility are of no value in overcoming the fleshly indulgences and addictions.  Do the will of the Father in keeping the instructions of Scripture on clean and the unclean, keep festivals, new moon and Sabbaths.

Nehemiah 12:27-47 Community is when we believe the same things, do the same things, and follow the truth of Elohim’s Word together. Israel’s life, worship and relationships were based on Torah totally, nothing else was necessary, no changes were allowed. Life in today's world and in the Church is about what makes me happy, entertains me and satisfies me.  If the Church had true Spirit filled worship based on truth, then there would not be thousands of different versions of the same truth based on what is called the gospel.

There is only one truth that will set you free, and that’s the truth taught and demonstrated by Yeshua and the apostles in the Book of Acts and their writings, and they are all based on the writings of Moses and the prophets.  That’s called the Good News of the Kingdom of God.  The Good News of the Kingdom of Heaven is very different from the Christian Gospel and their Great Commission based on that Gospel.  Ephesians 2:11-22