by Brett Jacobsen

Blowing ‘our’ trumpet in Zion

A large part of the western church has become a scene of men that desire and perform to be seen of men. Like the flaunting Corinthians and wayward Jews of New Testament times, many ‘Christians’ these days have fallen prey to a public spectacle paradigm that is rooted in “the pride of life”. (1 John 2:16) Jesus sternly warned many to steer clear from a “seen of men” motivation. In the “Sermon on the Mount” He said:

by Frank Viola

The Kingdom of God is the rule of God. And it rests upon the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God produces the church . . . the community of the King.  The church, in turn, submits to the sway or rule of the Kingdom. As it does, the church expresses, represents, and advances God’s Kingdom on the earth.

Properly conceived, the church is the community of believers who possess Divine life. This community joyfully enthrones Jesus Christ, expresses His sovereign rule in the world, and as a result, enjoys the blessings of the future age here-and-now (Rom. 14:17; Heb. 6:5).

by Brett Jacobsen

This is an 'audio teaching' from Brett Jacobsen on true New Testament leadership and its imminent return.

Some topics briefly covered are:

Prophetic proof that the church is going underground.

How Jesus is taking back the reins of His church.

The function of true leaders, in contrast to hierarchical error.

True apostles and their function amongst the saints.

No more retarding the saints for the work of the monastry.

(This audio file is mp3 and is around 13mb, just click on the link below to download) 

Underground Leadershift

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Reformation to true New Testament leadership, for ongoing revival

Pt 5 of 5

by Brett Jacobsen

This five part teaching series on reformed New Testament leadership is taken from Brett Jacobsen’s book Heaven's Underground Blueprint which is available here - http://www.christisall.org/hub-book.

Equippers of the saints

Every Christian who is sent, or set in place, functioning as a leader, is also qualified as an elder. It is these ones who are called and gifted to equip and mature the saints so they will do the work of the ministry. We will now take a brief look in Ephesians at their role in readying the believers:

Reformation to true New Testament leadership, for ongoing revival

Pt 4 of 5

by Brett Jacobsen

This five part teaching series on reformed New Testament leadership is taken from Brett Jacobsen’s book Heaven's Underground Blueprint which is available here - http://www.christisall.org/hub-book.

Plural Eldership – the key to hierarchy-free local authority

Reformation to true New Testament leadership, for ongoing revival

Pt 3 of 5

by Brett Jacobsen

This five part teaching series on reformed New Testament leadership is taken from Brett Jacobsen’s book Heaven's Underground Blueprint which is available here - http://www.christisall.org/hub-book.

Scenario of apostolic function

I will now put forth a picture of an apostle to give us a general idea before we ground it in the word.

Apostles are called and commissioned by God but sent from the local community of believers, usually into un-chartered waters. Sometimes this is geographically, other times it is culturally, racially or even religiously. They are often the first on the scene, either laying the foundation of Christ beneath a pre-Christian community, or re-laying it under a straying Christian one. They are both teachers of the Christ foundation and examples of it themselves.

Reformation to true New Testament leadership, for ongoing revival

Pt 2 of 5

by Brett Jacobsen

This five part teaching series on reformed New Testament leadership is taken from Brett Jacobsen’s book Heaven's Underground Blueprint which is available here - http://www.christisall.org/hub-book.

Apostolic naming

If it is not an official position, then why would the apostles call themselves apostles?

I’m glad you asked.

For starters, you may have noticed that when I write the word apostle, except when referring to false hierarchy heads, I do not use a capital A. This is because that would make it the title of a person rather than their simple job description. To call someone Apostle Paul is to don them with a false official title, whereas to say Paul the apostle is biblically correct.

Reformation to true New Testament leadership, for ongoing revival

Pt 1 of 5

by Brett Jacobsen

This five part teaching series on reformed New Testament leadership is taken from Brett Jacobsen’s book Heaven's Underground Blueprint which is available here - http://www.christisall.org/hub-book.

Underground examples of abandoning self

Before we delve into the largely untouched and untapped realm of true Biblical leadership, in contrast to the widely accepted and embraced traditional leadership, we must look to the foundation and heart of Christian usefulness.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20)

 
A Commentary on 1 Corinthians 9:1-14

by John White

A critical element in the development of the house church movement in the United States will be a change in our financial paradigm. In traditional church, money is given by church members to pay for such things as the building, salaries for the church staff, various programs, missions, etc. The house church movement offers an opportunity to reexamine Biblical values regarding the use of money for ministry.

Probably the most important single passage dealing with this topic is 1 Cor. 9:1-18. The following is a commentary on these verses with a view to discerning principles for financing ministry. This article would be best read with your Bible open to the passage under examination. (Note: Gordon Fee's commentary, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, has been particularly helpful in this study.)

-Embracing True Biblical Unity

by Brett Jacobsen

This article is an excerpt from the authors book Heaven's Underground Blueprint which is available here - http://www.christisall.org/hub-book.

by Brett Jacobsen

Defining spirituality

Many people think that in order to be spiritual you need to be somewhat fruity, having a strange eerie manner about you. Others believe in a more relaxed down to earth lifestyle which sometimes leans towards carnal worldly living.

Jesus was the most highly spiritual being the planet has ever seen. He regularly defied natural laws by the supernatural power He had flowing from His life. Although He was a very spiritual individual, often spending whole nights in prayer and working many miracles, in a lot of respects He was a fairly normal guy. He wasn’t born into royalty or a revered religious family, He didn’t have political persuasion, and to those close to His life He didn’t seem to look too different.

by John White

(Note: this was written to introduce two men who are leading house churches in different parts of the country.)

It has been on my mind for a while now to introduce the two of you to each other. The reason is that each of you are in similar situations (one in NJ and the other in Florida). Both of you have thriving house churches that need to multiply. Both of you have families and are working in the world full time and so are probably stretched to (beyond?) the limit. As God is raising up house churches in this country, I suspect that your situation will be played out in hundreds of places in the months/years to come. What is needed is a multitude of prototypes that each reflect Biblical values.

by John White

Dear Church,

A good friend who is in the construction industry mentioned to me the other day about a church construction project that he is working on. This particular one was going to cost $10,000,000. This made me think more about the "paradigm shift" that we will need to undergo as God restores New Testament church values.

From the beginning, churches met in homes. Graydon Snyder in his book ANTE PACEM: Archaeological Evidence of Church Life Before Constantine says, "The New Testament Church began as a small group house church (Col. 4:15) and it remained so until the middle or end of the third century." (p. 166) The idea of "the church building" really didn't get going until the early 300's with Constantine. (This is when government began to get involved with church.)

by Brett Jacobsen

In order to get our heads around this topic we will have to remove our Greek style, tradition infected mindsets and flow with the Spirit of truth and revelation.

Please pray (Eph 1:17-18, 2 Cor 10:5-6) and proceed.

Because most Christians have been a part of the contemporary church for some time now it is quite natural to kick, at least a little, against truth that challenges where we’ve been and what we’ve done as the church.

In the same way as the children of Israel demanded a worldly leadership structure, when they cried out for a king (1 Sam 8:1-20), so to does the humanness of the church crave an institution as its identity rather than flowing organically in Christ. Due to Israel’s history repeating itself in the church it didn’t take very long for worldly institutionalism to arise, dominate and set in.

by John White

Dear Church,

The following is my contribution to the New Testament Church Planters discussion group that I am a part of. (Anyone can join - see the address below). The current thread concerns the definition and ministry of apostles. I am making the argument that in the early church there was great diversity in the ministry of apostles and that we should expect the same today.

This is important because if we are going to see a million house churches planted there will need to be thousand of these apostles (church planters). I think we will be surprised at some of the people God will call to function in this way. (Might even be some of you!)

By Brett Jacobsen

This 4 part audio teaching series by Brett Jacobsen presents an overview of the current reformation of the Church.

(All audio files are mp3 files and are around 20 mb. Just click on link to download.)

Part 1 : The Early Church in its New Skin - How it all Began 

Part 2 : Journey Into the Dark Ages - What Went Wrong  

Part 3 : Gods Process of Reformation - Brokenness in Heart 

Part 4 : Much Needed Change - Fruit of Man Made Structure  

by Wolfgang Simson

God is changing the Church, and that, in turn, will change the world. Millions of Christians around the world are aware of an imminent reformation of global proportions. They say, in effect: "Church as we know it is preventing Church as God wants it." A growing number of them are surprisingly hearing God say the very same things. There is a collective new awareness of age-old revelations, a corporate spiritual echo. In the following "15 Theses" I will summarize a part of this, and I am convinced that it reflects a part of what the Spirit of God is saying to the Church today. For some, it might be the proverbial fist-sized cloud on Elijah's sky. Others already feel the pouring rain.