Within every culture is a belief system. So I want to share with you four major beliefs of an apostolic people within an apostolic culture. First and foremost, Matthew chapter 6 verses 9 to 10. It says, pray then in this way, our father who was in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
This is really an apostolic prayer of the disciples. In verse 10 where it says, your kingdom come, it's come thy kingdom, be done thy will. It's the apostolic decree from heaven to earth. And then Ephesians chapter 2 verse 6 says, and raised us up with him. This is God.
God raising us up with him and seated us with him being Christ in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And so from heaven where we're seated with Christ in the heavenly places, We decree and we declare, come thy kingdom, be done thy will. And so we live from two different worlds.
But with saying that, there's belief systems that we need to align ourselves with. And this isn't exhaustive, but these are four major belief systems that apostolic people carry. And the first belief system is this.
We believe we are covenant people, therefore we belong to a family. And we gather because we are a family. Apostolic people gather together.
They come together. They assemble together. Even the writer in Hebrews says, don't forsake the assembling together, that we will come together to encourage one another.
And so we're not gathering together because we agree together. We're not gathering around doctrine. We're not gathering around theology.
We're gathering together because we are family. You know, if we look at the Catholic Church, Right, first and foremost, we need to understand that the word Catholic Church, it literally means universal. And so in the Apostles'Creed, it states Catholic Church, Holy Catholic Church, but it's not a capital C, it's a small c. So it's the overall universal church, the Church of Christ.
But the capital C, the denomination, the religion aspect of it, the Catholic Church, it's only split three times. If you think about it, throughout all of its history. But if you think about the Protestant Church, how many times has it split? Hundreds of times, maybe thousands of times, maybe this past week. And so I think there's something that the Catholic Church, we can learn from, and it's that they call their leaders father.
And there's something about family that I believe that they understand, even though we have our doctrinal and theological differences. And so Martin Luther, and the great reformation he left due to doctrinal disagreement and we are called protestants because they were protesters protestant protestament protesters and so they were known for that and so out of protesting out of creating division guess what the protestant movement was birthed out of division and so division begets division but i believe that god is bringing us back to understanding what it truly means to be a covenantal people as we're covenanted to God and covenanted to one another. And so that birthed a lot of denominations. And again, for me, I don't believe that denominations in itself is negative because we live in tribes. Even in the old covenant, there were tribes.
There were 12 tribes of Israel. I believe denominations are like tribal groups. We live by tribes. And so even sociologists and sociological professors, they say that humans are created to live within tribunal communities you know and so within that I don't disagree with denominations but I do challenge us and when we get into denominationalism it becomes dangerous that's when we gather around doctrinal agreement or truth which is the greatest and utmost valued importance in life but all of a sudden if this is the case and you and I disagree that means that we have a split we separate and relationship is broken.
And we know that when it comes to Jesus, we've been given the ministry of reconciliation. And so that goes against the grain and it's the antithesis of really the kingdom of God. You know, denominationalism.
If we disagree, we leave or split. It's about opinion. It's about thought. It's about thinking. And so all of a sudden within the church, within denominationalism, we preach to try to convince people.
Not to inspire or to impart. You know, inspiration causes us to think so we don't want... So in other words, we don't want people to think.
We want to tell them how to think and what to think. You know, and so we all of a sudden take this world of the kingdom, which is about freedom, and we bring people into control and fear and punishment. And so this is what denominationalism does.
You know, so in other words, every time I disagree with you, you disagree with me, we have a split, we divorce. And so we teach to preach, to convince. You know, while the apostolic, the culture is about family. We gather because we're family.
The church was born in a covenant, not in a contract, not in a conference, not in a meeting. It was birthed in the upper room. where they were in covenant to one another in relationship and intimacy. And covenant is literally this, I'm with you until I die.
Now that scares the daylights out of a lot of people because it takes a commitment. Now covenant is beyond proximity. It doesn't mean that we're going to be stuck in a room together for the rest of our lives. But covenant is we can still be 3,000 miles apart and we're covenanted together.
It's a hard connection. It's our commitment to one another through the good, bad, and the ugly. Just because we believe differently doesn't mean we don't belong. And so disagreement is just part of the process. But this whole statement of, if you don't agree with me, you're not loyal to me, we know that's a false statement.
In fact, it's a controlling statement. We know it's not true. Because loyalty is tested through disagreements. True relationship is tested through adversity.
And so relationships... all must be tested, but it will fail and break if we're not walking in true covenant. It's going to reveal the true essence and nature of the relationship.
And family is so important because it's family that's going to heal the land. Malachi 4, 5, 6, it's the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers that's going to bring healing to the land. You know, our Broken society is really a direct result from fatherlessness and broken families. And we know that historically, we have sociologists who came out with studies to prove that fact. And all social ills is correlated to fatherlessness, is what many sociologists say.
And so, what if we, as the sons of God, are here to reveal the Father's love, to reveal the Father's heart? That is the essence of family, and we are an apostolic family. In Genesis 12, You know, it's the promise to Abraham. And we see God giving the promises to Abraham.
And this is, you see the dynamics of family. Everyone has something to contribute. And that everyone has the Holy Spirit who are followers of Christ.
And so from the youth, from the children to mature adults, we have the same Holy Spirit. And so when it comes to the Holy Spirit, that Holy Spirit is helping us to be and to live the lifestyle and be like Jesus which reveals the Father. And so if the attributes of the extravagant father in the prodigal son story is about love and freedom and not control, is to cover up the shame of those who are rejected, not wound or hurt, to be willing to give up the reputation for their sons and daughters, and to celebrate their sons and daughters for who they are and not point out who they're not.
If the father is the one who journeys with them to do life with them, not just teach them, how powerful would a covenant community be? This family that we're talking about. And see, I believe that we need to learn to be tour guides, not just travel agents. In 1 Timothy 1, verses 18-19, it says this, This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son.
In accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. And so Paul says those prophecies you receive from other people, to use it in this season as a weapon to fight for your faith. You know, Paul commanded him according to these prophecies.
He used the prophecies to direct Timothy's life. And the way that he addressed it was, Timothy, my son. You know, and so here we see the heart of the father and we see the heart of the son.
And you see their dynamic and the way that they communicate it and they love one another. And so Paul's holding Timothy accountable. And this is part of the covenant community is accountability. You know, covenant community releases impartation, right? It's fathers and mothers giving away what they have.
It's covenant community that releases accountability. It doesn't hold them accountable based upon what they've done wrong, but holding them accountable based upon who they are in God and their calling on their life. It's to keep them aligned with God's purposes for them. You know, Barnabas and Paul principle. This is what covenant looks like.
You know, in the book of Acts, you see Barnabas'name. It says Barnabas and Saul, Barnabas and Saul, and then Barnabas and Paul. And as it progresses, you start seeing Paul and Barnabas. You see that change of the guard.
You see the changing of priorities. You see the father taking a step back, and you see Paul stepping up. You know, in Romans chapter 1, verse 11, it says this.
For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you that you may be established. This is the heart of a father. Now this is family.
You know, he's saying, I want to be with you. I long for you so that I would give to you gifts. And this is what we do in family.
We give each other gifts. We impart love to one another. You know, and it's different than a student versus a son.
You know, what's the difference? Students mimic methods from teachers. but it's sons that carry the heart of their fathers. You know, Jesus said, follow me. You know, Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ.
You know, the anointing authority comes from experience, not articulating. It's through experiencing. And in family, it's experience.
It's more than a classroom setting. It's more than just saying. It's more than mimicking.
It's literally opening up one another's heart. receiving from one another and that is family. So as an apostolic community living in apostolic culture we believe we are a covenant people therefore we belong to a family.
This is the first belief system we must carry and align to.