THE CHURCH
(SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED)

Sept 13, 1998 pm
MF Blume

Note the PLURAL terms.. grouping.-
 



DEFINITION OF "ASSEMBLE" : 1. To come or bring together; collect or congregate.  2. To fit or jon together, as the parts of a mechanism.

"ASSEMBLY": 1. The act of assembling, or the state of being assembled.  2. A number of persons met for a commmon purpose.  3. The act or process of fitting together the parts of a machine,etc.; also, the parts themselves.

The Church is called an ASSEMBLY.

The People are the Church.

Notice all the PLURAL terms used in our opening text of Hebrews 10. There is a spirit in the world that is gripping the christian world with an emphasis on individuality. Unless we see the overall scope of a BODY that God is working with, we will miss our PLACEMENT in that ASSEMBLY and will not be ASSEMBLED that glorious day of Resurrection.

The TEMPLE
 

It was an assembly that fit together perfectly when the pieces were shaped and formed outside the city.
 

These stones were ASSEMBLED in the City.

We preached about the understanding that as the woman was CONSTRUCTED from a rib taken from Adam's side, and then she was reunited with Adam when ADAM KNEW HER, so is the Church being BUILT by Jesus Christ.

Upon this rock I will BUILD my church.

I can imagine a construction engineer working on several pieces of assembly outside the city. THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT CHURCH IS ALL ABOUT.
 

Jesus suffered on the cross OUTSIDE THE CITY GATE.

And while we are at work, at the same time, new souls are drawn by the Father to the Carpenter, the Son.

If you are called to this wedding feast, that means you have been properly shaped and already to fit into place by the time the wedding day arrived... of which wedding day no one knows the appointed moment.
 

The construction team assembles and assembles thos epieces temporarily in order to shape and reshape the pieces until they are perfectly shaped to fit one another.

We may be in the Church, but we are not in the bride yet, for the espoused wife is not a Bride until she is married. on her wedding day.

God is preparing the Last Adam the product of a Bride... A church.

Jesus said TAKE UP YOUR CROSS AND DENY YOURSELVES AND FOLLOW ME.

And while this occurs, the serpent is working. Paul said that while he was hoping for the resurrection day, the wedding day, and while he continued to look at things that distinguish him apart from the Lord, and rejected those things so that he may win Christ instead of self-importance.... These people have been duped by the serpent in the exact same manner Eve was duped. I have heard people say, "Yes I understand we must prefer other above ourselves, and love one another, BUT WHAT ABOUT ME for a change?" They begin to forsake the assembling together simply because they totally become ignorant that God requires us to come together and be fitted together. But self-centredness and lack of BODY consciousness will move me to work towards the end that I AM DISTINGUISHED Before we read about Paul's desire to be PART OF THE BRIDE and KNOW HIM, we read him say in Phil. 2.
 

Paul said these people who are self-oriented have a certain end of destruction.

Revelation 12 shows a woman clothed in sunlight white.

She was spiritually in a wilderness.

Reve 17:5  And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

She was not a BRIDE, but was involved in the same experience a Bride is involved with, relationship with a Groom, but she was involved with MANY and was therefore called a HARLOT.

The difference is that she is not committed to one, but lusts with many.

But John had to be in the Spirit to see this.

SELF, SELF, SELF

And in Revelation 19, you do not read about the Bride until you first read about the destruction, Paul spoke about in Phil 3, of the Harlot Church.
 

Paul spoke of the self-centred ones.

Its not isolation, but ASSEMBLING TOGETHER.
 

We shall ALL be changed in a single moment TOGETHER.

Watch out for subtle detours to get you to stress SELF rather than God.

God removed the harlot that took attention to herself.

Paul said that if something is gain to me, I count it but dung, for it detracts from Christ and makes me lose focus of the resurrection of the CHURCH to come.

John was told to tell people to come out of this Harlot before she is judged.