Edification
1 Corinthians 14:5I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.
More than ever, the church needs to be edified.
Edified = 'Oikodome' (G3619)
Outline of Biblical Usage:
(the act of) building, building up
metaph. edifying, edification
the act of one who promotes another's growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness, holiness
a building (i.e. the thing built, edifice)
The church is crumbling. Look at the SBC, mega church leaders falling, denominations slipping in secular humanism....etc.
The answer is to hear God more, and then say what He says. We need authority. Authority is produced by revelation of absolute truth.
Relativism and corruption...which results in relational authority (picture a pyramid as opposed to a tree)...are literally destroying the church from within.
The answer is learning to hear God....then saying what He says. Hearing God is basic to a relationship with God. If you can't hear Him, you can't do His will. Picture the branches of a tree...if they don't connect to the sap flowing from the root...they die. One part of a tree can die and the tree still lives. If the bottom of a pyramid is removed the whole thing falls... That is the difference between relational authority and Godly authority.
Jesus is the vine. We are branches.
Many do things that make them look Christian. Few do things in response to what they hear God actually saying in real time.
It takes faith, but anyone can, and honestly, must, learn to hear God.
Matthew 7:7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9“Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10“Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
12“Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14“Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
15“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16“You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17“Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20“Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
24“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25“and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27“and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,
29for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
The "asking" Jesus begins this passage with is primarily asking for the connection to hearing God, which is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our connection to hearing God with ears in our hearts.
Luke 11:9“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
10“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
11“If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
12“Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
This is the main reason why we do a prayer room...because we want to learn to hear God together. God will never contradict the Bible, but simply reading the Bible isn't enough. We need both the Spirit AND the word.
Just reading the word doesn't cause it to abide in you. Jesus IS the word....and the spirit of Jesus makes it come alive inside of us. This is what edifies:
John 5:38“But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.
39“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
40“But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
Right now, the wisest thing a believer can do is grow in confidence (faith) that they hear God. This happens in a very specific way:
1. I ask
2. I receive in small measures
3. I, in faith, believe what I hear and confirm in the word.
4. I say and do what I am told
5. I see God keep his word
6. Repeat
If I don't ask, I never receive. If the Lord speaks, then in faith, I respond:
Hebrews 11:6But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
7By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
The church is desperate for edification right now. It is desperate for a prophetic spirit and true authority.
It is desperate for Jesus.
John 15:1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
2“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
4“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
7“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
8“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
9“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
10“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
You can't abide in a person if you can't hear them.
More than ever, the church needs to be edified.
Edified = 'Oikodome' (G3619)
Outline of Biblical Usage:
(the act of) building, building up
metaph. edifying, edification
the act of one who promotes another's growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness, holiness
a building (i.e. the thing built, edifice)
The church is crumbling. Look at the SBC, mega church leaders falling, denominations slipping in secular humanism....etc.
The answer is to hear God more, and then say what He says. We need authority. Authority is produced by revelation of absolute truth.
Relativism and corruption...which results in relational authority (picture a pyramid as opposed to a tree)...are literally destroying the church from within.
The answer is learning to hear God....then saying what He says. Hearing God is basic to a relationship with God. If you can't hear Him, you can't do His will. Picture the branches of a tree...if they don't connect to the sap flowing from the root...they die. One part of a tree can die and the tree still lives. If the bottom of a pyramid is removed the whole thing falls... That is the difference between relational authority and Godly authority.
Jesus is the vine. We are branches.
Many do things that make them look Christian. Few do things in response to what they hear God actually saying in real time.
It takes faith, but anyone can, and honestly, must, learn to hear God.
Matthew 7:7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9“Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10“Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
12“Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14“Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
15“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16“You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17“Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20“Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
24“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25“and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27“and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,
29for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
The "asking" Jesus begins this passage with is primarily asking for the connection to hearing God, which is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our connection to hearing God with ears in our hearts.
Luke 11:9“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
10“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
11“If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
12“Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
This is the main reason why we do a prayer room...because we want to learn to hear God together. God will never contradict the Bible, but simply reading the Bible isn't enough. We need both the Spirit AND the word.
Just reading the word doesn't cause it to abide in you. Jesus IS the word....and the spirit of Jesus makes it come alive inside of us. This is what edifies:
John 5:38“But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.
39“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
40“But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
Right now, the wisest thing a believer can do is grow in confidence (faith) that they hear God. This happens in a very specific way:
1. I ask
2. I receive in small measures
3. I, in faith, believe what I hear and confirm in the word.
4. I say and do what I am told
5. I see God keep his word
6. Repeat
If I don't ask, I never receive. If the Lord speaks, then in faith, I respond:
Hebrews 11:6But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
7By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
The church is desperate for edification right now. It is desperate for a prophetic spirit and true authority.
It is desperate for Jesus.
John 15:1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
2“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
4“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
7“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
8“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
9“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
10“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
You can't abide in a person if you can't hear them.
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