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P.O. Box 416, Gravette, AR 72736
501-787-6026
Dr. Arnold Murray, DRE
The church means many
.:>: different things to different
people. To a denominationalist a church
would he something of their own
denomination. It must align to its
system's doctrine. They may even think
that their church is the only one.
But, to a hihle student or scholar the
church is a different thing. It has nothing to do with
the sticks and stones that make up a building.
The word "church" comes from the Greek word
"ekklesia" which is made up of two other words. "ek"
meaning "completely out" and "kaleo" meaning "to
call." Joined together they form the word "ekklesia,"
meaning "called out ones." There is no way that you
can say this applies to any kind of building. Some
teach that the church is not mentioned past Chapt e r
3 in Revelation and they use this to show it has
heen "raptured out." In fact, the word "church" is
not mentioned in many hooks , such as Mark, Luke,
John, etc., but does this mean that those books don't
apply to God's church? Well, let's look at what God
means wh e n He speaks of the "church."
MATTHEW 16: 13 - 16 When Jesus came into the coasts
of Ceasarea Phillippi, He asked His disciples, saying,
'Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" !..!And
they said, ' Some say that Thou art John the Baptist:
some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the proph­
ets. ' .!JHe saith unto them, "But whom say ye that I am?"
!.§.And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. "
The words Peter spoke were very accurale \\~s
Peter res ponsihle for his answer?
MATTHEW 16: 17 And Jesus answered and sai d unto
him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee bur My Father
Which is in heaven."
"Simon" means "heilTing" ,wd "Ba r · .i"n<l" t ran s­
lates "son of the dove" which is :llw.:tys ~ymholic of
the Holy Spirit. Thi~ was Wh, l told Peter what to
say. When ollr F<Jther spe<Jks through an individual ,
thai per~on Jl)e~n ' t have ;llIylhing to do with what
is o,aid. Ciod caused Peter to make that statement
(which was even~ymholjc of what was to come in
Pe ter's life).
MATTHEW 16:18 "And I say also unto thee, That thou
art Peter , and upon this rock I will build My church;
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. "
Remember the true meaning of this word "church"
- the "called out ones." God is saying th<Jt through
Peter (which means "rock" in Greek) , He would
estahlish His "ekklesia." And , volunteers don't really
apply in this case . It is made up of those whom He
ha s called out and the "gates of hell" cannot touch
Newsletter #167 - Sept. 1, 1992
them. Everything that Satan can gather
up and throw at you cannot harm you
if you are one of your Father 's "called
out ones." As long as you exercise
the power and authority given you
through Jesus Christ.
MATTHEW 16: 19 "And I will give unto
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever
thou shalt bind on earth shalf be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven.'
Before Christ paid that awesome price on the
cross, an individual could repent hy the law through
sacrifice. But, flesh sins and if he died hefore making
atonement, he died in that sin and was therehy hound
after death. Christ , before His ascension to the Father,
visited those souls that were bound (I Peter 3:19) and
preached the gospel of His saving grace to them and
thereby set them free. And now, the church is for­
given by taking their repentance directly to Him. We
are given the keys that unlock and no man can close,
and that lock and no man can open. These keyo, are
th e truth, power, and authority VllU p,).,se ~ because
you are part of H i~ called \1111 ()nc~.
This is the hlltlom line llf what a church is all
ahout. Do you know of any huilding, cathedral, church
house, llT ~ynag()guc that can do this? I think not!
Anvtime in Hi~ Word, God talk s about those that are
called, or Ihe elect, etc., He is speaking of His church.
Anyone that is of the church (called out ones) can
excrci~c the power of the church. You don't ne ed a
"minister" to baptise you for example, one Christian
can baptise another. The minister or teacher in a
church is not the only one who has he en blessed of
God. Every single memher has their own gift. Don't
ever try to work in the gifts of another hecause you
think that is what you have to do to be useful to
God . When you are in the service of Christ, you bless
others through the gifts He has given you as an
individual. Just because a seed you plant doesn ' t take
hold is no reason to put yourself on a guilt trip. In
God's eyes you have done your joh suc­
cessfully.
ACTS 1: 15 And in those days Peter
stood up in the midst of the disciples ,
and said, (the number of names to ­
gether were about an hundred and twenty,)
The disciples, (meaning disciplined
in God's Word) were
called out hy God and
even though the text
does not use the word
"church ," this is where
th e foundation was laid. I
On the day ()f Pentecost
J
the Holy Spirit spoke through this "church," doing
what? .. ...
ACTS 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all
the People. And the Lord added to the church daily
such as should be saved.
Who did it say called them? Only God can add
to the church . Not the preacher or any other man.
You can't add to a ch urch by having an ice cream
social, by giving a way door prizes, I even knew of
a church once that hid a $5 bill under one of the
seats in order to try and fill the house . When man
begins to ma n ipula te people rather than letting God
he ends u p in a great deal of trouble .
To reinforce the meaning of this word "ekkle­
sia" lets go to the teachings of Steven.
ACTS 7 : 3 7-38 This is that Moses, which said unto the
children of Israel , "A Prophet shall the Lord your God
raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him
shall ye hear.' ~This is he, that was in the church in
the wilderness with the Angel Which spake to him in
the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received
the lively oracles to give unto us:
What? Moses built a little white building with
a steeple in the wilderness? Hardly!! The called ou t
ones were there because the church has existed
f rom the beginning, it was with us in the garden.
In the very formation of this earth age, God called
upon the Spirit that moved to accomplish the cre­
ation.
ACTS 7:39-40 To whom our fathers would not obey,
but ~ljrust h ino ..#om- ~ m f d-i·n- U'j9~~ rJ.s tu,~ d
back again into Egypt, !!!Saying unto Aaron , "Make us
gods to go before us : for as for this Moses, which
brought us out of the land of Egypt , we wot not what
is become of him. "
The impatient people couldn 't wait for (iud,
but instead, the idiots wanted to get "religious" and
they made idols to worship and lead them. They
invented a new denomination. When Moses came
down from the mountain he broke the very oracles
of God, and the Spirit of God moved through the
people and thousands died. Beloved, they were already
spiritually dead or they wouldn't have been asking
for something else to worship besid e God Himself.
I caution you, DON'T PLAY CHURCH HOUSE!
It's fake, it's false, and it is not from God's Word!
There is only one duty of the called out ones
and that is to do their duty in the service to the
living God. Fellowship is beautiful , but we must do
our Lord's business. We must study and learn of
His Word in order to be a blessing to those we
come in contact with.
In Revelation Chapter 3, Christ speaks to the
seven churches. In two, He has found favor, one
being the church of Philadelphia to whom He is
speaking in the following verses. This is where
some think the cburch disappears from the earth.
REVELATION 3: 10 "Because thou hast kept the word
of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of
temptation , which shall come upon all the world, to try
them that dwell upon the earth."
The hour of temptation, as described in Rev­
elation 17, happens when Antichrist is turned loose
for his short period of ti me. God will keep this
church from this time, but it will not be by rapture!
REVELATION 9 : 4 And it was commanded them that
they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither
any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men
which have not the seal of God in their foreheads .
God's seal protects those from the hour of temp­
tation . As you can see from this verse there are
still people on earth that have God 's truth. They
haven't been raptured, but are protected by His
seal - which IS His truth. Matthew 24 and Mark
13 both go into how God's elect would be deceived
if He hadn't shortened the days that they would
be tempted. If there were ever two indivluuals that
were "called out" it would be the two witnesses and
you can see from Chapter 11 that they are still on
the earth at the time of this temptation. So you
see, many just don't know what the church is.
REVELATION 22:16 "I Jesus have sent Mine angel to
testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the
Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright and
morning Star. '
The word "Revelation" means "to reveal" or "to
make known" and this is what the Angel of God
does. He testifies to the writings in God's Word .
This is what is supposed to be taught within God's
church which is mentioned throughout lhe Bible.
TUSl because . e cngtish wurd d oesn ' t appear -in­
the text, don 't assume it 's not there.
Some may call themselves a church, but that is
not necessarily what they are . Except God called
you and gave you an open mind whereby you hear
and understand His scripture you might still be a
part of one of those. Don't look down, and don't
talk against those who don't know the difference.
Plant a seed and pray for them and then be about
our Father's business. God will establish His own
church and He will use you to accomplish it.
NEW TAPES K
FOR SEPTEM SER
809 The Church 4.00
810 Day Star 4.00
AMERICA B.C. by Dr . Barry Fell 12.00
SERENITY New Testament 15.00
A twelve-step program through the
New Testament