Rediscovering God's Church | Derek Prince at PastorBookshelf Excerpts

Rediscovering God’s Church | Derek Prince

by Matt McCarnan on June 8th, 2007

Derek Prince. Rediscovering God’s Church. Whitaker House, 2006. 432 pp.

What Is God’s Original Blueprint for the Church?

The Daily Life of the Church

Some time ago, I came to realize that as a preacher I was leading people into something but not telling them what to do after they got into it. I was going over the initiatory experiences that brought people into a kind of life but left them without direction or instruction as to how to live that kind of life after they entered it.

Three Initiatory Experiences

We will look first at three initiatory experiences set as the gateway or entrance into the local church and into daily Christian living. Then we will attempt to look at the living itself. Acts 2 contains the clearest account both of the initiatory experiences and the ongoing daily life of the church.

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:37-38)

That is one complete, comprehensive answer. It presents a unified experience of New Testament salvation that I call “the package deal”: repent, be baptized in water and receive the Holy Spirit. They said, “What shall we do?” He said, “Get it all. Repent, be baptized in water, receive the Holy Spirit.” As I understand the Scripture, they got it all. I believe that God’s will and His answer to this question has not changed in the least bit.

Repent

The Scripture is quite emphatic: Repent. The Greek tense used means “do a thing once and never repeat it.” There is no teaching in the New Testament about continually repenting. A person who is living right should not have to keep repenting, and a person who has truly repented should not keep sinning! This is very decisive and incisive in the Greek. Repent. That’s it. Change your mind. Stop doing the wrong things; start doing the right things. Turn from the devil; turn to God. All this is included in repentance. It is not emotion; it is a decision.

Be Baptized

The second thing is be baptized: “Let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for [or into] the remission of sins.” Being baptized in water in the early church was the official recognition that that person had placed his faith in Jesus Christ and received forgiveness of sins. It was not requisite for the forgiveness, it was an indication that sin’s forgiveness had been claimed by that person and was acknowledged by the leaders of the church. Water baptism is the human recognition of a person as being eligible for membership in the church of Jesus Christ.

Receive the Holy Spirit

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is divine recognition that a person belongs to God. Both of these recognitions should come right at the outset of Christian living. A person should be acknowledged by the church in the act of water baptism. A person should be acknowledged by the Head of the church by the supernatural seal or baptism of the Holy Spirit. Paul said in Ephesians 1:13: “In whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” The baptism in the Holy Spirit, in that sense, is a supernatural seal placed upon a person by the Head of the body, Jesus Christ, acknowledging that person as a member of Christ’s Body.

Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. (Acts 2:41)

Four Continuing Activities

Now what did this threefold initiatory experience lead them into? The next verse contains the official New Testament declaration of daily Christian living. You will notice it begins with the phrase, “They continued.” We pass from the initiatory, single experiences that do not have to be repeated into the continuing, daily, regular pattern of life:

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42)

These are the four basic activities of New Testament Christian living.

Activity #1: Teaching

This is the first of the four ongoing activities of normal church life: systematic, practical Bible teaching. The day of Pentecost would have been a disaster without it!

Activity #2: Fellowship

The next basic activity is fellowship. We have to understand that fellowship is the end purpose of the gospel.

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (I Corinthians 1:9)

Fellowship is not a means to an end–it is the end. Fellowship with God and His people is where we are heading!

Activity #3: Eating Together

The basic form of fellowship is very simple: it is eating together. This is so simple that people overlook it. How did they have fellowship? They ate together–in their homes, around the table, they praised the Lord, they prayed and they shared the Word of God.

Activity #4: Prayer

While the first need of the local church is teaching, the first outreach of the local church is prayer. The first collective ministry of the local church is praying.

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. (I Timothy 2:1)

I have come to see the ministry of prayer as the primary ministry of a group of believers. After a congregation is properly taught, the ministry of prayer should emerge. This is the first positive ministry of the church–the outreach that proceeds forth from the teaching.

Prayer is not a way of getting God to do what you want Him to do. Rather, prayer is the way to get to the place where you know God is going to do what you are asking Him to do.

When we harmonize and meet the other requirements of prayer, we fulfill a necessary component of church life. Without it we will fall short of all that God has for the church.

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