I’d like to end 2024 with a final post about my home church. I wanted to thank the Lord for the opportunity to lead it. We are a home church with a small beginning of only 2 couples that found ourselves in the same mindset about Western Christianity and the desire to return to the basic, simple model of the church as it first began one Pentecost day long ago.

We’ve been going now almost a year. We started in mid-January 2024, having alternated our meetings between our two homes. We didn’t know exactly how to begin so we discussed a few ideas about how we would “do church”. The desire was something deeper, more akin to the Acts 2 model.

42 They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Reverential awe came over everyone, and many wonders and miraculous signs came about by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and held everything in common, 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need. 46 Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, 47 praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-47

That’s the model in 5 short verses. That’s what we wanted. When I see this model, it’s blessed by God and more people are getting saved every day. Ponder that for a moment – people saved every single day. They met every single day in the temple courts where the people were. What happened to us? Why are the biblical churches empty? It seems like entire generations are missing. What would happen if we shattered the western church model and went back to this one. Would the Lord work miracles in the presence of unbelievers again? Would we recover the fear of God? Would we see people saved every single day? I bet we would.

Things are going well so far; I really have no complaints. In fact it’s going far better than I ever imagined. We spend about 4-5 hours together worshipping, taking communion together each week, spending time in intercessory prayer, about 45 minutes in the Word and then sharing a meal together talking about the things of God. The teaching falls to me because I have the time to put it together each week.

We had been going for about 9 months and as an amateur, untrained leader (I don’t claim the title of pastor but I guess I fill that role), sometimes I wonder if this is the right thing to do, I mean, are we really a church, a bible study…what are we? At that point I was kind of wondering by what authority or right do we have to call ourselves a church? So I was mulling over that question for awhile, kind of wondering if I was doing right by the Lord and by these people.

At about that point, I watched a YouTube from a British street preacher named Joe Kirby who told the story about a revival that happened back in 1949-1952 timeframe on the Isle of Lewis (search for “Isle of Lewis revival” and it should come up if you are interested). He said he had been there many times and it was one of his favorite places to go. He said that there were still a number of churches there that were still solidly biblical that he would have no reservations about attending with his family. The revival took hold on the island and, a generation or two later, it remains a stronghold of biblical Christianity in a nation that has in many ways, turned its back on God. He was describing how the revival started through the prayer of two women that spread to a church where one of the elders was given the following verse:

Who shall ascend the mountain of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

Psalm 24:3-4

Long story short, this verse pulled the trigger on one of the most widespread, genuine, and supernatural revivals I’ve ever heard of – certainly in modern times. So what does that have to do with my little home church? Well, it was one of three priorities I received directly from the Holy Spirit. You have to understand that God doesn’t speak that way to me very often. He does through His word all the time and he would use His word to affirm what he spoke to me in this rare incident that happened over several weeks.

The priorities I received came through different sources and then the Lord spoke to pull it together for me and added an additional and critical piece of information – one tiny thing he said that carried enormous weight for me. Clearly he knew I needed to hear from him on this matter. Nonetheless, anything I think may be from the Lord gets tested against His Word. If it holds, then I better accept it. In doing a little research in the Bible about the three priorities, I would find the supportive verses but I would also find that they were tied together through certain key phrases. When I realized the connections between these verses, I knew God had spoken. So what did he say?

He said: “Let me give you the three priorities I have for this church.” He called it “this church”. I gotta tell you that kind of shocked me – he considered our little 4 person gathering a church. I really needed to know that.

18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven. 19 Again, I tell you the truth, if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. 20 For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.”

Matthew 18:18-20

This is a description of what the church does. Two or three. We have four. And the Lord said he considered us a church. For me that’s humbling because I know what the Lord expects of His church. It’s a high bar. And he was about to set the bar for us in three priorities. Here they are as captured in our founding document:

Church Priorities

This home church has 3 overarching biblical priorities or guiding principles that we believe were provided from the Lord to help keep us on a path He has directed for us. In assessing these priorities relative to the Word of God, connections were found that tie them together. These connections were observed when discerning if these priorities were consistent with the bible, confirming their origin in the Will of God for our church. These principles speak to vision and priorities that should always be true. The moment they cease to be true is the moment we cease to be a church. 

1. Devotion to the King shall be our first priority. (Rev 2:1-7) 
   • Our desire to conduct the business of the kingdom shall never replace our devotion to the King. 
   • Revelation 2:1-7   “To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write the following: “This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who has a firm grasp on the seven stars in his right hand — the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2 ‘I know your works as well as your labor and steadfast endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have even put to the test those who refer to themselves as apostles (but are not) and have discovered that they are false. 3 I am also aware that you have persisted steadfastly, endured much for the sake of my name, and have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you: You have departed from your first love! 5 Therefore, remember from what high state you have fallen and repent! Do the deeds you did at the first; if not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place— that is, if you do not repent. 6 But you do have this going for you: You hate what the Nicolaitans practice —practices I also hate. 7 The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will permit him to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.’’ 
   • The Ephesian church was doing all the right things in terms of activity and tasks that a church must perform relative to the mission. They were commended. But somewhere along the line they forgot devotion to the Lord. This put the existence of their church at risk. Did they recover their devotion? We don’t know. But our desire is to learn from the church at Ephesus. We do not seek prominence or promotion but only to stand before our Savior as a people who know and love Him just as He knows and loves us. 
2. This church shall always be a house of prayer. (Isaiah 56:6-7) 
   • Matthew 21:12-13 Then Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. 13 And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are turning it into a den of robbers!” This verse derives from Isaiah 56. When looking at that complete passage, a connection with the first priority above was noted.
   • Isaiah 56:6-7 6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, [see verse 4 above] and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” 
   • To me, the connection of the Lord’s house of prayer to loving His Name that ties back to Rev 2:4 is remarkable. Also, the reference in Isaiah 56:7 regarding the Lord’s Holy mountain connects with our third guiding principle:
3. As repentant believers in Messiah, we shall maintain clean hands and a pure heart. (Psalm 24) 
   • The Lord provided this priority via a UK pastor named Joe Kirby who was relating the story of a revival that had taken place on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in the late 1940’s, the effects of which still remain to this day. 
   • A key verse that triggered the revival came from Psalm 24:3-4: Who shall ascend the mountain of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.
   • The reference to the mountain of the Lord connects Isaiah 56, Psalm 24 and again back to Revelation 2:1-7.  To me, the connections of these priorities shown in the quoted verses is unmistakable and a little mind blowing.

These connections as indicated in the scriptures above were unknown at the time the principles were given. Therefore, I must conclude they are from the Lord and will take them seriously. This was also an acknowledgment from the Lord that He considers us a church.

One more interesting connection that was unanticipated: last year, my niece married a man whose family is from the Isle of Lewis. What are the odds…seriously, I have no words. It’s such a tiny, unknown place. He is an atheist from the very place. One more thing: my ancestry is Scottish from the clan of MacPherson. It’s like all of this has come full circle traversing hundreds of years of ancestry back to my ancestral homeland. The Lord specifically gave the verse from Psalm 24 that triggered a revival there. What is that to do with a home church in Colorado? Why does he want this little church tied to a revival that happened 75 years ago? What does this have to do with my niece and her atheist husband? I don’t know.

These priorities are different than statement of faith and those kinds of things. We need those and they are in development because we need to be able to articulate certain things about our little church. But these overarching principles or vision the Lord gave us will define our church and guide all we do.

It was all very sobering to me. To have the Lord designate us a church and to provide what will define us. To me, this is amazing stuff.