KINGDOM RESTORATION PROCESS

The church is one of the mysteries of God that was obscured in the Old Testament days but was revealed by Jesus during his earthly ministry in Matthew 16:18-19. It was after His ascension that the church was inaugurated by His disciples on the day of Pentecost. It is the foundation of God’s kingdom. The church is the assembly of the people that have been called out of the world system, philosophy, arrangement, and fashion into the newness of life in Christ Jesus with the objective of making the world it’s disciples. The church is called to bear witness to the life experienced in the kingdom of God for the people in the world to see. This is done through the preaching of the gospel, teaching the word of God, and demonstrating the power of the kingdom through healings, miracles, signs and wonders.

Jesus knew that the nature of the Devil (Satan) had been deposited in man at his fall i.e. Adamic nature in man and this must be done away with in order for man to fit in into the new nature of God. Hence the need for Him (Jesus) to institute the Church which will serve as a refinery where every regenerated believer will be purged from every trait of the Devil. This is done when they fellowship together, study the scripture together, listen to the teaching of the word together, pray together, etc. Believers in Christ are in the process remolded and shapened to be Christ-like and become a saint with time. The church also is to serve as a place where discipline can be instilled into erring members and also as a place where true fellowship can be experienced.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus trained His followers, whom he called apostles and disciples. It was these people that he commissioned for the work of ministry shortly before His ascension, as recorded in Acts 1:8; Matt 28:16; Mark 16:15-18; and Luke 24:45-49. It was these disciples – about 120 of them – that inaugurated the church on the day of Pentecost, where about 3000 souls were converted and added to the church when Peter preached his first sermon (Acts 2:14-41). And in another sermon, 5000 souls were added to the church in Acts 4:4. The church’s expansion continued until it spread to other parts of the world.

It must be noted that Jesus trained his disciples in the work of ministry. He did this by empowering them to preach and to demonstrate the power of the kingdom by healing the sick and casting out demons. He initially sent out the 12 apostles on mission, and later, 70 disciples were also sent on mission work. He trained his disciples and made them to be like him to the extent that Judas Iscariot had to betray him for his assailants to recognize him. It is recorded in Acts 11:26 that early disciples were called Christians because they behaved like Jesus Christ.

During his valedictory discourse with his disciples in John 13-17, Jesus demonstrated to them what new life in him should look like and how it should be operated. He also told them all that is expected of their new nature, which they are to demonstrate and teach the people of this world.

At inception, the church started as home cells, which were collectively addressed by the names of their domicile towns and places, e.g., the church at Ephesus, the church at Colossae, and the church in the house of individual members. The church, at its inception, had no structured/formalized mode of worship and teaching. The Holy Spirit directed all its activities. Some of the apostles had to write Epistles to the churches in order to strengthen the church operations and edify the believers. In the course of time, the early church had institutions such as Deacons, Elders, and Bishops for ease of administration. However, the Godhead (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), who is the owner of the church had to equip the church with different spiritual gifts (Holy Spirit gives -Manifestation gifts such as Words of Wisdom, Words of Knowledge, Discerning Spirit, Faith, Healing, Working of Miracles, Speaking in Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues -( 1Cor 12:7-11); Father gives -Service gifts such as Ministry, Prophecy, Teaching, Exhortation, Ruling/Leading, Giving, Mercy, Help, Administration (Rom 12:6-8); 1Cor 12:28);and Son gives -Ministerial gifts such as Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd (Pastor) and Teacher – (Eph 4:11-14) to function with in order to build up the church, edify the church, and mature believers. However, in some cases these gifts overlap.

The gifts were given by Godhead to make the church complete so that it will not have anything to borrow from the outside world. Looking at Ephesians 4:12-15, we can see that the gifts are given in order to:

• Perfect the saints.
• Prepare saints for the work of ministry.
• Edify the church (the body of Christ).7
• Unify the church in faith.
• Make the church have full knowledge of Christ, the Son of God.
• Make saints Christ-like.
• Build the church into spiritual maturity.
• Make the saints outgrow babyish conditions.
• Protect the saints from false teachers, prophets, pastors, and evangelists who are agents of the devil set up against the church.
• Protect the saints from attack of the Devil.
• Make the church whole and demonstrate the power of the kingdom through healings, casting out of demons, miracles, signs and wonders.
• Make the church grow in love and in truth.
• Make the church full of all things.

Subsequent episodes will deal more on the Institutions of The Church.