7. Spontaneous Community
Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord.Life together as the Church must arise only out from the spontaneous moving of the Holy Spirit through and among believers in Jesus. Life together can never be by compulsion, for obligation and human effort would drive the Spirit into silence.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost birthed the Church of Christ which took upon itself immediately the outward form of "all things common." This experience was a foreshadowing of the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles in the life of the Church.
Yet life together filled with God requires two things always together, all and all. Those two things are commitment and liberty. There is no Church without commitment to one another; there is no Church outside of each individual member walking in perfect liberty in relation to all.
Lesson 7.1 Church by Father defines the spontaneity arising out from each one through the Holy Spirit that alone births the Church in which Father would dwell. The lesson also includes the metaphor of a flock of birds showing us God's order for His Church.
Lesson 7.2 Early Church Patterns investigates the experience of the early church as recorded in the first chapters of Acts. God set before us His intentions regarding His dwelling place right from the start.
Lesson 7.3 Together in Liberty reiterates the necessary union of complete commitment towards one another with the perfect liberty of each individual member of God's House. The lesson also includes a proposed agreement to which each one who joins together in Christian Community might subscribe.