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The Plumb
L
ine
True Foundations
As always, if we can help you in any way, please contact the church here at:P.O. Box 68309, Indianapolis, IN 46268 USAE-mail: AllAtHisFeet@cs.com Web:
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©2003 AllAtHisFeet@cs.com
Copyright laws, as crazy as they are when we are talking about God’s Word, require us to say thefollowing: This material is copyrighted and may not be quoted and/or reproducedexcept by permission of the individual writers or copyright owners.This publication is NEVER to be sold for any price (2 Corinthians 2:17, Matthew 10:8).
 
THE PLUMBLINE
1
ApostolicFoundations andApostolic Patterns
Spoken in 1987, Transcribed in 2002
Prologue
The nature of the apostolic is, without question, one of the mosttreasured and important topics on the heart of God. But before weeven begin to delve into the Apostolic of God, one thing must be clearin your mind. If you don’t know anything else, know this:
 Everything in the Father’s heart is summed up in His firstborn Son, Jesus Christ.
The Father has chosen to express His nature, all that He is, through theSon. And today, on earth, He is building His Church that will possess allthe divine qualities and character of Christ Himself. The Church, theBody of Christ, is just exactly that: Christ Himself manifested throughHis People joined together. Just as Jesus is the exact representation of God Himself, so the Church will be HIS BODY, His representation onthe earth today!While some have neglected this teaching about the Apostolic of God,others have turned it into a doctrine or theology that elevates a “thing”rather than the person of Jesus. In offering the following thoughts,I intend strictly to elevate the Christ (Anointed One) of God and toclarify exactly who Jesus is, expressed in His Church, His present-day Body. “Lampstands” and “Foundations” are nothing more than thenature and substance of the Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.”What is heaven but a shadow of the Christ of God...
“But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb areits temple” (Revelation 21:22).
Below is the list of titles in a 10-part series of books aboutFoundational Issues of the Kingdom of God and the Bride of Christ.
 www.allathisfeet.com/foundations/
THE HAMMER—Breaking Down Misconceptions
“‘Is not my word like fire,’ declares the LORD, ‘and likea hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?’”
Jeremiah 23:29
THE PLOW
—Planting Hope & Vision
“‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when the reaper will beovertaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.’”
Amos 9:13
THE SCALES
—Holding to God’s Standards
“The LORD abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight.”
Proverbs 11:1
THE CRUCIBLE
—Refining and Melding Relationships
“The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,but the LORD tests the heart.”
Proverbs 17:3
THE SICKLE—
Clearing the Land and Harvesting Change
As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it,because the harvest has come.
Mark 4:29
THE TROWEL
—It Matters How We Build!
“This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: ‘See to it that  you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’”
Hebrews 8:5
THE SWORD
—Cutting Through the Fog
“‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.’”
Matthew 10:34
THE CHISEL
—“I Will Build My Church…”
“In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.”
1 Kings 6:7
THE ANVIL
—Forging Out a Life
“See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coalsinto flame and forges a weapon fit for its work.
Isaiah 54:16
THE PLUMB LINE
—True Foundations
“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty...Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God Bless it!...Who despises the day of small things?  Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”
Zechariah 4
 
THE PLUMBLINE
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THE PLUMBLINE
3
The temple of God is in God Himself.
“Heaven” itself is the substanceof Christ 
and is manifested or explained to us in expressions we canunderstand. Such as we are “seated with Christ in heavenly realms,”and I am “in Christ” if I am truly His disciple. All of heaven itself isthe essence of the heart of Jesus. So the things we’ll talk about are not“things.” They’re not just ideas, doctrines and concepts to run after.They are the very 
heart 
of Christ Himself. And if this is the Word of God, rest assured that His desire is for the Word to become “flesh anddwell among us.” Let the Word become flesh in you, not just an excitingnew teaching to impress others. As Christ the Word is manifested, Hetabernacles in our midst; the tabernacle of God is among His people.As the Word becomes flesh, we’re being built together to become a“Habitation of God by the Spirit.”As we go on into this, please realize that anything that is not “in Christ”is only a gimmick, a form of godliness that denies its power. Accurate,biblical “patterns” can easily become substitutes for a relationship with,and abiding in, Christ. Even with the best of intentions, you’ll never beable to find what you’re looking for—the Christ of God manifest in your midst—by using intellectually modeled forms of “the church of the Bible.” You will not be able to grab onto a form because it “looksthat way in the Bible” and ever find satisfaction for your hungry spirit.This satisfaction is found
IN CHRIST 
—our abiding in Him and us asHis Habitation. That is what the Kingdom, the Church, is all about.
Introduction
The following thoughts are far from the last word on this vast subject, just as they are certainly not the first words written. Nevertheless, Ioffer no apologies for suggesting that the Church of Jesus Christ hassuffered tragic loss at the hands of those who have abused the Biblicalteaching on apostolic principles—some to attain power, some forfinancial gain, and others simply desiring respect for themselves.At the opposite end of the spectrum, though equally as dangerous,some have created a “post-apostolic” third covenant in which “Goddoesn’t work that way anymore.” They have denied the existence of obvious truths in the Word of God regarding apostles and prophets,lampstands, and other critical issues. They plant “church” after“church,” and denomination after denomination, out of presumption,ambition, or division rather than on the basis of Apostolic Authority (which is the Biblical pattern). The result has been a religious worldmarked by 2000 years of decline. Many, unfortunately, know little of the spiritual Power and Substance of our Lord’s Church, the Churchwe read about in the Bible.Here’s something to think about: You can study what other peoplehave done for years, but that doesn’t make you who they are. Paintingthe picture of some city or country far away from here doesn’t put usin that country. To be able to paint a portrait in the minutest detailof what the city of Jerusalem or the landscape of Galilee or any otherplace looks like doesn’t mean that we’re there.This is the dilemma we face as we pursue the nature of the Church. Tostudy in great detail all that they were, to know what they knew, even tobelieve in what they believed in, does not make us the people that they were. The people of God’s Church have substance, integrity, and a pureattitude of the heart. They are characterized by a unique perspectiveand priority system. Our lives are either hidden in Christ—or we just“know about” being hidden in Christ. We are either full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, or we simply study people who were.What a massive difference between those two things! Hanging aroundpeople who truly are birthed in Heaven and breathing Heaven’s air(
 pneuma
) every moment of their lives doesn’t mean that we have thatsame
life
. Even if we were right in the middle of those people, literally 2000 years back in time, it wouldn’t help us a bit unless we were livingin the same life and power that they were. Even if you lived in the firstcentury and called yourself a Christian, that would
not 
make you apart of the “first century church.” Why? Because you’re only part of theKingdom “on earth as it is in heaven” in as much as your life is truly “inChrist” and as your substance, your genetic structure, is newly createdof uncreated Life (Heb. 12:27).
 
Only if you are truly Born of the Spirit,and Born of water, and Living in the Life of Jesus Christ—penetratinginto Deity—will you partake of a Supernatural Life.Merely mimicking behavior and words that you read in the Bibledoesn’t make you part of the Church. Neither does a philosophicalsystem of morals, behavior, and culture. That’s not it.
Either Christ is real in you, or He’s not.
“The Kingdom of God is not scientifically observed and studied, but it is within you.” You can hang around theLife of God Almighty in His People your whole life, but never actually be a part of it yourself. You need to know that.I make these observations in the hope of better things for the future!Jesus is building for Himself “a glorious Church, not having spot
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